Abstract: The WCMC Animals Database holds information on threatened and other species of conservation concern. Part of this database is used to generate The IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals. The Red List provides taxonomic, conservation status and distribution information on species that have been evaluated using the new IUCN Red List Category System. This system is designed to determine relative risk ... of extinction, and the main purpose of the Red List is to catalogue the species that are regarded as threatened at global level. The 1996 Red List also includes information on species that are categorised as Extinct or Extinct in the Wild, on the species that cannot be assessed because of insufficient data, and on certain species in the Lower Risk category.

This information resource is a result of long-term collaboration between individual scientists worldwide and many organizations, notably the Species Survival Commission of IUCN, BirdLife International and WCMC. Assessments of many species in USA were based on data supplied by The Nature Conservancy.

Users can search for information in several ways: by single species, by taxonomic group, and by all species. Results include Class, Order, Family, Species and Common names as well as the Red List classification. Distribution of the species is also listed in the results.