Wildlife

WCS uses science-based research to understand the needs of wildlife, with a focus on Global Priority and Recovery Species. The lists of species below will expand over time as the WCS Species Program grows.

Proposals do not have to address the conservation of one of these species directly; however, preference will be given to proposals that deal with activities strategically aligned with the conservation of these species (e.g., a project on a key landscape species found within the range of a Priority Species).  Please contact a WCS staff person within the area of interest to determine if your proposal idea would fit the program's conservation strategy.

WCS Global Priority Species have a broad geographic range, are evolutionarily distinctive, ecologically important, important to humans, and need conservation action. WCS's Global Priority Species are:

1. Apes
   
2. Big Cats
   
3. Elephants
4. Flamingos
   
5. Sharks & Rays
6. Vultures
7. Cetaceans

Examples include:

• Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) in Central and East Africa
• Gorilla (Gorilla gorilla and Gorilla beringei)
• Jaguar (Panthera onca)
• Tiger (Panthera tigris)
• Snow leopard (Panthera uncia)
• Asian elephant (Elephas maximus)
• Elephants (Loxondonta africana) in Central and East Africa
• Critically endangered Asian vultures in the genera Gyps and Sarcogyps in Cambodia, India, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand
  
• Irrawaddy dolphin (Orcaella brevirsotris) in Bangladesh and Myanmar
• Southern Hemisphere humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans
  

WCS Recovery Species are critically endangered or facing dramatic population declines, evolutionarily distinctive, ecologically important, and important to humans. Hands-on management is required to ensure their survival, and viable habitat for reproduction/recovery exists in a country in which WCS has field programs. (This category can include work on Recovery Species that addresses questions pertaining to intensive management and need not be done at WCS field locations.) WCS's Recovery Species are:

1. North American bison
   
2. Tortoises & Freshwater Turtles
   

Examples include:

• North American bison (Bison bison)
• Burmese Starred Tortoise (Geochelone platynota) in Myanmar
  
• Central American River Turtle (Dermatemys mawii) in Mexico
• Myanmar River Turtle (Batagur trivittata) in Myanmar
• Southern River Terrapin (Batagur affinis) in Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand
  

Learn more about WCS's Priority Land/Seascapes.