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World Wildlife Day

On World Wildlife Day, 3 March 2025, we're celebrating our incredible natural world and the remarkable places that we call home.  

Here at WWF, every day is World Wildlife Day. We’re working hard with partners, Indigenous peoples and local communities to bring our world back to life. 

© Suyash Keshari / WWF-International
Wild giant panda in Foping country, Qinling Mountains, China
© WWF-China

Why is World Wildlife Day so important?

We have so much to celebrate when it comes to our natural world. Over the years, we have seen habitats restored and species brought back from the brink.  

Sadly, nature is still being lost at an alarming rate. Global wildlife populations have declined, on average, by 73% since 1970. This is a stark reminder that there is more we must do to turn things around.  

Ways to help our world

WWF Success Stories

We are already working hard to protect our world, discover a handful of WWF projects that are making a difference. 

  • A wild snow leopard in Icey mountains of Ladakh in Indian Himalayas
    © Sascha Fonseca / WWF-UK

    Successful snow leopard population survey in Nepal

    WWF supported the first snow leopard conservation survey in Kanchenjunga Conservation Area (KCA) in seven years. Data from camera traps placed in 49 locations spanning 800 sq km revealed KCA is home to 13 snow leopards. These findings provide critical insights into the big cats’ population status to guide future conservation efforts.   

  • Black rhinoceros amongst yellow flowers
    © Steve Morello / WWF

    Black rhino’s on the up

    Kenya's black rhino population has more than doubled, from fewer than 400 in the 1980s to over 1000 today. Kenya is now halfway to reaching its goal of 2,000 black rhinos by 2037.  WWF has supported black rhino conservation in Kenya since the early 1960s and has supported the development of Kenya's Black Rhino Action Plan for 2022-2026, which will continue to guide ongoing conservation efforts in the coming years. 

  • Tiger in Royal Belum State Park, Malaysia
    © Emmanuel Rondeau / WWF-US

    Tigers roar back

    In an effort known as TX2, WWF worked with governments of tiger range countries to collectively double the global tiger population from as few as 3,200 tigers in 2010, to an estimated 5,574 wild tigers in 2023. Nepal and India successfully doubled their national tiger populations, with India home to the greatest number of wild tigers. WWF is supporting the training of Bagh Mitras – ‘Tiger Friends’ – in India, to help ensure peaceful coexistence between people and tigers.  

  • Wild Giant Panda in foping country, China
    © WWF-China

    Building Pandas dens

    WWF is working with local partners to trial an innovative solution to address the impact of historical logging on panda habitats: artificial dens for pandas to use as safe birthing sites. WWF has supported the setup of 20 of these dens in Dujiangyan - a protected area in China Giant Panda National Park. Following promising initial trial findings, the dens have been improved to enhance their ability to block water and wind, and the trial site has been expanded to Daxiangling mountain range.

  • Jaguar (Panthera onca) looking through forest leaves, Yasuni National Park, Ecuador. Amazon Rainforest.
    © Karine Aigner / naturepl.com / WWF

    Protecting jaguars of the Peruvian Amazon

    In Madre de Dios in the Peruvian Amazon, 220 families are taking part in farmer field schools, supported by WWF. They are learning regenerative farming techniques, removing the need for them to clear new areas of the Amazon forest. Forest that is home to the jaguar. With the support and participation of Indigenous peoples and local communities in Madre de Dios, WWF monitors the jaguar and its prey in the Tahuamanu - Tambopata biological corridor, using non-invasive technology such as camera traps. 145,000 hectares in Madre de Dios are monitored with the support of local communities – this covers an area almost as large as the county of South Yorkshire! 

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Species from around the world

Here are some fascinating facts about a handful of incredible species that we share our natural world with.

  • © Sascha Fonseca / WWF-UK
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    Snow leopards

    Despite being called the snow 'leopard', this big cat is more closely related to the tiger than the leopard. Unlike other big cats, snow leopards can’t roar. As well as spitting, hissing and growling, snow leopards make a soft ‘prusten’ greeting call – a bit like the snorting of a horse. This is used as a friendly greeting call, or for reassurance. Snow leopards have a 'main' call described as a 'piercing yowl' that's so loud it can be heard over the roar of a river.1

    Snow leopard facts
  • © Martin Harvey / WWF
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    Black Rhino

    Black rhinos have a characteristic, pointy prehensile upper lip used to 'pluck' vegetation from trees and bushes.2 Black rhinos snort when angry and make sneeze-like calls as alarms.3 Rhino horn is made up of keratin - the same protein which forms the basis of our hair and nails.4 

    Rhino facts
  • © Reserve Shutterstock BhasmangMehta WWF-International
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    Tigers

    Tigers are excellent swimmers. They have been known to swim between islands in the Sunderbans. 4 The vocal repertoire of tigers is vast - they grunt, growl, roar, moan, snarl, chuff, hiss and gasp. It's thought that each vocalisation is used to communicate different things.5

    Tiger facts
  • © Brett Gainer
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    African Elephant

    The folds and wrinkles in an elephant's skin can retain up to 10 times more water than flat skin does. This helps to cool them down. The African elephant is the world's largest land mammal – with males on average measuring up to 3m high and weighing up to 6 tonnes.6 

    Elephant facts
  • © WWF China
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    Giant Panda

    Sometimes, to mark their scent, pandas climb a tree backwards with their hindfeet until they're in a full handstand upside down - enabling them to leave their scent higher up.7 When startled, excited, or to advertise their presence, giant pandas emit a high intensity 'bark'.8 

    Panda facts
  • © Brent Chambers
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    Jaguar

    When there are plenty of females around, male jaguars sometimes form coalitions; patrolling and marking territory together, invading territories of other males, and sharing prey.9 Jaguars have a more powerful bite than any other big cat – the big cat can bite through the thick hides of crocodilians and the hard shells of river turtles.10

    Jaguar facts

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Sources

[1] Source: Snow Leopard Trust https://snowleopard.org/snow-leopard-facts/behavior/ 

[2] International Rhino Foundation | About Rhinos https://rhinos.org/about-rhinos/rhino-species/black-rhino/

[3] Wilson DE & Mittermeier RA eds (2009). Handbook of Mammals of the World, Vol 2 Hoofed Mammals   

[4] Macdonald. D (Ed) Encyclopaedia of Mammals.1995 Andromeda Oxford Limited 

[5] Walsh et al. (2003) Accoustic Communication in Panthera tigris: A study of Tiger vocalization and Auditory Receptivity. Architectural Engineering - Faculty publications, Paper 38 & Wilson, D.E. and Mittermeier, R.A. (2009) Handbook of The Mammals of the World: Carnivores. 

[6] Wilson, D.E. and Mittermeier, R.A. (2009) Handbook of The Mammals of the World: Hooved Mammals 

[7] EAZA Bear TAG (2024). All About Ursidae: Bear Educational Guidelines – First edition. Zsuzsa Petró, Sóstó Zoo, Hungary

[8] Wilson, D.E. and Mittermeier, R.A. (2009) Handbook of The Mammals of the World: Carnivores.

[9] Jędrzejewski, W., Hoogesteijn, R., Devlin, A.L. et al. Collaborative behaviour and coalitions in male jaguars (Panthera onca)—evidence and comparison with other felids. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 76, 121 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-022-03232-3 

[10] IUCN Cat Specialist Group | Jaguars http://www.catsg.org/index.php?id=95

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