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Rediscoveries in 2025: Animal species believed to be lost and extinct

In 2025, several animal species returned to the focus of scientific attention after having long been considered lost or even thought to be extinct. (© Shrews: Tatiana Petrova, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons / Snake: Photo courtesy of Professor Blair Hedges)

3. January 2026 Doreen Fräßdorf

Rediscoveries in 2025: These animal species were considered lost or extinct

Species do not simply disappear just because no one has seen them for a long time. And they are just as little “saved” just because they suddenly reappear. Rediscoveries mark a narrow line between hope and uncertainty: they show that life can endure – often, however, only barely. In 2025,

First rediscovered in 1983 and now critically endangered (CR): the blue-eyed black lemur (Eulemur flavifrons). Its habitat has almost completely disappeared, and targeted hunting is placing additional pressure on this rare species. (© Mathias Appel, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons)

4. December 2025 Doreen Fräßdorf

Lemurs on the brink of extinction: why 95% of species are threatened – and how the meat trade is accelerating their decline

For more than 50 million years, lemurs have lived exclusively on Madagascar, where they evolved in complete isolation into more than 100 species known today – from the tiny mouse lemur to the imposing indri. Nowhere else on any continent or island do they exist in the wild. Yet in

Amphibians in crisis: Bob's Robber Frog (Craugastor punctariolus)

Craugastor punctariolus has been listed as Critically Endangered (Possibly Extinct) since 2019. Endemic to Panama, the species was last seen in 2010; chytrid fungus and habitat loss have (almost) wiped out its populations. (© Brian Gratwicke, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

29. November 2025 Doreen Fräßdorf

Global amphibian crisis: New study shows declines in 788 species over 40 years

Amphibians are among the most sensitive vertebrates on Earth – and among the most endangered. As early warning systems for the health of freshwater bodies and entire ecosystems, they respond particularly quickly to environmental change. According to the IUCN, 41% of all amphibian species worldwide are already considered threatened. A

Slender-billed curlew: Now declared extinct with the update of the IUCN Red List 2025

Slender-billed Curlew: The migratory bird once bred in western Siberia and wintered around the Mediterranean. Missing since 1995, its extinction has now been officially confirmed by the IUCN – the first human-caused bird extinction on mainland Europe in modern times. (© Internet Archive Book Images, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

11. October 2025 Doreen Fräßdorf

IUCN Red List 2025: Eight more animal species officially extinct

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) presented a new update of the Red List of Threatened Species on 10 October 2025 – this time at the World Conservation Congress in Abu Dhabi. The updated list now includes 172,620 species worldwide, among them 48,646 classified as threatened and 935

Bismarck kingfisher (Ceyx websteri) rediscovered

The Bismarck kingfisher, long considered lost, was documented on New Ireland in May 2025. (© Kai Squires, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

13. September 2025 Doreen Fräßdorf

Rediscovery: Rare kingfisher reappears after 13 years

The Bismarck kingfisher (Ceyx websteri) was considered lost for almost 13 years. Since the last confirmed record in 2012, the species had gone unobserved, raising fears that it might already be extinct. In May 2025, however, the species was confirmed again in Papua New Guinea: researcher John Lamaris documented a

Illustration of the Chinese river dolphin (baiji)—once a characteristic resident of the Yangtze. With its long, narrow snout and the sickle-shaped dorsal fin, the baiji was unmistakable. Today, the species is considered “functionally extinct”. (© Doc Taxon, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

1. August 2025 Doreen Fräßdorf

Chinese river dolphin: Is the baiji still alive?

The last confirmed sighting of the baiji, also known as the Chinese river dolphin, is now more than 20 years ago. The IUCN therefore classifies the species as “Critically Endangered (Possibly Extinct)”. Scientifically, its continued existence is considered extremely unlikely, but occasional sighting reports and video recordings at least leave

The kouprey is among the most enigmatic wild cattle in the world. First described scientifically in 1937, it was already extremely rare at that time. Characteristic features include the frayed horn tips of mature bulls and the pronounced dewlap. Today, according to the IUCN, the kouprey is probably extinct. (© Illustration aus Coolidge, H. J. (1940). The Indo-Chinese forest ox or kouprey. Memoirs of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, 54(6), via Biodiversity Heritage Library)

27. June 2025 Doreen Fräßdorf

The Kouprey: A Zoological Mystery

The kouprey is considered one of the most mysterious wild cattle in the world. First described by Western scientists only in 1937, this shy animal from the tropical forests of the tri-border region of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia remained scarcely studied for decades. Many zoologists saw the kouprey as a

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A rare individual of the Yangtze giant softshell turtle, photographed in 2011 in Dong Mo Lake near Hanoi, Vietnam. The critically endangered species is on the verge of extinction — every documented individual is of great importance for conservation. (© Phuongcacanh at Vietnamese Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

18. June 2025 Doreen Fräßdorf

Last Hope for Rescue: The Search for the Yangtze Giant Softshell Turtle

It is one of the rarest turtle species in the world — it may even be the rarest of all: the Yangtze giant softshell turtle (Rafetus swinhoei). The species is critically endangered and may already have disappeared from the wild. At present, only two male individuals are known worldwide. Yet

One of the few photographs of the extinct Schomburgk's deer. The picture was taken in 1911 at the Berlin Zoological Garden. (© Lothar Schlawe, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

9. June 2025 Doreen Fräßdorf

Schomburgk’s deer — Could it still exist?

The riddle of Schomburgk’s deer “No one seems ever to have seen this animal; all that we think we know about it is the existence of its antlers”, noted Phya Jolamark Bhicharana wrote in 1932 about Schomburgk’s deer. The American biologist Francis Harper also wrote in 1945 that this deer—which

The red ruffed lemur is just one of 25 primate species on the current IUCN list of the most endangered species – its habitat in Madagascar is shrinking rapidly. (© Mathias Appel, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons)

14. May 2025 Doreen Fräßdorf

IUCN Top 25: The world’s most endangered primates

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), together with the International Primatological Society and Re:wild, has published the new list of the world’s 25 most endangered primates for the period 2023–2025. This now twelfth edition of the report Primates in Peril: The World’s 25 Most Endangered Primates 2023-2025, which