But David Attenborough has omitted the apes, of which there are only 300 left, from a list of endangered animals he would most like to save from extinction.

He also left off other well-documented species, including the tiger and panda. Instead, the veteran natural history broadcaster has chosen 10 less well-known creatures that face extinction unless more is done to save them.

Top of his list is a monkey found in Brazil known as a black lion tamarin. There are 1000 left and they were thought to be extinct until a small population was found in a forest near São Paulo in 1970.

He also chose a salamander that can live for 100 years, a species of frog whose males give birth from the mouth, and a venomous ancestor of one of the first mammals.

Attenborough said: "I've been asked to choose 10 species I would take with me on my own ark."

Joining the tamarin are:

• The olm salamander, which lives in underground lakes and rivers in caves in central Europe. It has adapted to total darkness, can survive for up to 10 years without food, and lives for up to 100 years.

• The Sumatran rhinoceros, the largest animal chosen but the smallest and most endangered of the five species of rhino. There are thought to be only 200 left.

• The brightly coloured Priam's bird-wing butterfly, from New Guinea, chosen by Attenborough, president of the Butterfly Trust, because it "lifts the heart".

• The solenodon, a throwback to prehistoric times, with a venomous bite, directly descended from some of the first mammals. They are threatened by cats and dogs.

• The northern quoll, a small, mouse-like marsupial from Australia. In the past 10 years the population has fallen by more than half mainly because of the introduction of cane toads, which produce a poison that kills them.

• Darwin's frog, discovered by Charles Darwin in Chile in 1834. It is threatened by ash from a volcano near where it lives. Male frogs give birth through their mouths.

• The sunda pangolin are hunted for use in black-market medicine.

A hummingbird, the marvellous spatuletail, from the Andes.

• The Venus's flower basket, a sponge that lives at ocean depths of 1000m.