GONE

Ivory-Billed Woodpeckers, 22 Other Species No Longer Exist, Wildlife Officials Say

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is due to declare the species extinct after years of searching turned up no evidence that they are still around.

U.S wildlife officials have found no sign that the ivory-billed woodpecker still exists, so the bird is due to be declared extinct, along with nearly two dozen other species that have been wiped out by environmental changes caused by humans. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is scheduled to make a corresponding announcement on Wednesday, according to the Associated Press. All in all, 23 species have been declared extinct, including 11 birds, two fish, a bat, a plant, and eight different kinds of freshwater mussels. The ivory-billed woodpecker is thought to be the most sought-after species in the bunch, having been the subject of search efforts for years. The last sighting was in 1944, though unconfirmed sightings would later trigger frantic searches that never proved to be successful. “Each of these 23 species represents a permanent loss to our nation’s natural heritage and to global biodiversity,” Bridget Fahey of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service told The New York Times. “And it’s a sobering reminder that extinction is a consequence of human-caused environmental change.”