WEBVTT - Short Stuff: 5 Lazarus Species

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<v Speaker 1>Hey, and welcome to the Short Stuff. I'm Josh and

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<v Speaker 1>there's Chuck and this is short stuff and this is

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<v Speaker 1>a good one because we are squeezing it in five

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<v Speaker 1>Lazarus species animals starting now, right. If you're wondering what

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<v Speaker 1>a Lazarus species is, we've talked about it before with

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<v Speaker 1>the first entry that we'll talk about in a second,

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<v Speaker 1>but uh, Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead in the Bible,

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<v Speaker 1>if you believe that stuff. And a Lazarus species is

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<v Speaker 1>a organism that has been brought back from extinction or

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<v Speaker 1>that we thought rather it was extinct, not one that's

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<v Speaker 1>like threatened, and we do a good job with it,

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<v Speaker 1>but people are like, well, there's no more of those.

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<v Speaker 1>And then years later so I's like, oh my gosh,

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<v Speaker 1>there's another one of those, right, And we actually did

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<v Speaker 1>a whole episode on one of these already, the Cela

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<v Speaker 1>canth That's right, That's what I was referring to. Number one. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>it has like an amazing story behind it, which will

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<v Speaker 1>briefly go over again because, um, it has four lobes,

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<v Speaker 1>meaning it had like kind of these proto limbs, um.

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<v Speaker 1>And when they found it first in the fossil record

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<v Speaker 1>in the nineteenth century. It was, you know, a four

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<v Speaker 1>hundred million year old fossil, and they're like, this is

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<v Speaker 1>the missing link between you know, animals in the sea

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<v Speaker 1>and animals on the ground. And we love the Cela

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<v Speaker 1>cant for this reason, but it's long dead. I think

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<v Speaker 1>the most recent fossil they'd found was from sixty six

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<v Speaker 1>million years ago, So we just thought it was another

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<v Speaker 1>very very interesting prehistoric fish, right, and it was very

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<v Speaker 1>sad to not be able to study those in modern times.

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<v Speaker 1>And then boom, not too modern. But in ninett they

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<v Speaker 1>caught one or they discovered one off the coast of

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<v Speaker 1>South Africa, and that was a big, big deal. And

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<v Speaker 1>then since then they've gotten quite a few more of

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<v Speaker 1>these live specimens on record. If I remember correctly, it

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<v Speaker 1>was a woman's scientist to who was the one who

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<v Speaker 1>recognized it for what it was and was like, the

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<v Speaker 1>this is a big deal. Yeah, aren't they like not

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<v Speaker 1>bottom dwellers, but they're pretty deep guys, right, yes, And

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<v Speaker 1>I remember they see I'm enough that now that we're like, okay,

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<v Speaker 1>these are definitely not extinct. They're still around. I think

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<v Speaker 1>they Yeah, they just don't inhabit areas we frequent very much,

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<v Speaker 1>and they're like, this is clearly not trying to grow

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<v Speaker 1>arms and legs, but nice effort, right, So we got

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<v Speaker 1>one under our belt, Chuck, What about the takahi. The

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<v Speaker 1>takahi is native to New Zealand, one of our favorite places.

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<v Speaker 1>Hello are Kiwi friends, And this is a flightless bird

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<v Speaker 1>that's a member of the rail family. It's very pretty,

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<v Speaker 1>about the size of a goose. They're kind of blue green,

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<v Speaker 1>they're they're really really nice looking, and even from the

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<v Speaker 1>beginning they were really rare. I think they were discovered

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<v Speaker 1>by European explorers in eighty seven and they were never abundant. No, apparently, UM.

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<v Speaker 1>After the second specimen was found, only four were found

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<v Speaker 1>in the nineteenth century. When the guy who found the

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<v Speaker 1>second one described it, um, he said that there's there

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<v Speaker 1>these are gone like this whatever I just found maybe

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<v Speaker 1>the last of it. He said, it's unlikely any further

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<v Speaker 1>living specimens will be found. Um and that was that.

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<v Speaker 1>That closed the book on it. But um, fifty years later,

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<v Speaker 1>there's another guy named Jeffrey Orbell who was like, I,

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<v Speaker 1>for some reason, I cannot accept that the taka he

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<v Speaker 1>taka he is just gone forever and set out searching

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<v Speaker 1>for him. Yeah. I mean it's amazing and I'm glad

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<v Speaker 1>people like Jeffrey Orbell are out there because, uh, Jeffrey

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<v Speaker 1>Orbell found one of these things on the South Island

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<v Speaker 1>in nine of New Zealand. And you know, this kind

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<v Speaker 1>of brings up something we did mention at the beginning,

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<v Speaker 1>like how can science be wrong about something being extinct?

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<v Speaker 1>And you know, it's it's fairly easy to happen. You know,

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<v Speaker 1>the world is a big place, the Earth is a

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<v Speaker 1>big place, and they do their best. But you know,

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<v Speaker 1>at a certain point, when something isn't around for a

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<v Speaker 1>certain amount of time, they get together and they feel

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<v Speaker 1>comfortable saying this thing is extinct, and you know, if

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<v Speaker 1>it comes back to life, is a lazarous species and

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<v Speaker 1>that's great. It's not like science hangs their head in shame,

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<v Speaker 1>like the can't is back. But um, it is sometimes

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<v Speaker 1>tough to see, especially if it's a rare thing to

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<v Speaker 1>begin with, that they're truly extinct. Yeah. The International Union

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<v Speaker 1>for Conservation of Nature is the ones responsible for declaring

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<v Speaker 1>something endangered or extinct in the wild, and their definition

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<v Speaker 1>of extinct is that when there's no reasonable doubt that

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<v Speaker 1>the last individual has died when exhaustive surveys and known

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<v Speaker 1>and or expected habitat at appropriate times diurnal, seasonal annual

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<v Speaker 1>throughout its historic range have failed to record an individual.

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<v Speaker 1>So it's not just like nobody's reported one of these

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<v Speaker 1>things for a while. It's like they go out and

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<v Speaker 1>really try to find it, and if they can't find it,

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<v Speaker 1>they're like, I guess it's extinct. Then they hang their

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<v Speaker 1>heads in shame. That's right. I saw a great meme

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<v Speaker 1>the other day. That's very appropriate for these times here

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<v Speaker 1>in the United States. Uh. Something about science is not truth.

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<v Speaker 1>Science is the search for truth. Uh. And basically, when

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<v Speaker 1>things it was much more scinct than this, but um,

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<v Speaker 1>when things change, science continues to search for that truth.

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<v Speaker 1>It's not flipping and flopping on the truth. Right. Let's

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<v Speaker 1>just leave it at that and take a commercial break. Okay, Chuck,

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<v Speaker 1>So we're back with I think my favorite it's my favorite,

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<v Speaker 1>too good. We're talking about the lord how island stick insect. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>not a great name. There's a better name for it,

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<v Speaker 1>don't you think. Yeah. Leave it to Australia to uh

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<v Speaker 1>have an insect called a tree lobster um. Lord Howe

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<v Speaker 1>Island is is off the coast of Australia, kind of

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<v Speaker 1>midway between Brisbane and Sydney, and these things, uh, were

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<v Speaker 1>very common on Lord Howe Island out there in the Pacific.

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<v Speaker 1>And this is a really interesting story. There was a

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<v Speaker 1>shipwreck off the actually kind of on the island, and

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<v Speaker 1>everybody knows that chips, especially back in the olden days.

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<v Speaker 1>I think it was six or nineteen eighteen. This is

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<v Speaker 1>nineteen twenties, but they're off by a few years. We're

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<v Speaker 1>just full of rats. And these rats descended upon the

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<v Speaker 1>island and really really overtook this island in a big way.

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<v Speaker 1>They were like tree lobsters deed lish. Yeah, so they

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<v Speaker 1>actually ate all the tree lobsters on the island, and

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<v Speaker 1>them all the rats did. The rats um had no

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<v Speaker 1>natural predators on the islands, so their population boomed, and

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<v Speaker 1>they also ate to extinction all sorts of bird species,

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<v Speaker 1>lizard species, a bunch of other ones, but in particular

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<v Speaker 1>this tree lobster, which you don't find elsewhere. And they

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<v Speaker 1>thought like this thing was just endemic only to Lord

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<v Speaker 1>Howe Island. So shortly after the twenties they were like

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<v Speaker 1>the Lord Howe Island stick insect is now extinct. But

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<v Speaker 1>then they were very surprised um in nineteen sixty when

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<v Speaker 1>they found a few corpses. There were corpses, but they

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<v Speaker 1>weren't like obviously forty year old descating corpses. They were fairly,

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<v Speaker 1>fairly recent corpses. So they're like, wait a minute, these

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<v Speaker 1>things are still around. And I guess somebody thought to

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<v Speaker 1>go look on another nearby island. It's like Pyramid Island,

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<v Speaker 1>I believe, something like that. And they found a new

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<v Speaker 1>population of these things, just a handful, but a few

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<v Speaker 1>of them perched in a tea tree on the highest

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<v Speaker 1>point of this island nearby, that's right, And so they

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<v Speaker 1>started breeding them in captivity and training them to be

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<v Speaker 1>able to raise their middle finger. Because they have undertaken

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<v Speaker 1>the Lord how Island rodent eradication project, where they are

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<v Speaker 1>spreading forty two tons poison cereal pellets and twenty eight

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<v Speaker 1>thousand bait stations across the island to rid this island

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<v Speaker 1>of those rats. And this was a couple of years ago,

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<v Speaker 1>in twenty nineteen, and the most recent article I read

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<v Speaker 1>said that sometime this year they were going to reintroduce

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<v Speaker 1>like all the rats should be gone, and if there

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<v Speaker 1>are any few rats left, these tree lobsters can go

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<v Speaker 1>back and give them the finger. Very nice. They're spreading

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<v Speaker 1>poison quisp on the islands. Irresistible, man, I'd have a

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<v Speaker 1>hard time but that. You'd feel like, I know it's poisonous,

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<v Speaker 1>but I just can't help myself. I know. If it

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<v Speaker 1>was Captain Crunch peanut butter, forget about it. I'm a

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<v Speaker 1>dead man. Um. So, uh, there's another one. Uh, hats

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<v Speaker 1>off to the Lord how islands tick insect. We're gonna

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<v Speaker 1>take our leave and wish it luck and head on

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<v Speaker 1>over to Peru, where the Peruvian yellow tailed wooly monkey

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<v Speaker 1>was thought to have been extinct. It was first described

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<v Speaker 1>in eighteen twelve just from a pelt um yeah I

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<v Speaker 1>think so, yeah, a little yellowish um. But then only

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<v Speaker 1>just a few times in the century that followed had

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<v Speaker 1>they actually been seen and described by travelers. Um, I

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<v Speaker 1>guess scientists in Peru. And then the last one was

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<v Speaker 1>seen until in six and by that point this science

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<v Speaker 1>was like, I think these things are are gonezo that's right,

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<v Speaker 1>But not so, because in they found one in Brazil

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<v Speaker 1>and this is being kept as a pet. And it

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<v Speaker 1>turns out these things were being kept as pets kind

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<v Speaker 1>of in different places all over the world. And this

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<v Speaker 1>is one really interesting case where the illegal pet trade

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<v Speaker 1>kind of brought, uh, in a roundabout way, something back

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<v Speaker 1>from extinction. Yeah, they think there's maybe fewer than a

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<v Speaker 1>thousand of them in the wild, which is still not

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<v Speaker 1>terribly bad considering something was considered extinct for a little while,

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<v Speaker 1>but apparently it was. And this is kind of like um,

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<v Speaker 1>one of the definitions of a Lazarus species. It was

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<v Speaker 1>news to science that this thing was not extinct, but

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<v Speaker 1>to the local population in Peru who lived, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>in these in the area the same area as these monkeys,

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<v Speaker 1>they were well aware that these things were around. They

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<v Speaker 1>just hadn't heard the science didn't know we're else. I'm

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<v Speaker 1>sure they would have told somebody, that's right. What about

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<v Speaker 1>this is my second favorite, Chuck, what about you? I

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<v Speaker 1>can't believe we're gonna do five and shorty, But here

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<v Speaker 1>we go with a robust red horse. It's a pale

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<v Speaker 1>pink has pale pink fins, is sort of stout and

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<v Speaker 1>it's you know, it's not very remarkable looking. If you

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<v Speaker 1>look at a robust red horse You think that thing

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<v Speaker 1>is misnamed because it's just sort of plain looking. It's

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<v Speaker 1>an ug fish as what they should call it. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>it's not the best look. It's got a great Latin name,

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<v Speaker 1>Maxostoma robust um. It's a good band name. Or maybe

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<v Speaker 1>an album title, yeah yeah, yeah, prog rock for sure,

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<v Speaker 1>or maybe like a like a Mastodon album, yeah, exactly. Um.

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<v Speaker 1>This was first described by uh Edward Drinker Cope naturalists

0:11:24.520 --> 0:11:28.240
<v Speaker 1>from Europe in eighteen seventy, based on just this one

0:11:28.280 --> 0:11:31.679
<v Speaker 1>fish that he found in a river in North Carolina. Uh.

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<v Speaker 1>And unfortunately that fish was destroyed because that was the

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<v Speaker 1>last one that anyone saw for a hundred and twenty

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<v Speaker 1>two years. Yeah, so everybody's like, well it's extinct. We're

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<v Speaker 1>not even sure it ever exactly lived. We gotta take

0:11:45.679 --> 0:11:49.199
<v Speaker 1>this Cope fellas word for it. And he's popped up before.

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<v Speaker 1>I can't put my finger on it. But we've talked

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<v Speaker 1>about them before. But then in nineteen eighty and then

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<v Speaker 1>I believe also in people started reporting this. It's somebody

0:11:59.520 --> 0:12:02.600
<v Speaker 1>who's like, know what I think that that is Cope's

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<v Speaker 1>robust red horse fish. Uh. They started finding them in

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<v Speaker 1>the Savannah and Pete rivers in Georgia and uh, South Carolina,

0:12:10.040 --> 0:12:14.120
<v Speaker 1>I think, and um so they they actually made a

0:12:14.200 --> 0:12:18.280
<v Speaker 1>deliberate effort. They launched an effort twenty years ago to

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<v Speaker 1>find some mating pairs of the robust red horse in

0:12:22.679 --> 0:12:28.360
<v Speaker 1>the Savannah River and um basically start breeding them in captivity,

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<v Speaker 1>and I read I think in two thousand fifteen, Chuck,

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<v Speaker 1>they released some and they recently identified the first wild

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<v Speaker 1>juveniles that had been born to this restored population of

0:12:41.960 --> 0:12:47.240
<v Speaker 1>robust red horses. A big comeback, huge comeback from the dead.

0:12:47.600 --> 0:12:53.000
<v Speaker 1>Basically same here. So uh, that's it for short Stuff, everybody,

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<v Speaker 1>if you want to look up some more lazarous Um species,

0:12:56.400 --> 0:12:58.959
<v Speaker 1>then they're out there and it's thrilling. Every single one

0:12:59.040 --> 0:13:01.640
<v Speaker 1>has a great story behind it, so go amuse yourself

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<v Speaker 1>with that. In the meantime, Short Stuff says goodbye. H

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<v Speaker 1>Stuff you should know is a production of I Heart Radio.

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