17. Steller Sea Lion
Is a large species of sea lion that lives in the northern regions of the Pacific Ocean. The range of the Stellar Sea Lion extends from Russia to the Gulf of Alaska and as far south as the Ano Nuevo Island off of the central Californian coast. The population of the western stock, particularly along the Aleutian Islands, is estimated to have fallen by at least 75% since 1970. Due to this decline, they were protected under the US Endangered Species Act in 1997. Their suspected decline is mostly due to over-fishing of fatty fish like herring, capelin and the Alaskan Pollack. Due specifically to conservation efforts designed to protect them and their food sources they have made a stunning comeback and were officially removed from the endangered list in October 2013.
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16. American Bald Eagle
The American bald eagle is a large bird of prey found across the majority of North America. We will pair the bald eagle with the peregrine falcon in this post because they almost suffered a similarly tragic fate. They were both once a common sight in much of the North American continent, but were severely affected in the mid-20th century by a variety of factors, among them the significant thinning of egg shells attributed to use of the pesticide DDT. Bald eagles, like many birds of prey, were especially affected by DDT due to biomagnification. DDT is not directly lethal to the adult birds of prey, but it interfered with the bird’s calcium metabolism, causing the birds to either become sterile or have their eggs not survive due to being crushed or lacking adequate shell. With major conservation efforts across the US and Canada and the banishment of DDT, the eagle and falcon populations have rebounded from under 1,000 breeding pairs to well over 100,000.
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15. Kakapo
The kakapo is an amazingly unique animal and is the only nocturnal, flightless parrot in the world. The kakapo only found in New Zealand and due to its sheltered island evolution has unfortunately been susceptible to invasive species introduced by man. While the kakapo is still considered critically endangered, there have been a number of conservation efforts to help the population rebound. The first factor in the decline of the kakapo was the arrival of humans. Māori folklore suggests that the kakapo was found throughout the country when the Polynesians first arrived on the island over 700 years ago. Due to its flightless nature, it was easy prey for the new inhabitants of the island. Over the years, feral dogs, cats, rats and humans have decimated the population. Currently, there are only 150 Kakapo in the wild, but this number continues to increase since 2000 as its habitat continues to grow and be protected.
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14. American Bison
The American bison or buffalo once roamed the plains of North America in tremendous herds from nearly coast to coast. Unfortunately they nearly became extinct over the course of the 19th Century due to commercial hunting and the introduction of Bovine disease from domestic cattle. Prior to the 1800s, there were an estimated 60 million wild buffalo roaming the grass lands. Stunningly, by the beginning of the 20th century there were only approximately 300 wild buffalo left. Thanks to extreme conservation efforts, the numbers have begun to rebound and as of the year 2000, there were around 360,000 wild buffalo living primarily on protected lands in the West and Midwest.
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13. Red Kangaroo
The red kangaroo is the largest marsupial and largest terrestrial mammal in Australia. The red kangaroo calls the majority of Australia its home turf and was extremely common in the early 1900s. Due to hunting and farming efforts, their numbers greatly diminished. Three kangaroo species were listed as threatened in 1974 due to commercial exploitation, but populations have recovered after four Australian states enacted stricter wildlife management programs. Currently the Red Kangaroo is back to calling most of Australian bush its home and has been thriving.
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12. Gray Wolf
The gray wolf or timber wolf can be found in the wilderness regions of North America and Eurasia. The gray wolf tends to be the apex predator of its home range and can be a fearsome predator to even the continents largest mammals. The gray wolf is also one of the most researched and written about species on the planet. Across much of North America, Northern Europe and Central Europe, there have been organized efforts to exterminate the wolf population for most of the last few hundred years. Significant conservation efforts to preserve this apex predator sprung up within the last 30 years, so only now are we starting to see its total species count increase.
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11. Galapagos Giant Tortoise
The Galapagos giant tortoise is the largest species of tortoise in the world and can way up to 900 pounds. Of the original 15 sub-species observed, 10 still live today in the wild. These giant marvels can live up to 100 years and are one of the longest-living vertebrates in the world. In June of 2012, the world mourned the passing of Lonesome George, the last remaining Pinta Island tortoise. Due to human activities and the introduction of invasive species to their fragile island ecosystems, the giant tortoises numbers significantly dwindled over the middle of century. Though Galapagos conservationists weren’t able to save the Pinta Island tortoise, they have achieved tremendous success over the past 50 years in the recovery of other giant tortoise species in the archipelago by removing vermin that destroyed their eggs and continuing to protect their habitat.
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10. Takhi – Przewalski’s Horse
The Takhi (or Przewalski’s horse) is a small wild horse that is a completely unique sub-species due to its 66 chromosomes while all other horses have 64. Historically, it called the plains of Mongolia its home range. The Takhi retreated into increasingly barren areas, eventually finding refuge near the few water sources just outside the Gobi desert. Unfortunately this is where the last Takhi sightings were recorded in 1969. Hunting and competition for grazing lands seemed to have sealed the fate of this horse as it was declared extinct by the end of the 1960s. However, the conservation efforts of zoos saved the Takhi from a dire fate as there are now over 600 Takhis today in the wild. It’s remarkable comeback can be directly tied to the last 12 living takhis which all takhis are now direct descendants of.
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9. Golden Lion Tamarin
The Golden Lion Tamarin or Golden Marmoset is a small monkey native to the Atlantic coastal forests of Brazil. They are currently an endangered species and among the rarest animals in the world. Human activity has been the primary driver threatening the tamarin, leading to the loss of forest habitat and population fragmentation due to agriculture and urban development. Their numbers dwindled to under 200 before serious conservation efforts and two biological reserves were established. Since then, and over the last 30 years, the number of animals in the wild grew from around 200 to 1,000.
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8. Saiga Antelope
The saiga is the world’s northernmost antelope that originally inhabited most of Eurasia. Its nomadic lifestyle means it would migrate hundreds of miles to find seasonal grazing grounds. It is highly recognizable by its extremely unusual, large and flexible nose structure. As recently as 1990, there were close to a million wild saiga, but aggressive hunting and loss of habitat have reduced their current numbers to just 40,000. Very recently, the WWF Mongolia has started significant conservation efforts to stop poaching, to stabilize their numbers and to increase protected lands.
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7. Greater One-horned Asian Rhinoceros
The Greater One-horned Asian Rhinoceros or Indian Rhinoceros historically lived in the sub-Himalayan region all along the river basins and flood plains of the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Indus. Unfortunately by 1900, it had disappeared across most of its range due to trophy hunting, bounties and loss of habitat due to human agricultural needs. By the 20th century, they were nearly extinct, and thanks to local conservation efforts, they have begun to rebound slowly. With strict protection measures in place, its wild population has increased from 600 in 1975 to over 3,000 currently.
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6. Mountain Gorilla
The mountain gorilla is one of the two sub-species of the eastern gorilla that inhabits the mountainous regions of Central Africa. It is currently listed as a critically endangered species and only approximately 800 currently live in the wild. Significant poaching, habitat loss, disease and a civil war have decimated the population over the last 100 years. In 1991, the International Gorilla Conservation Program was established to build protections at a local and international level for these amazing primates. These efforts and additional protected areas have helped to slowly rebuild the populations.
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5. Black Rhinoceros
The Black Rhinoceros is native to the eastern and central areas of Africa. While it displays extremely aggressive behavior due in part to their extremely poor eyesight, they have developed a fear of human interaction. The current population is around 4,000, but as recently as the 1960s, their count was around 70,000. Due to trophy hunting, poaching and habitat destruction, these giants are considered critically endangered. Recent conservation efforts to protect large swaths of land from poachers have allowed their numbers to stabilize and slowly grow.
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4. African Savannah Elephant
The African Savannah Elephant or West African Steppe Elephant is the largest living terrestrial mammal and can weigh up to 10 tons. While elephants have been hunted for their ivory for centuries, the increase in ivory demand in the 1970s-1980s decimated the population. In Kenya alone, their population plummeted by over 85%. Protection of the species has been high-profile in many countries, and the Kenyan Wildlife Service famously burnt a stockpile of tusks in protest against the ivory trade. With a nearly world-wide ban of the ivory trade, their numbers are slowly beginning to rebound.
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3. Southern White Rhinoceros
The Southern White Rhinoceros is larger than its northern counterpart and lives almost exclusively in South Africa. It was the first of the rhinoceros sub-species to face extinction in the modern era, and by the beginning of the 20th century, there were only 100-200 wild rhinos left. Like other rhinos, they have primarily fallen victim to poaching for their horn that was used in medicinal and ornamental ways across Asia and the Middle East. Thanks to coordinated conservation efforts over the last 100 years, the Southern White Rhinoceros is making a comeback and there are now more than 12,000 living primarily in protected lands.
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2. Gray Whale
The Gray Whale travels thousands of miles each year between its feeding and breeding grounds in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Gray whales are covered in barnacles and whale lice that give it its patchy grey and white coloring. In the mid-1800s, the gray whale was hunted to near-extinction after the discovery of their calving lagoons. They remained on the brink of extinction until 1937, when they were given partial protection and then full protection by 1947. Since then, and with the significant slowing of whaling, the species has made a dramatic comeback and there are currently 23,000 gray whales in the wild.
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1. Siberian (Amur) Tiger
The Siberian Tiger or Amur Tiger is the largest of the tiger sub-species. They are known for their thick white ruff of fur around their necks and have a paler orange color than other tigers. Over the last century, poaching and habitat loss have reduced their numbers from hundreds of thousands to between 6,000-7,000. Historically, 90% of Siberian tigers lived in Russia, but by the 1940s, there were only 40 wild tigers left there. On the brink of extinction in 1947, Russia became the first country in the world to outlaw tiger hunting and granted them full protection. Since then, the poaching of tigers has been relatively rare in Russia, as there are now approximately 600 in the wild.
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