Back from the dead: One third of 'extinct' animals turn up again

Daily Mail ^ | 29th September 2010 | David Derbyshire Environment Editor

[Daffynition]

Conservationists are overestimating the number of species that have been driven to extinction, scientists have said.

A study has found that a third of all mammal species declared extinct in the past few centuries have turned up alive and well.

Some of the more reclusive creatures managed to hide from sight for 80 years only to reappear within four years of being officially named extinct in the wild.

The shy okapi – which resembles a cross between a zebra and a giraffe – was first discovered in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1901.

After increasingly rarer sightings, it vanished from the wildlife radar for decades from 1959, prompting fears that it had died out.

But five years ago researchers working for the WWF found okapi tracks in the wild.

Other mammals ‘back from the dead’ include the rat-like Cuban solenodon, the Christmas Island shrew, the Vanikoro Flying Fox of the Solomon Islands, the Australian central rock rat and the Talaud Flying Fox of Indonesia.

The revelations come as the world’s leading conservationists prepare for a major United Nations summit on biodiversity in Nagoya, Japan, next month.

[celmak]

Ping

[Bhoy]

“Scientists aren’t supposed to believe, they postulate and test.

Liberals just believe ...”

Excellent point.

[junponline]

Document wildlife sightings at www.junponline.com before they are endangered....again. Hard to conserve a species without documenting its existence in a region.