By David
Derbyshire Environment Editor
Last updated at 9:10 AM on 29th September 2010
Conservationists (Enviromentalist Actvist Researchers) are (Purposely) overestimating the number of species that have been driven to extinction,
scientists have said.
A study has found that a third of all mammal species
declared extinct in the past few centuries have turned up alive and well.
Some of the more
reclusive creatures managed to hide from sight for 80 years only to reappear
within four years of being officially named extinct in the wild.
The shy okapi – which
resembles a cross between a zebra and a giraffe – was first discovered in the Democratic
Republic of Congo in 1901.
After increasingly
rarer sightings, it vanished from the wildlife radar for decades from 1959,
prompting fears that it had died out.
But five years ago researchers working for the WWF found
okapi tracks in the wild.
Other mammals ‘back from the dead’ include the rat-like
Cuban solenodon, the Christmas Island shrew, the Vanikoro Flying Fox of the
The revelations come
as the world’s leading conservationists prepare for a major United Nations
summit on biodiversity in Nagoya, Japan, next month.