By Jeanne Roberts
Posted on Jan. 13, 2012. Listed in:
Called Lazarus species , these once-thought-extinct, rediscovered species have been cropping up in the news with increasing frequency.
One item that caught my eye was the formerly extinct Galapagos tortoise , which may still exist, though in seriously reduced numbers. Its DNA, however, is found in the genetic makeup of other island turtles, so scientists speculate it may be possible to clone the species.
But the giant native turtle is not the only species recently rediscovered. Also relocated (by visual observation) are:
- Pygmy tarsier
- Okapi
- Dwarf cloud rats,
- Nelson’s small-eared shrew
- Laotian rock rat
- Cuban Solenodon
- Worcester’s buttonquail
- Arakan forest turtle
- Mountain pygmy possum
10. Terror Skink 
11. Coelecanth (“walking” fish)
12. Woolly flying squirrel
13. La Palma giant lizard
14. Javan elephants
15. Painted frog
16. Short-necked oil beetle
17. Singapore butterfly
18. Siamese crocodile 
19. Philippine forest turtle
20. Madagascar blind snake
21. Ivory-billed woodpecker
22. Madagascar serpent eagle
23. Bavarian pine vole
24. Caatinga woodpecker
25. Calyptura kinglet
26. Fernandina rice rat
27. Rancho Grande Harlequin frog
28. Gracilidris ant
29. Borneo toad
30. Bermuda petrel
31. Caspian horse
32. Chacoan peccary (wild pig)
33. Gilbert's potoroo 
34. La Gomera giant lizard
35. Takahe
36. Madagascar pochard (duck)
37. Greenback Cutthroat trout
38. Kakapo (flightless) parrot
39. New Zealand storm-petrel
40. Chatham Island taiko
41. Campbell Island snipe
42. Campbell Island teal
43. Swinshoe's softshell turtle
44. Bubble Nest frog
45. Rio Pescado stubfoot toad 
46. Hula painted frog
47. Banggai crow
48. Cave splayfoot salamander,
49. Mount Nimba red-limbed reed frog
50. Omaniundu reed frog
51. Kunimasu trout
As you can see, the list is extensive, running to what researchers from the University of Singapore, the University of Adelaide (Australia) and Princeton University (New Jersey, USA) think may be 351 species over the last century and a quarter. (For a truly comprehensive list, and more accurate nomenclature, visit Peter Maas’s website ).
And this is not even counting extinct species of plants, mosses, lichens and the like. But the point I’m trying to make is, even though we have surely messed up our Earth and its habitability for most species (including ourselves), all is not lost.
Literally. All is not lost, and we can move forward by cutting back our energy and resource use, watching how we dispose of our leftover medications, fertilizers, pesticides and other chemicals, and otherwise controlling our “footprint.”
Admittedly, a preponderance of the discoveries are in restricted or underexplored areas, like Madagascar, but even that is a good sign. Many areas, even in highly developed countries, also remain sparsely populated and underexplored. Examples include Cairngorn in Scotland, Orford Ness in the UK, Brecon Beacons in Wales, and national parks in the U.S. (as well as undeveloped areas within Western states).
Even New Zealand has seven wilderness areas, designated by its 1980 National Parks Act. So does equally tiny Switzerland, though not numbered and defined only by difficult mountain terrain, like Bachalpsee in the Swiss Alps. For more information on wild areas like these, visit the WILD Foundation .
The important thing to realize is that we have not crossed some mythical point of no return. We can save existing species (and perhaps, inadvertently, also save some thought extinct) simply by choosing to live a less rapacious lifestyle and by deciding, even in our own backyards, to respect, cherish and maintain the wildlife that isn’t struggling to survive. In other words, feed a bird, plant a tree, create a rain garden or build a whole wildlife sanctuary. It really is up to you.
