National Geographic – This year, a gecko, a songbird, and a minnow joined the short list of recovered American endangered species. “…The list of 27 (plus specific recovered populations of an additional five animal species) is modest when put into context. Since the Endangered Species Act took effect in 1973, 719 animal species native to the U.S. have been declared threatened or endangered under the law. Of those, some, such as the Caribbean monk seal, have subsequently been declared extinct. The rest remain on the list—federally protected, but still imperiled. (See a different endangered animal in every U.S. state in this interactive map.) The process of taking a species off the list, called delisting, is complex. Recovery can be lengthy in the best of circumstances and impossible in the worst. But when it happens, sometimes through decades of effort, it signals conservation triumph manifesting the full intent of the Endangered Species Act: the ability not just to protect animals, but to actually bring them back from the brink…”