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Endangered organisms, extinction and the Red Data Book sheet
3-mark answer frame

What is the Red Data Book? What does the IUCN Red List tell us about extinct and threatened species?

How to lay out the answer. Follow the frame, then write it in your own words.

  1. 1 · Define in one line. The Red Data Book (IUCN Red List) records species that are extinct or at risk of extinction, with their status and threats.
  2. 2 · Say who keeps it. The IUCN, the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources.
  3. 3 · Give the extinction figures. 784 extinctions in 500 years (338 vertebrates, 359 invertebrates, 87 plants), e.g. dodo, quagga, thylacine, Steller's sea cow.
  4. 4 · Give the threat figures. More than 15,500 species threatened: 32% of amphibians, 31% of gymnosperms, 23% of mammals, 12% of birds.
  5. 5 · Explain what it means. Extinctions now run 100 to 1,000 times faster than in pre-human times: the sixth extinction.
  6. 6 · Link to real life. The list tells India which species need habitat protection or captive breeding first.
  7. 7 · Close in one line. So the Red Data Book tells us which species need protection first.

Scoring tip: Quote two textbook numbers: 784 extinctions and more than 15,500 threatened species. The textbook meaning of threatened is a favourite 1-mark point.