ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

The Un-extinct

Updated on December 6, 2017

Most animal considered extinct, are gone for good. But on rare occasions species thought to be totally wiped out are found to be hanging on in some remote or inaccessible location.

So while extinction is usually forever, sometimes we are given the most fleeting of second chances. The questions is, can we take advantage of them, or are they simply footnotes to a story of inevitable destruction?

Bornean Bay Cat (2003-2010)

The Bornean Bay Cat (Pardofelis badia or Catopuma badia) of Malaysia is about the size of a domestic kitty cat. Most of the information on this cat was derived from a small number of pelts and skulls, one rather badly mounted in a primate-like pose.

It had been thought extinct since the most recent known sighting was from 2003. However in 2010 camera traps captured pictures of three individuals of this species in a remote park. The area in which they were recorded is under threat from largely uncontrolled logging activity. So this might be one last fleeting glimpse of these beautiful felines.

And this was not the first time the Bornean Bay Cat became unextinct. It had been previously declared extinct in 1928, but then a live female was captured in 1994.

Sunquist, Mel, Charles Leh, Daphne M. Hills, and Rajanathan Rajaratnam. "Rediscovery of the Bornean bay cat." Oryx 28, no. 01 (1994): 67-70.

Baiji Dolphin (2006-2007)

The small pink Baiji or Yantzee River Dolphin (Lipotes vexillifer) existed only in very small numbers, Rumors of its extinction in 2006 proved to be slightly over-stated. However they have not been sighted again since that time and so may be extinct all over again. The amazing Amazon River dolphin is also under threat, as are many other species of freshwater dolphins.

The Baiji dolphin's environment is severely degraded and loss of genetic variability may have made any remaining animals less resilient. For these reasons scientist consider the species "functionally extinct"--meaning that even if some individuals remain alive the species probably cannot be saved.

Zhou, Xuming, Fengming Sun, Shixia Xu, Guangyi Fan, Kangli Zhu, Xin Liu, Yuan Chen et al. "Baiji genomes reveal low genetic variability and new insights into secondary aquatic adaptations." Nature communications 4 (2013).

Rosser's Sac Spider (2000-2010)

This English spider species was discovered in the 1950, but no specimens had been documented since 2000. A new population was discovered in Cambridgeshire and to protect their ongoing existence some spiders were captured for breeding program..

Source

Horton Plains Slender Loris (1939-2002)

The Horton Plains slender loris was not sighted for most of the last century. An unconfirmed sighting in Sri Lanka in 2002 lead to an expedition that capture the loris on camera. Very little of the loris's natural forest habitat still exists. Isolated specimens continue to be sighted but the overall population must be very small.

Saint Lucia racer (1936-1975)

A snake called the Saint Lucia racer was declared extinct after being wiped out by introduced mongooses, but a small population were found on an island. Every snake was micro-chipped and carefully tracked. Even today there may be less than 20 of these snakes alive.

Quagga (1883-?)

The quagga was a form of zebra with a plain brown body. Whether or not it is extinct today depends on your point of view. because there was a degree of interbreeding between zebra species the "quagga project" was launched to try and selectively breed intermediate looking zebra to re-derive the quagga. The project began in 1987 and has already developed animals that appear about half way between the striped plains zebra and the quagga.

Mahoenui Weta (?-1962)

In New Zealand, which is host to only one small bat and no other mammals, is inhabited by dozens of species of large insects called wetas. The Mahoenui weta was thought extinct until a group were found in a farm paddock overrun by gorse plants and goats. Conservation staff are now trying to establish populations in other areas to improve chances of the species' long term survival.

Weta
Weta

Coelacanth (?-1938)

The coelacanth is a very ancient type of fish that has existed in essentially the same form since the age of the dinosaurs. It may hold tthe record of being thought extinct for te longest period of time. Known from the fossil record the species was considered to have been extinct for as long as humans have been around, until a living example was caught of South Africa and documented by a drawing in 1938, before being preserved by taxidermy (see right). In 1997 and 1998 another population was discovered near Indonesia.

Not Really Extinct

Sierra Nevada Red Fox

A camera trap confirmed the existence of the Sierra Red Fox in California (United States), last sighted in the early 1920. Some reports suggested that the fox had been thought extinct, however there were other--albeit very small--populations known to exist throughout this period.

The Future

Some even thing that species who are extinct may one day be able to be reconstituted using deceased samples from museums. Some question whether all species should be brought back even if it became possible, because it is more important to keep the ecology of habitats balanced than to keep every species in existence. But even they are hopeful that somehow both goals can be achieved in a responsible program of what they call "de-extinction".

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)