Eagles Soar, Bears Stagger

By Jeffrey Kluger

Things are never quiet on the endangered-species list a current membership of 1,176 animals and 747 plants. As 2007 dawns, two iconic species--the polar bear and the bald eagle--are moving in opposite directions in the fight for survival.

Last month the U.S. proposed designating the polar bear as threatened, after starvation and drownings caused by melting sea ice helped cut the animal's global population to fewer than 25,000. By contrast, this year could spell the bald eagle's release from an almost 40-year stay on the list. Elimination of the pesticide DDT and crackdowns on hunting and development have allowed the national bird to rebound from 417 nesting pairs in the lower 48 states in the early 1960s to more than 7,000 today, not to mention a population of 40,000 in Alaska. The government has a year to decide whether to grant the proposed polar-bear listing, but if the case of the eagle is any indicator, there won't be much debate.