Endangered Species Crossword Puzzle

Print a criss-cross vocabulary crossword of endangered animals, the threats they face and the words of conservation.

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Endangered Species Crossword

Read each clue and write the answer in the squares that start at its number, one letter in each square.

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  • Blue whale
  • Condor
  • Crane
  • Elephant
  • Gorilla
  • Kakapo
  • Lemur
  • Okapi
  • Orangutan
  • Rhinoceros
  • Tiger
  • Vaquita

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Answer key: Endangered Species Crossword

1O2V3TI4GER5KAKAPOO6LAQ7CRANEPUIMII8BLUTLLR9ORANGUTAN10CEOWN11ELEPHANTDAOL12RHINOCEROS

Across 3 TIGER · 5 KAKAPO · 7 CRANE · 9 ORANGUTAN · 11 ELEPHANT · 12 RHINOCEROS

Down 1 OKAPI · 2 VAQUITA · 4 GORILLA · 6 LEMUR · 8 BLUEWHALE · 10 CONDOR

Next step Find extinct animals in a word searchPrint the animal crossword

All 130 clues

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Endangered Mammals 30

  • Addax White antelope of the Sahara whose long head ornaments twist in a spiral
  • Amur leopard Spotted big cat of southeastern Russia and northern China
  • Aye-aye World's largest nocturnal primate, with rodent-like teeth that never stop growing
  • Blue whale Sea giant that feeds almost only on krill
  • Bonobo Ape found only in the Congo Basin of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
  • Buffalo Wild water ___: the most likely ancestor of a farm animal of Asia
  • Chimpanzee Tool-using ape, one of our two closest living relatives
  • Dolphin Amazon river ___: the boto, whose adults turn pink
  • Elephant Giant with three living species: Asian, African bush and African forest
  • Ferret Black-footed ___: prairie hunter rediscovered in Wyoming in 1981
  • Gorilla Largest living primate, with an eastern and a western species
  • Hippopotamus Pygmy ___: small dweller of the forests and swamps of West Africa
  • Horse Przewalski's ___: the takhi, returned to Mongolia since the 1990s
  • Indri One of the largest of Madagascar's tree-dwelling primates; its groups sing to each other
  • Lemur Ring-tailed ___: primate of Madagascar with a black-and-white tail
  • Okapi Forest relative of the giraffe with zebra-like stripes
  • Orangutan Tree-dwelling ape of Borneo and Sumatra; a third species was named in 2017
  • Oryx Scimitar ___: antelope moved from Extinct in the Wild to Endangered in 2023
  • Proboscis ___ monkey: long-nosed tree dweller found only on Borneo
  • Red panda Tree-climbing bamboo eater of the Himalayas; despite its name, not a bear
  • Rhinoceros Black ___: African animal also called the hook-lipped one
  • Right whale North Atlantic giant whose two greatest threats are vessel strikes and fishing gear
  • Saola Forest animal of the Annamite Range, nicknamed the Asian unicorn
  • Sea otter Marine mammal with the densest fur in the animal kingdom
  • Tamarin Golden lion ___: small monkey of Brazil's Atlantic coastal forests
  • Tasmanian devil Largest meat-eating marsupial, about as big as a small dog
  • Tiger Striped ambush hunter of hooved mammals; an apex predator
  • Vaquita Smallest of all living cetaceans, a porpoise of the Gulf of California
  • Wild dog African pack hunter also called the painted lycaon
  • Wolf Red ___: most endangered of its kind, living free only in eastern North Carolina

Endangered Birds, Reptiles and Sea Life 26

  • Axolotl Amphibian whose adults never leave the water; known from the lakes of Xochimilco
  • Bumblebee Rusty patched ___: pollinator put on the U.S. endangered list in 2017
  • Bustard Great Indian ___: among the heaviest of the flying birds
  • Clam Giant ___: the largest living bivalve mollusc
  • Condor California ___: vulture with a wingspan of 9.5 feet
  • Coral Staghorn ___: reef builder whose branches look like antlers
  • Crane Whooping ___: North America's tallest bird
  • Crocodile Philippine ___: freshwater reptile found only in the Philippines
  • Eel European ___: long fish that spawns in the Sargasso Sea
  • Frog Panamanian golden ___: toad of Panama that may be gone from nature since 2007
  • Gharial Fish-eating crocodilian named for the pot-like bump on a male's snout
  • Hammerhead Shark named for the shape of its head; the scalloped kind is fished for its fins
  • Hawksbill Sea turtle whose beak-like mouth reaches food in cracks and crevices
  • Ibis Northern bald ___: glossy black bird with an unfeathered red face
  • Iguana Blue ___: big lizard of Grand Cayman
  • Kakapo The world's only flightless parrot, a night bird of New Zealand
  • Komodo dragon Giant monitor lizard found only on Rinca, Flores and three other islands
  • Penguin African ___: seabird known for its loud, donkey-like call
  • Ridley Kemp's ___: sea turtle named after a fisherman of Key West, Florida
  • Salamander Chinese giant ___: amphibian that can reach 1.8 m in length
  • Sandpiper Spoon-billed ___: small wader that breeds on the coasts of the Bering Sea
  • Sturgeon Beluga ___: fish of the Caspian and Black Sea basins, heavily fished for its roe
  • Takahe Flightless bird of New Zealand, rediscovered in 1948
  • Tortoise Ploughshare ___: reptile of Madagascar taken for the illegal pet trade
  • Tuna Southern bluefin ___: ocean fish whose stock remains overfished
  • Whale shark Largest known fish alive today, a slow filter feeder

Threats to Wildlife 24

  • Bleaching What reef builders undergo when they lose their algae and turn white
  • Bycatch Seabirds and sea turtles hauled up with the catch, for example
  • Caviar Fish roe whose value has put a giant of the Caspian in danger
  • Chytrid Kind of fungus behind an infectious disease of amphibians
  • DDT Insect killer whose farm use the United States banned in 1972
  • Decline A fall in numbers from year to year
  • Deforestation Removal of a forest from land that is then put to another use
  • Entanglement Getting caught in fishing gear, a danger to large sea mammals
  • Fragmentation Breaking of one living area into patches with gaps between them
  • Ghost net Fishing gear that has been lost or abandoned in the sea
  • Gillnet Kind of fishing net that entangles the rarest porpoise
  • Habitat ___ loss: when a natural home can no longer support its native species
  • Horn A rhino has one or two of these on its nose
  • Invasive Word for a species from elsewhere that does ecological or economic damage
  • Ivory Hard white material whose buying and selling has brought restrictions and bans
  • Lead Poisonous metal for which reintroduced vultures of the American West are tested
  • Overfishing Taking fish from the water faster than they can replace themselves
  • Pesticide Chemical sprayed on a field to kill insects or weeds
  • Poaching Illegal hunting or fishing of wildlife
  • Pollution An oil spill is one form of it
  • Rare Few in number; seldom seen
  • Smuggling Illegal gathering and moving of protected wildlife for sale
  • Tortoiseshell Decorative material once taken from the shell of a beaked sea turtle
  • Tusk Long tooth for which giants of Africa and Asia are illegally hunted

Conservation Words 25

  • Banding Putting a small numbered tag on a wild bird's leg
  • Biodiversity The whole range of different life forms, in a single word
  • Camera ___ trap: one set off by the motion of a passing animal
  • Captive ___ breeding: raising an endangered species in a controlled place such as a zoo
  • Carson Rachel ___, marine biologist and author of Silent Spring (1962)
  • Conservation Field of study and action aimed at keeping species from dying out
  • Corridor Wildlife ___: strip of land that links groups of animals cut off from each other
  • Crossing Wildlife ___: green bridge or tunnel that lets animals pass a road
  • Earth Day Event of April 22, first held in 1970
  • Ecosystem A pond with its water, mud, plants and animals is one
  • Endemic Found only in one defined place and nowhere else
  • Flagship ___ species: a popular animal chosen to raise support for saving nature
  • Frozen ___ zoo: storage of genetic materials taken from animals
  • Indicator ___ species: one that scientists watch to judge a place's condition
  • Keystone ___ species: one that shapes its surroundings far more than its abundance suggests
  • Population Every member of a species in a region, counted together
  • Ranger Person entrusted with guarding and preserving parklands
  • Refuge National Wildlife ___: unit of a U.S. system of lands begun in 1903
  • Reintroduction Deliberate release of a species into the wild
  • Reserve Nature ___: area set aside for its plants, animals or other special features
  • Rewilding Restoring natural processes to a stretch of land
  • Sanctuary Lifelong home for animals in need of shelter
  • Seed ___ bank: store that keeps the genetic diversity of plants
  • Umbrella ___ species: one whose safeguarding also shelters many others
  • Yellowstone First of its kind in the United States: a public park established in 1872

Red List Words and Comebacks 25

  • Alligator American ___: listed as endangered in 1967, removed from that list in 1987
  • Bison American ___: cut from about 60 million to 541 animals by 1889
  • Critically ___ Endangered: category for an extremely high risk of dying out in the wild
  • Delist To take a species off an official list of those in danger
  • Dodo Flightless bird of Mauritius that is no more
  • Downlist To move a species to a lower-risk category, as happened to one antelope in 2023
  • Eagle Bald ___: taken off the U.S. endangered list altogether in 2007
  • Endling The very last of its kind, with no mate left
  • Extinction Forever is how long it lasts: the loss of a whole species
  • George Lonesome ___: the last of his kind from Pinta Island in the Galápagos
  • Humpback Singing whale whose numbers have partially recovered since a 1966 hunting ban
  • IUCN Initials of the union that has kept the Red List since 1964
  • Kestrel Mauritius ___: small falcon down to four known in the wild in 1974
  • Lazarus ___ taxon: one that vanishes from the record, only to appear again later
  • Lynx Iberian ___: cat that rose from 94 animals in 2002 to about 2,000
  • Macaw Spix's ___: little blue parrot of Brazil listed as Extinct in the Wild
  • Martha Last of a once-abundant American bird; she died at the Cincinnati Zoo in 1914
  • Panda Bamboo-eating bear whose Red List category improved in 2016
  • Peregrine ___ falcon: fast flier removed from the U.S. endangered list in 1999
  • Pigeon Passenger ___: once North America's most abundant bird, gone since 1914
  • Recovery The comeback of a species, the goal of every rescue plan
  • Status A species' ___ tells how likely it is to die out in the near future
  • Sudan Name of the last known male northern white rhino, who died in 2018
  • Thylacine The largest meat-eating marsupial until it died out in 1936
  • Vulnerable Red List category for a high risk of dying out in the wild in the medium term

How this list was compiled: Clues written for this site in five sets: endangered mammals; birds, reptiles and sea life; threats; conservation words; and Red List words and comebacks. Every animal in the two animal sets was listed as Endangered or Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List, as cited in its English Wikipedia article (CC BY-SA 4.0) in October 2026; U.S. listings were read on U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and NOAA Fisheries species pages. A status can change. Licence: own work

How it works

This endangered species crossword puzzle prints on Letter or A4 with a word bank and its answer key. The first puzzle names 12 animals, among them Tiger, Gorilla, Orangutan, Elephant and Kakapo. "The world's only flightless parrot, a night bird of New Zealand" is Kakapo.

Read the full guide

Animals first, then threats and conservation

Endangered Mammals has Bonobo, Okapi, Saola and Vaquita. Endangered Birds, Reptiles and Sea Life has Kakapo, Hawksbill, Axolotl and Gharial. Threats to Wildlife has Poaching, Bycatch, Deforestation and Invasive. Conservation Words has Refuge, Corridor, Keystone and Rewilding. Red List Words and Comebacks has Vulnerable, Endling, Bison and Lynx.

Comebacks are in the puzzle too

The last set holds animals that pulled back from the edge: the bald eagle, off the U.S. endangered list in 2007, the American alligator in 1987, the Iberian lynx, up from 94 animals in 2002, and the Mauritius kestrel, once down to four in the wild.

  • Let each student pick one animal from the finished grid and look up its category on the Red List: a status can change.

Questions and answers

What grade is the endangered species crossword puzzle for?

Easy Endangered Animals suits grades 3 to 5: every answer is an animal, and the word bank is on. The threats and conservation sets suit grades 5 to 8, with answers such as Bycatch and Biodiversity. These bands are our judgment, not a published standard.

Does the endangered species crossword puzzle come with an answer key?

Yes. The key prints last, on a sheet of its own, so the puzzle goes to the class and the key stays with you. It is free, with no sign-up.

What is the difference between endangered and critically endangered?

Both are categories of the IUCN Red List. Endangered means a species runs a very high risk of dying out; Critically Endangered means that in the wild the risk is extremely high. With Vulnerable, the two make up the group the Red List calls threatened.

What is the IUCN Red List?

A record of how threatened each species is and how close to extinction, kept by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and founded in 1964. IUCN is an answer in Red List Words and Comebacks.

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