The thread about the possibility that the Tasmanian Tiger may still be alive somewhere isn’t getting much movement. The premise of the query begs the question? How big does an animal declared extinct have to be before re-discovering it becomes a mirage and not anywhere near a likely prospect?
The thing is, there are various species that were thought extinct, and then were re-discovered somewhere. However, to my recollection, most of these are small life forms (I can’t tell you exactly now, but as far as I remember, typically, insects, songbirds, mice. What, then, is the biggest animal species that was ever rediscovered after being declared extinct?
And would it have been a land animal or an aquatic one? I imagine there could be a lot of species still lurking in the oceans that have not been discovered yet.
The largest animal species that was rediscovered after being considered extinct is the Chacoan peccary; a pig-like mammal that was thought to only exist in fossil records until a living population was found in the Chaco region of Paraguay, making it the largest rediscovered species by size.
Does the coelacanth count, though? It is a primitive fish belonging to a higher taxon that was once considered extinct, but isn’t it true that the on the species level, it’s a “modern” species and not one known from the fossil record?
Maybe I should have been more specific. I meant to ask what species believed to be extinct was re-discovered.
I think with this qualification, you have to be looking at species whose extinction happened in recorded history, simply because pretty much anything that exists as a fossil species is not likely to be the same as any extant living species - because nature doesn’t stand still.
Sure. I didn’t set as a condition that the species be prehistoric. Indeed, the Thyalacine / Tasmanian Tiger / Tasmanian Wolf of the other discussion only went extinct in the 20th century. Or did it? Could it end up being a “Lazarus taxon”? An Australian former colleague was of the opinion that it was still kicking around somewhere.
The biggest lazarus species was not an animal, but a plant. The australian “dinosaur” tree, the Wollemi Pine Tree, Wollemia nobilis, which is not actually a pine, but a Wollemia conifer, probably is the best known recent example:
For the coelocanth fans, here’s a great video of divers with re-breather equipment actually finding some! They’re bigger than I envisioned. Skip to around the 15 minute point:
How come nobody came up with the coelocanth? At 200 lb. it would be larger than a peccary. It may not be the specific species we found ancient fossils for, but all related species were considered extinct when it was found.
According to that article, there are no conclusive fossil records of this plant, so whilst people are calling it a ‘living fossil’, it seems there wasn’t any point at which people knew about it, but believed it extinct.
If you want the largest extinct plant then consider the Metasequoia AKA Dawn Redwood. This cousin of our Giant Sequoia was only known from fossils until located in China in the 1940s. Growing to 165 ft. or more it is a massive tree.
Again with the dawn redwood, the living species is not the same as the fossils - it’s placed in the same genus, but it’s not the same species.
I suppose if someone had decided the entire genus was extinct, then it would maybe meet the OPs requirement by inclusion, perhaps.
I’ve got some lumber from one that was cut down when it was nearly 100 ft. tall. They can grow fast, nearly 2 ft. a year, so that might have only taken 50 years. I have one in my backyard now. 4 ft. tall when we got it, grown more than a foot since planted in late spring 2023.