Giant Panda

10 of the Most Famous Endangered Species

They’re known as “charismatic megafauna” for a reason. These endangered animals ooze star power, a factor that conservationists have capitalized on in order to fund projects to protect them (and, often by default, the other organisms that share their complex ecosystems).

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8. whooping crane (Grus americana)

Adult whooping cranes at the International Crane Foundation (ICF) in Baraboo, WI. Whooping cranes are one of the tallest American birds and one of the world's rarest. Most are part of a flock that migrates between Texas and Canada.
whooping crane
Whooping cranes (Grus americana) at the International Crane Foundation (ICF) in Baraboo, Wisconsin, U.S. – International Crane Foundation, Baraboo, WI.

In 1938, the first year a population survey was conducted, only 29 whooping cranes remained in the wild. Three years later, only 16 were left. Hunting and reduction of their wetland habitat had vitiated the population and concerted efforts to salvage remnant birds did not being until the late 1960s. Today, there are over 400 birds, thanks in large part to innovative breeding programs. Though a plan that involved transferring whooping crane eggs to the nests of related sandhill cranes for fostering ultimately failed, captive rearing and reintroduction have established two wild populations in Florida, one of which has been taught to migrate to Wisconsin. Neither is self-sustaining. The only self-sustaining population migrates between Alberta, Canada, and Texas, U.S.

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