# "Tree lobsters" rediscovered on Australian island after supposed extinction **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 29, 2012, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tree-lobsters-rediscovered-on-australian-island-after-supposed-extinction/614404 "2012-02-29T23:30:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tree-lobsters-rediscovered-on-australian-island-after-supposed-extinction/614404/1 "2012-02-29T23:30:32Z")
[Link](http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2012/02/24/147367644/six-legged-giant-finds-secret-hideaway-hides-for-80-years). Tree lobsters indeed. Those things are huge! Supposed to have been extinct for the last 80 years after rats managed to get on to their island home after a shipwreck, the insects were rediscovered a few years ago at the top of a nearby island that looks like something from a science fiction movie. Some of the insects supposed behaviours are quite interesting too ([husbandry manual here](http://www.aszk.org.au/docs/lhisi.pdf)). They form pair bonds, and their closest living relatives, stick insects from New Guinea, have been known to stay by the corpses of their dead partners and sometimes starve themselves to death. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tree-lobsters-rediscovered-on-australian-island-after-supposed-extinction/614404/2 "2012-02-29T23:38:18Z")
Cripes, those are humongous bugs. It’s amazing that a little breeding colony survived on that tiny stalagmite-like island. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tree-lobsters-rediscovered-on-australian-island-after-supposed-extinction/614404/3 "2012-02-29T23:45:52Z")
> [@](#): > > They were alive and, to Nick Carlile’s eye, enormous. Looking at them, he said, “It felt like stepping back into the Jurassic age, when insects ruled the world.” They did? That’s not how I remember _Jurassic Park._ ---
**Author:** ![Scribble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scribble/32/3317_2.png) [@Scribble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scribble)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2012, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tree-lobsters-rediscovered-on-australian-island-after-supposed-extinction/614404/4 "2012-03-01T01:34:48Z")
They still do, actually. About half of all known species of everything–eukaryotic or prokaryotic–are insects. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2012, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tree-lobsters-rediscovered-on-australian-island-after-supposed-extinction/614404/5 "2012-03-01T01:35:13Z")
That’s awesome. I love lobster. Are they willing to ship? ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2012, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tree-lobsters-rediscovered-on-australian-island-after-supposed-extinction/614404/6 "2012-03-01T01:44:13Z")
Fascinating stuff. I wish, though, that the author would get the name of the island right. It’s Lord Howe Island, not Howe Island, as he keeps calling it in the article. I actually went to boarding school with some Lord Howe Island kids. There are only about 350 people living on the place, and we had 5 or 6 at my school. ---
**Author:** ![Motorgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2012, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tree-lobsters-rediscovered-on-australian-island-after-supposed-extinction/614404/7 "2012-03-01T01:59:22Z")
Great quote from the article: “The only thing to do was to go back up after dark, with flashlights and cameras, to see if the pooper would be out taking a nighttime walk.” ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2012, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tree-lobsters-rediscovered-on-australian-island-after-supposed-extinction/614404/8 "2012-03-01T02:04:31Z")
I’ve been sharing this all day. As a biologist who currently specializes in island biogeography and endemism, this makes me very, very happy. ---
**Author:** ![ataraxy22](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ataraxy22/32/307_2.png) [@ataraxy22](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ataraxy22)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2012, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tree-lobsters-rediscovered-on-australian-island-after-supposed-extinction/614404/9 "2012-03-01T02:29:21Z")
This is old news though. I’ve been following this story for years! ---
**Author:** ![Shmendrik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shmendrik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shmendrik)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2012, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tree-lobsters-rediscovered-on-australian-island-after-supposed-extinction/614404/10 "2012-03-01T04:06:10Z")
I guess this is poor taste given the context, but… KILL IT WITH FIRE!!! ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2012, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tree-lobsters-rediscovered-on-australian-island-after-supposed-extinction/614404/11 "2012-03-01T04:07:39Z")
The island is cooler than the bugs. ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2012, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tree-lobsters-rediscovered-on-australian-island-after-supposed-extinction/614404/12 "2012-03-01T04:35:49Z")
Are there pics somewhere? I’m on my phone and not seeing any. (I may regret asking.) ---
**Author:** ![Shmendrik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shmendrik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shmendrik)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2012, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tree-lobsters-rediscovered-on-australian-island-after-supposed-extinction/614404/13 "2012-03-01T04:42:17Z")
> [@alice\_in\_wonderland](#): > > Are there pics somewhere? I’m on my phone and not seeing any. (I may regret asking.) Direct links to pictures: [Picture 1](http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2012/02/27/patrick_custom.jpg?t=1330533368&s=3) [Picture 2](http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2012/02/24/carlile_nick.jpg?t=1330533324&s=3) ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2012, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tree-lobsters-rediscovered-on-australian-island-after-supposed-extinction/614404/14 "2012-03-01T04:43:52Z")
> [@Shmendrik](#): > > Direct links to pictures: > [Picture 1](http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2012/02/27/patrick_custom.jpg?t=1330533368&s=3) > > [Picture 2](http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2012/02/24/carlile_nick.jpg?t=1330533324&s=3) :eek:!! ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2012, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tree-lobsters-rediscovered-on-australian-island-after-supposed-extinction/614404/15 "2012-03-01T04:54:14Z")
> [@Lamar\_Mundane](#): > > The island is cooler than the bugs. If there isn’t a secret lair for a supervillian in there, there damn well should be. ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2012, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tree-lobsters-rediscovered-on-australian-island-after-supposed-extinction/614404/16 "2012-03-01T05:04:29Z")
I think the first step in protecting the species should be to remove the “Lobster” from the name. ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2012, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tree-lobsters-rediscovered-on-australian-island-after-supposed-extinction/614404/17 "2012-03-01T05:06:10Z")
This is just awesome and amazing! Yay, bugs! Yeah…as long as they’re in someone else’s backyard, hehe. But seriously…living for so long under just one bush? On one rock in the middle of the ocean? Holy shit…they deserve a parade 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2012, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tree-lobsters-rediscovered-on-australian-island-after-supposed-extinction/614404/18 "2012-03-01T05:39:33Z")
Yet another example as to why I should never go to Australia. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2012, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tree-lobsters-rediscovered-on-australian-island-after-supposed-extinction/614404/19 "2012-03-01T06:19:44Z")
> [@RandMcnally](#): > > Yet another example as to why I should never go to Australia. Yeah, this is yet another example of creatures that are bigger down under, and correspondingly more likely to murder you. D: ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2012, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tree-lobsters-rediscovered-on-australian-island-after-supposed-extinction/614404/20 "2012-03-01T06:31:56Z")
> [@Shmendrik](#): > > [Picture 1](http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2012/02/27/patrick_custom.jpg?t=1330533368&s=3) I love that guy’s eyebrows. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tree-lobsters-rediscovered-on-australian-island-after-supposed-extinction/614404.md?page=2)