The Poweshiek skipperling, a small prairie butterfly once widespread across the American Midwest and parts of Canada, came dangerously close to disappearing from the United States. After populations began collapsing in the early 2000s, the species was reduced to just a handful of known wild individuals. By 2022, surveys found only 9 Poweshiek skipperlings in the entire United States. At one point during the recovery effort, conservationists were caring for more individuals in captivity than remained in the wild anywhere in the world. Researchers at Michigan State University, working with John Ball Zoo, Minnesota Zoo, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, developed a captive-rearing and release programme aimed at preventing the species from disappearing. The team released 102 butterflies in 2022 and more than 1,300 in 2025. By 2026, researchers were reporting hundreds at recovery sites in southeast Michigan, providing a striking sign of progress for a species that only a few years earlier had just 9 known wild individuals in the United States.
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