These Are The Most Endangered Animals In Illinois

ILLINOIS — When you think of the planet’s most endangered species, some common examples that might come to mind include rhinos, elephants, tigers, gorillas and leopards. But a new report has identified the two most endangered species in every state — and the answer might not be what you think.

In Illinois, the two most threatened animals are the Illinois cave amphipod and the fanshell mussel, according to the report released Wednesday by 24/7 Wall St.

The cave amphipod, or gammarus acherondytes, is a small, cave-dwelling crustacean less than an inch in length and light gray-blue in color. They're found mainly in southern Illinois and the St. Louis area, and they feed on dead animals, plants and bacteria. Currently, it can be found in only three of the original six cave sites where it was once known to live. It's threatened thanks to groundwater pollution from pesticides, plus contamination from human and animal waste. Human use of caves could also be introducing toxic material or causing injury to the tiny creature, according to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

Meanwhile, the fanshell is a mussel found in medium- to large-sized rivers in places including Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee, Alabama and West Virginia. The creature buries itself in sand or gravel in deep water, and it's at risk due to damns and reservoirs that have flooded most of its habitat, and commercial harvesting may also be to blame.

According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, there are 33 threatened or endangered species in Illinois, including the gray bat, Indiana bat, rusty patched bumblebee, Hine's emerald dragonfly and Karner blue butterfly.

Hawaii has by far the most number of animals on the federal registry at more than 500. While accounting for just 0.2 percent of America’s land mass, it is home to a quarter of the federally endangered species, according to the Mother Nature Network.

Other animals on the 24/7 Wall St. list include various species of sea turtles, rabbits and cranes. More broadly, it features mammals, marine animals, fish, insects, birds, amphibians and reptiles, to name just a few. Various species of mollusks — a key sustenance source for fish — make the list, including the spectaclecase, a freshwater mussel. This is often because of the construction of dams, which disrupt the flow of water and can even change its temperature, leading to massive mollusk losses.

The financial news and opinion site reviewed the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s listing of endangered animals to identify the most threatened animals in every state. The site says many of the animals appear in multiple states.

“Only 31 states have animals endangered only there,” the authors said.

To identify which of the threatened animals in those states were in the most dire circumstances, the site used the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s inventory of threatened species. Many of the most threatened animals on the IUCN’s “Red List of Threatened Species” were labeled “critically endangered.”

We used this same approach to evaluate the threat level of endangered animals in the remaining 19 states, but in these cases animals may be listed as endangered in other states as well.

Patch reporter Dan Hampton contributed to this report.

Photo credit: Darren J. Bradley/Shutterstock