Designation of a rare species may be made by an official body, such as a national government, state, or province.
[1] Rarity rests on a specific species being represented by a small number of organisms worldwide, usually fewer than 10,000.
Well-known examples of rare species - because these are large terrestrial animals - include the Himalayan brown bear, Fennec fox, Wild Asiatic buffalo, or the Hornbill.
They are not endangered yet, but classified as "at risk",[5][6] although the frontier between these categories is increasingly difficult to draw given the general paucity of data on rare species.
Rare species are generally considered threatened because a small population size is less likely to recover from ecological disasters.