Our world is so vast and unexplored that it's not surprising to some that species
like Bigfoot are harder to find. This can be extrapolated as why certain animals,
who may be endangered or otherwise at risk of extinction, aren't currently observed.
These 10 animals are amazing cases of creatures that have been cited despite being extinct.
Number 10 - La Palma giant lizard. Within the past 500 years,
it was believed that the oversized lacertid of the island of la Palma had gone extinct.
All signs of its species vanishing entirely for nearly half a century.
Then in 2007, Luis Enrique Minguez, a researcher at the Institute of
research in game resource in Spain. Photographed an 11-inch lizard,
which initiated many to believe that the la Palma giant lizard had finally returned,
explaining its lengthy absence. Researchers believed the creature
may have survived in remote uninhabited areas of the island.
Number 9 – Coelacanth This incredible Dino fish
was originally thought to have vanished with its prehistoric brethren, some 65 million years ago.
But it made a miraculous recovery in 1938, when a south African museum curator
stumbled upon the fish while trolling off the east coast of his home country.
Long considered a living fossil, the Coelacanth has a unique physiology with an oil filled
Notto chord, rather than a backbone and four appendages, that give way to short, stubby fins.
Ironically, the same method it was discovered with proves to be a danger to the species.
As deeper trolling has produced many specimens since 2004 number.
Number 8 - Dryococelus For upwards of 80 years,
this oversized stick insect, commonly known as the ‘Lord Howe Island stick insect.’
Was previously assumed to have been last spotted in 1920. And then in 1960, it was deemed extinct.
More recently in 2001, Australian scientists, David Priddel and Nicholas Carlisle explored
what was once a stomping ground for the gigantic insects, ball's pyramid.
During their exploration, the two stumbled cross insect droppings
that they eventually traced back to the long thought extinct critter,
despite once flourishing Priddel and Carlisle determines that the Lord house stick insect
was simply isolated solely to the bull's pyramid, which explained why it was thought to be extinct.
Number 7 - Tasmanian tiger. The striped Tasmanian tiger was declared
extinct in 1986, after a survey of the continent failed to make any confirmed discoveries.
But there are those that still believe the Australian marsupial, which was
allegedly hunted into extinction, still exists. One of the earliest sightings occurred in 1995,
when a park ranger in Tasmania claimed to have spotted one of the tigers.
Then in 2000, the Thylacine research unit received word of a possible sighting.
Claimed by an anonymous individual who had apparently just watched a
documentary on the extinct species. Possibly the most convincing evidence
is this still image taken from a video shot by a trail cam, near Perth, in January of 2017.
Which shows alone Tasmanian tiger. The camera traps had been positioned there in the first
place due to the owners claiming that their pet dog had been killed by an unknown animal.
Number 6 - Honshu Wolf During an 18th century epidemic of rabies, a large
population of this Japanese Wolf was killed off. By 1905, the last specimen was reportedly
cited at Higashiyoshino village. Did the smartest Wolf actually go
extinct or does it still roam Japan? According to over 70 different people,
the Honshu Wolf is still alive and well between 1908 and 1978, upwards of 26 sightings were made
in regions like Aomori, Oita, Nara and Wakayama with some storytellers, even claiming they
captured and released a Honshu Wolf cub. Number 5 - Javan tiger
In 1994, the Indonesian tiger subspecies the Javan tiger, was deemed extinct.
The last recorded sighting occurred as far back as 1976, but as you've probably gathered
so far from this video of great beasts, what is deemed extinct? Not always is,
Sightings of the lost tiger have been reported as recently as 2010,
following the eruption of Mount Marapi. While not a sighting of the tiger itself,
two villagers of the region claim to have seen a paw print in the Ash.
Sparking rumours that the large fee line had returned in 2009,
villages near Magetan Regency in east Java. Spotted a Tigress and her Cubs near Lawu mountain.
When authorities eventually investigated, they found fresh tracks,
but no other sign of the beasts. Number 4 – Bathochordaeus Charon.
This species is a type of mysterious ocean blob that had not been seen in over a century.
It was recently rediscovered by scientists last year and shed light on an unusual animal that
after centuries of searching many feared extinct. If it had even existed in the first place,
it was found on accident by a deep sea ROV and can be seen here in photos from the Monterey Bay
Aquarium Research Institute. In a classic human move,
the strange blob was captured with a net and brought to the surface to confirm it exist.
It's had previously been documented for the first and only time, in a 1900 paper.
The creature is odd because it's only about three inches or about eight centimetres long,
but manages to somehow build a sort of houseboat several feet across.
Made of protein and cellulose, the structure traps food particles until it becomes too
dirty and is discarded for a new one, sort of like a giant spider web on your back.
Number 3 - Wolly Flying Squirrel. The giant wolly flying squirrel
resides in the Pakistani Kashmir and is one of the rarest and most endangered squirrels in the world.
It had not been seen by Westerners since 1924 and was believed to be
extinct before it was rediscovered in the summer of 1994 by an American zoologist,
working in a remote valley of Kashmir, in the far north of Pakistan.
Coincidentally, a live specimen was also allegedly trapped that same year,
by a local shepherd who kept it in his home. However, this discovery was unknown until 2011.
When the world wildlife fund eventually investigated into the creature.
A few years on, in 2004, biologist Vlamdimir Dinets videotaped a Wolly Flying Squirrel,
at night near Nanga Parbat, Pakistan. Here are the stills of the images that
were captured of the creature using a night vision camera in the snowy night.
The squirrel is the largest gliding animal ever discovered and can still
glide effectively despite growing up to four feet or 1.2 meters long from head to tail.
Number 2 - Baiji. Once located on China's Yangtze river,
the Baiji dolphin was an abundant species that is believed to have dwindled
due to the three gorgeous dam construction and the traffic that developed because of it.
In 2006, the species was declared extinct with one of the last of
the species dying in captivity in 2002. A year later, scientists allegedly spotted
a Baiji in its natural habitat sparking a 2,199-mile search along the Yangtze.
While no real Baiji was found, the Yangtze is over 3000 miles long giving plenty of space for the
seemingly extinct dolphin to hide out in. Despite the fruitless endeavour,
multiple fishermen along the Yangtze have claimed to have spotted the dolphin.
The most recent sighting was anecdotal as in October of 2016, a team of amateur conservation.
Claimed to have seen the creature near the city of Wuhu in China's Anhui provinces.
The team leader told Chinese's website sixth tone that no other creature could jump out
of the Yangtze like that. However, the team wasn't able to photograph the dolphin and had
no other conclusive proof of its existence. Plus, none of the people who witnessed the
sighting were experts on the animal. Number 1 – Omuras Whale.
This whale is widely considered the rarest whale in the world. It's such a unique species in fact,
that for decades, those who encountered it simply thought it was a strange
kind of miniature blue whale instead. Measuring 40 foot, or 12 meters long.
However, it wasn't until 2003 that the discovery of skeletal remains and DNA testing revealed the
creature was a distinct new species. The Omuras Whales lineage, dates back millions of years.
And in fact, it's been so elusive that since this discovery, it's been thought to have gone extinct.
Then in 2015, the Omuras whale was finally seen alive again in the
wild off the coast of Madagascar. It can be seen here in this video
from the new England aquarium and the woods hole oceanographic institution.
Roughly 25 unique individuals have since been catalogued by researchers
using photographic identification. Yet the whale is still one of the rarest and least
studied species in the entire world. Which one lifted your BRAIN the most!
Do you know of any extinct animals that have been spotted recently?
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