Samantha Mynhardt, post doctoral researcher at University of Pretoria and Esther Matthew, senior field officer with Endangered Wildlife Trust, with Jessie the scent-detection dog. (Photo by Nicky Souness)

Jessie, Esté and Sam

A golden mole burrow. (Photo by Nicky Souness) 

Golden Mole burrow 

Esther Matthew, senior field officer, Endangered Wildlife Trust and Jessie, the scent-detection dog, searching for golden moles in the dunes near Port Nolloth. (Photo by Nicky Souness) 

Esther Matthew, senior field officer for EWT, and Jessie the scent detection dog. (Photo by Nicky Souness)

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Este and Jessie 3 x2 crop 

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Esther and Jessie 5x4 crop

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Jessie the scent-detection dog and Esther Matthew, senior field officer with Endangered Wildlife Trust, while searching for golden moles on the West Coast of South Africa. (Photo by Nicky Souness)

An expedition team with Endangered Wildlife Trust is using eDNA and a scent-detection dog to confirm which species are living in the dunes of Port Nolloth in South Africa

An expedition team with Endangered Wildlife Trust is using eDNA and a scent-detection dog to confirm which species are living in the dunes of Port Nolloth in South Africa. 

Is De Winton's Golden Mole, lost to science for 85 years, on the verge of being rediscovered?

Santa Isabel in Ecuador in the Andes. An expedition team from Tropical Herping rediscovered the Orcés Blue Whiptail, a lizard feared extinct, in a town in the Yungilla Valley in 2018. (Alejandro Arteaga/Tropical Herping)

Santa Isabel, Ecuador

Santa Isabel, where a team from Tropical Herping rediscovered the Orcés Blue Whiptail. (José Vieira/Tropical Herping)

Santa Isabel

A male Orcés Blue Whiptail, a lizard thought possibly extinct until an expedition team with Tropical Herping found a small population in Santa Isabel, Ecuador. (José Vieira/Tropical Herping)

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Orcés Blue Whiptail 

A female Climbing Whorltail Iguana. An expedition team with Tropical Herping rediscovered the species, which was feared extinct and hadn't been seen since 1899, after several expeditions to Balzapamba, Ecuador. (Alejandro Arteaga/Tropical Herping)

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Female Climbing Whortail Iguana

Climbing Whorltail Iguana. (Alejandro Arteaga/Tropical Herping)

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A male Climbing Whorltail Iguana. (Alejandro Arteaga/Tropical Herping)

A male Climbing Whortail Iguana. (Alejandro Arteaga/Tropical Herping)

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Climbing Whortail Iguana. (Alejandro Arteaga/Tropical Herping)

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A Climbing Whorltail Iguana rediscovered by an expedition team with Tropical Herping. The lizard hadn't been seen since 1899. (Alejandro Arteaga/Tropical Herping)

Conservationists are working to make sure the rare lizards don’t disappear again

A quest to find every species of reptile living in Ecuador has unearthed two species that many scientists feared were extinct.

The cold cases of two lost lizards in Ecuador have finally been cracked

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De Winton's golden mole watercolor 3x2

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De Winton's Golden Mole watercolor 5x4

De Winton's Golden Mole watercolor painting by Alexis Rockman.

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De Winton's Golden Mole watercolor

Endangered Wildlife Trust is searching for De Winton’s Golden Mole, a species not documented in 50 years

In late June, a team from the South African NGO Endangered Wildlife Trust will embark on their latest expedition, with the support of Re:wild, in search of De Winton’s Golden Mole (Cryptochloris wintoni), a species not documented in 50 years. 

10 cool facts about golden moles

Caleb Ofori-Boateng, Ghana's first herpetologist. He discovered the Afi Birago Puddle Frog in 2017.

Caleb Ofori-Boateng

Togo Slippery Frog (Photo by Caleb Ofori-Boateng)

Togo Slipper Frog. (Photo courtesy of Caleb Ofori-Boateng)

Togo Slippery Frog

Atewa is on the list of Alliance for Zero Extinction (AZE) sites, a designation given to places that are home to more than 95% of at least one species listed as Critically Endangered or Endangered on the IUCN Red List.

Atewa Forest, Ghana (Photo courtesy of Caleb Ofori-Boateng)

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Caleb Ofori-Boateng, Ghana's first herpetologist. 

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Through ‘conservation evangelism,’ Caleb Ofori-Boateng hopes to prevent mining in the ecologically rich Atewa Forest

Through ‘conservation evangelism,’ Caleb Ofori-Boateng hopes to prevent mining in the ecologically rich Atewa Forest. 

Ghana’s first herpetologist wants all Ghanaians to fight for the frogs

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Author and journalist Michelle Nijhuis (Photo courtesy of Michelle Nijhuis)

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Author and journalist Michelle Nijhuis. (Photo courtesy of Michelle Nijhuis)

Michelle Nijhuis 

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Michelle Nijhuis

Her new book explores the history of the modern conservation, its successes and failures 

Beloved Beasts: Fighting for Life in the Age of Extinction

 Q&A with author Michelle Nijhuis

Urich's Tyrannulet expedition in Venezuela in May 2021.

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The expedition team in the eastern Coastal Cordillera in Venezuela. (Photo by the Urich's Tyrannulet expedition team)

Eastern Coastal Cordillera Venezuela 

An Urich's tyrannulet. The photo was taken by an expedition team in Venezuela searching for the species, which has not had a recorded sighting since 2005. The expedition teams' photos are the first-ever clear photos of the species. (Photo by David Ascanio)

Urich's tyrannulet in Turimiquire, Venezuela (Photo by David Ascanio)

Urich's Tyrannulet

Photo taken during an expedition searching for Urich's Tyrannulet in Venezuela in May 2021. (Photo by David Ascanio)

White-tipped quetzal in Monagas, Venezuela (Photo by David Ascanio)

White-tipped Quetzal 

Urich's Tyrannulet. (Photo by David Ascanio)

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Urich's Tyrannulet (Photo by David Ascanio)

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Urich's Tyrannulet. (Photo by David Ascanio) 

Hero Urichs Tyrannulet

The flycatcher has only had four confirmed sightings since 1899, but ornithologists have finally captured a clear photo and recording of the bird 

The flycatcher has only had four confirmed sightings since 1899, but ornithologists have finally captured a clear photo and recording of the bird. 

Expedition team finds Urich’s Tyrannulet hiding in Venezuela’s cloud forests 

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Fernandina Giant Tortoise blog hero

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Fern the Fernandina Giant Tortoise (Photo ©Lucas Bustamante (@luksth))

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Fern currently lives at the tortoise breeding center on Santa Cruz Island. (Photo ©Lucas Bustamante (@luksth))

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Juvenile tortoises at the turtle breeding center on Santa Cruz Island. (Photo ©Lucas Bustamante (@luksth))

Juvenile tortoises

Fernandina Giant Tortoise illustration

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Feared extinct, the Fernandina Giant Tortoise could now someday make a comeback

Fernanda the Fernandina Giant Tortoise represents seventh rediscovery of Re:wild's most wanted lost species

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Sumatran Rhino. (Photo by Bill Konstant) 

Sumatran Rhino by Bill Konstant

Sumatran Rhino photos by GWC senior associate Bill Konstant.

Sumatran Rhino © Bill Konstant.

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The first 181 IUCN Green Status preliminary assessments are outlined in a Conservation Biology paper published today

From California condors to East Asian mangroves, Green Status shows specific conservation metrics for focal species

IUCN’s new “Green Status of Species” measures impact of conservation action

The first living specimen of Afzelius’s crab (Afrithelphusa afzelii) to be seen by scientists since 1796 rediscovered in the southern Province of Sierra Leone. (Photo by Pierre A. Mvogo Ndongo) 

Afzelius's crab (Photo by Pierre A. Mvogo Ndongo)

A male Sierra Leone crab (Afrithelphusa leonensis), recently rediscovered in the forested Sugar Loaf Mountains near Freetown in Sierra Leone. The species had been missing to science since 1955. (Photo by Pierre A. Mvogo Ndongo)

A male Sierra Leone crab. (Photo by Pierre A. Mvogo Ndongo)

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FOUND Rainbow-hued, land-dwelling Sierra Leone crab lost to science for 66 years is rediscovered in remote West African rainforest

Sierra Leone Crab. (Photo by Pierre A. Mvogo Ndongo)

Sierra Leone Crab

Sierra Leone Crab (Photo by Pierre A. Mvogo Ndongo)

(Left) Sierra Leone Crab. (Right) Afzelius's Crab. (Photos by Pierre A. Mvogo Ndongo)

Featured photo web SL crab Afzelius's crab

A second equally colorful crab not seen in 225 years was rediscovered in a forest outside Freetown

An expedition to the rainforests of Sierra Leone earlier this year yielded several major discoveries.

FOUND: Rainbow-hued, land-dwelling Sierra Leone crab lost to science for 66 years is rediscovered in remote West African rainforest    

Titicaca orestias is a carnivorous freshwater fish found in Lake Titicaca. It feeds on plankton and microinvertebrates in the lake between Bolivia and Peru. A survey in Lake Titicaca failed to find any Titicaca orestias in 196 following decades of invasive species being introduced to and pollution in the lake.

Titicaca orestias

An illustration of a spinach pipefish. (Illustration courtesy of Shoal)

Spinach pipefish

An expedition on Lake Tota in Colombia searching for the fat catfish in the 1990s. (photo courtesy of Shoal)

An expedition on Lake Tota in Colombia in the 1990s

The Itasy cichlid is found in Lake Itasy and the central highlands of Madagascar. It was thought to be exinctint until 2010 when it was found in a pond that was a tributary of the Tsiribihina River. The last sighting before the rediscovery was in the 1970s. (Photo courtesy of Shoal)

Itasy cichlid

This fish, endemic to the Syr Darya River, which flows through Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, is among the world's smallest sturgeon species. A previous expedition, supported by Re:wild, traveled to Kazakhstan in search of the species, but did not find it. It was last seen in the 1960s. (Illustration courtesy of Shoal)

Syr Darya shovelnose sturgeon

A photo of Lake Tota in Colombia searching for the fat catfish in the 1990s. The expedition did not find the fish, which gets it name from the rings of fat around its body. The last time the species was seen was 1957.

A photo of Lake Tota in Colombia from an expedition searching for the fat catfish in the 1990s

This critically endangered fish is found in the Tigris-Euphrates river system in Eastern Turkey, Eastern Syria, Iran and Iraq. The species was last seen during the 1990s when six fish were caught. (Illustration by Susan Laurie-Bourque)

Mesopotamian barbel, Illustration by Susan Laurie-Bourque

The fat catfish was last seen in Lake Tota in Colombia in 1957. It gets its name from the rings of fat that surround its body. Only 10 specimens of the fish have ever been found. (Illustration courtesy of Shoal)

Fat catfish

The duck-billed buntingi was last seen in 1983. The fish's upper jaw and eyes stick out so far, its possible to see them from a vantage point below the fish in the water. The duck-billed buntingi is found in Lake Poso Sulawesi. (Illustration courtesy of Shoal)

Duck-billed buntingi

The Haditha cavefish was last seen in 1983 and is the only member of its genus. The species was originally discovered in a sinkhole near the Sheik Hadid Shrine in Iraq. (Illustration courtesy of Shoal)

Haditha cavefish

An expedition searching for the fat catfish in Colombia in the 1990s. (Photo courtesy of Shoal)

A photo of an expedition searching for the fat catfish in Colombia in the 1990s

The Annamite barb was last seen in 1936. It lives in the Huong River in Vietnam. (Illustration by Huu Manh Bui)

Ammanite barb - (c) Huu Manh Bui

The batman river loach was last seen in 1974. The Batman dam has caused the river where the species live to be severely degraded. (Illustration courtesy of Shoal)

Diyarbakir (Batman River) loach

Top 10 Most Wanted Lost Fishes

A survey searching for the fat catfish in Colombia in the 1990s. (Photo courtesy of Shoal)

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An expedition searching for the fat catfish in Colombia during the 1990s. (Photo courtesy of Shoal)

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An expedition team searching for the fat catfish in the 1990s in Colombia. (Photo courtesy of Shoal)

Expedition team searching for fat catfish 1990s

Re:wild and its partner, Shoal, the global initiative and partnership for freshwater species conservation, announced today, June 9, that they have started a Search for Lost Fishes.  The Search for Lost Fishes is an extension of Re:wild’s Search for Lost Species campaign, which was launched in 2017.

Re wild and Shoal launch Search for Lost Fishes

An illustration of a fat catfish. (Illustration courtesy of Shoal)

Ten freshwater fish from around the world that haven’t been seen in at least a decade will be the focus of expeditions 

Ten freshwater fish from around the world that haven’t been seen in at least a decade will be the focus of expeditions. 

Re:wild and Shoal launch Search for Lost Fishes

Urich´s Tyrannulet in Turimiquire, Venezuela (Photo by David Ascanio)

A Cucarachero Currucuhú in Santa Fe, Venezuela. Photo taken during the expedition searching for Urich's Tyrannulet in Venezuela in May 2021. (Photo by David Ascanio)

Cucarachero Currucuhú in Santa Fe, Venezuela (Photo by David Ascanio)

Photo taken during the expedition searching for Urich's Tyrannulet in Venezuela in May 2021. (Photo by David Ascanio)

Butterfly in Mariposa, Turimiquire (Photo by David Ascanio)

A photo of the Turimquire mountains taken during the expedition searching for Urich's tyrannulet in Venezuela in May 2021. (Photo by David Ascanio)

Turimiquire mountains (Photo by David Ascanio)

A copper-rumped hummingbird in Monagas, Venezuela. Photo from the expedition searching for Urich's tyrannulet in Venezuela in May 2021. (Photo by David Ascanio)

Copper-rumped Hummingbird in Monagas, Venezuela (Photo by David Ascanio)

Photo from the expedition searching for Urich's Tyrannulet in Venezuela in May 2021. (Photo by David Ascanio)

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Photo taken during an expedition searching for Urich's Tyrannulet in Venezuela during May 2021. (Photo by David Ascanio)

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Urich's Tyrannulet in Turimiquire, Venezuela (Photo by David Ascanio)

Photo taken during an expedition searching for Urich's tyrannulet in Venezuela in May 2021. (Photo by David Ascanio)

Tropical Parula in Monagas, Venezuela (Photo by David Ascanio)

Speckled Tanager in Caripe, Venezuela (Photo by David Ascanio)

Green-tailed emerald in Turimiquire, Venezuela (Photo by David Ascanio)

Golden-rumped euphonia (Photo by David Ascanio)

Fork-tailed woodnymph in Turimiquire, Venezuela (Photo by David Ascanio)

Blue-naped chlorophonia in Caripe, Venezuela (Photo by David Ascanio)

Bay-headed tanager in Caripe, Venezuela (Photo by David Ascanio)

An expedition team in Venezuela, led by ornithologist David Ascanio and supported by American Bird Conservancy (ABC), rediscovered Urich’s tyrannulet earlier last month. There have only been three confirmed sightings of the small flycatcher since it was first described in 1899. The second sighting was in the 1940s and the third in 2005. With so few sightings, Urich’s tyrannulet is one of the most poorly-known birds in South America and with cloud forest habitat where it lives being cut down for agriculture, scientists feared it could soon be at risk of going extinct. However, the expedition team was able to definitively prove it still alive: they captured the first clear photos of the tyrannulet and the first-ever recording of its call, shedding light on its behavior and ecology.

FOUND Expedition in Venezuela rediscovers Urich's Tyrannulet after 15 years hiding in cloud forest

FOUND: Expedition in Venezuela rediscovers Urich's tyrannulet

Urich's tyrannulet in Venezuela. (Photo by David Ascanio)

Urich's tyrannulet in Venezuela (David Ascanio)

Team captures first-ever clear photos and recording of the bird’s call

Team captures first-ever clear photos and recording of the bird’s call. 

Re: The Wild