When we discuss the looming wave of species loss, the conversation usually centers on protecting the vulnerable. Yet, a handful of organisms are so harmful to human health or agriculture that scientists and governments are deliberately planning their disappearance. This roundup of the 10 animals humans are pushing toward extinction on purpose walks you through each target, the tactics being used, and the ethical dilemmas that come with erasing a species.

10 Animals Humans Target for Eradication

Below you’ll find a numbered list of the ten organisms that have become the focus of coordinated eradication campaigns. The list is ordered from the most controversial to the most unexpected, and each entry includes the latest methods being deployed, the potential ecological fallout, and a snapshot of the science driving the effort.

10 Mosquitoes

If you have ever daydreamed about a world free from the high‑pitched whine and itchy bites of mosquitoes, you’re not alone. These tiny blood‑sucking insects do far more than annoy us; they serve as vectors for deadly pathogens, most notably the malaria parasite that afflicts roughly 216 million people each year, predominantly across sub‑Saharan Africa.

The primary malaria carrier is the Anopheles gambiae mosquito. For three decades, researchers have toyed with the notion that wiping out the mosquito could eliminate malaria. Recent breakthroughs in gene‑editing have finally offered a plausible route: scientists at Oxford University have engineered a strain of A. gambiae that carries a dominant gene rendering females infertile.

Releasing these modified mosquitoes into the wild would see them mate with native populations, spawning successive generations lacking the ability to reproduce. Over time, the infertility gene could sweep through the gene pool, potentially eradicating the species on a continental scale. However, many ecologists caution that removing a species can trigger cascading effects, such as depriving predators of a food source, and note that the long‑term ecological consequences of gene‑driven extinction remain uncertain.

9 Guinea Worm

The dreaded parasite Dracunculus medinensis, commonly known as the Guinea worm, lives up to its gruesome moniker. Its larvae infiltrate humans through contaminated drinking water sourced from lakes, rivers, or ponds. Once inside the digestive tract, male and female larvae traverse the intestinal lining, mate, and the male dies while the female settles just beneath the skin, often in the lower leg.

The female can grow up to 76 cm (30 in) long. About a year after infection, she creates a painful blister that eventually ruptures, allowing the worm to emerge inch by inch over days or weeks. The afflicted person typically immerses the wound in water, causing the worm to release thousands of eggs and perpetuate the cycle.

Since the 1980s, the World Health Organization has spearheaded a global eradication program. By 2017, reported cases had plummeted to just 30, thanks to active case treatment, distribution of water filters, and public education about safe drinking practices. Nevertheless, the worm has resurfaced in dogs, suggesting that total extinction may remain out of reach for now.

8 Wuchereria Bancrofti

These thread‑like roundworms, spread by mosquito bites, can reach lengths of up to 10 cm (4 in). Adult worms take up residence in the lymphatic ducts of human hosts, where they cause blockages that lead to the disfiguring swelling known as elephantiasis—affecting limbs, breasts, or testicles.

According to the WHO, an estimated 120 million people worldwide suffer from this condition. The species Wuchereria bancrofti is the most common cause of elephantiasis and is uniquely human‑specific. Consequently, eliminating the parasite in humans would equate to wiping out the species entirely.

Since 1997, the WHO has pursued mass drug administration campaigns, delivering annual deworming treatments across sub‑Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia. To date, 40 of the 73 endemic countries are on track to achieve full elimination, marking a significant stride toward the worm’s possible extinction.

7 New World Screwworm

The New World screwworm represents the larval phase of a fly species whose name alone may not inspire sympathy. Female flies lay eggs near open wounds on warm‑blooded hosts; once hatched, the larvae burrow into flesh, creating painful lesions.

Historically, the screwworm roamed the tropical and subtropical regions of North and South America. In 1972, a joint United States‑Mexico effort eradicated the pest within their borders using the sterile insect technique (SIT). In this method, male flies are irradiated in the lab—rendering them sterile—and then released into the wild, where they mate with females but produce no offspring, causing rapid population collapse.

The U.S. maintains a laboratory on the Colombia‑Panama border that continues to release sterile males, preventing re‑establishment northward. However, a 2016 outbreak in deer on the Florida Keys reminded scientists that the screwworm remains a lingering threat, underscoring the need for ongoing vigilance.

6 Pubic Lice

Although there is no coordinated global campaign to wipe out pubic lice—also known as “crabs”—recent observations suggest their numbers are dwindling, likely keeping them off any future protection lists. These tiny insects belong to the same family as head lice but have adapted to live solely on coarse body hair in the armpit and genital regions.

Transmission occurs primarily through sexual contact, as the lice feed on blood and cause intense itching. Over the past decade, researchers have noted a decline in reported infestations, attributing the trend to modern grooming habits such as shaving and waxing, which reduce the available habitat for the parasites.

Nonetheless, some experts argue that the apparent drop could stem from increased access to over‑the‑counter treatments similar to those used for head lice, rather than an actual threat of extinction. The scientific community remains divided on whether pubic lice face imminent disappearance.

5 Onchocerca Volvulus

The parasitic worm Onchocerca volvulus spreads through the bite of black flies that breed near rivers and streams across Africa, parts of Latin America, and Yemen. Infection—commonly called river blindness—causes severe skin itching and can scar the cornea, leading to permanent blindness.

The Carter Center has spent the past two decades partnering with local governments to combat this disease. Their main weapon is ivermectin, a drug that kills the worms within human hosts and halts transmission.

While eradication efforts have been remarkably successful in South America, where river blindness is now virtually gone, Africa still accounts for 99 % of global cases. The WHO estimates that roughly 18 million people remain affected worldwide, indicating that total extinction of the parasite remains a distant goal.

4 Hookworms

Hookworms infiltrate human hosts either by ingestion of contaminated vegetables or, more commonly, through skin penetration when people walk barefoot on contaminated soil. Once inside, the larvae travel via the bloodstream to the lungs and eventually settle in the intestines, where they feed on blood, causing anemia and chronic diarrhea.

Although once prevalent throughout the southern United States, extensive public‑health campaigns in the early 20th century dramatically reduced their presence. Today, hookworms persist in impoverished tropical regions, thriving in areas lacking proper sanitation.

Eradication strategies focus on improving sewage infrastructure, distributing deworming medication, and promoting footwear use. By addressing the environmental reservoirs and providing regular anthelmintic treatments, health officials aim to drive the species toward extinction.

3 Tsetse Flies

Tsetse flies, tiny blood‑sucking insects, transmit the parasite responsible for African sleeping sickness—a disease that produces fever, confusion, weakness, and often death if untreated. Beyond human health, the flies also infect livestock such as cattle, pigs, and donkeys, hampering agricultural productivity and deepening poverty in sub‑Saharan Africa.

The United Nations identifies the tsetse fly as a major driver of economic hardship, as its presence forces farmers to leave fertile land fallow. Traditional control methods—pesticides, traps, and culling of wildlife that serve as hosts—have yielded limited success.

The most promising approach is again the sterile insect technique, wherein radiation‑sterilized male flies are released en masse to outcompete fertile males, leading to a collapse in the breeding population. Continued deployment of SIT could eventually eradicate the fly from entire continents.

2 Bedbugs

Bedbugs are small, wingless insects that hide in mattresses, bedding, and furniture, waiting for unsuspecting sleepers to drift off before they emerge to feed on blood. Though they have coexisted with humans for millennia, a mid‑19th‑century decline in the developed world gave way to a resurgence in recent decades.

Urban centers across the United States and Canada have reported rapid outbreaks that spread quickly and prove difficult to contain. Bedbugs are remarkably resilient; they can survive months without feeding, often nesting deep within walls or floorboards to avoid detection.

Compounding the problem, many populations of bedbugs have begun developing resistance to conventional insecticides. While some municipalities have launched public‑health campaigns to control infestations, the most reliable eradication method remains heating affected spaces to temperatures above 50 °C (122 °F)—a solution that is impractical for many homeowners.

1 Homo Sapiens

Yes, you read that correctly—humans themselves make the top of this list. The Voluntary Human Extinction Movement (VHEMT), led by spokesperson Les Knight, argues that humanity’s relentless exploitation of the planet warrants a voluntary, child‑free existence to allow other species to thrive.

VHEMT’s philosophy is non‑violent; members simply pledge to abstain from procreation, believing that a gradual human decline will reduce environmental pressure and spare countless other species from extinction.

While the logic is stark—if Homo sapiens vanished, the ecological footprint would disappear, potentially rescuing many other organisms—the movement faces an uphill battle. With a global population hovering around 7.5 billion, convincing enough individuals to forgo reproduction seems an almost impossible task. Nonetheless, the group serves as a provocative reminder that no species willingly walks into its own demise.

When we talk about the top 10 animal endlings, we’re diving into the poignant tales of the very last members of their species. An “endling” is the solitary survivor of a once‑thriving lineage, and once that individual passes, the species vanishes forever. Below, we celebrate each of these final souls, sharing the science, the sorrow, and the surprising twists that defined their lives.

Understanding the Top 10 Animal Endlings

10. The Last Quagga

The final quagga stepped out of the Amsterdam Zoo’s gates in 1883, sealing the fate of this zebra‑like equid. Imagine a creature that blends the front half of a zebra with the rear of a donkey—that’s a quagga in a nutshell. Photographs from 1870 captured its distinctive striping, and historical records show it once roamed South African plains in sizable herds before over‑hunting for meat, skins, and sport drove it to extinction.

Fast‑forward to the 1980s: researchers salvaged mitochondrial DNA from a 140‑year‑old dried muscle sample, safely stored in a museum. This breakthrough proved that viable DNA could be extracted from long‑gone animals, opening doors not to Jurassic‑style cloning but to constructing precise evolutionary family trees.

Genetic analysis revealed the quagga’s close kinship to the plains zebra, prompting its reclassification as a subspecies. Inspired by these findings, the Rau quagga project began in 1987, selectively breeding plains zebras with reduced striping to recreate the quagga’s appearance. While not a true genetic resurrection, the resulting animals bear an unmistakable visual resemblance.

9. Incas The Carolina Parakeet

Picture the Eastern United States once echoing with the call of a vibrant, poisonous parrot. The last of these, a bird named Incas, perished at the Cincinnati Zoo in 1918. These parrots started life in a predominantly green plumage, later developing vivid yellow and red crowns as they aged.

According to an 1891 journal, flocks frequently raided fruit orchards, either for sustenance or sheer mischief. Farmers, intent on protecting their crops, would shoot at the birds, only to find the parrots returning to the same spot, making eradication alarmingly efficient.

The toxicity story adds another layer: by feeding on young cockleburs, which contain the lethal compound carboxyatractyloside, the parrots accumulated poison. Naturalist John James Audubon noted that cats consuming these birds often died, placing the Carolina parakeet among the few known poisonous bird species, alongside the hooded pitohui, spur‑winged goose, and a handful of others.

8. Celia The Pyrenean Ibex

The Pyrenean ibex, a wild goat once roaming Spain, Andorra, and France, met its end when Celia—a 13‑year‑old female—was crushed by a falling tree in 2000. Researchers had captured Celia in 1999, extracting ear cells before releasing her back into the wild with a tracking collar, allowing scientists to monitor her movements and locate her after the fatal accident.

Remarkably, Celia’s preserved cells enabled the first successful cloning of an extinct animal. Over fifty attempts to implant a Pyrenean ibex embryo into a surrogate goat resulted in a single pregnancy that reached term. The clone was delivered via cesarean section but survived only a few minutes due to a lung defect, underscoring both the promise and challenges of de‑extinction.

7. Turgi The Snail

January 1996 saw the quiet disappearance of a Polynesian tree snail when the last known individual of Partula turgida—affectionately called Turgi—died at the London Zoo. This marked the first documented case of a parasite driving a species to extinction.

Over 21 months, the population dwindled from 296 to a solitary survivor. Autopsies on Turgi revealed a parasitic infection present in every examined specimen, directly causing their demise. While this was a tragic first, it wasn’t the last for Partula snails; of the original 61 species across the Society Islands, the majority have vanished, leaving only a few survivors in captivity.

The primary culprit was the introduction of another snail species that preyed on native Partula snails. These losses highlight how isolated island ecosystems can rapidly lose biodiversity when invasive species arrive. Henry Edward Crampton’s 1916 work, Studies on the Variation, Distribution, and Evolution of the Genus Partula, now serves as a historic record, with only colorful shells remaining on the islands.

6. Booming Ben The Heath Hen

Closely related to the prairie chicken, the heath hen was a ground‑dwelling bird abundant on the East Coast of North America during colonial times. Early settlers considered it a common source of food, even speculating that the first Thanksgiving might have featured heath hens rather than turkeys.

Despite conservation attempts, a cascade of misfortunes—severe forest fires, heightened predation, poultry disease, and harsh winters—decimated their numbers. The ultimate blow came from a lack of genetic diversity: all females vanished, leaving only males to perform courtship displays for no mates.

The lone surviving male earned the nickname “Booming Ben” for his resonant call. In 1931, a journal described his solitary strutting around Martha’s Vineyard, showcasing “weird courtship performances.” His final sighting occurred in 1932, sealing the species’ fate.

5. Toughie The Rabbs’ Fringe‑Limbed Treefrog

The most recent entry on our list is Toughie, the final known member of the Rabbs’ fringe‑limbed treefrog, who passed away in 2016 after 11 years at the Atlanta Botanical Garden. The moniker “fringe‑limbed” refers to the extensive webbing on its fingers and toes, enabling it to glide between trees. Measuring nearly 10 cm (4 in) at maximum size, this frog was relatively large for its family.

Discovered and named only in 2008, the species was known to science for less than a decade before its extinction. The frogs, along with many other Panamanian amphibians, suffered massive die‑offs due to the spread of the fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, first observed in the 1980s.

By the 2000s, scientists estimated the fungus could wipe out roughly half of amphibian species in the region. Despite intensive conservation efforts, the disease continued its relentless march, ultimately sealing the fate of Toughie and his kin.

4. Benjamin The Tasmanian Tiger

The thylacine—commonly called the Tasmanian tiger—was a marsupial roughly the size of a dog, sporting a pouch and distinctive tiger‑like stripes across its back. Though extinct for over 80 years, it remains an iconic figure in Oceania. While much has been written about the species’ loss, fewer narratives focus on Benjamin, the last known individual.

Benjamin’s name was only assigned posthumously, after his status as the final thylacine became clear. For years, debate raged over whether the last animal was male or female, until a 2011 analysis of 1933 film footage confirmed Benjamin’s male anatomy.

His demise in 1936 resulted from neglect: caretakers failed to notice he had been locked out of his sleeping quarters during a cold September spell, exposing him to harsh weather that led to his death. No other thylacines have been verified since, though rumors persist of hidden survivors in remote Australian, New Guinean, or Tasmanian habitats.

3. The Last Kauai O’o

Among the four extinct species within the Moho genus, the Kauai o’o stands out for its heartbreaking story. Once abundant across Hawaii, its sleek black feathers were prized for decorative headwear by islanders.

The species’ decline is largely attributed to mosquito‑borne maladies like avian malaria, compounded by introduced predators such as rats and cats. The presumed final breeding pair inhabited the Alakai Swamp until Hurricane Iwa likely killed the female in 1982, leaving the male to survive alone.

The solitary male persisted until at least 1985, with his final recorded song captured in 1987. Archived bird‑song recordings from 1975 allow us to hear his haunting melody—a poignant reminder of a species forever silenced.

2. Martha The Passenger Pigeon

The passenger pigeon earned its moniker from its staggering migrations, once numbering billions. At its zenith, the bird comprised 25‑40 % of all U.S. avian life, forming massive flocks that darkened skies for days on end.

John James Audubon famously described an 1813 Kentucky flock that blocked the sun for three consecutive days, its droppings resembling snowfall. However, the species’ voracious appetite for crops turned it into a pest, prompting relentless hunting and habitat destruction.

Between 1860 and 1914, relentless pressure whittled the once‑infinite numbers down to a single captive bird named Martha. When she died in 1914, the passenger pigeon’s extinction was officially sealed, marking the loss of a species once thought invulnerable.

1. Lonesome George The Pinta Island Tortoise

No list of endlings would be complete without Lonesome George, the most recognizable case of a solitary survivor. Discovered alone on Pinta Island in 1972, George became the emblem of the Galápagos’ desperate conservation challenges.

Intensive searches failed to locate any other Pinta Island tortoises, confirming George as the species’ final purebred member. Decades of goat and pig overgrazing had stripped the island’s vegetation, rendering it inhospitable for the slow‑moving giants.

George was relocated to the Charles Darwin Research Station on Santa Cruz Island, where female tortoises from a closely related species were introduced to encourage breeding. Despite numerous attempts, all eggs laid proved infertile. George died of natural causes on June 24 2012 at roughly 100 years old—young for a tortoise that can live beyond 150.

His passing sparked worldwide mourning, but hope persists. Seventeen hybrid Pinta tortoises have been identified on another island, and scientists are exploring breeding programs to recapture as many original traits as possible before re‑introducing them to Pinta, potentially reviving a fragment of the lost lineage.

The world is full of amazing creatures. However, with the effect of habitat loss and human activity, several species are brought to extinction. Efforts to locate the lost species are then implemented. Scientists and conservationists are currently examining ways to preserve what is left of the species that are rediscovered. Here are some of the species that were thought to be dead but re-emerged from extinction.

10 Chapman’s Pygmy Chameleon

The Chapman’s pygmy chameleon (Rhampholeon chapmanorum), which grows to approximately 2.2 inches (5.5 centimeters), was first detected in 1992 and was not seen in the wild again until 2016. Researchers from the South African National Biodiversity Institute and the Museums of Malawi were able to locate the chameleon in the rainforest.

Over the last 40 years, an estimated 80% of the rainforests of Malawi Hills, where the chameleons live, have been destroyed, mostly for agricultural purposes. The chameleon is critically endangered, and the remaining populations are isolated, putting genetic diversity at risk. The researchers are calling for more chameleon population surveys and monitoring, as well as conservation action to protect what remains of the chameleon’s habitat.^[1]

9 Black Browed Babbler

The only specimen of the black browed babbler (Malacocincla perspicillata) to be collected was between 1843 and 1848 by German naturalist Carl A. L. M. Schwaner. The specimen is currently displayed at the Naturalis Biodiversity Center in the Netherlands. It is considered the longest known missing period for any Asian species, being lost to science for 170 years. However, the unique bird has been detected in the forest of South Kalimantan, Indonesia, by two locals after frequent sightings. Photographs gathered from the sighting were then sent to ornithologists, who confirmed that it was indeed the black browed babbler.

The bird has a stout appearance with a relatively short tail and a robust bill. The upper parts were dark brown, while the underparts were greyish with fine white streaking up to the breast. The bird has a distinct facial appearance, with the crown being chestnut brown and demarcated by a broad, black eye stripe extending across the cheeks to the nape and neck sides.^[2]

8 Sierra Leone Crab

Since 1955, there have not been any sightings of this little, colorful crab. In 2021, Pierre Mvogo Ndongo, a lecturer and researcher at the University of Douala in Cameroon, traveled to Sierra Leone, West Africa, to search for the crab. The expedition lasted for three weeks. He discovered six of the Sierra Leone crabs (Afrithelphusa leonensis) with the assistance of the neighborhood residents who helped with the search.

The Sierra Leone crabs that were discovered lives inland, in the holes of the rainforest ground away from water sources, and have adapted to breathe air. Male Sierra Leone crabs have pinkish-purple claws and orange legs, while female crabs have purple bodies with orange-yellow legs.^[3]

7 Coelacanth

It was believed that the coelacanth (Latimeria) perished 65 million years ago with the dinosaurs. However, the world was fascinated by this strange lobe-finned fish when it was discovered in 1938 in South Africa, which sparked a discussion about how it fits into the development of terrestrial animals.

Coelacanth and the closely related Indonesian coelacanth share several morphological traits unique to other species. The most noticeable aspect of the coelacanth is its pair of lobe fins, which protrude from its body-like legs and alternately move in a trotting horse-like rhythm. Other distinctive features include a hinged joint in the skull that enables the fish to open its mouth wide for large prey, an oil-filled tube called a notochord that serves as a backbone, thick scales found only on extinct fish, and an electro-sensory rostral organ in its snout that is probably used to detect prey.^[4]

6 Wallace’s Giant Bee

In 1859, British naturalist Alfred Russell Wallace discovered the largest bee in the world, a massive, black wasp-like insect that is the length of an adult thumb. It was considered to be extinct until, in 1981, Adam Messer, an entomologist, found specimens of Megachile pluto that are now held in museums.

Years after the last sighting, an international group of conservationists traveled to Indonesia in January 2019 and followed Wallace’s route in an effort to locate the bee again. After the difficult journey, the group was able to document the live specimen, reviving hope for the survival of the species.^[5]

5 Fernandina’s Giant Tortoise

The Fernandina Giant Tortoise (Chelonoidis phantasticus) was last seen 112 years ago and was long believed to be extinct. The female giant tortoise was discovered in 2019 during an exploration led by Animal Planet host Forrest Galante, the Galápagos Conservancy, and the Galápagos National Park Directorate (GNPD).

A blood sample was sent to geneticists at Yale University. A team led by Dr. Gisella Caccone sought to understand the genetic origin of the female tortoise and determine how closely it matched the only other tortoise ever discovered on Fernandina Island. Her discoverers gave her the nickname “Fernanda.” DNA testing has since established that she is connected to the island-native Chelonoidis phantasticus tortoise species. These results confirm the long-held hopes of scientists at the Galápagos Conservancy and GNPD.^[6]

4 Aldabra Rail

The Aldabra rail (Dryolimnas cuvieri aldabranus is indigenous to the Aldabra Islands Atoll, which is a part of the Seychelles Islands in the Southwestern Indian Ocean. Known as a flightless bird, the Aldabra rail was completely wiped out when their island habitat was submerged in water. The rail was able to re-evolve when the sea level dropped. Fossils of the Aldabra rail have been found dating back to 136,000 years ago and compared to a specimen that is around 100,000 years old. The study showed that the fossils are similar to the bones of the rails existing today.

The re-emergence of the Aldabra rail is an example of a rare phenomenon of evolution iteration. Studies conducted by Dr. Julian Hume, an avian paleontologist from the Natural History Museum, and professor David Martill, a paleobiologist at the University of Portsmouth, concluded that the phenomenon was unique to the Aldabra rail and was not scientifically observed in other species of birds. With this evidence, the possibility of a future iteration might be possible.^[7]

3 Somali Elephant Shrew

Also called sengis, the Somali elephant shrew (Elephantulus revoilii) was last scientifically recorded in the 1970s. The Somali sengi is an odd mash-up of creatures. While its body is the size and shape similar to a mouse, its legs are slender and gazelle-like, allowing it to sprint across rocks at rapid speed. It also has a trunk-like nose similar to that of the elephant, which they use to suck up ants. The aardvarks, elephants, and manatees are some of the Somali sengi’s closest living relatives.

While the locals never considered it to be extinct, the last known scientific record dates back to the 1970s. In 2019, an expedition to the Horn of Africa was attended by Steven Heritage, a research scientist at the Duke University Lemur Center, and his colleague Galen Rathbun, a vertebrae behavioral ecologist from the California Academy of Sciences, together with Djibouti ecologist Houssien Rayaleh and local scientist Djama Awaleh, led to the rediscovery of the once-lost species. The researchers set more than 1,000 traps consisting of a mixture of peanut butter, oatmeal, and yeast as bait in 12 locations. They were able to spot 12 sengis on their two-week expedition and obtain live scientific documentation.^[8]

2 Jackson’s Climbing Salamander

First discovered in 1975 by Jeremy Jackson, Jackson’s climbing salamander (Bolitoglossa jacksoni), also known as the golden wonder due to its bright yellow color, was thought to be extinct until Tomas Ramos Leon, a park guard at a newly created amphibian reserve in the Cuchumatanes Mountain range spotted the salamander. It was then confirmed by Carlos Vasquez, the curator of herpetology at the University of San Carlos in Guatemala, that the sighting was the Jackson’s climbing salamander based on the pictures. This came after a FUNDAECO (Foundation for Ecodevelopment and Conservation) education drive was conducted to help park rangers identify these elusive animals.

The discovery of Jackson’s climbing salamander on the reserve’s outskirts prompted an expansion. The park also contains the Finca Chiblac salamander and the long-limbed salamander, both of which were rediscovered in 2014. The Jackson’s climbing salamander is still critically endangered, despite being detected for the first time in 42 years.^[9]

1 Santa Marta Sabrewing

The Santa Marta sabrewing (Campylopterus phainopeplus) is an emerald green hummingbird that is endemic to the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta of northeastern Colombia. Yurgen Vega, an experienced bird-watcher, unexpectedly spotted a male Santa Marta sabrewing hummingbird in the mountains in 2010. This was only the second documented sighting of the critically endangered hummingbird since 1946, and the species was long thought to be lost to science.

Very little is known about the Santa Marta sabrewing. It lives in humid tropical forests and is thought to be migratory. They feed on flowering plants during the rainy season. Only about 15% of the forests in the Santa Marta mountains remain, and the Santa Marta sabrewing was discovered in a forest with no protection. Experts are urging more research and protection for this endangered bird.^[10]

Jurassic Park taught us all that if you have the will, the determination, 65 million year old DNA, and fictional science on your side, you can do anything. In the real world, science has a few more limitations, but that doesn’t mean people aren’t trying to bring animals back from the dead (or, in some cases, the brink of death). They’ve been working on it for years, in fact, and numerous species are the focus of these efforts. 

10. Gastric-Brooding Frogs 

Is anything more wholesome than a mother caring for its babies in the wild? Motherhood is one of those universal things that crosses the species’ boundary. Of course, some moms are more creepy than others. Which brings us to the gastric-brooding frog. Discovered in the 1970s, once this species’ eggs are fertilized, the mother swallows them and uses its own stomach as a womb to bring them to term. The eggs hatch and even live as tadpoles inside their mother. Then, when they develop their little arms and legs, mom barfs them into the world in a projectile vomit birthing ceremony fit for any future horror movie that wants to use that as an idea. 

In 2013, after the species had been extinct for nearly 30 years thanks to a fungus that destroyed them, scientists in Australia managed to bring the gastric-brooding frog back to life. Which is to say they created a living embryo from DNA that they had available. But it was more of a proof of concept experiment than a true resurrection. But the fact it worked was good, and scientists are still aiming towards returning the species to life.

Scientists want to use somatic cell nuclear transfer to put DNA from the extinct animals into an egg from a living frog and give the species a chance at a comeback. 

9. Rhinos

When the 20th century began, there were 500,000 rhinos in the wild. Today there are about 27,000. Javan, Black and Sumatran rhinos are critically endangered while the Northern White Rhino is functionally extinct, all as a result of human poaching. But it doesn’t have to be that way. 

There are only two living Northern White Rhinos in the world, a mother and daughter pair, which means when they die there will be no others if things progress naturally. But the extinction of the species wasn’t natural, so saving them with science is a worthy endeavor. Scientists have already created 12 viable living embryos that can be used to continue the species in the future.

Eggs have been harvested from both females, and sperm was used from males that are now deceased. Neither female could carry a baby, however, so a surrogate mother of a close cousin species will need to be used.

The efforts to resurrect the species have been taken up by teams around the world from Germany to Kenya. The delicate process takes time and will definitely not be easy. The embryos still need to be implanted and taken to term, and then the baby rhinos need to prove they can survive. It’s a long road, but the fact there’s still hope is something to celebrate.

8. Tasmanian Tigers

The thylacine, also known as a Tasmanian Tiger, was not actually a cat but a carnivorous marsupial. The species was last seen in the wild sometime in the 1930s and by 1936, the species was considered extinct when the final specimen in a zoo passed away. Officials in Tasmania had a bounty on the animals and they were hunted to extinction. 

Fast forward over 100 years and in 2022 scientists have made a breakthrough in the potential for bringing Tasmanian tigers back from the dead. The genome of the numbat was recently unlocked. Numbats are endangered marsupials that may share about 95% of their genetics with the extinct thylacine. Understanding one may provide enough information to help resurrect the other. 

Amazingly, unlocking the genome of the numbat was a remarkably simple and relatively cheap process thanks to advances in technology. It cost $2.9 billion to unlock the human genome back in 2009. It cost $1,000 to do the same for the numbat. 

7. Tequila Fish

Not many people have heard of the tiny, innocuous tequila fish. The tiny little things only lived in one river in the entire world, near the Tequila volcano in Mexico. In 2003, they went extinct, and very few people noticed. But that doesn’t mean no one did.

Tequila fish, at only two inches long and living only in this one river, still had value to the world. They ate disease-spreading mosquitoes and served as a food source for birds and other fish. It was the whole circle of life thing, and they were as vital as all the other creatures. Researchers who realized the fish were going extinct began preparations for saving the species even before they died off. 

In 1998, five breeding pairs of fish from a zoo in England were brought back to Mexico. A program to save the species began at a university there and by 2012, they were ready to transfer some of their little charges to a pond on the school grounds. They placed 80 fish in the pond where they would have to hunt and also be hunted. If they survived, it was believed the fish could be reintroduced to the wild. By 2016, there were 10,000 tequila fish in the pond.

After teaching the locals about conservation and the importance of protecting the fish and keeping the river clear, 1,500 were released in 2017. Their numbers grew and now their original river home has a stable population once again. 

6. Aurochs

The last known aurochs in Europe died in 1627. These ancient cousins to the modern cow were big, with bulls weighing as much as 1,000 kilograms, or 2,200 pounds. There have been several attempts over the years, as far back as 1920, to reintroduce the species, not necessarily through any clever genetic manipulation or cloning, but by back-breeding the species into existence. 

Basically, the aurochs is an old cousin of modern cattle. So the plan is to selectively breed current cattle species with the wanted characteristics of an aurochs. Through generations of back-breeding, these desired characteristics can be isolated and brought forward until a modern equivalent of the aurochs will exist once again. It’s not all that different from how any animal breeder will selectively bred animals like cats or dogs to effectively create a new breed. Cockapoos didn’t come from nowhere, after all. 

The species once dominated Europe and there were herds in the millions. Larger than modern cows and also leaner and able to produce a lot of milk. The current plans, things like Project Tauros, aim to have a nearly identical modern version of the aurochs grazing in fields within 20 years.

5. Passenger Pigeons

In the 1800s in the United States and Canada, there were times when the sun was blocked from the sky as flocks of passenger pigeons numbering in the tens of millions took to the skies. It’s believed their population stretched into the billions. There were so many pigeons they knocked down trees with the sheer weight of them trying to roost. And then they vanished. The last known passenger pigeon died in 1914.

The pigeons were easy targets for hunters. The advent of the telegraph and railroads spelled doom for the birds, as hunters could easily track flocks. Hunting them was an industry, and people would literally fill barrels with the animals and ship them off. This, plus habitat loss, spelled the end of them. 

A group called Revive and Restore is looking to tweak the genetics of the still living band-tailed pigeon to reproduce passenger pigeons. Once they’ve essentially rewritten the band-tailed pigeon’s genetics, which are already quite close to their extinct cousins’, passenger pigeons could potentially thrive once again. 

4. Caspian Tigers

You may not have heard of a Caspian tiger before. They lived in parts of Turkey, Iran and Central Asia. Sightings became few and far between over the last century and they’ve been extinct since the 1960s. There is a curious plan to reintroduce the tigers in a way that is far afield from the genetic wizardry being used to revive other species like the gastric-brooding frogs and passenger pigeons.

A plan to reintroduce the tiger species essentially sidesteps the issue of reproducing a Caspian tiger by noting that the Siberian tiger, a close cousin of the Caspian, is almost exactly the same. It’s also able to adapt to the same arid climate that the Caspian tiger roamed. Therefore, it’s been proposed, why not just put Siberian tigers in the Caspian territory and call it a Caspian tiger?

The plan would involve first establishing a viable population of hoofed animals in the region that have also vanished, a process that could take years. But once that’s been done, a new tiger population could be supported.

Silly though it may sound, it’s believed 40 tigers could become 100 in 50 years. And since there are only 500 Siberian tigers left in the world, that represents a giant boost to the species. Even if we have to pretend they’re Caspian tigers now. 

3. The Moa Bird

There were several species of moa birds in New Zealand that are now extinct. It;’s believed they died out not long after humans came to the island, between 600 and 700 years ago.Like their modern cousins the emu and the ostrich, they were large flightless birds, and they grew to be about 12 feet tall.  

In 2018, the genome of the little bush moa, a turkey-sized cousin of the larger moa, was nearly unlocked using DNA from a museum sample. The gaps in the genetic information will be substituted with those of the modern emu in the hopes that everything can be sorted and, potentially, the moa can be brought back from extinction. The process is slow going because filling in those genetic gaps takes a lot of fine tuning, but if it works, the birds may one day return. 

2. The Quagga

A relative of the zebra, the quagga was the first extinct species to have its DNA sequenced. It was hunted to extinction in 1878. Members of the Quagga Project have worked for years to effectively bring the animal back to life.

Like the aurochs, the quagga was reintroduced through a back-breeding process, where zebras were bred to bring forth desired characteristics of the extinct subspecies. Unlike the aurochs, which is still a project in motion, the Quagga Project worked. There have been over 100 animals bred, but only six of them demonstrate the traits that make them stand out as quaggas. The plan is to continue to breed them until there is a herd of 50 and then let them live together and do what animals naturally do. 

1. Mammoths 

No other animal gets as much de-extinction press as the wooly mammoth. It’s the poster child for an animal that science is bringing back any day now. And that’s not to say people aren’t working on reintroducing them, but it’s also a story that gets resurrected far more than the mammoths themselves do. 

The idea of cloning a mammoth was floated in 1996. In 1999, scientists found the frozen remains of a mammoth they hoped to get DNA from. It was brought up in 2003. And also 2005. Then in 2008, the mammoth genome was fully sequenced. Naturally, this led to more tales of their resurrection in 2011,  2012,  2013, and 2014.  Mammoth DNA was put into elephant cells in 2015. They were on the “verge of resurrection” in 2017 and again in 2019. In 2021, a bold new company was ready to bring back the mammoth, and that’s where we’ve left off. Twenty-five years of mammoths being right around the corner.

The potential is clearly there and if ever an extinct species was going to make a comeback, it’d be the mammoth, since so many people are clearly invested in it. Plus this latest round in 2021 came with $15 million in funding. Hopefully, results aren’t another 25 years away.

Research has suggested that, in the last 50 years, animal populations have fallen by a stunning 70%. In the greater world at large it’s not just animals that vanish, it’s just about everything you can think of. When’s the last time you saw a rotary phone? A cassette player? Animals, companies, technology, even countries come and go. No one is immune to the tides of time. But sometimes a twist of fate can grab something from the brink and save it from extinction at the last minute. 

10. Tom Cruise saved Ray-Ban 

In 2020, the company that owns the Ray-Ban brand of sunglasses made €7.7 billion, which is about $7.5 billion. They also own the Oakley brand and a few others but suffice it to say, Ray-Bans are popular. But that wasn’t always the case. In the early 80s, the company was struggling and sales were going downhill. There were rumors of even discontinuing them entirely. And then Tom Cruise happened.

In the poster for the 1983 movie Risky Business, Cruise is sporting a pair of the iconic glasses, and he wears them in the film. Sales of Wayfarers, the kind he was wearing, increased by 50% after the film’s release.

Three years later, Cruise wore Ray-Bans in Top Gun and sales increased by another 40%. By 1988, director Barry Levinson was actually opposing Cruise wearing them in the movie Rain Man because he was so closely associated with the brand. He wore them anyway, and may have single-handedly saved the company thanks to his work in the 80s.

9. Plastic Billiard Balls Saved Elephants

It’s hard to comprehend just how brutal the ivory trade has been to the elephant population. There are less than one million elephants alive today. In the year 1800 there were 26 million in India. The wide scale slaughter is almost unbelievable. But it would have been worse if not for a man named John Wesley Hyatt.

As the 19th century was coming to a close, billiards were increasingly gaining popularity. What many people today may not realize is that,at that time, billiard balls were often made of ivory. So for the sake of pool and snooker, thousands and thousands of elephants were dying. But even the manufacturers were not entirely happy about this because ivory was expensive. If a ball wasn’t made right, it would break and a single tusk could only make four or five balls. It was believed at the time that there were not enough elephants in the world to keep up with demands.

John Wesley Hyatt devised a solution that arguably saved elephants for certain extinction.This was a time when plastics were still relatively new. Hyatt developed a new plastic called celluloid in 1869 that was hard, durable and perfect for billiard balls. It was also much cheaper than ivory. The industry switched over and though elephants were and still are poached for ivory; it was dramatically improved. 

8. The Man Who Pretended to be a Crane

Birds are some of the most remarkable creatures in the world. From tiny hummingbirds with their 1,260 beats per minute heart rate to the oldest confirmed bird in history, a pink cockatoo, that made it all the way to 83-years-old. And then there are whooping cranes, to which George Archibald dedicated his life. 

In 1942, there were about 15 whooping cranes left in the wild. Bringing them back from the edge took the conservation work of many people, but George Archibald deserves special recognition for his dedication. To save the species he worked with a female crane named Tex who had been raised in captivity, imprinted on humans, and essentially didn’t know how to be a bird. But she would be integral to saving a species whose genetic diversity was so very limited. 

Since Tex related to humans and perhaps even believed she was one, Archibald did what he felt was the only logical thing. He courted her. He moved her into his home and engaged in rituals like nest building and dancing. The idea was that, if she bonded with him, she would naturally begin ovulating because she expected to mate. Then the scientists could take over, artificially inseminate her, and breed a new generation of little cranes. And, remarkably, after years of trying, it worked. After several failures, they had a chick named Gee Whiz in 1982. Though Tex unfortunately died not long after, the story gained international attention and today their population is around 800. 

7. Darwin’s Theories Saved the Wine Industry

Charles Darwin is obviously best known for his contributions to evolutionary science but he’s also arguably responsible for saving European wine from going extinct, something surely many people today are happy about.

He didn’t directly save wine but his work did as European grape growers became overcome by a parasitic louse called phylloxera. It infected the roots and killed the plants. It was determined that the little monsters had come from America and a solution based on Darwin’s theories of adaptation was devised. European vines would be grafted to American roots that were resistant to the louse. They still engage in this practice today.

6. Life Magazine Saved the Shar-Pei

Shar-Peis are not the most popular dog breed in the world, but they’re certainly still very recognizable and weirdly cute with their wrinkly bodies. The entire breed nearly went extinct in the 1940s thanks to the Chinese government putting a large tax on the dogs, native to the country, causing their numbers to drop so sharply that Guinness declared them the rarest breed in the world in the ’60s. 

A Hong Kong breeder tried to gain international attention for the breed to save them and Life Magazine ended up putting one of the dogs on the cover in 1979. This brought them to the attention of American dog lovers and demand went through the roof, bringing the breed back from the edge. 

5. Avocados Were Saved by Giant Sloths

Have you ever wondered why an avocado has such a giant pit? Compared to literally any other fruit out there, the avocado doesn’t make a lot of sense. Especially when you consider how other plants with fruit tend to reproduce. Animals generally eat the fruit and the seeds are spread through their scat. But an avocado pit is huge and inedible, at least by modern standards. Not so much by prehistoric ones, though, and that’s when the avocado was saved from certain doom by giant sloths. 

Avocados date back to the Cenozoic era, some 65 million years ago. As mammals became the dominant life forms after the dinosaurs, things like giant sloths would have eaten avocados whole, wandered the countryside, and spread the seeds around. The massive seed made sense because large animals could eat them and the seed would survive their digestion. 

Wild avocado growth spread from there and even though giant sloths and their brethren died out 13,000 years ago, the avocados had spread far enough that humans could begin to cultivate them and keep the species, which might have otherwise died out when their seed-spreading predators vanished, from disappearing. 

4. The Great Depression Helped Save Turkeys

You don’t think of the Great Depression as being the sort of thing that saved anyone or anything, but that’s not entirely true. The Depression had a huge effect on turkeys. Turkeys numbered in the millions before European settlers arrived. In the 1930s, there were about 30,000 left and 20 states had lost them entirely. 

Though there were other conservation efforts in place to save the species, the Depression gave them what they needed most – space. As families lost their farms, the land returned to nature. Crops like cotton, that had no benefit to wild animals, vanished and other crops returned, giving habitat and food to the animals. Wild turkeys were able to breed in peace again and start to build their numbers back up.

3. Poisoned Toad Sausages May Save Northern Quolls

A northern quoll is a little marsupial that weighs up to a couple of pounds and can be found in Australia. They also have the unfortunate habit of eating cane toads. Cane toads are both toxic and invasive in Australia so the quolls had no history with them to know that they needed to be avoided. As a result, quolls try to eat cane toads and the toxins kill them. The result has been a devastating blow to the northern quoll population. 

Researchers are trying to protect the marsupials but controlling the cane toad population has not been successful, so efforts to dissuade the quolls from eating them have popped up via creative means. In other words, people are making toad sausages.

Researchers are making sausages out of non-toxic parts of cane toads and poisoning them. Not with a lethal chemical, but one that will make quolls sick. They drop the sausages ahead of where cane toads currently exist with the intention that quolls will eat them, associate cane toads with being sick, and when the real toads show up, they won’t eat them. It’s a novel idea but there’s been mixed results as the program is still relatively new, though evidence has shown it does produce positive results. 

2. The Great Barrier Reef is Being Saved by Robots That Kill Starfish

The Great Barrier Reef in Australia has been at risk due to climate change, pollution and m, perhaps unexpectedly, predatory starfish. The Crown of Thorns starfish feasts on coral and is incredibly hard to get rid of. You can cut one in half and it’ll just turn into two starfish. To kill them they have to be either poisoned or completely destroyed, which is obviously not easy to do in the ocean. Not for the living, anyway. But for a robot?

The COTsbot is a drone that patrols the reef and attacks crown of thorns starfish, injecting them with a toxin. The starfish normally have a sustainable population, but outbreaks occur and they can be devastating. It’s been estimated 40% of the reef’s loss is due to the starfish. Farm runoff and overfishing of their natural predators may be the reason. A COTSbot carries enough poison to take out 200 of them and can patrol for eight hours straight, which is far better than a human diver. 

1. Peregrine Falcons Were Saved by Sex Hats

The fastest living thing in the world is the peregrine falcon which has a dive speed of 200 miles per hour. These little birds of prey are pretty amazing, but we almost lost them as a result of the pesticide known as DDT in the ’50s. DDT had the effect of making the eggs of birds non-viable. The shells would be too soft and no chick could develop. By the 1960s there were no falcons left in the wild in the US east of the Rockies, and few left elsewhere.  

An effort to save the birds grew, and that required an artificial breeding program. Breeding falcons is no easy task, however. It requires several people to hold the bird, a delicate and dangerous task, and then an attempt to get it to produce sperm which is not always easy and greatly stresses the bird out. The result was maybe two or three birds being born per year. 

A remarkable innovation by a falconer named Lester Boyd turned the tides and saved the birds. Boyd invented a falcon sex hat. It is colloquially referred to as an F-Hat, and you can guess what the F stands for. A falconer must wear the hat all the time around the male, they must wear the same clothes to make the bird comfortable, and they need to spend as much time with them as possible during breeding season. Once the male gets comfortable, they hop on the hat on the falconer’s head and, you know, breed with the hat. A tiny honeycomb of chambers collects the sperm, and it’s immediately transferred by a tiny syringe to a female. This method worked incredibly well, and it saved the species. It’s believed there are around 3,000 breeding pairs in North America today.