{"id":27462,"date":"2026-08-04T16:00:33","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T11:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=27462"},"modified":"2026-08-04T16:00:33","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T11:00:33","slug":"leonardo-dicaprio-jeff-bezos-lead-200m-project-to-save-threatened-species","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=27462","title":{"rendered":"Leonardo DiCaprio, Jeff Bezos lead $200M project to save threatened species"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"prism-article-body\">\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao MvWXB TjIXL aGjvy ebVHC \"><span class=\"oyrPY qlwaB AGxeB  \">LOS ANGELES &#8212; <\/span>Foundations funded and co-founded by <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/leonardo-dicaprio\">Leonardo DiCaprio<\/a> and <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/jeff-bezos\">Jeff Bezos<\/a> have launched an initiative committing $200 million to revive 100 of Earth&#8217;s most threatened species, including endangered lemurs, salamanders, pangolins, pigs and echidnas.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">DiCaprio&#8217;s Re:wild and the Bezos Earth Fund are leading the Phoenix Species Project, the groups announced Tuesday. They call it the largest single fund in history dedicated exclusively to recovering critically endangered species.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">DiCaprio has for years been developing the idea of a major concerted effort to help species whose habitats and future existence are threatened by <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/climate-change\">climate change<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">In 2021, he and Re:wild co-founder Wes Sechrest, a biologist who serves as the organization&#8217;s CEO, met with the Amazon-founding mega billionaire Bezos and his wife, former TV news reporter and host Lauren S\u00e1nchez Bezos. He serves as chair and she as vice chair of the Bezos Earth Fund. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The meeting led to a series of conversations with local governments, environmental groups and Indigenous people on how best to reverse the decline of their most vulnerable species. Those conversations eventually led to the Phoenix Species Project.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Animals the initiative is seeking to sustain include:<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">&#8211; The golden-crowned sifaka, a lemur from Madagascar <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">&#8211; The Hickory Nut Gorge green salamander, a lungless tree-dweller that lives only in a small canyon in North Carolina. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">&#8211; The Visayan warty pig, endemic to islands in the Philippines. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">&#8211; Mexico&#8217;s Cozumel harvest mouse, which lives only on an island off the Yucat\u00e1n Peninsula. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">&#8211; The pink land iguana, found only on Wolf Volcano in the Gal\u00e1pagos Islands. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">&#8211; The Malayan pangolin, also known as the Sunda pangolin, native to Southeast Asia. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">&#8211; Tanzania&#8217;s pancake tortoise, named for its flat, flexible shell. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">&#8211; The starry night harlequin toad, known and named for its black-and-white evening sky appearance, found only in the mountains of Colombia. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">&#8211; Attenborough\u2019s long-beaked echidna, a monotreme, or mammal that lays eggs, from New Guinea named in honor of the 100-year-old naturalist and narrator-of-nature <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/david-attenborough-100th-birthday-nature-presenter-db91049358ead2a725920b782d10ed72\">David Attenborough<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The project\u2019s goals include giving long-term sustenance to successful but fleeting smaller efforts. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC eTIW sUzSN \">\u201cWe\u2019ve 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,\u201d Tiana Andriamanana, executive director of Association Fanamby, one of the groups getting a grant from the initiative, said in a statement. \u201cThis funding, this global platform and technical support change what is possible.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>LOS ANGELES &#8212; Foundations funded and co-founded by Leonardo DiCaprio and Jeff Bezos have launched an initiative committing $200 million to revive 100 of Earth&#8217;s most threatened species, including endangered lemurs, salamanders, pangolins, pigs and echidnas. DiCaprio&#8217;s Re:wild and the Bezos Earth Fund are leading the Phoenix Species Project, the groups announced Tuesday. They call&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27463,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.abcnewsfe.com\/a\/0f091ea6-65af-4fc9-9efc-35566050e453\/wirestory_32320ba8dd021f162021d08050aaa9d3_16x9.jpg?w=1600","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-abc-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27462"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27462\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/27463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}