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Note that these birds have been lost for only two decades. So this is not some ancient species being recovered.
by dotancohen 3y ago
Note that these birds have been lost for only two decades. So this is not some ancient species being recovered.
- rf15 3y agoAlso note that this is likely not a good sign like "Oh, they're not extinct after all!". You may well have found their last survivor and that's it.
- joshuahedlund 3y agoThe article says they found 18 at 3 different sites, in a region of Congo that had been dangerous for the public to visit but had recently become safer. That does not prove a healthy population but it seems a step up from “last survivor”
- zabzonk 3y agoalso says that is "endemic" - if they haven't been seen for years, how do they know that? not a brilliant article, imho.
- da39a3ee 3y agoEndemic to X means that it's geographical distribution is confined to X. The (original) geographical distribution of basically all bird species is fairly well known, due to the efforts of 19th and 20th century scientists and their collection of museum specimens. The reference work here is the "Peters check list", completed over the course of several decades in the 20C by various ornithologists. Of course, you have to check when they say "species" whether they're referring to a subspecies "elevated to species status" by dodgy "phylogeography" genetics studies. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_L._Peters https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_L._Peters