In the natural world, extinction usually means the end of a species’ story. Yet history has shown that some animals thought to be lost forever later reappear, sometimes decades or even centuries after their last recorded sighting.
These surprising rediscoveries are known as “Lazarus species,” a reminder of how much remains hidden in remote forests, oceans, and mountains.
This article is for general information only with the main sources stemming from online data. The status of rare animals can change as new evidence emerges, and some rediscoveries remain debated.
1. Coelacanth
Museum curator Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer spotted an unusual fish among a local catch in South Africa in 1938. The prehistoric-looking creature turned out to be a coelacanth, believed extinct for 66 million years.
Scientists were stunned by this living fossil with lobed fins that move like limbs. A second species was later discovered near Indonesia, proving these ancient swimmers had quietly survived in deep ocean caves all along.
2. Chacoan Peccary
When scientists first described the Chacoan peccary in 1930, they based their work entirely on fossils. No one suspected this pig-like mammal still roamed the Gran Chaco region of South America.
Local indigenous people knew better. They called it tagua and continued hunting it for food. Western science finally caught up in 1975 when researchers confirmed living populations existed. These social, bristly mammals had simply avoided scientific detection in their remote habitat.
3. New Guinea Singing Dogs
Resembling a fox-dingo hybrid with a wolf’s howl, New Guinea singing dogs were believed extinct in the wild by the 1970s. Only captive populations remained until an expedition to Papua’s remote highlands in 2016 made a startling discovery.
Highland wild dogs with matching DNA proved the singing dogs had survived. Their unique vocalizations, described as a melodic howl-yodel, had continued echoing through mountain valleys, unheard by scientific ears for decades.
4. Ivory-Billed Woodpecker
America’s largest woodpecker vanished from southern swamps in the 1940s as old-growth forests fell to logging. The magnificent black-and-white bird with its ivory-colored bill became a ghost, until 2004 brought unexpected news from Arkansas.
Cornell researchers released video of what appeared to be an ivory-billed woodpecker. Though debate continues about whether these sightings represent true rediscovery, the possibility that this spectacular bird survived undetected keeps hope alive among ornithologists.
5. Somali Sengi
For 50 years, the Somali sengi existed only in museum collections. This tiny mammal with its trunk-like nose disappeared during political unrest in Somalia, leaving scientists with no sightings since the 1970s.
Using local knowledge and peanut butter-baited traps, researchers rediscovered the species in Djibouti in 2020. Remarkably, these miniature elephant relatives weren’t rare at all in their rocky habitat. They had simply been overlooked in an understudied region.
6. Takahe
When European settlers arrived in New Zealand, the flightless takahe with its brilliant purple-blue plumage quickly declined. By 1898, scientists declared it extinct, a fate shared with many New Zealand birds unable to cope with introduced predators.
Fifty years later, physician Geoffrey Orbell rediscovered takahe in remote Fiordland valleys. This colorful bird, the size of a large chicken, had survived in isolated alpine meadows. Today, intensive conservation efforts maintain this iconic species that refused to disappear.
