Lost Species
Animals no one has seen in years
Not extinct on paper. Not confirmed alive either. These are the animals that slipped out of view — some for decades — and the scientists still looking for them.
Last confirmed sighting within the last 10–50 years. No definitive evidence of extinction.
Ili Pika
Tianshan Mountains, Xinjiang, China
Last seen: 2014
A living teddy bear that's retreating upward — and running out of mountain
Namdapha Flying Squirrel
Namdapha National Park, Arunachal Pradesh, India
Last seen: 1981
Known from a single specimen. Never seen alive by a scientist
Siau Island Tarsier
Siau Island, North Sulawesi, Indonesia
Last seen: 2008
The most endangered primate on an island that's been almost entirely cleared
Vangunu Giant Rat
Vangunu Island, Solomon Islands
Last seen: 2015
Known from one specimen and centuries of indigenous knowledge. Scientists just caught up
Feared extinct, but no carcass or conclusive proof found.
Bouvier's Red Colobus
Likouala region, Republic of Congo
Last seen: 1978
A large, vividly coloured monkey that no scientist has ever studied alive
Blanco Blind Salamander
Edwards-Trinity Aquifer, Hays County, Texas, USA
Last seen: 1951
Known from a single specimen. Lives — or lived — in a pitch-dark aquifer beneath the Texas Hill Country
Pink-headed Duck
Terai grasslands and swamps, India and Myanmar
Last seen: 1949
A duck with a head like a flamingo — no confirmed sighting in over 75 years
Miss Waldron's Red Colobus
Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire, West Africa
Last seen: 1978
Declared the first primate extinction in 200 years — before anyone could confirm it was gone
Ilin Island Cloudrunner
Ilin Island, Mindoro, Philippines
Last seen: 1953
Known from two specimens. The island where it lived has been almost entirely cleared
Lost for decades, then found again — though often still critically rare.
Wallace's Giant Bee
North Maluku Islands, Indonesia
Last seen: 2019
The world's largest bee: lost for 38 years and found in a termite mound
Jackson's Climbing Salamander
Cuchumatanes Mountains, Huehuetenango, Guatemala
Last seen: 2017
Missing for 42 years — then found on the wall of a nature reserve hut
Attenborough's Long-beaked Echidna
Cyclops Mountains, Papua, Indonesia
Last seen: 2023
62 years of silence — then a camera trap in the world's least explored mountains
Black-footed Ferret
Great Plains, USA — Wyoming, South Dakota, Montana
Last seen: 1987
Declared extinct twice. Proven wrong twice. The second time by a ranch dog named Shep
Lord Howe Island Stick Insect
Ball's Pyramid, Tasman Sea, Australia
Last seen: 2001
Declared extinct for 80 years. The entire surviving wild population — 24 individuals — was living under one bush on a sheer volcanic spire in the ocean
Wondiwoi Tree Kangaroo
Wondiwoi Mountains, West Papua, Indonesia
Last seen: 2018
Known from one 1928 specimen. Found again in 2018 by an amateur botanist who had never seen a wild mammal discovery before
Night Parrot
Spinifex desert interior, Queensland and Western Australia, Australia
Last seen: 2013
Thought extinct for over 100 years. It was probably always there — just never seen
Forest Owlet
Khandesh region, Maharashtra, India
Last seen: 1997
Lost for 113 years. Found in a forest that survived only because local communities protected it
Fernandina Galápagos Tortoise
Fernandina Island, Galápagos, Ecuador
Last seen: 2019
'Extinct' since 1906. A single old female walked out of a volcanic hillside in 2019