Africa - Artensterben

Wiederentdeckung: Rotweber (Anaplectes jubaensis) - Foto von Simon Odhiambo

The red weaver (Anaplectes jubaensis) was last documented in 2014. Now, the first new records of the species in twelve years have come from eastern Kenya. Image: Simon Odhiambo, used with permission

News

16. August 2026 Doreen Fräßdorf

Rediscovered After 12 Years: The Red Weaver Lives in Kenya’s Boni-Dodori Forest

For twelve years, there had been no confirmed record of the red weaver (Anaplectes jubaensis). Now Kenyan ornithologists have rediscovered the rare bird species in the Boni-Dodori forest complex in eastern Kenya. On July 3, 2026, James Apolloh Omenya and Simon Odhiambo first observed three bright-red males, followed later by

Female (left) and male Ghana cuckooshrikes (Lobotos lobatus) in a historical illustration. In 2026, the rare species was conclusively documented for the first time in 13 years. Images: Nicolas Huet, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

News

28. July 2026 Doreen Fräßdorf

Two “Lost Birds” Rediscovered—in the Rainforest and in a Photo Archive

The Ghana cuckooshrike has been photographed—and even filmed—for the first time in 13 years. In the case of the Mindoro imperial pigeon, however, a previously unpublished photo was enough for the species to lose its “lost” status. Both cases show how important accessible documentation of rare species is. Within a

Äthiopische Wassermaus (Nilopegamys plumbeus) - W. H. Osgood (1928)

Illustration of the Ethiopian amphibious rat by Leon L. Pray from the first description from 1928: It is based on field studies by the nature painter Louis Agassiz Fuertes and is one of the few contemporary illustrations of the species. Its close connection to bodies of water is clearly visible. Image: L L. Pray in Osgood 1928

Mammals

12. June 2026 Doreen Fräßdorf

Ethiopian Amphibious Rat: Only one specimen—and lost since 1927

A particularly remarkable novelty It is known from a single specimen: an adult male that the American zoologist Wilfred Hudson Osgood collected on March 20, 1927, in the Ethiopian highlands—in a small mountain stream near the source of the Little Abbai. This animal later became known as the Ethiopian amphibious

Some of the rarest animal species in the world: from the nearly extinct vaquita to the red wolf, the Yangtze giant softshell turtle, the Okinawa spiny rat, and the northern white rhino. These species now survive only in tiny populations.

News

8. May 2026 Doreen Fräßdorf

Fewer than 50 individuals: These animal species have almost disappeared

There are animal species worldwide whose populations have now shrunk to just a few dozen or even only single individuals. Many of them stand on the brink of extinction and survive only in small refuges or through elaborate conservation programs. The main cause of their decline is humans, for example

Blaubock: Colossal plant die Wiederauferstehung

One of the few known bluebuck specimens at the Muséum national d’histoire naturelle in Paris—none is preserved intact, which makes genetic reconstruction considerably more difficult. Image: Doreen Fräßdorf

News

1. May 2026 Doreen Fräßdorf

The resurrection of the Bluebuck?—New plans from Colossal Biosciences

More than 200 years ago, the bluebuck disappeared from southern Africa. Now the US biotech company Colossal Biosciences is working to bring this extinct species back to life, at least in part. The approach is known as de-extinction. The bluebuck (Hippotragus leucophaeus) was an antelope found exclusively in the open

Only three specimens of Morant's blue have survived — all of them males.

Insects

21. March 2026 Doreen Fräßdorf

Morant’s blue – What the females looked like remains uncertain

Three male specimens remain Walter Morant, probably a dedicated collector and observer of nature in what was then the British colony of Natal in southern Africa, was among the early members of the Natural History Association of Natal, founded in 1868. There he gave lectures and exhibited insects—with a particular

Moth Drepanogynis insciata (Axiodes insciata) rediscovered after more than 140 years

For almost 150 years it was considered lost: this photo by Cameron Scott shows a male specimen of Drepanogynis insciata in January 2022 in Mossel Bay (South Africa) – alive, emerald-green, and back in the focus of science for the first time. (© cyamscott via iNaturalist, CC BY-NC 4.0)

News

19. February 2026 Doreen Fräßdorf

South Africa: Moth thought extinct rediscovered after 147 years

Until a few years ago, the geometrid moth Drepanogynis insciata, which for a long time was listed under the name Axiodes insciata, was little more than a footnote in entomology. For nearly 150 years, only two historical museum specimens from the vicinity of the South African town of Swellendam and

rediscovery of the rusty bush lark (Calendulauda rufa)

The image shows the rusty bush lark rediscovered in early February 2026 — one of the first photographs of the species ever taken. (© Pierre Defos du Rau, Idriss Dapsia, Julien Birard)

News

12. February 2026 Doreen Fräßdorf

Rediscovery in Africa: rusty bush lark documented for the first time in 94 years

Africa: A bird species that has so far been little studied and had been considered missing for almost a century has now been rediscovered. In early February 2026, the rusty bush lark (Calendulauda rufa) was recorded alive again in Chad for the first time in decades. The rusty bush lark

Historical depiction of Aepyornis maximus. Our knowledge of the elephant birds’ external appearance is incomplete: there are no preserved specimens, only bone finds and eggshells. Reconstructions therefore rely on anatomical inferences and comparisons with modern ratites. (© http://www.50birds.com/gextinct5.htm, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

Birds

3. February 2026 Doreen Fräßdorf

Aepyornis maximus – the largest elephant bird and the mystery of when it went extinct

There wasn’t just one elephant bird The elephant bird is probably one of the best-known of all extinct birds. Hardly any other animal so strongly embodies gigantism, enigmatic traditions, and the fascination of a world of animals that humans now know only in fragments. But the name already misleads: there

Riesen-Heidelibelle / St.-Helena-Heidelibelle (Sympetrum dilatatum)

One of the few museum specimens of the extinct Saint Helena darter in the Natural History Museum in London—an adult male. (© BMNH(E)1241597 Sympetrum dilatatum dorsal - Sympetrum dilatatum (Calvert, 1892) by The Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London, CC BY 4.0, via GBIF)

Insects

20. January 2026 Doreen Fräßdorf

Saint Helena Darter—the only dragonfly of St Helena

A hotspot of insect endemism Many people know the remote island of St Helena primarily from history: as Napoleon’s place of exile, where he was interned in 1815 and died in 1821. Beyond this prominent episode, however, the small volcanic island in the South Atlantic—around 1,800 kilometers west of the