Question: did some of the living things are extint in the past

Rebecca von Hellfeld answered on 1 May 2025:

Hey there, Im not sure I understand your question, do you mean whether anything has gone extinct and come back now? Once a species is “truly” extinct (i.e. not a single animal of that species is alive), that’s sadly the end. We are looking into bringing species back – there is some work on people trying to bring back the Woolly Mammoth!!! – but we have not had a Jurassic Park moment (yet?). Researchers have tried to bring back the Pyrenean Ibex, which was declared extinct in 2000. They managed to create a cloned individuals in 2003, but it die died minutes after birth—the first de-extinct animal, however briefly.

However, there are loads of animals that we THOUGHT were extinct, but were just hiding really well! For example: the coelacanth, a prehistoric fish, was thought to have gone extinct 66 million years ago, but was rediscovered alive in 1938 off the coast of South Africa. Or the Lord Howe Island Stick Insect was believed extinct after rats invaded Lord Howe Island in the 1920s. It was rediscovered on Ball’s Pyramid in 2001. The La Palma Giant Lizard, only found on the Island La Palma, was believed extinct for over 500 years, but was rediscovered in 2007. My personal favourite: The Terror Skink (New Caledonia) was thought extinct due to lack of sightings since 1876, but was rediscovered in 2003, and again in 2009.

And of course, in some cases, we managed to protect a species from extinction! For example, the California Condor went “functionally extinct” (when there are not enough left to save the species without help) in the wild in 1987 (only 27 individuals remained). They were reintroduced to the wild from captive breeding programs and now over 500 individuals exist (over half in the wild). The last known wild Przewalski’s Horse died in the 1960’s in Mongolia, and through zoo breeding programmes, individuals were reintroduced into Mongolia and China in the 1990s! And finally, one that you might know about is the Mexican Axolotl! It went functionally extinct because of pollution and habitat loss, but survived in captivity and research labs worldwide. There are currently rewilding efforts for them as well.