Not extinct after all
There have been a number of species that were thought to have become extinct rediscovered. Mostly they are small species that can be easily missed in their natural environments. They show just how tenacious and resilient some species are. Their rediscovery also offers a second chance for us to save them from really going extinct. Here are some of these rediscovered second chance species.
One of the earliest and perhaps the most famous example is that of the coelacanth (Latimeria chalumnae), a primitive fish with lobed fins, more akin to lung fish and tetrapods than modern fish. Coelacanths were thought to have become extinct around 66 million years ago. In 1938 fishermen dredged up a living coelacanth in their nets. Another species has since been found off Indonesia. They are a living fossil, representative of the early fish that eventually evolved into us.
The Lord Howe Island stick insect (Dryococelus australis) is a large stick insect once so common on Lord Howe Island that the locals used them for fishing bait. In 1918 following a shipwreck black rats became established on the island. By 1920 they had eaten all the stick insects (and decimated other species) and the stick insects were thought to have become extinct. In 1964, a team of climbers scaling Ball’s Pyramid, a breath-taking sea stack 23 kilometres off Lord Howe Island found a dead stick insect. Subsequent expeditions to this difficult location failed to find live specimens. In 2001 an expedition finally discovered a small population of 24 insects 100 metres above sea level. In 2003 two breeding pairs were collected for two captive breeding programs. The Melbourne Zoo program was most successful and led to breeding programs at other zoos around the world. It is hoped to reintroduce the stick insects to Lord Howe Island once the rats are eradicated.
Perhaps the cutest rediscovered species is the mountain pygmy possum (Burramys parvis), a mouse-sized possum found in the alpine scree slopes and boulder fields of southeastern Australia. Its diet is broad but a favourite food is the bogong moth. The females live at a slightly higher altitude than the males. They hibernate during the coldest months. It was only known as a fossil until 1966 when a living possum was discovered at the Mount Hotham ski resort. Since then, the possum has been discovered in three more isolated, genetically distinct populations. Providing the scree and boulders are not interfered with the possums can live on the ski fields, however, roads are so daunting for the possums they will not cross them. Roads effectively split and separate populations and territories. They particularly affect the breeding of the possums; the roads can separate the males from the females. This was resolved by building ‘love tunnels’ under the roads. The possum populations are dwindling. Captive breeding has begun and a conservation plan instigated. Due to the higher frequency of dry years, there has been a dramatic drop in the number of bogong moths which in turn impacts on the pygmy possums.
The night parrot (Pezoporus occidentalis) is a central Australian ground-dwelling nocturnal parrot which spends the day inside ‘tunnels’ in spinifex grass. It is very rare and very shy and elusive. It is easiest to detect it by listening for its calls. With no sightings between 1912 and 1979 it was presumed to be extinct. Since 1979 there have been sporadic sightings. The introduction of indigenous rangers has greatly helped in locating this elusive parrot.
This next story could be made into a movie! The giant neon pink Mt Kaputar slug (Triboniophorus sp. Nov. ‘Kaputar’) is only found on top of an extinct volcano, Mt Kaputar, in central New South Wales. The extinct volcano supports a remnant ‘island in the sky’ of sub-tropical rainforest in which this unique slug evolved. After a fire tore through the park in 2019, a drought year, it was feared that the slugs were wiped out. After several wet la Nina years they were rediscovered, having made good use of the wetter conditions to breed up.
These are just a few of the rediscovered extinct species; there are many more. However, it must be remembered that of all the extinct species very, very few are rediscovered. For most species extinction is extinction…..for ever.
