[güttsfükk]

Cryptozoology can be a lonely hobby. Cryptozoologists are often the butt of significant ridicule from both inside and outside the scientific community.

While not every cryptozoologist thinks critically or is scrupulous about methodology, most are quite serious about what they are doing. The periodic reappearance of species formerly thought to be extinct is the kind of event that keeps cryptozoologists going.

The truth is, whatever might be said about cryptozoologists and their quirks, ancient animals and plants really do vanish and the reappear with surprising frequency. Such animals and plants are discovered so often, in fact, that paleontologists have a term for them: They are called 'Lazarus taxa' (after the man raised from the dead in the Gospel of John), meaning they were thought to be extinct for some extended period, then suddenly reappeared, alive and well.

Many people believe that cryptids may actually be extinct species that have found a way to survive. Lake Monsters are especially likely to be attributed to an actual reappearing species, most often, specifically, the Plesiosaur, an aquatic dinosaur with a long neck and fins that lived during the Cretaceous period and disappeared from the fossil record about 65 million years ago.

Could a 65 million year old dinosaur have survived undetected in landlocked glacial lakes?

The Plesiosaur was a carnivore and a large one, so it does seem to be fairly unlikely. Such lakes usually do not have enough fish to support a huge predator. (Lake Okanagan, the home of the 'Ogo Pogo' lake monster is one notable exception).

Still, weirder things have happened. Here are ten of them:

The Coleacanth. This large prehistoric fish was thought to have gone extinct 80 million years ago until a live specimen was found in 1938.

Monoplacophora Mollusks. These innocuous shellfish from the prehistoric Devonian period (circa 380 million years ago) were found happily alive (well, however happy a mollusk can get) in deep waters off Costa Rica in 1952.

The Pygmy Tarsier. This odd, gremlin-like animal was thought to have gone extinct 80 years ago until a Texas A & M researcher found three of them alive and well in Indonesia.

The Laotian Rock Rat. Thought to be extinct for 11 million years, this early mammal was discovered in 1996.

The Lazarussuchus. This very small crocodile was common the late Triassic period and was assumed to have gone extinct about 170 million years ago. So far two living varieties have been discovered, the first in 1982.

Gracilidris. This species of 20 million year old ants, thought to be extinct, was discovered by a team of scientists in Brazil in 2006.

The Dawn Redwood. A small cluster of this extinct prehistoric redwood tree was discovered in 1944 in China by Zhan Wang.

The Wollemi Pine. This tree was only know from fossils between 2 and 90 million years old until it was discovered alive in 1994.

The Chacoan Peccary. This small piglike animal was only known from the fossil record until scientists discovered living specimens in 1975.

The Mountain Pygmy Possum. Australia's only hibernating marsupial, this little animal was only known from fossils until its discovery in 1966. It is currently facing extinction once again due to global climate change.

Are all cryptids examples of reappearing animals? It is completely possible that no cryptids are examples of reappearing animals.

It's just as possible, however, that at least some of them might well be living examples of animals thought to be long gone from planet Earth, animals that may well one day turn up as live specimens.

In the meantime, just knowing that such animals are regularly found is enough to keep cryptozoologists actively looking for more of them.

Source : http://www.examiner.com/x-16975-Gran...xtinct-animals

[vnathan]

Interesting

[rol]

[Gh007]

I have a species of threatened animal on my property, The Allegheny Wood-rat. They're completely different demeanor and look to regular rats, one plus is they make restrooms far away from where they live, rather than dropping turds as they walk.

[noggity]

I saw adn took some pics of the pickle Coleacanth in the vienna natural history museam lat year. Its a big bastard and you woudn't want that in yer garden pond! Shame fish lose all thier colour on death (and turn white). It'd have been nice to see it in all its living glory.

[Roka!ot]

New research published today shows that more than one in three mammal species classed as extinct have later been found to be alive and well.

And it is not as if the some of the missing beasts were especially hard to find - they even include a type of ELEPHANT. The Javan tusker elephant was thought to have died out until some bright spark recalled that scores had been exported to Borneo, where they still live centuries later.

One of the report's authors, Dr Diana Fisher, an extinction specialist based in Australia, said: "We found over a third of all the mammal species feared extinct have been rediscovered."

Creatures that return from extinction are dubbed "Lazarus species", after the man said to have been resurrected by Jesus.

A species is considered extinct if the last known example dies or it has not been seen for 50-100 years.

Here are just some of the creatures who came back from the grave.

[Roka!ot]

OKAPI

"Extinct": 1750

Rediscovered: 1900


THIS zebra-like relative of the giraffe was thought mythical until a pygmy tribe in Uganda told the country's then British governor, who had rescued them from people traffickers, about the so-called "African unicorn".

Today there are up to 20,000 okapi in the wild and zoos.

CHACOAN PECCARY

"Extinct": 10,000 years ago

Rediscovered: 1975

THIS breed of South American pig, the largest of the peccary family, was originally only known from fossils first found in 1930. It was assumed to be as extinct as the dinosaurs.

But then researchers discovered a live one in the Chaco region of Paraguay, where natives knew it as the Tagua.

Its story since is another successful return from the dead and there are now known to be at least 3,000 Chacoan peccaries.

They are found mainly in Paraguay but there are also significant populations in neighbouring Argentina and Bolivia.

[Roka!ot]

WALKING SAUSAGE

"Extinct": 1930

Rediscovered: 2001

A HUGE stick insect - the adults reach six inches long - they are also known as the land lobster and the Lord Howe Island stick insect.

They were once used as fishing bait on a group of islands off south east Australia but then feared wiped out by the arrival of black rats. Around 25 specimens were found under a bush by climbers on a rocky outcrop in 2001 and their numbers have since grown to 500.

CRESTED GECKO

"Extinct": 1900

Rediscovered: 1994

THESE were first recorded in 1866 on the New Caledonia islands in the Pacific, but very soon forgotten. Lots of them were later found after a tropical storm in 1994 and they thrived.

Now they are under threat again, this time after an incursion of "electric ants" from South America.

[Roka!ot]

TAKAHE

"Extinct": 1898

Rediscovered: 1948

HE looks like the dodo (main pic) - the clumsy flightless bird whose extinction in the 17th Century was brought about by sailors visiting Mauritius - and he almost shared a similar fate.

The Takahe is also a clumsy flightless bird that lives in just one place.

That is New Zealand's South Island and the last four specimens were thought to have been taken by hunters in 1898.

However, a systematic search 50 years later turned up a small population.

Numbers had reached 225 at an official count in 2008, but this was reduced to 224 a few days later when a hapless official from the country's Conservation Department killed one by mistake during the duck-shooting season.

[Roka!ot]

NEW HOLLAND MOUSE

"Extinct": 1850

Rediscovered: 1967

THIS Aussie mouse was first identified in 1843 but declared extinct very soon afterwards.

Then, in 1967, a colony was found in New South Wales followed by the discovery of further colonies in Victoria and Tasmania.

New populations are still being found but others disappear. One of the main problems they cannot overcome are wildfires, to which their habitat is very vulnerable.

BERMUDA PETREL

"Extinct": 1620s

Rediscovered: 1951

BERMUDA'S national bird was for a long time thought to have succumbed to rats.

The rodent predators arrived on the islands on ships bringing English settlers. Then, in 1951, no fewer than 18 nesting pairs of petrels were found on the heavily fortified Castle Harbour.

There are now around 300 Bermuda petrels - or Cahows as they are known locally - and their future is rosy.