What is the greatest wildlife comeback story?

Every animal here was once a few hundred individuals away from gone. Deciding which recovery counts as the greatest is harder than it sounds.

1. 1
   Gray Wolf

   Wiped out across most of the Lower 48 by the 1930s, then reintroduced to Yellowstone in 1995 and now numbering in the thousands.
   1000pts

   DI
2. 2
   Mountain Gorilla

   Down to about 250 animals in the 1980s, now past 1,000 thanks to ranger patrols and tourism revenue in the Virungas.
   839pts
3. 3
   Bald Eagle

   Down to 417 nesting pairs in 1963 after DDT poisoning, it recovered past 70,000 pairs and left the endangered list in 2007.
   732pts
4. 4
   Southern White Rhino

   Rebuilt from fewer than 100 survivors in a single South African reserve to well over 15,000 animals.
   732pts
5. 5
   Humpback Whale

   Hunted to roughly 5,000 animals before the 1966 whaling ban, now back above 100,000 worldwide.
   599pts
6. 6
   Giant Panda

   China's reserve network and breeding programs lifted it off the endangered list in 2016 after wild numbers rose 17 percent in a decade.
   599pts
7. 7
   Black-Footed Ferret

   Declared extinct twice before a Wyoming ranch dog found the last colony in 1981, the source of every ferret alive today.
   599pts
8. 8
   Peregrine Falcon

   DDT emptied the eastern United States of nesting pairs; captive releases restored the world's fastest bird by 1999.
   0pts
9. 9
   American Bison

   Reduced from tens of millions to a few hundred animals by the 1880s, saved by ranchers and Yellowstone into herds half a million strong.
   0pts
10. 10
    California Condor

    Every wild bird was captured in 1987 leaving 27 alive; captive breeding has since pushed the population past 500.
    0pts
11. 11
    Iberian Lynx

    Fewer than 100 remained in 2002; captive breeding and rabbit restoration took it past 2,000 and off the endangered list in 2024.
    0pts
12. 12
    American Alligator

    Listed as endangered in 1967 after decades of hide hunting, it recovered so fully it was delisted in 1987.
    0pts
13. 13
    Sea Otter

    Fur traders left perhaps 2,000 worldwide by 1911, and protected remnant colonies rebuilt the Pacific population.
    0pts
14. 14
    Arabian Oryx

    Extinct in the wild in 1972, reintroduced from zoo herds and the first species ever upgraded from Extinct in the Wild to Vulnerable.
    0pts
15. 15
    American Crocodile

    Florida's shy, pale crocodile, whose nesting population has recovered enough for the state's animals to be moved from endangered to threatened.

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