Most US Endangered Species Money Goes to Handful of Species

FILE - This August 2017 photo provided by the US Fish and Wildlife Service shows a winter-run chinook salmon. FILE - This image released by the US Fish and Wildlife Service shows a flower from a shrub known as marrón bacora on March 21, 2021. FILE - This undated image released by the US Fish and Wildlife Service shows a small lobster-shaped Panama City crayfish.

Since passage of the Endangered Species Act 50 years ago, more than 1,700 plants, mammals, fish, insects and other species in the U.S. have been listed as threatened or endangered with extinction. Yet federal government data reveals striking disparities in how much money is allocated to save various biological kingdoms.