Due to hunting and destroying the environment, it can’t be denied that humans have caused devastation among the rest of the animal kingdom. We have caused the extinction of a number of species throughout history. When a species goes extinct, generally these animals are never to return to the planet.
But every now and again, unbelievably, some creatures are gifted a second chance. If you can catch the population right before their last numbers die out, there’s always the possibility for hope.
Off the coast of Australia, on a windswept, largely inhospitable spit of jagged rock known as Ball’s Pyramid, a strange and ancient creature has made a startling comeback. But it’s not like anything you’ve ever seen before.
This towering figure against the horizon of the Pacific may look like the castle from Frozen, but it is, in fact, an island known as Ball’s Pyramid.
Discovered by the British Navy in 1778, the peak of this magnificent geological construct reaches 1,844 feet. It’s hard to believe that it’s real!
While it looks like a dragon’s lair, it’s actually all that remains of an ancient volcano. It also holds the last surviving members of a very special species.
Ball’s Pyramid is just 13 miles from Lord Howe Island…
When it was discovered by European explorers in the late 1700s, Lord Howe Island was home to a strange creature: these black, armored insects, said to be the the length of a human hand and given the name “tree lobsters.”
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In the early 20th century—1918 to be exact!—a nemesis of the these tree lobsters arrived on their shores: black rats. In only two years, the rats decimated the Lord Howe insect population, and the last of them was seen in 1920. Or so we thought.
But in 2001, two Australian scientists, David Priddel and Nicholas Carlile, decided to investigate rumors of stick insect corpses on Ball’s Pyramid.
Around 500 feet up the peak, they found what they were looking for. Gathered around a single bush was a tiny colony of 24 Lord Howe stick insects.
They were just as big as the legends said they were. Some were up to six inches in length, and they are now considered the heaviest flightless stick insect in the world.
World renowned naturalist and film-maker Sir David Attenborough (out of frame) holds a Phasmid, or Lord Howe Island Stick Insect during a visit to Melbourne Zoo, Friday, Aug. 17, 2012. These invertebrates were wiped out on their island home nearly 100 years ago by rats, but a tiny colony was discovered clinging to a cliff on Ball’s Pyramid, a rocky outcrop off the coast of Lord Howe Island, nearly ten years ago. (AAP Image/Joe Castro)
“It felt like stepping back into the Jurassic age,” Carlile said, “when insects ruled the world.”
In the years since, conservation authorities have been trying to increase the insects’ numbers while being careful with the tiny colony.
Recently, they were able to capture the birth of a new generation of insects on film, and it was truly a magical moment.
Watching those little things emerge from their egg pods filled my heart with joy. Strange as they are, it’s an absolute miracle they were given a second chance at life!
Originally published on Head Cramp
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