Top 5 animals which were once considered extinct
Due to increase in the human population, animals lost their habitat by a great extent. Due to excessive hunting, many animals became extinct. But some animals made it back from the extinct status.
let's have a look at five such animals which removed the status of "extinct" from their name.
5. Tahake
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Tahake is a flightless bird belong to the rail bird family. These birds are native to New Zealand. In 1898, Tahake was considered extinct as no other bird of the same species was found after the last four known specimen were taken for the museum. But then on November 20, 1948, scientist changed their decision after they found one near Lake Te Anau.
These birds are not extinct now, but their population is only in hundreds, not enough to make them common again, which they used to be once.
4. Lord Howe Island Stick Insect
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Lord Hawe Island Stick Insects are also called tree lobsters. They used to be very common in Lord Howe Island, New South Wales, until 1880. Their Population decreased drastically and by 1920, not a single insect was found and was ultimately declared extinct. However, in 2001 scientists rediscovered the insect alive on the same island, and you are right! 😉 again a living species.
3. Arakan Forest Turtle
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Arakan Forest Turtle are extremely rare species of turtle and are only found the Arakan hills (Myanmar) and Chittagong hills tracts (Bangladesh). These turtles can survive in both water and land. Scientists declared this species extinct after no trace of a single turtle was found in 1908, eventually they got de-extinct after a couple of specimens were found in Asian food market. These turtles are still alive, but with a little population. But despite of their little population, these turtles are still traded worldwide.
2. Gracilidris
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These nocturnal ants were believed to be extinct 15-20 million years ago, but a species of these ants has been found in Paraguay, Brasil and Argentina in 2006 which put them out of the extinct species list.
1. Coelacanth
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Scientists thought that this species became extinct 66 million years ago, until one specimen was found in a fishing trawler in 1938. Till now there are two known species, one is found near the Comoro Island of east coast of South Africa and one is found along the coastline of Indian Ocean and Indonesia. Studies have shown that coelacanth is related to lungfish, reptiles and mammals than typical ray-finned fishes.
Coelacanth is an extremely rare fish. They can live very deep in the ocean and can grow as big as a full grown human and weigh more than 100 kilos.
Do you know any other animal species which was thought to have extinct but was found alive later? Please let us know via comments.
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