Tigers are an endangered species. So are the Javan and black rhinoceros, leatherback turtles and Amur leopards.

Hundreds of other species, many you have never heard about, are threatened. Some exist in the precariously low double digits (brown spider monkeys, 80) while others aren’t much better off (Bactrian camels, 800).

They all need conservation dollars.

But in the murky world of species conservation, there is massive inequality in investment, says George Wittemyer, an assistant professor at Colorado State University and chair of Save the Elephants.

“There are an enormous number of species that are imperiled in many ways but (they) receive very little attention,” he says.

“It’s sad but that is how it is … It is all very arbitrary.”

Much of that has to do with the charisma of the species involved; the more captivating a species, the more excitement — and funds — they generate, says Wittemyer.

“Look at marine species ... we don’t see them and we don’t relate to them. The pandas, we go crazy about.”

Giant pandas, generally believed to get the most attention and a big chunk of conservation money, are the perfect example of charisma and pull: their black-and-white markings make them unusual and they attract lineups wherever they are.

There are about 1,600 pandas in the wild, mostly in a few mountain ranges in the Sichuan province in central China. Another 300 or so live in captivity.

For China, the panda is a national emblem and the country has invested heavily in the species, says Wittemyer, adding that investment in elephant conservation there is comparatively less.

This pattern of selection is obvious across different countries and demonstrates “what the priorities are.”

Exact dollar figures, though, are tough to compile for any conservation effort, including pandas, tigers or even rhinos, because of the many wildlife agencies, governments and private donors involved.

“Species are not equal, that’s right,” says Clement Lanthier, CEO of the Calgary Zoo. But “without the charismatic animals like giraffes, hippopotamus, grizzly bears, there would be no resources for the Vancouver Island marmot, the sage-grouse or even the swift fox which are not (charismatic).”

The Calgary Zoo operates a ranch just outside the city where it runs its conservation program for endangered species, and these three are among those being “treated” there.

One feeds the other, Lanthier says.

The zoo will receive a pair of pandas from China in 2018. They’ll give the facility more visibility, more resources and “more partnerships to address the situation of less charismatic species,” Lanthier says

Ironically, once a species begins to make headlines — usually when it’s being hunted to obliteration — it gets easier to seek financial help.

Cathy Dean, director of the England-based Save the Rhino International, says rhinos have got more money since they returned to poachers’ hit list in 2008.

When she joined the agency in 2001, her job was easy and hard at the same time, she said. Rhinos were then recovering from the previous poaching crisis of the 1970s and 1980s. “In a sense, it was all good. But it made our work harder to fundraise. They (rhinos) weren’t in the news.”

But agencies still needed money to protect the animals and develop infrastructure, she said.

All that changed in 2008 when the current poaching onslaught began.

With rhinos in the news again, the agency is raising more money, said Dean. “Our funding has increased from £300,000 annually in 2001 to £1.3 million in 2015.”

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In 2014, in South Africa alone, a staggering 1,215 rhinos were killed by poachers — one every eight hours.

Animals in demand

Rhinos

Demand: Primarily Vietnam

Why: People there believe rhino horn powder improves health, prevents illness and treats ailments. Also, a fad for the nouveau riche.

How much: Up to $80,000 per kilogram in Vietnam. A horn usually weighs about five kilograms.

Elephants

Demand: Mostly China but also Thailand and Korea

Why: Ivory is coveted and used to make many objects, including name seals. Owning ivory also means status.

How much: A male elephant’s two tusks can weigh more than 115 kilograms; a kilogram of ivory fetches as much as $690 on the black market.

Tigers

Demand: Mostly Southeast Asia

Why: In eastern medicine, its organs, pelts, the eyes, hair and bones are believed to have medicinal value. Tiger penis is used in a soup as an aphrodisiac.

How much: varies largely in what is being sold.

Pangolin

Demand: China, Vietnam and Malaysia

Why: their meat is considered a delicacy and some Chinese believe pangolin scales have medicinal qualities and can stimulate lactation, cure cancer or asthma.

How much: a single pangolin can be priced between $1,000 and $7,000. Pangolin fetuses are considered a delicacy in Asia and cost even more.

Tibetan antelopes

Demand: Worldwide

Why: Down hair from the antelopes is used to weave shahtoosh shawls but it can’t be sheared off, they have to be killed for it.

How much: A shawl can sell between $10,000 and $100,000. It takes down fur from four antelopes to weave just one shawl.