There are dozens of species in Pennsylvania that are currently endangered or threatened.
Some of which might surprise you.
According to the Pennsylvania Game Commission, there are currently nearly 30 animal species that are either threatened or endangered in the state.
Some of these species, like the “great egret” or the “loggerhead shrike,” might sound rare enough to laymen that it would make sense for them to make it onto the list.
However, there are other, seemingly more common species — such as bats — that people might be shocked to learn are endangered. Especially when you consider bats make up about 25 percent of all mammal species in the world.
Here are all the species that the state Game Commission currently lists as endangered or threatened:
American bittern (Endangered) Black-crowned night-heron (Endangered) Black tern (Endangered) Blackpoll warbler (Endangered) Common tern (Endangered) Dickcissel (Endangered) Great egret (Endangered) Indiana bat (Endangered) King rail (Endangered) Least bittern (Endangered) Least shrew (Endangered) Little brown bat (Endangered) Loggerhead shrike (Endangered) Northern long-eared bat (Endangered) Northern flying squirrel (Endangered) American goshawk (Endangered) Piping plover (Endangered) Sedge wren (Endangered) Short-eared owl (Endangered) Tri-colored bat (Endangered) Upland sandpiper (Endangered) Yellow-bellied flycatcher (Endangered) Yellow-crowned night-heron (Endangered) Allegheny woodrat (Threatened)Eastern small-footed bat (Threatened)Long-eared owl (Threatened)Northern harrier (Threatened)Red knot (Threatened)West virigina water shrew (Threatened)
On the brighter side, the state lists three species — the bald eagle, the osprey, and the peregrine falcon — as having reached “recovered species” status.