Do you know how many species went extinct in 2021?

How many species disappeared forever?

23!

In the United States, the Fish and Wildlife Service declared that 23 species, some not seen in decades, had gone extinct and should be taken off the nation’s endangered species list. Who knows how many other species got wiped out that we don’t know about.

Here are the losses:

1. Bachman’s warbler: Last seen in 1988
2. Bridled white-eye: Last seen in 1983
3. Flat pigtoe mussel: Last seen in 1984
4. Green-blossom pearly mussel: Last seen in 1982
5. Ivory-billed woodpecker: Last seen in 1944
6. Kaua’i ‘akialoa: Last seen in 1969
7. Kaua’i nukupu’u: Last seen in 1899
8. Kaua’i ‘ō’ō: Last seen in 1987
9. Large Kauai thrush: Last seen in 1987
10. Little Mariana fruit bat: Last seen in 1968
11. Maui ākepa: Last seen in 1988
12. Maui nukupu’u: Last seen in 1996
13. Molokai creeper: Last seen in 1963
14. Phyllostegia glabra var. Lanaiensis: Last seen in 1914
15. Po’ouli: Last seen in 2004
16. San Marcos gambusia: Last seen in 1983
17. Scioto madtom: Last seen in 1957
18. Southern acornshell mussel: Last seen in 1973