This is the Worcester buttonquail.
Scientists declared it extinct after there were
no confirmed sightings for over 100 years.
That is until 2009,
when a French documentary crew captured footage of a living one.
It was a huge moment.
The Worcester buttonquail wasn't extinct.
Unfortunately, they found it at a poultry market in the Philippines where
this potentially lone survivor of a bygone species was sold for $13 dollars and eaten.
So, how did the buttonquail reverse its own extinction?
Well, extinction is never really quite certain.
So, how do we know if an animal really is gone forever,
and can we know that?
Let's find out. Everyone, I'm Patrick Jones.
Welcome to Cheddar Explores.
Declaring extinction isn't an exact science.
We know this because plenty of animals once thought to be wiped out are back.
They're called Lazarus species,
like black footed ferrets.
They were declared extinct in 1979,
but in 1981 a dog in Wyoming dropped a dead one on a doorstep.
It proved they were still out there.
The Chacoan peccary is a wild pig thought to have gone
extinct during the last Ice Age 11,000 years ago.
That is until 1930,
when a group of them was spotted in Argentina.
Then, there's the Coelacanths.
It's a 120 pound fish,
thought to have gone extinct 65 million years ago.
But in 1938, a fisherman caught one off the east coast of South Africa.
We've been surprised many times before,
and that's because our tools and processes for
determining extinction is somewhat limited.
The old deadline for declaring extinction is called The 50 year marker.
If no one has seen a species in over 50 years,
it must be gone.
But of course, that's too imprecise.
It's a lot easier to look around and go wait,
"What happened to all the dodo birds?".
As opposed to keeping track of a creature living in the depths of the ocean,
the probability doesn't even out with a generic 50 year marker.
Today, there are two approaches.
One that confirms ancient animals really are gone,
and another to find out if the last of an endangered species has passed.
First, let's look at how we know animals that lived
long ago aren't still lurking in the shadows.
For that, scientists rely heavily on the fossil record.
For example, the megalodon was a 60 foot shark,
that's been extinct for millions of years.
Megaladons like present day sharks,
lost teeth all the time.
So, as far as fossils go,
Megalodon teeth are relatively common.
But we haven't found a megalodon tooth dated earlier than 2.6 Million years ago.
That's a pretty solid indicator,
megaladons are no longer around.
Another way scientists know animals of the past are truly extinct
is by looking at major planetary disturbances.
Global events like volcanic eruptions,
asteroid collisions or Ice Ages wiped out
large portions of Earth's overall animal diversity.
For animals, we share the planet with today,
scientists rely on observable data.
They pinpoint and monitor species that are threatened or endangered.
They then observe their movement patterns,
food supply, habitat changes, and access to water.
Once scientists gather data,
they use algorithms and confidence intervals to help them determine a species trajectory.
As population ranges shift downward,
scientists and advocates push for conservation efforts
to keep them above the minimum viable population size.
The minimum viable population is the point of no return for a population in the wild,
beyond that, the species is doomed for extinction.
We've seen this recently play out with Northern White Rhinos.
They're down to three living members who are all too old to reproduce.
So, very much below their minimum viable population.
Actually, declaring an animal extinct involves a fairly thorough investigation.
The World Conservation Union won't wave
the white flag until they've determined beyond reasonable doubt,
that every individual of the species has died.
The US Fish and Wildlife Service will only call species extinct
once three independent experts have conducted thorough reports.
But it's worth mentioning everyday people have
a big role in determining extinction through our phones,
go pros, and computers,
we can get the word out about species.
It's happened for the ivory billed woodpecker who
appeared in a YouTube video in the late 2000s,
taking it off the extinction list.
Extinction isn't an exact science.
There's always at least a hint of doubt.
So, can we ever really declare a species as extinct?
No, except megalodons, they're dead.
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