Posted on 01/16/2016 6:24:13 PM PST by presidio9
A breed of sea snake thought to be extinct for years was recently discovered off the west coast of Australia, another in a string of similar findings among species scientists believed were lost forever.
It was the first time the species of snakes was seen in more than 15 years since disappearing from the Timor Sea, according to researchers at Australia's James Cook University who identified the snakes.
The discovery of the Short Nose sea snake was confirmed after an Australia Parks and Wildlife officer sent a photo to researchers for identification, the university said.
The study's lead author, Blanche D'Anastasi, of the university's ARC Center of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, said the findings would give scientists a second opportunity to protect the species.
"But in order to succeed in protecting them we will need to monitor populations as well as undertake research into understanding their biology and the threats they face," D'Anastasi said in a statement.
D'Anastasi noted that the pair of snakes was believed to be "courting," indicating that there is a breeding population and offering a hope for a more sustainable comeback.
"We were blown away," D'Anastasi said. "These potentially extinct snakes were there in plain sight living on one of Australia’s natural icons, Ningaloo Reef."
A second breed of extremely rare Leaf Scaled sea snake was also recently found in Australia's Shark Bay, several hundred miles away from the species normal territory, which D’Anastasi called a "real surprise."
Both species had vanished from the Timor Sea, though in recent years scientists had seen examples of dead specimens.
The sightings are significant because it increases the known geographic range and habitats for the snakes, though their disappearance in the Timor Sea could not be explained, according to the study.
They also follow a trend of -SNIP-
(Excerpt) Read more at csmonitor.com ...
ping
It’s a big world out there!
I blame Global Warming....
I think the ivory billed woodpecker really is extinct.
There have been a couple of reported sightings in the Choctawhatchee River swamps and also the Apalachicola River. However no one has been able to verify those.
Ivory billed woodpecker is not really confirmed.
We’re still discovering new species today. There are probably thousands that we don’t even know about yet. How can we tell for sure if a species has gone extinct?
The only good sea snake is an extinct sea snake.
The snakes will multiply and eat up some other species in their protected habitat, making that species extinct.
No way! Once something is extinct, it's extinct!
So we might be seeing Dodo a L’Orange in fine restaurants soon.
Pretty sure the Ivory billed wood pecker is extinct. The 2004 video trying to show a glimpse of it was less than a second of a bird flying off in the distance.
Tasmanian Tiger, eh?
The world is a big place with plenty of room to hide. I would not be too surprised if someone found a passenger pigeon.
But I doubt anyone is ever going to find a dodo...
I somehow got on the Cornell Ornithology Lab’s email list. I am glad I did.
They also sent me a nice calendar around a month ago. Of course there is a bird for every month.
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