Species that have been extinct for decades have reappeared!The sixth mass extinction or is it on t

Mondo Science Updated on 2024-01-30

Can extinct species still appear?There have been countless organisms in the history of the earth, but in the past billions of years, many species have become extinct. Can extinct species still appear?It is logically impossible to reappear, but we occasionally see some species that have been declared "extinct" reappearCould it be that life on earth is in reincarnation?

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According to the report of the Voice of China "News Hyperlink" of ** Radio and Television Station, as a key protected wild animal in China, there are only more than 140 Eastern Black Crested Gibbons left in the world, as early as the 50s of the last century, it has been internationally recognized that the Eastern Black Crested Gibbon has become extinct.

The Tang Dynasty poet Li Bai wrote "The apes on both sides of the strait can't stop crying, and the light boat has passed the Wanzhong Mountain", which describes the cry of the gibbon, and their call is very tactful, so the eastern black-crested gibbon is known as the "prince of mountain songs" in the animal kingdom. In ancient times, the number of eastern black-crested gibbons was still very large, and the distribution range was very wide, and later due to various reasons, the living space of the eastern black-crested gibbons became smaller and smaller, and their numbers became smaller and smaller, and they were considered extinct. In the 50s of the last century, China declared the Eastern Black Crested Gibbon, and in the 70s of the last century, Vietnam declared the Eastern Black Crested Gibbon extinct.

In 2002, the eastern black-crested gibbon was found in Chongqing County, Cao Bang Province, Vietnam, and in 2006, the eastern black-crested gibbon was also found again in the karst forest of Jingxi City, Guangxi, China. After more than a decade of hard work, the habitat of the eastern black-crested gibbon has now been restored.

Taking the population of eastern black-crested gibbons in China as an example, when it was first discovered, the population of eastern black-crested gibbons was still very small, with only 19 individuals in 3 groups, and now it has increased to 36 individuals in 5 groups.

It is indeed incredible to see the reappearance of the eastern black-crested gibbon, which has been declared extinct, and perhaps some friends think that it may really be a species that is reincarnated. In fact, this is not the case, the really extinct species will not appear again in theory, and the reappearance of the species that have been declared "extinct" should be that they have not been completely extinct before, but the size of the population is too small, and as the environment becomes better and better, their populations have recovered, and the number is increasing, and they may reappear in front of our eyes.

Although the eastern black-crested gibbon has been found again, their population size is not very large, and there are only about 140 eastern black-crested gibbons in the world, which is much smaller than the number of our national treasure giant pandas, mainly distributed in China's Guangxi Bangliang Gibbon National Nature Reserve and the adjacent Chongqing Gibbon Reserve in Vietnam.

Birds that have disappeared for 170 years have reappeared

It is not uncommon for species that have disappeared for many years to reappear, and a previous study published in the journal BirdingAsia also mentioned the reappearance of a bird that has been considered "extinct" for more than 170 years.

Previously, the locals of Borneo, Indonesia, found an unusual bird in the forest, so they photographed the bird's **. After studying the bird, researchers thought it was the "black-browed thrush". Although this bird was discovered as early as the 40s of the 19th century, they have not been found again, so this bird is full of mystery and has even been called "the biggest mystery in Indonesian ornithology".

After more than 170 years, humans have once again discovered this mysterious bird. For this situation, scientists believe that the number of this bird was very small before, but it is not completely extinct and is still on the earth, but we humans have not found them again. After more than 100 years, they are reappearing before our eyes.

Scientists: Be wary of mass extinctions

Although species that have been considered "extinct" for many years often reappear, the current situation of species on Earth is not optimistic. Because over the years, the rate of extinction of many species on the planet has accelerated.

Scientists have previously studied species extinctions over the past 500 years and found that nearly 400 species have gone extinct in the past 100 years, compared to before the Industrial Revolution, the rate of species extinction was much slower, with only 20-60 species extinct every 100 years.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) data has also mentioned species extinction, with nearly 26,500 species now on the brink of extinction, including amphibians, mammals, birds, etc.

As the rate of extinction has accelerated, some scientists worry that the sixth mass extinction may be on the way, and that the "culprit" of this mass extinction event may be us.

Of course, this is just a conclusion that some scientists have reached based on some data, not that the mass extinction has begun. Because before the Industrial Revolution, our human technology was not yet developed, and there were many limitations in the study of species extinction, but now science and technology are more and more developed, and the research methods are more and more comprehensive, and the data obtained will naturally be more comprehensive than before. This may be the reason for the differences in the rate of extinction of species over time.

While it is impossible to say for sure whether mass extinctions have already begun, it is certain that many species are on the verge of extinction. Because many species that were common when I was a child have now almost disappeared. Therefore, it is still necessary to strengthen environmental protection and wildlife protection.

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