Rediscovery of Living Animals Once Presumed Extinct (C/N)

It is a common theory among cryptozoologists that some unidentified creatures may belong to a fossil species. Such discoveries have only rarely occurred in real-life. One such example is the coelacanth, an entire group of lobe-finned fish which were thought to be extinct since the Cretaceous period. In 1938, however, the West Indian Ocean coelacanth (Latimeria chalumnae) was discovered off the coast of South Africa, followed by the Indonesian coelacanth (Latimeria menadoensis) in 1997.

Most such rediscoveries are relatively recent additions to the fossil record. The Australian Mountain Pygmy Possum was known from fossils until a live one was found in a garbage can. Dr. Alan Grant also mused that a ten thousand year old New Guinean fossil fruit bat was described by a scientist who later one, found one in the mail. After receiving the X-ray of the Procompsognathusfrom Alice Levin, he initially thought it might be a rediscovery, that the animal had somehow survived. He attempted to rationalize it, by pointing out that even though Procompsognathus was a Triassic survivor, as were crocodiles and sharks.