Jeff Bezos and Leonardo DiCaprio put $200 million behind 100 endangered species across 30 countries. The list includes rare lemurs and pangolins to a ‘living fossil’ echidna

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Titanic star Leonardo DiCaprio is putting $200 million behind some of the world’s most threatened animals, with the ambitious goal of helping 100 species recover across 30 countries.

The Phoenix Species Project, announced on Tuesday by the Bezos Earth Fund and Re:wild, is being described by the organizations as the largest single fund in history dedicated exclusively to recovering critically endangered species.

The initiative will focus on species whose survival is threatened by habitat loss, climate change, disease, invasive species and other pressures. Rather than simply trying to prevent extinction, the project aims to help vulnerable animal populations actually recover over the long term.


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What is the Phoenix Species Project?

The Phoenix Species Project is a conservation effort designed to provide sustained funding to critically endangered species that often struggle because conservation programs are too short-term or underfunded. The initial $200 million commitment will support conservation programs involving 100 species in 30 countries.

The project will bring together Indigenous Peoples, local communities, scientists, governments and conservation organizations. Scientific support will come from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Species Survival Commission.

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The conservation measures could include breeding programs, habitat restoration, disease management and efforts to control invasive species. The initiative is also backed by nonprofit Age of Union and the Todd Graves Family Foundation.

Jeff Bezos and Leonardo DiCaprio join forces for endangered species

DiCaprio and Re:wild co-founder Wes Sechrest met Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos in 2021. Bezos serves as chair of the Bezos Earth Fund, while Sánchez Bezos is its vice chair.

That meeting was followed by conversations with governments, environmental organizations and Indigenous communities about how to tackle the decline of species facing some of the greatest threats.

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Those discussions eventually helped shape the Phoenix Species Project. Lauren Sanchez Bezos said the initiative is about going beyond simply slowing extinction.

"One hundred species, thirty countries, and a real commitment to ‌bringing them back. Not managing their decline. Recovering them. We ⁠know how to do this. We just have to stay committed long enough to see it through."

Golden-crowned sifaka among species targeted by project

One of the animals that will benefit is the golden-crowned sifaka, a critically endangered lemur found in Madagascar. The species has faced severe pressure from habitat loss and other threats, making sustained conservation work particularly important.

Tiana Andriamanana, executive director of Association Fanamby, one of the organizations receiving funding, said conservationists have continued protecting the species despite limited resources.

“We’ve protected the golden-crowned sifaka for years on a budget that would never match what this species deserves, but letting it go extinct was never an option,” Tiana Andriamanana said in a statement.

She added: “This funding, this global platform and technical support change what is possible.”

From rare salamanders to endangered pangolins

Among the species targeted by the Phoenix Species Project are the Hickory Nut Gorge green salamander, a lungless tree-dwelling amphibian found only in a small canyon in North Carolina, and the Visayan warty pig, which is endemic to islands in the Philippines.

Other animals on the list include the Cozumel harvest mouse, which lives only on an island off Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula, and the pink land iguana, found only on Wolf Volcano in the Galápagos Islands.

The Malayan pangolin, also known as the Sunda pangolin, is another species included in the initiative. Native to Southeast Asia, the animal is among the species facing significant conservation challenges.

The project also includes Tanzania's pancake tortoise, named for its unusually flat and flexible shell, and Colombia's starry night harlequin toad, known for its distinctive black-and-white appearance.

Another remarkable animal on the list is Attenborough’s long-beaked echidna, an egg-laying mammal from New Guinea named after naturalist and broadcaster David Attenborough.

100 species across 30 countries

The scale of the Phoenix Species Project is one of its defining features. Instead of concentrating on one species or ecosystem, the initiative aims to provide resources to conservation programs across 30 countries.

The groups behind the project said the funding will help promising but often temporary conservation efforts become sustainable.

That could mean supporting local teams for longer periods, providing scientific expertise, restoring habitats or helping establish conservation breeding programs when wild populations become dangerously small.

The involvement of Indigenous Peoples and local communities is also expected to play an important role, particularly because many endangered species live in areas where local communities have long-standing knowledge of the land and ecosystems.

Bezos Earth Fund has committed hundreds of millions to nature

The Phoenix Species Project is part of a wider conservation push by the Bezos Earth Fund. "The Bezos Earth Fund, guided by the belief that Earth is the best planet in this solar system, works to protect and restore the natural world. With partners around the globe, we are developing innovative solutions to ensure the planet remains a place we can—and want to—live on," according to its website.

The $10 billion Bezos Earth Fund, launched in 2020, says it has so far made 41 grants totaling $591 million for projects focused on restoring and conserving nature.

Those projects have included marine conservation and efforts to restore degraded land in the United States.

The new $200 million commitment places a much more specific focus on species recovery, bringing together conservation groups and local partners around animals considered to be at particularly high risk.