Asia - Artensterben

Hangwachtel (Ophrysia superciliosa) Gould

Painting of a pair of Himalayan quail by John Gould from 1883. Females are smaller and lighter; males have darker plumage and a white forehead. Image: John Gould, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Birds

22. August 2026 Doreen Fräßdorf

Himalayan Quail: Last Recorded in 1876—Yet Not Extinct?

A mysterious bird The Himalayan quail is one of Asia’s most enigmatic bird species. It has not been conclusively recorded since December 1876, and all subsequent targeted searches failed to produce a confirmed find. Yet it is still not officially considered extinct. The IUCN continues to list the Himalayan quail,

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 In the case of the Mindoro imperial pigeon, however, a previously unpublished photo was enough for the species to lose its “lost” status.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

Burulori / Blue-fronted Lorikeet (Charmosynopsis toxopei) by John C. Mittermeier/American Bird Conservancy

Blue-fronted lorikeet (Charmosynopsis toxopei) on Buru—photographed by John C. Mittermeier. It is among the first documented images of the species since 2014. Image: John C. Mittermeier/American Bird Conservancy

News

6. June 2026 Doreen Fräßdorf

Blue-fronted Lorikeet rediscovered: rare parrot lives in remote mountain forests of the Moluccas

The blue-fronted lorikeet (Charmosynopsis toxopei) has been documented again. In April 2026, an expedition team documented the rare parrot species in the highlands of Mount Kapalatmada on the Indonesian island of Buru. It is the first confirmed record since 2014 and only the second confirmed observation of the species since

Wolterstorff-Molch (Cynops woltertorffi) - Natural History Museum (London)

The Yunnan lake newt was named by George Albert Boulenger (1905) in honor of the German geologist and zoologist Willy Wolterstorff, who worked extensively on the systematics of salamanders and newts. (© "1946.9.6.32-pic1" - Cynops wolterstorffi (Boulenger, 1905) Collected in China by The Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London, CC BY 4.0, via GBIF)

Amphibians

3. April 2026 Doreen Fräßdorf

Yunnan lake newt—a poorly documented extinction

A newt with a fish-like appearance At the beginning of the 20th century, John Graham collected several animal species previously unknown to science in the southwestern Chinese province of Yunnan. He sent the finds to London, where they were examined by George Albert Boulenger at the Natural History Museum. Boulenger,

Der Sulu-Raupenfänger galt lange Zeit als Unterart des Bindenraupenfängers (Bild).

For a long time, the Sulu cuckooshrike (Coracina guillemardi) was treated as a subspecies of the much more widespread bar-bellied cuckooshrike (Coracina striata, shown here) because of morphological similarities. (© Coracina striata (Boddaert, 1783), Observed in Philippines by dmalerta, CC BY-NC 4.0, via GBIF)

News

20. March 2026 Doreen Fräßdorf

Chance discovery in the Sulu Archipelago: Long lost cuckooshrike documented after nearly 20 years

In November 2025, the Sulu cuckooshrike (Coracina guillemardi) was documented again for the first time in almost two decades in the remote forests of Tawi-Tawi in the Sulu Archipelago in the southwest of the Philippines. The species was considered lost—not officially extinct, but without any confirmed records for years. The

Qutang-Schlucht am Jangtse (Changjiang) in der Drei-Schluchten-Region in China

The Qutang Gorge on the Yangtze (Three Gorges region): heavily burdened for decades—a study now shows the first signs of ecological recovery. (© Tan Wei Liang Byorn, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

News

21. February 2026 Doreen Fräßdorf

Hope for the Yangtze: study shows how a fishing ban is reviving the river

The Yangtze River is Asia’s longest river at over 6,300 kilometers and the third-longest river in the world. For millennia it was among the world’s most species-rich freshwater ecosystems. It supplied people, animals, and entire cultures with water, food, and habitat—and formed the ecological backbone of large parts of China.

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)

News

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,

Newly discovered animal species in 2025 represent the diversity of what has previously been overlooked—from tiny frogs and fish to unusual insects to rare birds and mammals. (© Ribeiro in Bornschein / Morais / Pacheco in Llancachahua-Tarqui / Liu et al., CC BY 4.0; Sinclair et al., CC0)

News

30. December 2025 Doreen Fräßdorf

Newly Discovered Animal Species in 2025: New Species, Old Misconceptions & Surprising Finds

When the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus began organizing the diversity of life in the 18th century and established categories such as species, genus and family, no one could have imagined the scale this task would eventually reach. Since then, scientists around the world have described and named around 2.5 million

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)

Mammals

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 from Coolidge, H. J. (1940). The Indo-Chinese forest ox or kouprey. Memoirs of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, 54(6), via Biodiversity Heritage Library)

Mammals

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