Have you ever watched a football match where one team is a lot stronger than the other, but as the game goes on, the expected loser starts to outrun and outscore the all-stars? When the underdog wins, the crowd goes wild.

The stories in this article are filled with a similar turnaround spirit, except instead of sport stars battling it out, it's all about nature's comeback kids clawing their way off the endangered species list. From giant pandas and mountain gorillas to Panamanian golden frogs, and the UK's red kites and native oysters, people at conservation groups and zoos around the world are working together to give nature's underdogs a fighting chance at survival.

The Red List

A species, plant or animal, may face rapid population decline for many reasons, such as habitat loss (the destruction of the places where they live), human interference, climate change and disease. When this happens, a team of scientists at the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) add the living thing to the Red List of Threatened Species. The list has nine categories that include extinct (the most severe, where the last individual of a species has died out), critically endangered (high risk of extinction), and least concern (species that are abundant). The list helps governments and conservationists protect the species that needs the most help.

Comeback kings

The blue iguana, or the "iconic blue dinosaur", is a red-eyed, blue-bodied reptile only found in the Grand Cayman Islands, in the Caribbean Sea. Its dusty blue-grey skin helps it camouflage itself among the island's rocks. In the wild, blue iguanas can live to over 69 years old. However, their long lifespan didn't stop them from coming close to extinction.