Here Are The Most Endangered Animals In North Carolina

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 North Carolina, the two most threatened animals are the Saint Francis’ Satyr Butterfly and Cape Fear Shiner, according to the report released Wednesday by 24/7 Wall St.

• Saint Francis’ Satyr Butterfly
  • Scientific name: neonympha mitchellii francisci
  • IUCN Red List classification: not listed
  • U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service classification: Endangered
  • Description: small dark brown butterfly with a wingspan up to 44 millimeters
  • Geographic range: A metapopulation is known to exist in Cumberland and Hoke counties in the North Carolina sandhills.
  • Habitat: wide, wet meadows with high diversity that are often created from beaver activity

• Cape Fear Shiner
  • Scientific name: notropis mekistocholas
  • IUCN Red List classification: Endangered
  • U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service classification: Endangered
  • Description: small yellow minnow with a black band down the side of its body
  • Geographic range: upper Cape Fear River Basin in the Central Piedmont of North Carolina
  • Habitat: found in slow pools and runs, typically around gravel and boulders

According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, there are 67 threatened or endangered species in North Carolina, including the loggerhead sea turtle, red-cockaded woodpecker and gray bat.

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 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.

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Patch reporter Dan Hampton contributed to this report.

Main Photo credit: Darren J. Bradley/Shutterstock