Author: Trisha Leigh Zeigenhorn / Source: did you know?
The world’s largest bee. Formosan clouded leopard. Fernandina giant tortoise. What do these three animals have in common?
Well, until recently, scientists believed they were 100% extinct.
They were wrong.
The Fernandina Giant Tortoise
Marine biologists believed this animal went extinct about 100 years ago, but one has been spotted in the Galapagos.
Perhaps hiding among all of the other giant turtles? I don’t know.
She was seen by members of the Galapagos National Park and the US NGO Galapagos Conservancy during an expedition to Fernandina Island for an upcoming Animal Planet documentary that is, funny enough, titled “Extinct or Alive.”
Forrest Galante, the expedition’s leader, said, “As a biologist and someone who has dedicated my life to the pursuit of animals believed extinct, this is by far my greatest scientific accomplishment and proudest moment.”
They believe the giant tortoise could be one of the rarest animals in the world – and one of the biggest Galapagos discoveries in the past century.
The Formosan Clouded Leopard
The Formosan clouded leopard was declared extinct in 2013 after a 13-year-long survey by zoologists from both Taiwan and the U.S. failed to verify a single sighting. Well-known ecologist and professor Liu Chiung-hsi confirmed that the leopard’s habits make them difficult for individuals to spot.
One group of hunters had come forward in 1998 to state they had caught at least one leopard…but they had burned…
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