Disputed Statements

African Elephant, Species

Standing Scholarly debate

Concerns Conservation Status

Currently States Endangered

In March 2021 the IUCN Red List, for the first time, assessed African elephants as two separate species rather than one: the African savanna elephant (Loxodonta africana) as Endangered, and the African forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis) as Critically Endangered, following new genetic evidence. Before that reassessment the combined single-species value was Vulnerable. This atlas models a single African Elephant entity, so the single value Endangered here (kept as the larger-population savanna species' status, this atlas's prior value) is a simplification of a genuinely split picture rather than a settled fact; marked debated rather than attested for that reason, and a taxonomy question is raised asking whether the entity should be split to match. See the accompanying taxonomy question.

Source African Elephant Species Now Endangered and Critically Endangered (IUCN) tier 1

African Elephant, Species

Standing Scholarly debate

Concerns Population Estimate

Currently States 415000.000000

The IUCN's most recent continent-wide assessment splits the African elephant into two species, savanna and forest, whose combined wild population is estimated near 415,000, but forest elephant numbers in particular are drawn from surveys of dense, hard-to-access habitat and carry wide uncertainty; some regional counts are years out of date.

Source IUCN Red List of Threatened Species tier 1

American Bison, Species

Standing Scholarly debate

Concerns Population Estimate

Currently States 20504.000000

Figure is for bison in herds managed specifically for conservation rather than commercial production, the count the IUCN assessment treats as most meaningful for the subspecies' ecological recovery; several hundred thousand additional bison exist in commercial herds not counted toward this figure, and which total better represents the species' true recovery is a genuine point of disagreement among conservationists.

Source IUCN Red List of Threatened Species tier 1

Arctic Tern, Species

Standing Scholarly debate

Concerns Population Estimate

Currently States 1000000.000000

Published global estimates range roughly from one to two million mature individuals; the wide range reflects how difficult it is to census a species that breeds in scattered, often remote colonies across the entire circumpolar Arctic, so the lower, more conservative figure is recorded here rather than a false precise midpoint.

Source IUCN Red List of Threatened Species tier 1

Beaver, Species

Standing Scholarly debate

Concerns Population Estimate

Currently States 12500000.000000

Defenders of Wildlife gives a present day range of 10 to 15 million across North America; this atlas records the midpoint. Estimates vary across sources and there is no single census figure, only the shared account that the population collapsed under the fur trade and has since rebounded.

Source Beaver (Defenders of Wildlife)

Blue Whale, Species

Standing Scholarly debate

Concerns Population Estimate

Currently States 10000.000000

Global blue whale population estimates range roughly from 10,000 to 25,000 individuals depending on which of several genetically and geographically distinct subpopulations are counted and how recently each ocean basin was surveyed; the lower figure recorded here is the more conservative published estimate, not a settled consensus number.

Bolson Tortoise, Species

Standing Scholarly debate

Concerns Population Estimate

Currently States 10000.000000

The most recent published estimate is from 1991, based on data collected in 1983; no more recent census was found.

Source Bolson Tortoise (Wikipedia) tier 2

Coast Redwood, Species

Standing Scholarly debate

Concerns Conservation Status

Currently States Endangered

IUCN Red List assessment by Farjon and Schmid, 2013, listed coast redwood as Endangered under Red List criterion A2 (population decline). A 2017 US Forest Service report by Erin Clover Kelly argues the listing is methodologically flawed for a species like redwood and misidentifies the real conservation concern, which is old-growth ecosystem functionality rather than the survival of individual trees; see the dissent on this fact.

Source The Listing of Coast Redwood as Endangered Under the IUCN Red List: Lessons for Conservation (Kelly, 2017, US Forest Service), Erin Clover Kelly

Congo Basin Rainforest, Ecosystems

Standing Scholarly debate

Concerns Area (sq km)

Currently States 2000000.000000

Estimates for Congo Basin rainforest extent range from roughly 1.78 to 2 million square kilometers depending on methodology and ongoing deforestation; this figure reflects a commonly cited approximate extent.

Source Encyclopaedia Britannica tier 1

Coral Reef Systems, Ecosystems

Standing Scholarly debate

Concerns Area (sq km)

Currently States 284300.000000

Global coral reef area estimates range from roughly 255,000 to 284,300 square kilometers depending on mapping methodology and resolution; this figure reflects a commonly cited estimate.

Source National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration tier 1

Dalmatian Pelican, Species

Standing Scholarly debate

Concerns Population Estimate

Currently States 15000.000000

Global estimate of 10,000 to 20,000 individuals, roughly 3,000 to 5,000 breeding pairs; the Danube Delta alone holds about 450 of those pairs.

Source Dalmatian Pelican (Wikipedia) tier 2

Estuary, Biomes

Standing Scholarly debate

Concerns Typical Low Temperature (C)

Currently States 13.000000

13C is the low end of a single named example cited by the source, the Alan Estuary in England, not a global figure. Estuaries occur in every climate zone from tropical to Arctic wherever a river meets tidal water, and no single settled global range was found on an accessible source.

Source Estuary Biome (Earth Eclipse) tier 4

Estuary, Biomes

Standing Scholarly debate

Concerns Typical High Temperature (C)

Currently States 17.000000

17C is the high end of the same single named example, the Alan Estuary in England, not a global figure; see this entity's temperature-low-c StatusNote for the same caveat.

Source Estuary Biome (Earth Eclipse) tier 4

Fiordland Crested Penguin, Species

Standing Scholarly debate

Concerns Population Estimate

Currently States 5000.000000

A 1990s survey counted 2,500 breeding pairs, roughly 5,000 individuals, but the source describes this count as likely an underestimate; no more recent total was found.

Source Fiordland Crested Penguin (Wikipedia) tier 2

Freshwater, Biomes

Standing Scholarly debate

Concerns Annual Precipitation (mm)

Currently States 1143.000000

1143mm is the midpoint of the cited source's stated 10 to 80 inch (254mm to 2032mm) annual range. Freshwater habitats exist on every continent and in every climate, so no single figure is fully meaningful, matching this entity's own description that the biome carries no single characteristic rainfall total.

Source Freshwater Biome (Earth Eclipse) tier 4

Gray Wolf, Species

Standing Scholarly debate

Concerns Population Estimate

Currently States 300000.000000

Estimates of the global gray wolf population range roughly from 200,000 to 250,000 in some tallies to over 300,000 in others, depending on which regional census data is current and how subspecies boundaries are drawn; there is no single coordinated worldwide survey.

Indri, Species

Standing Scholarly debate

Concerns Population Estimate

Currently States 1000.000000

Published estimates span an order of magnitude, from 1,000 to 10,000 individuals; the lower, more conservative bound is recorded here.

Source Indri (Wikipedia) tier 2

Lion-tailed Macaque, Species

Standing Scholarly debate

Concerns Population Estimate

Currently States 3250.000000

The 2003 IUCN assessment gave 3,000 to 3,500 individuals scattered across Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka.

Source Lion-tailed Macaque (Wikipedia) tier 2

Marine, Biomes

Standing Scholarly debate

Concerns Annual Precipitation (mm)

Currently States 990.000000

990mm is the source's global LAND+OCEAN average annual precipitation figure; the source does not isolate an ocean-only figure. True oceanic precipitation is understood to run higher than this global blend (ocean evaporation exceeds ocean precipitation, balanced by land) and varies enormously by latitude, from near zero over the subtropical gyres to well over 3000mm under the tropical convergence zone. No single settled ocean-specific figure was found on an accessible source.

Source Precipitation (Wikipedia) tier 2

Monarch Butterfly, Species

Standing Scholarly debate

Concerns Conservation Status

Currently States Endangered

The IUCN assessed the migratory monarch subpopulation as Endangered in 2022, while the species as a whole, including non-migratory populations outside North America, is not separately listed; national assessments in the United States have proposed but not finalized Endangered Species Act protection. This atlas records the migratory population's IUCN status as the honest current answer rather than a single unqualified figure.

Source IUCN Red List of Threatened Species tier 1