The Smilodon
A happy couple was seen walking their pet saber-tooth cat or
Smilodon on the street of Los Angeles. They are vicious creatures, hunting
thick-skinned prey like Macedon's horses and bison. However, they haven't
really made a comeback, the pet of the couple is actually animatronic.
The Gastric Brooding Frog
The Southern Gastric Brooding Frog was discovered in 1972 in
Queensland, Australia. However, the animal was noticed by the world in 1974 because
of the method it uses to reproduce. The mother frog converts her stomach into a
womb and swallows her egg. The stomach stops making hydrochloric acid to
prevent the digesting of her young ones. From 20 to 25 tadpoles hatch in the
stomach and the mucus from their gills keeps the acid at the bay. The babies
grow in six weeks and for those weeks the mom does not eat anything. As a
result, her stomach blots so much that the lungs collapse, and the mama frog is
forced to breathe from the skin. When the time comes, the mom vomits all her
babies out and brings them into the world. The scientist wanted to study more
about this amazing animal but they were extremely hard to find. The last
specimen was seen in 1979 or 1981 and was then declared extinct until a few years
ago. Mike Archer and his teams from New South Wales were able to bring back the
long gone animal using somatic cell nuclear transplantation. It means that the
team deactivated the egg from the distally related Great Beard Frog and swapped
the nuclei with the gastric brooding frog.
The Crested Gecko
Crested Gecko, also known as crusties belongs to the
diplodectylate species that are native to Australia, New Zealand, and New
Caledonia. They are among the largest gecko species and range from 6 to 10
inches long including the 4 to 6 inches long tail. The most peculiar features
of the Crested Gecko are the hairlike structure above the eyes that look like
eyelashes. Apart from that, they have two spines that start from the side of
the wedge shaped heads and end at the base of their tail. The species also
doesn't have eyelids and uses their long tongues to moisten the eyes and remove
the dirt. They are very popular as a pet mainly because of their look and also
because it is easy to take care of them. However, the creature was thought to
be extinct before the animal was rediscovered in 1994. After being discovered,
the trait of this animal was banned worldwide, however, a couple of breeders in
the US got hold of some.
The Bermuda Petrel
Just like the extinct Dodo bird, the Bermuda Petrol was an
island dwelling bird. The existence of this bird was under the threat because
of a man, Christopher Columbus. It is said that there were millions of
nocturnal sea birds residing on then uninhabited Bermuda Islands. In the 1500s,
the sailor used to bring rats and pigs along with them who feasted freely on
the birds and the eggs during the pit stops. In 1600, just 20 years after the
British settlement on the island, the Bermuda Petrol was said to be extinct. Almost
400 years later, a teenager on the island, David Wingate, a member of the
naturalists rediscovered the bird. He located 17 nesting pairs of gray and
white bird clinging to their life on the four rocky islands close to Bermuda
Castle Harbor. After that, David became the first conservation officer and
worked hard to support the bird's re-establishment till his retirement. Now, he
is in his 80s and still visits these birds to whom he dedicated his life.
The New Guinea Singing Dog
This animal is proven to be the most ancient wild dog, they
are thought to be the ancestors of the domesticated dogs. They are called
singing dogs because of their love for howling and are feared to be extinct for
more than 50 years. The species were rediscovered again in the forests and
highlands of New Guinea at about 3,300 to 4,200 meters above sea level. In
2016, the cameras at least documented 15 highland wild dogs including males,
females, and cubs on Mount Punkack Jayaw. Before that between 2005 and 2012,
there have been some sightings of these animals but nothing was confirmed.
The Pygmy Tarsier
This animal is the tiniest primate species in Indonesia as
it is the size of a small mouse. Pygmy Tarsier weighs less than two ounces and
measures less than four inches from head to tail. Mr. Doyan from the Texas
University had traveled to Sulawesi Island in Indonesia to confirm the
extinction of the animal, instead, he became the first person to spot the Pygmy
Tarsier almost after 80 years. Many scientists came before him but they all
failed.
The South Island TAKAHE
Also known as Natourneys is a flightless bird in New Zealand
and belonged to the rail family. They were first encountered by the Europeans
in 1847, however, they were first recorded in 1849. This is when a group of
sealers followed the trail of an unknown bird, when the dog chased them, the
bird ran at a great speed. After being captured, they screamed, struggled, and
fought hard, but, were eventually roasted and eaten. The meat of the bird was
declared delicious and was hunted for the same leading to their extinction. The
last bird was captured in 1898 and no more were found afterward. Fifty years
later, Dukai birds were rediscovered in an expedition led by the physician
Jeffrey Orbel in the Merchison Mountains on 20th of November 1948. The
expedition started when an unknown footprint was found near the lake and two
Dukai were caught. But went back into the wild after the photo was taken, and
this news generated a great amount of interest. The New Zealand government took
immediate action and closed off the remote part of the Fjordland National Park.
The count of the bird is steadily climbing.
The Caspian Horse
They are one of the oldest and one of the newest horse
breeds, the archeozoologic evidence states the Caspian horse back to at least
3000 BC. When the Persian Empire collapsed in 644 AD, its royal horse vanished
for more than a thousand years. It was rediscovered in the year 1965 by Louis
Farrow in a remote village called Imal near the Caspian Sea. The locals would
catch them and breed them as workhorses. Louis then established a national
Caspian stud farm for them which is maintained by the government.
The Madagascar Serpentegle
They reside in pristine eastern rainforest and are the
world's most endangered raptors. The species was rediscovered by Russell
Thorstorm on 3 November 1993. The scientist was walking around Madagascar's
northeast coast when he spotted the bird first time in over 60 years. The news
excited the biologists working to save Madagascar's wildlife, according to them
the island holds 5% of the world's living species, and more than 150,000
nations flora and fauna including the Serpentegle exist nowhere else.
The Silicanth
They are top sea creatures found 2300 feet below the surface
and are 6.5 feet long weighing around 198 pounds. The scientists estimate that
Silicanth can live up to 60 years and more, they were said to be extinct 65
million years ago, but, were rediscovered in 1938 by a South African museum curator.
This initiated a debate about how this bizarre sea creature fits into the
evolution of the land animals.
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