The brown pelican has faced many threats in the last hundred years.  At the brink of extinction in the early 1900s,  brown pelicans were hunted for their feathers. In the 1970s, their populations struggled again due to the chemical DDT which weakened their eggs so they cracked prematurely.  In recent years, they faced Gulf Coast oil spills and Hurricane Katrina.  But finally, federal officials say the brown pelican population has recovered enough to be removed from the endangered species list.

To learn more, see: LA Times.