27-Jun-2024 Theme: 'De-extinct'

(1) What Victorian species of bandicoot was declared ‘extinct in the wild’ in 2013, but has now been re-classified as ‘endangered’ (following captive breeding and island releases).

Answer: Eastern barred bandicoot (Perameles gunnii).

(2) What reptile was believed to be extinct, until a specimen was found in 1992 in the stomach of a brown snake near Burra in South Australia?

Answer: Pygmy blue tongue (Tiliqua adelaidensis).

(3) What ground-dwelling, nocturnal bird was long thought to be extinct, with no confirmed sightings between 1912 to 1979, but has recently been found at several widely-separated desert locations.

Answer: Night parrot (Pezoporus occidentalis).

(4) South Australia’s population of Mainland Tammar Wallabies (Notamacropus eugenii) was listed as extinct in the 1920s, but has been re-established after a surviving population was discovered thriving where?

Answer: Kawau Island, New Zealand.

(5) What giant insect was believed to be extinct by 1920, until a population of just 24 individuals was discovered in 2001 on a rocky islet called Ball’s Pyramid?

Answer: Lord Howe Island stick insect (Dryococelus australis).

Archive: