DiCaprio and Bezos Drop $200M to Save 100 Rare Species

When an Oscar-winning actor and one of the world's richest men decide to team up, endangered animals just got a fighting chance.

Leonardo DiCaprio and Jeff Bezos, alongside his wife Lauren Sánchez, announced the Phoenix Species Project in August 2026. The initiative combines $200 million with on-the-ground expertise to pull 100 animal species back from the edge of extinction.

The collaboration merges Re:wild, the conservation organization DiCaprio co-founded in 2021, with the Bezos Earth Fund established a year earlier. Together, they're partnering with the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Species Survival Commission, the scientific group that maintains the global Red List tracking nearly 50,000 threatened species.

The animals getting help face different dangers but share the same desperate need for protection. Chinese pangolins have been devastated by poaching, while the striking pink land iguana clings to survival in the Galápagos Islands. The endangered Asian giant tortoise also made the priority list.

What makes this project different is how the money flows. Instead of top-down grants, the funding goes directly to local communities, Indigenous peoples, and scientists who've spent years protecting these animals in their natural habitats.

The Ripple Effect

DiCaprio emphasized that saving species on the brink does more than rescue individual animals. These creatures form the foundation of ecosystems that keep our planet healthy and functioning.

The project's founders want their investment to spark a movement. They're betting that putting serious money behind endangered species will inspire other wealthy donors and international organizations to step up with their own commitments.

The goal reaches beyond rescuing 100 species. By showing what's possible when resources meet expertise, the Phoenix Species Project aims to shift how the world approaches conservation through collective action.

For animals that have survived millennia only to face extinction in our lifetime, $200 million in dedicated support offers something they desperately need: time to recover and a chance to thrive again.