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The Endangered Species Lists: Chronicles of Extinction? 79 the 1973 act, the listing process became more demanding and even more formalized. With the addition of plants and the ex- pansion of the term "fish or wildlife" to include all animals (vertebrate as well as invertebrate), many additional species became subject to listing. In 1978, Congress further required that the listing of a species be accompanied by the designation of critical habitat-an often difficult task even for well-known but highly mobile wildlife. The legislation even established pro- cedures and time limits for acting on listing petitions. During the previous seven years, 109 U.S. species and 300 foreign spe- cies had been listed (Congressional Quarterly Almanac, 1973). Following passage of the 1973 act, 346 species were listed over the next seven years (Di Silvestro, 1985). CURRENT LISTING. STATUS As of May 1988, a summary of ESA listings and recovery plans produces the following approximate numbers of species, sub- species, or populations:3 • U.S. endangered: 377 • U.S. threatened: 118 • Total U.S. listed: 495 • Approved recovery plans: 229 (covering 283 species) • Foreign endangered: 467 • Foreign threatened: 39 • Total foreign listed: 506 Thus nearly twenty-two years after the first ESA and more than fifteen-years after enactment in its current form only 57 percent of U.S. listed species have approved recovery plans-a record that fails to demonstrate attainment of the basic promises of the act. When coupled with the listing backlogs, the task of achiev- ing those promises seems herculean. This is what the record shows: • Approximately 34 percent of likely U.S. threatened or en- dangered species have been officially listed (that is, listed + Category 1).