What Has Happened to the Animals on the Original Endangered Species List?

 

Indiana Bat  (Myotis sodalis)
Photo: Andrew King, USFWS via Wikimedia

What Happened to the Animals on the Original Endangered Species List is what a post on time.com
recently asked and answered.

The mammals that had the unfortunate distinction of being included in the first cohort of endangered species when the Endangered Species Act was approved December 28, 1973, were put on the first U.S. government list of endangered and threatened species.

1. Indiana Bat, Myotis sodalis.Status: Endangered. The only member of this first group that is also listed on New Jersey's Endangered and Threatened Species list. For more on the Indiana bat in NJ, see http://www.nj.gov/dep/fgw/ensp/pdf/end-thrtened/indianabat.pdf
2. Delmarva Peninsula Fox Squirrel, Sciurus niger cinereus. Status: Delisted due to recovery, in 2015.
3. Timber Wolf, Canis lupus lycaon. Status: Varied. The Gray Wolf is endangered in some portions of the mountain-prairie region, threatened in the Great Lakes region and delisted due to recovery in other areas. Recently, the Eastern Timber Wolf was found to be a separate species from the Gray Wolf, Canis lupus, and the status of the Eastern Wolf was put up for review.
4. Red wolves, Canis rufus. Status: Endangered except, as of 1986, a non-essential experimental population in North Carolina and Tennessee. ("Experimental" populations are those that have been reintroduced within the species' historical range but outside the regions where it is currently found. Experimental populations can be deemed either essential or inessential to the species' survival.)
5. Indiana Bat, Myotis sodalis. Status: Endangered.
6. San Joaquin Kit Fox, Vulpes macrotis mutica. Status: Endangered.
7. Grizzly bears, Ursus horribilis. Status: Downgraded to 'threatened' status in 1975, with an additional non-essential experimental population in Idaho and several other regional populations under review.
8. Black-footed Ferret, Mustela nigripes.  Status: Endangered except, as of 1991, a non-essential experimental population in Wyoming and portions of other Western states.
9. Florida panther, Felis concolor coryi. Status: Endangered.
10.   Florida manatee, Trichechus manatus latirostris. Status: Endangered.
11.   Guadalupe Fur Seal, Arctocephalus philippi townsendi. Status: Threatened.
12.   Key Deer, Odocoileus virginianus clavium. Status: Endangered.
13.   Sonoran Pronghorn, Antilocapra americana sonoriensis. Status: Endangered except, as of 2011, a non-essential experimental population in Arizona
14. Columbian White-tailed Deer, Odocoileus virginianus leucurus. Status:Endangered in the area surrounding the Columbia River, but delisted due to recovery in an area of Oregon

You can see that many remain endangered, but some have been moved to “threatened” status or removed from the list entirely.

The unfortunate exception to the rule is that Caribbean Monk Seal, Monachus tropicalis, which was removed from the list due to extinction. The seal had not actually been seen since 1952, but it took decades for scientists to conclude that there were no members of the species left. Fortunately, it remains the only mammal in the first class of listed species to have gone extinct.