This week's Topic in Depth focuses on a variety of themes related to endangered species around the world.

The first Web site from the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (1) includes a searchable database of threatened and endangered species worldwide. The World Wildlife Fund International Species Programme Web site (2) details biology, habitat, and threats to a number of highlighted species. The next is the home page for the US Fish and Wildlife Service Endangered Species Program (3) (last mentioned in the January 3, 1997 Scout Report), which includes a new campaign with the US Marine Corps to recognize conservation by Marines. Traffic (4) is an international wildlife trade monitoring network with a mission of ensuring "that trade in wild plants and animals is not a threat to the conservation of nature." The first article from the New York Times (5) touches on some of the issues surrounding the regulations to protect endangered species in the US, while the other (6) describes how remote audio sensing is being used to search for a bird that is classified as extinct. Tigers In Crisis (7) is an educational site that focuses on the five remaining subspecies of tigers and the problems they face. Finally, this Animal Planet site (8) focuses on the Giant Pandas, Mei Xiang and Tian Tian, at the National Zoo.