Two men whose names are usually associated with Hollywood premieres and space flights have unexpectedly joined forces for a very different mission: to save a hundred of the planet's most vulnerable species from extinction. The Phoenix Species Project, launched on August 4, 2026, received a $200 million budget from Leonardo DiCaprio's Re:wild fund and Jeff Bezos's Bezos Earth Fund. The money will go to saving mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles, fish, invertebrates, and even plants in thirty countries across five continents.
The list includes species already extinct in the wild, such as the Hawaiian crow and the Guam rail, as well as those whose existence hangs by a thread: the golden-headed sifaka in Madagascar, the North Carolina salamander, the Malayan pangolin, the Galápagos pink iguana, and even a tiny African succulent plant called the 'fluffy bellybutton'. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the number of critically endangered animal species has exceeded four thousand – almost five times more than at the beginning of the century. The project intends to work through over a hundred local partners: local communities, indigenous peoples, governments, and scientific organizations.
The funding will enable the launch of captive breeding programs, reintroduction efforts, and the fight against invasive species and diseases. Unlike many high-profile announcements, the emphasis here is not on grand statements but on concrete actions within specific ecosystems. Vice Chair of the Bezos Earth Fund, Lauren Sanchez-Bezos, emphasized: children fall in love with wild animals long before they learn about the threat of their extinction. The question is what we will answer them when the night parrot or the sifaka no longer exist.
The initiative comes amid a weakening of US endangered species legislation. Private capital is taking on a role that the state is increasingly neglecting. This is not just charity – it is an attempt to preserve the genetic and functional diversity upon which entire ecosystems, and ultimately, the stability of the climate and humanity's food chains, depend.
Each saved species represents not just the return of one organism, but the restoration of complex connections: pollinators, seed dispersers, insect population regulators. When one element disappears, the entire network begins to falter. The Phoenix Species Project shows that large-scale private investment can accelerate work where government mechanisms are stalling.
Real success will be measured not by the number of press releases, but by how many species, in ten to fifteen years, will have reclaimed their place in natural communities. The main lesson is simple: biodiversity conservation requires sustainable funding and close cooperation with those who live alongside these species every day.
