What's the difference between "threatened" and "endangered"? Are they always interchangeable as long as it refers to animals' survival?
Native speaker’s answer
Rebecca
Good question! No, "threatened" and "endangered" have different meanings in the context of an animal's survival. To be "threatened" means the species is close to or at risk of becoming "endangered", while "endangered" means that the species is at risk of becoming "extinct", or totally gone from the Earth. So if a species is "endangered", there are less individuals left and they are more at risk of becoming extinct than a species which is "threatened".