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Cover Story

Grades 4-6

Lost and Found

Extinction is final. When a species completely dies out, it is extinct. But when humans declare a species extinct, they are not always right! Just this month, scientists in central Africa captured photos of okapis (oh-kah-peez) in the wild. The okapi is related to the giraffe, but has zebra-like stripes on its legs. The images were taken in Virunga National Park, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Until now, biologists feared that okapis were extinct in the wild, surviving only in zoos and protected areas.

Each year, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) releases its Red List, a scorecard of species at risk of extinction. On the 2007 list, 16,306 species were threatened and 785 were extinct (see "How Close to Extinct?"). Climate change, pollution and other factors threaten species daily.

Another species that hopped back into the picture recently is Australia's armoured mistfrog. Scientists reported a sighting of the tiny frog earlier this month. Experts thought it had been wiped out by a deadly fungus infecting frog populations worldwide.

The western lowland gorilla also got a good report. A recent survey found 125,000 of the primates in the Republic of the Congo. If confirmed, the new population count would more than double the previous estimate. Experts warn that the gorillas continue to face danger from disease and hunting. Still, says researcher Craig Stanford, "(It's) the kind of good news we rarely find in the conservation of highly endangered animals."

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