We’ve all heard the folklore surrounding zombies. We’ve seen enough of them in bad sci-fi movies. And Zombies are nothing but a name for things that are ‘the living dead”.
But in real life, zombies don’t exist – or do they?
There have been a number of species on this planet that have been known to be extinct or only known from fossil records. Some extinct for decades, centuries, and even millions of years. But now they have been rediscovered – alive and well, kicking and screaming. Paleontologists call them “Lazarus taxon”, which means they disappear from the fossil records, and then later reappear alive. Back from the dead just like a zombie.
It sounds incredible, right? But it is absolutely true. Some are down right astonishing that they have rediscovered. If you look at Wikipedia, they have an ever growing list of species that were thought to be extinct and been found alive. Even categorized by mammals, fish, reptiles, birds, and so forth. Cool huh.
So, where did all these species go to hide so well that they weren’t seen again for so long? What happened to them? Did they really disappear and then come back some how? Did mother nature find a way to bring back old DNA from extinct species?
Another theory of mine I’ve thought of quite frequently, because it’s more than just coincidence in my mind, is that aliens may be involved. And I know, I’m bringing up the “alien theory”, but think about it.
Each time I hear about some sighting of some cryptid animal, like Bigfoot, Yeti, or Nessie, you hear a lot about UFO sightings that went along with those sightings. Could there be a connection? Are the supposed aliens living underground bringing back old extinct species to repopulate the Earth? Did they preserve a lot of now extinct species for some reason and now releasing them?
I don’t know, it’s just a thought. It’s one of those things you keep back in your brain somewhere filed for future reference. But I can’t imagine that so MANY extinct species have suddenly reappeared out of the blue. There must be a reason. Something helped them out of their “hiding spot” to be rediscovered. They could not have ALL been misidentified or mislabeled as “extinct”. Many have actually been tested and matched their DNA to known fossils or known living specimens. So what’s going on?
Anyway, here’s some of the list of the Lazarus species I found:
The most well known is the Coelacanth. It was believed to be extinct for 65 million years! But one was caught of the east coast of South Africa in 1938, by Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer and JLB Smith. It’s a “hollow spine” fish, related to lungfishes and tetra pods. It was once thought it was the “missing link” between fish and tetra pods. Since then, it has been found in Kenya, Tanzania, Madagascar, South Africa, Comoros, and Mozambique.
(picture courtesy cryptomundo.com)
The Lord Howe Island Stick Insect, which is a cutie isn’t it, was thought to be extinct since 1930, and wiped out of its native habitat. But less than 30 of them were found in 2001.
(image courtesy mnn.com)
The next zombie back from the dead is the Monoplacophora, a class of mollusks thought to be extinct for 380 million years! That’s a long time. But it was found in 1952 in Costa Rica. It has a distinctive cap-shaped shell.
(image courtesy kumip.ku.edu)
Next on the list is the Caspian Pony. It was thought to have been extinct around the 7th century, but was found in the 1960’s still alive and grazing. And it’s really a horse, not a pony.
(image courtesy iliveforhorses.com)
Next is the Bermuda Petrel, a bird obviously. Thought to be extinct since 1620, or 330 years, was found in 1951.
(image courtesy avianweb.com)
This one is a rat, Laotian Rock Rat to be exact. Not your ordinary rat, is it? Looks like a big one too. It was thought to be extinct for 11 million years. But in 2006, because it had another name, DNA testing confirmed it to be the Laotian Rock Rat and it was reclassified as so.
(image courtesy cracktwo.com)
This one looks so cute and cuddly. It’s not a rat. It’s a Monito del Monte, which is a mammal, a marsupial only native to the southwestern part of South America. Thought to be extinct for 11 million years, was found in the Southern Andes. The name is Spanish for “little mountain monkey”.
(image courtesy en.wikipedia.org)
The Chacoan Peccary looks like a pig, but is in fact not a pig. It’s a peccary, whatever that is. It was only known through fossil records, but was found kicking and screaming alive and well in 1975 in Paraguay. Nicknamed the “pigs from green hell”.
(image courtesy animaldiversity.umnz.umich.edu)
Next up is the Mountain Pygmy Possum. Another cute and cuddly one. It is Australia’s only hibernating marsupial. It too was only known from the fossil records, but was discovered in 1966.
(image courtesy theage.com.au)
Here’s another bird, the Takahe, with a mother and chick picture shown. Believed to be extinct since 1898, was found again in 1948.
Has beautiful green and blue coloring.
(image courtesy itsnature.org)
Last but not least is the Lazarussuchus. It’s a fresh water reptile, thought to have been extinct since the Mesozoic period. But scientists think its from what is known as a ‘ghost lineage’ that spans back to 170 million years ago! So he really is older than dirt.
(image courtesy thelordgeekington.com)
So there you have some examples of some great Lazarus species who are actually real life zombies. Crazy huh? To have so many, and this is just a sampling, of long extinct species reappearing from nowhere.
I have to think that something weird is going on. Don’t you think so? How could this many extinct species, ranging from birds, mammals, trees, flowers, ants, and reptiles, crop up from out of the blue? And what about viruses and bacteria that seem to come from nowhere all of a sudden and cause massive pandemics? Could they too be a part of this extinct species replenishment? Could they have been trapped in time? Been in some kind of Bermuda Triangle vortex living somewhere else, and now been placed back into their old habitat? It’s something to think about. What other explanation is there? Other than mankind.
I’ll leave you to ponder the possibilities of this unsolved phenomena and unsolved realm of existence.
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Un grand bravo pour la conception de votre blog.
Keep posting stuff like this i really like it
My partner and I really enjoyed reading this blog post, I was just itching to know do you trade featured posts? I am always trying to find someone to make trades with and merely thought I would ask.
I’m glad that you enjoyed the post. It’s amazing to me that so many species on our Earth are in fact not long gone after all. I haven’t thought about trading posts. And trading posts might be fun. I’m not sure exactly what trading posts is, so please excuse me if I sound like a newbie (I am). Contact me at my email, you can find it on my contact page, and we can do just that.
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