According to the IUCN's Red List of Threatened Animals the musso's fish-eating rat (Neusticomys mussoi) and the slim-faced slender mouse opossum (Marmosops cracens) are endangered. Fernandez's sword-nosed bat (Lonchorhina fernandezi), pittier's crab-eating rat (Ichthyomys pittieri), and wood sprite gracile mouse opossum (Gracilinanus dryas) are vulnerable. All of them are endemic to Venezuela. The IUCN lists thirty species as being critically endangered in Venezuela. These include the variegated spider monkey (Ateles hybridus) and the leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea). IUCN also rates the pink river dolphin (Inia geoffrensis humboldtiana) found in the Orinoco river basin in Venezuela as vulnerable. The World Wildlife Fund is concerned about six species in Venezuela:

• the green turtle (Chelonia mydas) endangered
• hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricate) critically endangered
• leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) critically endangered
• loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) endangered
• olive ridley turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea) endangered and
• the spectacled bear (Tremarctos ornatus) vulnerable. The spectacled bear is South America's only bear species.

Related links

• World Conservation Union
• WWF