Animals Thought to be Extinct Found Alive

New Zealand storm petrel



Image: Wikimedia Commons

The black and white New Zealand storm petrel was thought to be extinct for more than 150 years when bird watchers discovered one in 2003 near the Mercury Islands.

Scientists wondered if the bird was just an oddly-colored member of a common species of storm petrel, but DNA testing confirmed the birds they had seen were, in fact, the same species from the 1800s.