canonical: https://jentic.com/apis/iucnredlist.org/iucnredlist # IUCN Red List API Jentic publishes the only available OpenAPI specification for IUCN Red List API, keeping it validated and agent-ready. The IUCN Red List API exposes the global authority on the conservation status of biological species, covering more than 150,000 assessed species. Endpoints return scientific assessments, threat categories, habitat data, conservation measures, narrative accounts, citations, regional and country-level lists, and synonym lookups. Authentication is by query-string token issued through the IUCN partner portal. ## For AI agents Look up the conservation status, habitats, threats, and narrative assessments of species in the IUCN Red List by name, ID, country, or threat category. ## Scope Does not handle species occurrence records, taxonomic name registration, or genetic data - use for IUCN Red List conservation status lookup only. ## Capabilities - Look up the Red List conservation category for any species by scientific name or taxon ID - Retrieve habitat, threat, and conservation-measure records for a species assessment - List all species assessed in a country, region, or threat category for biodiversity reporting - Get narrative accounts including taxonomy, range, population, and threats for a species - Resolve common names and synonyms to the accepted scientific binomial - Page through the full assessed species catalogue with deterministic page numbers ## Use cases ### Biodiversity Risk Assessment in ESG Reporting Companies producing nature-related disclosures need to know whether their operations or supply chains overlap with threatened species. The IUCN Red List API returns the conservation category, threat list, and habitat coverage for any species, letting an ESG analyst assemble a defensible risk register tied to authoritative IUCN data rather than aggregated third-party sources. Example prompt: Call GET `/species/category/CR` and GET `/country/getspecies/{country}` for each operating region and join the results to produce a critical-species exposure list ### Conservation App Species Profile Wildlife and citizen-science apps surface a species page when a user identifies an organism. Pull the IUCN category, narrative account, habitats, and threats with two calls - GET `/species/{name}` for the headline assessment and GET `/species/narrative/{name}` for prose - and render a profile that stays in sync with the latest published assessment. Example prompt: Fetch GET `/species/Panthera` leo and GET `/species/narrative/Panthera` leo, then render a profile with category, range, and primary threats ### Country-Level Biodiversity Monitoring Government agencies and NGOs track changes in their country's threatened species over time. The country endpoints return all species assessed within a country and their categories, supporting trend analysis when run on a schedule against a stored baseline. The dataset covers more than 150,000 species globally with regular updates. Example prompt: Schedule a weekly job that calls the country species list for KE and diffs the result against the previous run to detect new listings ### AI Agent Wildlife Question Answering An agent answering ecology questions retrieves the authoritative Red List record for a species rather than relying on parametric memory. Through Jentic the agent searches for 'iucn species status', loads the GET `/species/{name}` schema, and returns a citable answer with the assessment year and category. Example prompt: Search Jentic for 'iucn red list lookup', execute GET `/species/Pongo` abelii, and quote the category, criteria version, and assessment year in the agent reply ## Key endpoints | Method | Path | Description | | --- | --- | --- | | GET | `/species/{name}` | Get assessment record by scientific name | | GET | `/species/id/{id}` | Get assessment record by taxon ID | | GET | `/species/category/{category}` | List species in a Red List category | | GET | `/species/narrative/{name}` | Retrieve narrative assessment text | | GET | `/species/citation/{name}` | Get the citation string for a species | | GET | `/species/common_names/{name}` | Resolve common names to scientific names | | GET | `/species/page/{page_number}` | Page through the full species catalogue | | GET | `/species/count` | Total count of assessed species | ## Key resources - **Species** — Assessed species records with conservation category, taxonomy, and identifiers - **Narratives** — Long-form prose assessments including range, population, and threats - **Country** — Lists of species assessed within a given country or region - **Threats and Habitats** — Structured threat classification and habitat coverage per species ## Why Jentic - **Setup:** Wiring the IUCN Red List API by hand means appending its token to the query string on every call and paging through species endpoints yourself. Through Jentic you install once, import the IUCN Red List API from the API Directory, store the token once, and your agent calls it. - **Permission scoping:** The IUCN Red List API is read-only conservation-status lookup, so scope by operation: allow the agent only the read operations it needs, such as looking up a species by name or listing species by category. You pick the allowed set, so it stays within status lookup and reaches nothing else. - **Credential handling:** Your IUCN token is stored once, encrypted, by your own Jentic One instance and injected into the request query at execution time. It never enters the agent's prompt, logs, or context. - **Discovery method:** Agents search Jentic by intent such as 'look up a species conservation status' or 'list endangered species by category', and Jentic returns the matching IUCN operation with its input schema so the agent calls the right endpoint without browsing the reference docs. ## Related APIs - **GBIF API** — Global Biodiversity Information Facility provides species occurrence records that pair with IUCN status - **Freesound API** — Audio archive that includes wildlife recordings useful alongside species profiles - **TMDb API** — Catalogue lookup pattern (token-in-query) similar to IUCN, useful when building agents that aggregate reference data ## FAQ ### Why is there no official OpenAPI spec for IUCN Red List API? IUCN does not publish an OpenAPI specification. Jentic generates and maintains this spec so that AI agents and developers can call IUCN Red List API via structured tooling. It is validated against the live API and kept up to date. Get started with Jentic One, the self-hosted execution layer. ### What authentication does the IUCN Red List API use? Authentication is by API token passed as a 'token' query parameter on every request. Tokens are issued by IUCN through their partner application form. Through Jentic the token is stored in the credential vault and appended to outbound calls automatically. ### What are the rate limits for the IUCN Red List API? IUCN does not publish hard numerical rate limits but asks integrators to keep request volumes reasonable and to cache results where possible. Heavy bulk usage requires written permission. Schedule large country or category sweeps off-peak and store responses locally. ### Can I look up a species by common name with the IUCN Red List API? Yes. Call GET `/species/common_names/{name}` to resolve a common name to its accepted scientific binomial, then use GET `/species/{name}` or GET `/species/id/{id}` for the full assessment. Common-name results may include several candidates if the term is ambiguous. ### How do I retrieve a species assessment through Jentic? Search Jentic for 'iucn species lookup', load the GET `/species/{name}` operation schema, and execute with the scientific binomial. Jentic handles the token query parameter so the agent only needs to provide the species name. ### Is the IUCN Red List API free to use? The API is free for non-commercial research, education, and conservation use after registering for a token. Commercial usage and bulk redistribution require explicit permission from the IUCN Red List Unit and may incur a licence fee. ### Can I limit what my agent is allowed to do with the IUCN Red List API? Yes. Because you run Jentic One yourself, your own rules decide which IUCN Red List operations and credentials the agent may use, and the API is read-only conservation-status lookup, so you scope by operation. You can allow only the read calls the agent actually needs, such as GET `/species/{name}` to look up a species or GET `/species/category/{category}` to list species in a Red List category, while withholding narrative, country, or paging endpoints. Because you pick the allowed set, the agent stays within status lookup and reaches nothing else.