A WWF and Vizzu collaboration that turns IUCN Red List data into an animated story on biodiversity risk.
Half a million species could be at risk, yet only a fraction of Earth’s biodiversity has been assessed. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List is the world’s most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of species. Together with WWF, we turned this critical dataset into an animated story that reveals both the scale of the threat and the gaps in our knowledge.
From headline numbers like the 47,000 species already identified as threatened to breakdowns by plants, vertebrates, and invertebrates, the story highlights how unevenly the risks are distributed. It is a sobering reminder that biodiversity loss is not only widespread but also deeply complex.
Data source: IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
Numbers alone can feel abstract, but stories move people. With Vizzu’s animated transitions, the Red List data shifts seamlessly from overall risk levels to species groups and sub-groups, making it easier to grasp the scale of extinction threats. Instead of static charts, Vizzu shows how categories interrelate and evolve, spotlighting patterns like plants facing the highest absolute risk and fishes dominating among threatened vertebrates.
By partnering with WWF, we demonstrated how animated data storytelling can make urgent global challenges impossible to ignore. Vizzu does not just visualize biodiversity data, it helps audiences connect with it.
