ExtinctZoo - Extinct Animals That Might Still Be Alive

Episode Date: July 2, 2025

When an animal is declared extinct, we generally think that's the last we'll ever see of them. And most of the times this is true, but there are a handful of animals out there who have been declared extinct, but in reality might actually be roaming the earth as we speak...

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The concept of extinction seems pretty straightforward. An animal disappears. Scientists search for it, find nothing and eventually labeled extinct. Case closed. But in reality, it doesn't always work like that, as nature occasionally has the helpful habit of tearing up our metaphorical paperwork.

Officially, we generally report animals as being extinct when there's no reasonable doubt that the last individual has died, basically meaning there are no known living individuals anywhere on Earth. But that known part does quite the heavy lifting here, because despite our satellites, sensors, and selfie sticks poking to every corner of the planet, our knowledge has gaps the size of continents, literally. I mean, we've barely mapped 20% of the ocean. And then when you add on the fact that half the time we can't even find our own car keys,

even when they are sitting in plain sight, well, imagine just how challenging finding the last thriving member of a species is. So that's all to say that even when we declare an animal to be extinct, there is a chance that it actually still lives. Few animals blur this line like the Japanese wolf, scientifically known as Canis Lupus, Hadofalax. Once native to the islands of Honschu, Shikoku, and Kyushu, the Japanese wolf was declared extinct in 1905, following a brutal triple whammy, rabies outbreaks, habitat destruction,

and then the final nail in the coffin, a government extermination campaign. But this wasn't just any wolf disappearing to the midst of extinction. This was the erasure of an animal that had been woven into the very fabric of Japanese society and spirituality for centuries. In Shintoism, the Japanese state religion, the Okami, meaning wolf, was revered as a messenger of the gods, or kami spirits, and a protector against crop raiders like wild boar and deer. In fact, so revered were these animals that approximately 20 Shinto wolf shrines still stand on Honshu alone, and even villages across the mountains still carry names like

Okami Iwa, meaning wolf rock, and Okami Taira, meaning wolf plateau, just serving as cultural echoes of an animal that supposedly vanished more than a century ago. And one of the most fascinating pieces of folklore that's also relevant to our story is the Okuri Okami, or escort wolf, wolves that would allegedly follow lone travelers through the forest and night, accompanying them safely to their destination without doing them any harm. And then, Beyond culturally, this wolf was further impressive as it was a rather divergent subspecies of gray wolf that might actually have been closer related to the first wolf ancestors of man's best friend. To be exact, a 2024 study found that Japanese wolves were not only more closely

related to Eurasian wolves than North American wolves, but that they were also more closer related to domestic dogs than to other wolves. And then, in addition, further analysis on its DNA revealed that some modern Japanese dog breeds, like the Kishu and Shiba Inu, possessed them with the exact same genetic markers as the Japanese wolves, serving as living proof of ancient crossbreeding that has preserved fragments of the wolf's genome even to this day. The Japanese wolf was also physically distinct, representing one of the smallest gray wolf subspecies out there, only standing a mere 56 to 58 centimeters at the shoulder, or about 22 inches, which to put that into perspective is barely bigger than a border collie, while on the other hand,

North American gray wolves can measure up the 91.5 centimeters or 36 inches at the shoulder, making them over 50% taller. But it is this small stature that might have theoretically helped it avoid complete extermination, potentially. Because while it has been declared extinct, there have been dozens of reported sightings that have emerged from the remote mountains of Honshu and Chicoku, the same misty forest that this animal once called home.

And these aren't just campfire stories told by hikers who've had too much sake, as some of them even come with photos and videos that defy easy explanation. And one of the most compelling examples of this occurred in 19, in the Chichibu Tamakai National Park. A wildlife photographer named Hiroshi Yagi found himself face-to-face with a wolf-like creature commonly walking alongside the road. And not only did he manage to see it, he also managed to photograph it several times. And when wildlife experts examined the images, many of them agreed that the animal bore striking

anatomical similarities to the supposedly extinct Japanese wolf. And more importantly, it did not match any known domestic dogs or other wild canons in the region. And what made this encounter even more unusual was the animal's behavior. It showed no fear of humans, walking right up to Yagi, which matches not only historical accounts of the Japanese wolf's relative boldness around people, but if you also remember, it also matches the legend of the Okuri Okami, the escort wolf. In fact, this experience was so compelling that Diagi and his team placed over 70 camera traps across the entire region in hopes of capturing this elusive wolf.

in this measure finally ended up bearing fruit in 2018, when a video recorded a deer running by, and in the background of that video was some very interesting audio, howling. And yes, howling itself is not indicative of even a wolf, let alone a presumed extinct one, but the howling was analyzed by zoologists, who concluded that not only did these sounds not matched domestic dogs, but rather that they sounded eerily similar to another subspecies of gray wolf, the eastern wolf, which is a North American wolf, and thus obviously, does not inhabit Japan. However, despite all these tantalizing clues, I will say that significant doubt still persists among experts, with historical records showing that Japanese wolves typically

traveled in small packs, yet most reported sightings are of solitary individuals. And more critically, the wolf's primary habitat, deciduous forests, composed largely of Japanese beach, has been dramatically altered, with over 40% of these forests having been logged following World War II. And unfortunately, Since 2018, there have been no further confirmed recordings or sightings. But considering that potential evidence has extended up until 2018, more than 100 years after its declared extinction, this does point to at least the possibility that the Japanese wolf still might be prowling these misty mountains. And until we can get more concrete evidence of its presence, the Japanese wolf remained suspended

in that curious limbo between confirmed extinction and possible survival. But while the Japanese wolf might be playing hide-and-seek and mountainous forests, Another apex predator is possibly engaging in an even more impressive, vanishing, and potential reappearing act, all the while on a tropical island, which measures only 85 kilometers or 53 miles in length. So in other words, in a place where hiding spots are relatively limited. So picture this, a small, isolated African island where the waves crash against white sand beaches. Tourists dip cocktails at resorts, and somewhere in the island's shrinking forests, one of

the world's most famous big cats might still be stalking through the shadows. And this isn't the setup for a thriller novel, but rather the real-life mystery of Anguja Island, the largest island in Tanzania Zanzibar archipelago, and home to the Zanzibar leopard. The Zanzibar leopard is thought to have evolved in isolation from mainland leopards since at least the end of the last ice age, when rising sea levels separated the island from Tanzania roughly 10,000 years ago. This isolation led to it both becoming smaller than its continental cousins and developing a relatively distinct appearance, with the typical leopard rosettes having partially transformed into

spots. And yet, despite its isolation and odd appearance, it's actually not as genetically distinct as one would think, being less divergent than other leopard subspecies which are in mainland Africa. But nevertheless, it had called this island home for for 10,000 years. But in the 1990s, the Zanzibar leopard was declared extinct. But unlike many extinction stories involving habitat loss or hunting for fur, this was in a case of gradual. decline, but rather a systematic eradication fueled by something far more primal, fear and superstition. You see, these animals weren't just feared as predators.

They were demonized with the widespread belief that they were products of witchcraft. And according to deeply entrenched local beliefs, these leopards weren't just wild animals, but were rather kept and trained by witches to harass or harm villagers. And farmers especially embrace these ideas as explanations for why leopards appeared around their farms, with this in their minds not being just animal behavior, but rather malevolent witchcraft manifested in feline form. And with the growth of both agriculture and population in the region throughout the 20th century, this conflict only became worse. And what began as isolated incidents of farmers killing leopards snowballed into something much larger and darker,

reaching its climax in 1964 when authorities launched an island-wide anti-witchcraft campaign that specifically targeted the Zanzibar leopard. And unsurprisingly, what better way to catch witches and their evil companions, then hiring a witchfinder. And yes, I'm not joking, this was the leader of the island-wide extermination campaign. And unfortunately for our feline friend, this supernatural reputation proved too much, with these campaigns and the general attitude towards them, pushing them to the brink of extinction. And by the late 1990s, wildlife officials reluctantly declared the species likely eradicated from the island.

But thankfully, nature seemed to have some differing opinions, as despite the official extinction declaration, sightings of leopards never completely stopped, with local villagers reporting encounters throughout the supposed extinction period. And then in the early 2000s, leopard scat, or feces, was found, potential gold for wildlife biologists who were seeking DNA evidence of its continued survival. But of course, in a cruel twist of fate, the samples were lost before they could be analyzed. However, in 2018, a very interesting discovery was made when a documentary crew from Animal Planet captured footage of what appeared to be a leopard on a camera trap.

And this wasn't just some blurry figure in the distance, as the footage very clearly showed that it was a leopard. And so this was obviously big news, because if accurate, it could be proof of a surviving Zanzibar leopard population. The only problem is, though, that experts remain divided on whether it was truly the native Zanzibar subspecies or potentially a mainland African leopard that was somehow introduced to the island. So honestly, the verdict is still out.

But signs do seem to be pointing in a rather optimistic. the mystic direction. And if it has survived, that would be a true testament of persistence. Not only surviving a near-century-long extermination campaign, fueled, mind you, by supernatural fear, but also doing so on a tiny island as an apex predator. Not bad. But sometimes an animal doesn't just go extinct. It transcends into legend, and such is the case with the camp of Phyllis Prince of Palace, also known as the ivory-billed woodpecker. A bird so magnificent, it earned the nickname the Lord Godbird. And why you ask? Well, because when people spotted one, their first reaction was reportedly to exclaim,

Lord God, what a bird. A little cheesy, but true. Once the largest woodpecker in North America, it inhabited the bottomland hardwood forests of the southeastern United States. And at roughly 20 inches long, with a wingspan of nearly three feet, this was no ordinary backyard woodpecker, being essentially the T-Rex of the woodpecker world. It had a massive ivory-colored bill, hence the name, which it would use to literally tear chunks of bark off trees, like you would peel in orange. And this wasn't just for show, as its formidable bill allowed it to access beetle larvae tunnels that no other birds in its range could reach, giving it essentially a monopoly on a very high-protein food source. It also had very striking black and white plumage

that combined with its ivory bill and size made it quite unmistakable and very recognizable. Well, recognizable until it wasn't, mainly because it wasn't there anymore. The ivory bill's decline was swift and brutal, with logging, hunting, and how many. habitat destruction, driving into the brink of extinction by the early 20th century. But it was still alive, and in 1907, President Theodore Roosevelt himself reported seeing three of these birds during a bear hunting trip in Louisiana, a presidential endorsement which sadly did not save the species. By the 1920s, some ornithologists already thought they were long gone. However, they did manage to persevere for a bit longer, and a team managed to find

a very small population of them in a little area within an old-growth forest in Louisiana. which was called singer-tracked. This was the last group of ivory-billed woodpeckers ever found in the U.S. And unfortunately, this old-growth forest was owned by two different logging companies, which were bent on cutting it down. But in an act of desperation, a non-profit known as the National Abadon Society, made a remarkable bid to buy the logging rights so that these birds could live. However, in typical human fashion, the bid was rejected, and the forest logged until destruction.

and the last universally accepted sighting in the U.S. occurred in this very tract in 1944, when artist Don Eccleberry documented a lone female in the remnants of this once-proud forest, which was now on its very last legs. And for the next six decades, this bird existed somewhat in a scientific limbo, neither conclusively extinct nor definitively alive, with sighting sometimes being reported, but often turning out to be the similar, palliated woodpecker. However, there was a number of compelling finds, including potential photographs, as well as even feathers that were conclusively found to be from the ivory-billed woodpecker.

But then, in 2004, something crazy happened. A four-second video was recorded that seemingly showed a large woodpecker with the exact same field markings as the ivory-billed woodpecker, and the footage was so convincing that a paper was even published on it, claiming that it was, in fact, our extinct friend. But seeing that this elusive bird had been last conclusively spotted nearly 60 years prior, the claim understandably led to quite the back. with the birding world fracturing into two camps, the believers and the skeptics, each accusing the other of wishful thinking or scientific negligence. And a number of researchers published oppositional papers going head to head against the believers,

saying that this was not the ivory-billed woodpecker, and rather the pileated one. And the controversy wasn't just academic. It also had real-world consequences. For example, the town of Brinkley in Arkansas, which was near where the sightings occurred, experienced a 30% increase in tourism. They even hosted the call of the ivory-billed woodpecker celebration, which came complete with merch, woodpecker haircuts, and ivory-billed burgers, whatever that means. And in the midst of all this debate, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services decided to make

their own investigation and end the argument once and for all. And after analyzing the video, they came to a conclusion that this was, in fact, our extinct, not-so-extinct bird. Unfortunately, though, since then, nothing as conclusive as really consistent. come out. And while reports keep coming in from around the southeast, most can be explained away as a misidentification. And in 2021, without strong evidence of their continued survival, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service attempted to resettle the matter by proposing to officially declare the bird extinct once and for all. But let's just say that did not go over too well, with the public

reaction being intense to say the least, with thousands submitting testimonies and purported evidence of recent sightings, which forced the agency to push back their decision for further review. And as of 2025, the bird remains officially, critically endangered, possibly extinct, which is a pretty bureaucratic way of saying, we have no idea. But I will mention that many ornithologists remain very, very skeptical, with one even pointing out the hypocrisy of there being incredibly rare birds that live in the middle of the Amazon, and yet people can somehow get good, identifiable photographs of them, but then on the flip side, people in the U.S. spent hundreds of thousands of hours trying to find and photograph the ivory-billed woodpecker,

without conclusive success, which ended with him concluding that if there really was a population out there, it's almost inconceivable that no one could go to a good picture of them. But here's the thing about extinction. Sometimes we just don't want to believe it. The ivory-billed woodpecker has somewhat become more than a bird, kind of morphing into a feathered big foot of the swamps, a creature that represents both perhaps our guilt about environmental destruction and our desperate hope for its survival. So whether it still exists or not, almost seems besides the point. The legend is somewhere in the deep forests of the American South. This magnificent creature still hammers away at ancient trees has taken on a life of its own.

Now with all this said, hope is not lost for animals that even have conclusively gone extinct, as demonstrated by the Pyrenean ibex, also known as Capra, Pyranisa, Pyranisa, were locally known as Bucardo and representing one of science's most profound interventions in the extinction process to date. This wild mountain-gote, this wild mountain-goes, The goat once roamed the Pyrenees Mountains between Spain and France. Males display distinctive black markings on their mains, four legs and foreheads, while females were more subtle, deer like brown, with both of them having curved horns, all features that had evolved over countless millennia.

But by the 20th century, relentless hunting in competition with domestic livestock had reduced their numbers dramatically, from thousands of individuals roaming freely across the mountains to a population that never exceeded 40 by 1910, and all confined to a small corner of the mountain of Spain's or Dessa National Park. This decline continued into the last known individual, a female named Celia, was found dead in 2000, and get this, killed by a fallen tree. It was a comically tragic end for an entire subspecies, one moment peacefully grazing, the next becoming the final entry in an evolutionary line millions of years old.

And to make matters worse, the Portuguese ibex, a related subspecies, had already disappeared a century earlier, making the loss of the Pyrenean Ivex just that much more tragic. But as it turns out, Celia's death wasn't actually the end, as scientists had collected tissue samples before she had died and thus preserving her genetic material. And then a groundbreaking experiment, researchers attempted something previously confined to science fiction, bringing an extinct species back to life through cloning. Using nuclear transfer techniques, they placed Celia's DNA into a goat egg cell whose own nuclei had been removed.

And this was not an easy procedure, as out of the 285 reconstructed embryos, only 54 of them were viable enough to transfer into surrogate mothers. And of those 54, only a single one developed a term. And on July 30th, 2003, a cloned Pyrenean ibex was born, marking the first extinct animal ever resurrected through human technology. And for one brief moment, extinction had been reversed. But unfortunately, the triumph was tragically short-lived, as the newborn ibex died minutes after birth due to severe lung defects, a common problem in early cloning attempts. But nevertheless, this marked a profound milestone in scientific history, the first de-extinction event ever, and also making the Pyrenean ibex the only species to have gone extinct twice.

Maybe not the best accomplishment, but it did set the precedent that what's gone can come back. And perhaps with more companies, like colossal bioscience, making some headway there, even though that's not exactly the same process, we might be able to expect the real de-extinction of long-gone animals. But as our other stories prove, sometimes what we call extinction is just nature's way of saying you weren't looking hard enough.

Thanks for watching, and until next time on Living Zoo.