# 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.

*By YPB Team · Published August 9, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/what-is-the-greatest-wildlife-comeback-story*

---

## Current results (0 votes)

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.
2. **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.
3. **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.
4. **California Condor**
   Every wild bird was captured in 1987 leaving 27 alive; captive breeding has since pushed the population past 500.
5. **Humpback Whale**
   Hunted to roughly 5,000 animals before the 1966 whaling ban, now back above 100,000 worldwide.
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.
7. **Southern White Rhino**
   Rebuilt from fewer than 100 survivors in a single South African reserve to well over 15,000 animals.
8. **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.
9. **American Alligator**
   Listed as endangered in 1967 after decades of hide hunting, it recovered so fully it was delisted in 1987.
10. **Black-Footed Ferret**
   Declared extinct twice before a Wyoming ranch dog found the last colony in 1981, the source of every ferret alive today.
11. **Peregrine Falcon**
   DDT emptied the eastern United States of nesting pairs; captive releases restored the world's fastest bird by 1999.
12. **Sea Otter**
   Fur traders left perhaps 2,000 worldwide by 1911, and protected remnant colonies rebuilt the Pacific population.
13. **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.
14. **Mountain Gorilla**
   Down to about 250 animals in the 1980s, now past 1,000 thanks to ranger patrols and tourism revenue in the Virungas.

Tags: nature, animals, conservation, endangered species