Bring back dodo? Ambitious plan draws investors, critics

Previously listed as endangered because its skin was popular for clothing, the American Alligator has made a full recovery after being protected from the 1960s through 1987.

Unlike the Northern White Rhinoceros, which only has two females left and no males that are known of, the Southern White Rhinoceros bounced back through conservation and breeding efforts and anti-poaching laws.

The gray wolf was listed as endangered in the 1970s after hunting and depopulation efforts were taken too far, but was able to recover after becoming protected. It was taken off the list in 2011.

The snow leopard isn't completely devoid of risk after being endangered since 1972, but its status went from "endangered" to "vulnerable" in 2017, giving some hope to recovery after numerous conservation efforts.

While not all gray whales are recovering, the North American Gray Whale's population (those around the shores of North America) has grown greatly after being protected since 1946 and were moved off of the list in 1994.

Pandas have been protected since the 1980s, with the Chinese government not only enforcing anti-poaching laws, but also set up panda reserves in order to promote conservation. This paid off, as the panda population has grown to at least 2,000 in the wild with more on the way.

In 1975, we realized there were only about 140 grizzly bears left, and promptly put them on the Endangered Species List. Now, there are around 50,000 around the world, making them a lot less at risk than they once were and removing them from the list.

Manatee numbers were dwindling due to being killed by humans, both intentionally through hunting and unintentionally through boating incidents, and having their habitats destroyed for commercial and residential purposes. After being added to the Endangered Species List and seeing improvements on all fronts, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service now proposes to mark them as "threatened" as opposed to "endangered."

The Louisiana black bear, the inspiration for the teddy bear, had been listed as endangered starting in 1992 due to loss of habitat. As of 2015, the bear has bounced back and been delisted.

The Steller sea lions were down to 18,000 in 1979, and listed under the Endangered Species Act in 1990. Now, after 23 years of protection, the population has grown to a whomping 70,000.

There are two species of orangutan, the only great ape in Asia, both of which are considered critically endangered. Their population has become restricted to the islands of Borneo and Sumatra, where forests continue to be exploited for timber or cut down to make way for palm oil and other agricultural production. Illegal killing for meat and kidnapping young orangutans for the pet trade occur as well. Bornean orangutans number more than 50,000 while Sumatran orangutans only have a population of about 7,000.

There are only three addax antelope left in the wild, according to an extensive 2016 survey, which used ground and aerial surveillance and even infrared and only located one small, nervous group of these antelope. The animal’s habit in Chad and Niger is massively unstable because of political strife, drug smuggling, weapons trafficking and illegal wildlife trade, but much of the blame for the addax’s decline has been placed on poaching by soldiers hired to protect Chinese-owned oil operations.

The vaquita, or gulf porpoise, is the smallest and rarest whale, dolphin or porpoise in the world. It’s found only in Mexico’s Gulf of California. It’s estimated there are roughly 30 individuals left in the wild, compared to almost 600 in 1997. The primary threat to this unique cetacean comes from fishing. These porpoises unintentionally get caught in equipment or become ensnared in illegal gill nets.

The ring-tailed rascals from the animated “Madagascar” series might have their own thriving kingdom in the movies, but in reality, 90 of the 101 species of lemurs of Madagascar are threatened with extinction, making them the most threatened mammal species on Earth. Northern sportive lemurs are barely hanging on, with only 18 known individuals left in the wild. The country’s political turmoil, loss of habitat and the illegal hardwood trade are the main culprits behind this crisis.

Despite being protected by many countries under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, hawksbill turtles have decreased in population by 80 percent in the last century and are still on the decline. Their amber, yellow and brown marbled shells are used in tortoiseshell products, which are still in high demand in Asia, making the turtles a frequent victim of the illegal wildlife trade. They are also killed for their meat, and eggs are taken from nests for food. Environmental factors also threaten their habitats.

All eight species of the pangolin are threatened with extinction, with three being endangered and two being critically endangered, all because of poaching. Pangolins, or scaly anteaters, are the most illegally traded mammal in the world. The scales of the pangolin are in high demand on the black market for use in traditional Chinese medicine while the meat is considered a delicacy. With Chinese and Sunda pangolin populations decimated and a commercial trade ban for wild-caught pangolin in Asia, hunters are now poaching the four species of African pangolin. Numerous attempts to breed pangolins in captivity so far have failed.

With the growth of the upper middle class in countries such as China and Vietnam, demand for illegal wildlife products used in traditional Asian medicine, such as rhinoceros horns, has soared in the last decade. There are just over 29,000 rhinos left on Earth, according to National Geographic. Of the five species of rhinos, three are critically endangered due to poaching. There are roughly 60 Javan rhinos, making it the rarest large mammal on Earth, fewer than 100 Sumatran rhinos and roughly 5,000 black rhinos. The northern white rhinoceros, a sub-species of the white rhino, is extinct in the wild. There were three living in captivity until the the world’s last male northern white rhinoceros died in March 2018. Now only the last two females remain.

The Florida panther, a subspecies of cougar, is the most endangered cat in North America and one of the world's most endangered mammals. Experts estimate roughly 120-230 of the big cats still roam the state of Florida, but there were 30 known panther fatalities in 2017, which could’ve taken out up to 25 percent of the population. Florida panthers have barely survived despite being protected under the the Endangered Species Act. Their biggest threats are human development and collision with vehicles. In 2018 the Florida panther’s cousin, the Eastern cougar, was officially declared extinct.

The saola is so rare, it’s known as the Asian unicorn. In fact, it was only first discovered in 1994. The elusive deer is critically endangered as its population is only estimated to be 750, and it faces threats from hunting in its small, shrinking habitat in the Annamite Mountains of Laos and Vietnam. Though often not hunted purposefully, saola are often caught in ground snares set out for other land mammals.

Scientific American predicts that in 2018 the United States could experience its first bird extinction in more than three decades. The population of the Florida grasshopper sparrow, now estimated at less than 100 in the wild, experienced a catastrophic population decline in the past 40 years due to habitat loss. As a last resort, a captive breeding program was instituted in Florida in 2015 to save the bird from extinction, but the program has faced setbacks, including a lack of funding.

The Amur leopard subspecies has been critically endangered since 1996, with only 14-20 adults and 5-6 cubs found in a 2007 census. Officially extinct in their former habitats in Korea and China, the solitary, nocturnal creatures can now only be found in a small pocket in Russia, mostly due to logging and land conversion, which affects the leopard’s prey population. The Amur leopard is also poached for its fur.

Gorillas are divided into two subspecies, Eastern and Western gorillas, both of which are critically endangered. Eastern gorillas number less than 5,000 due to poaching, loss of habitat and political turmoil as their territory was the epicenter of “Africa's world war." While Western lowland gorillas have higher numbers, poaching is occurring at unsustainable rates despite laws against killing, capture or consumption of great apes. Four of the world’s six great ape species, which also includes bonobos, chimpanzees and orangutans, are now critically endangered.

The yellow-breasted bunting, also known as a “rice bird,” has jumped from endangered to critically endangered status in the span of one year. The Asian bird has faced an extremely rapid population decline. It was once found all the way from China to Europe, but its European population has dropped from 300,000 about a decade ago to a mere 120-600 mature individuals. Excessive trapping, especially in China, is the main culprit. Despite it being legally protected in China since 1997, the black market for the once-common yellow-breasted buntings, considered a delicacy as well as a totem that brings happiness, has continued to take a deadly toll.

Endemic to mainland Chile and the island of Chiloé, Darwin’s fox is named after Charles Darwin. Darwin first encountered the fox and noted it as a distinct species in 1832, his first year working as a naturalist aboard the HMS Beagle. This rare, endangered fox is estimated to have a population less than 1,000 and is threatened by forest loss and being killed by or catching diseases from domestic dogs.

Also known as the monkey-eating eagle, the massive, powerful Philippine eagle is the national bird of the Philippines, and yet it’s one of the rarest birds in the world. Extensive deforestation has led to it being a critically endangered species since 2010 with only an estimated 600 left in the wild. Killing a Philippine eagle is punishable with jail time. A man in 2013 was sentenced to six years in prison for killing and eating one.

The most endangered feline species in the world is the Iberian lynx, which numbers close to just 400 in the wild on the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) after years of conservation efforts. Up from a population of less than 100 in 2002, this lynx is still threatened from illegal hunting, lack of prey, habitat loss through construction of roads and railways, and getting hit by cars.

According to the World Wildlife Foundation, loss of habitat and uncontrolled hunting are forcing multiple species of tree kangaroos, found in Australia, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia, to extinction. The Wondiwoi tree kangaroo has an estimated 50 or fewer individuals left in the wild. Large swaths of their habitat are being cleared for timber or growing crops. They’ve also been over-hunted by locals for food.

There are an estimated 3,000 Cuban crocodiles left in the wild, according to Scientific American, making them critically endangered. Only living in a small area in Cuba, these distinctive black-and-yellow freshwater crocodiles are threatened by illegal hunting, habitat degradation and hybridization due to breeding with the much more common American crocodile. A breeding facility is attempting to prevent the species’ extinction.

Once found all throughout the Hawaiian Islands, the Laysan duck is now only found on the small, 900-acre Laysan Island, which is protected by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The population was ravished after people introduced non-native animals to the islands, especially rats and rabbits. By 1912, just 12 ducks remained. Despite conservation efforts rebuilding the population, the species is still considered critically endangered because of recent extreme population fluctuations due to hurricanes and disease.

The critically endangered Visayan warty pig lives on two of the Visayan Islands in the Philippines. On top of being over-hunted for food and their hides, these pigs are primarily threatened because 95 percent of their natural habitat has been cleared by local farmers, who also have negative attitudes about these animals damaging their crops.

This Asian species of vulture has suffered a catastrophic population decline, losing 99 percent of its population. Previously considered the most abundant large bird of prey in the world, it has experienced the fastest decline of any bird species in recorded history, according to Mother Nature Network. These vultures have died in mass numbers after eating livestock carcasses that had been treated with the veterinary drug diclofenac, an animal painkiller. Diclofenac has been banned by the governments of India, Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh, helping to stabilize the vulture population, but it’s still in decline.

While the population of eastern gray whales that live in the Pacific along California are stable and a conservation success story, the genetically isolated sub-population of gray whales that live in the Okhotsk Sea off the coast of Russia are considered critically endangered, numbering less than 200. Oil and gas activity has interfered with the whales' annual migration routes through the coastal waters of Japan, Korea and China. Seismic activity and getting hit by ships and entangled in equipment are also hurtful side effects of human development in this region.

With their bulbous noses, the Central Asian saiga antelope look like something from a sci-fi fantasy. The reality is that the saiga antelope has lost 80 percent of its population in the last 10 years due to reproductive collapse. Only one in 10 saigas is male. They’ve been illegally hunted for their meat as well as their horns, which are exported for use in traditional Chinese medicine. Once common, the saiga population is around 50,000 compared to 1 million in the 1990s.

The kakapo is a nocturnal, flightless green parrot that can only be found on three offshore islands of New Zealand. It disappeared from its much broader original range due to human colonization and being killed by human-introduced predators such as cats and rats. The birds also have a low reproduction rate, breeding once every two to five years. Kakapos are legally protected, and their latest documented population is just around 150 individuals.

All three species of douc langur monkeys in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam are endangered, with the gray-shanked variety being critically endangered with only 550 to 700 individuals. Logging and agricultural conversion are primary threats, though they are also hunted for meat, to be kept as pets or to be used in traditional medicine. Vietnam is attempting to protect the gray-shanked douc langur through a breeding program at a national park.

In 2016 it was predicted Madagascar’s ploughshare tortoise would be extinct in two years due to rampant illegal poaching. Although the animal is protected and the nation has anti-poaching and anti-trafficking laws, lack of enforcement has allowed the tortoise population to dwindle to less than 100 individuals left in the wild. As with lemurs, this rare turtle species could die off forever because Madagascar is biologically diverse yet one of the 10 poorest countries in the world and continues to face political upheaval and disorganization.