The ‘Last Chance to See’ These Extinct Animals Was In 1990

In 1990, Douglas Adams and zoologist Mark Carwardine went on a trip to several remote corners of the world to see species that were very likely not to exist a few years later. Because it is Douglas Adams (Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy), it’s hilarious. And still sad. And as absurd as reality can be. In Last Change to See the team encounters danger, corruption, absurdity, and the scourge of Richard Clayderman in China, but, more importantly, these amazing animals. Some have made it and some have not. Read the book and then see my update on the animals below.

White Rhinos

White rhinos fall into two types, northern and southern. The last male northern white rhino died earlier this year and now only two females remain. The southern white rhino populations are up to about 20,000 in highly protected areas in central and southern Africa.

Mountain Gorillas

The mountain gorilla population is down to 880, which is an increase from 620 in 1989 according to the World Wildlife Fund. They live in the Congo Basin in Africa.

Kakapo

This really weird, flightless parrot was down to only 123 birds when they had 33 babies in 2014. The latest count I could find listed 149. They live on a couple of isolated islands in New Zealand.

Komodo Dragon

This giant (10ft), poisonous lizard lives on just a couple of islands off of Australia. It is endangered, not still around. Maybe because people are so fascinated by when they attack.

Chinese River Dolphin (Baiji)

In 2006 the Baiji dolphin was declared functionally extinct due to human activities, but some scientists have recently claimed to see one.

There is a similar animal called a Yangtze finless porpoise that is still around, although critically endangered.

Rodrigues Fruit Bat

Due to lots of captive breeding, this bat, also called the Rodrigues Flying Fox, is making a small comeback on Rodrigues Island.

Mauritius Kestrel

This bird was saved through miracle interventions (at one point down to 4 known birds) and now numbers 800-1000.

The World Wildlife Fund estimates nearly 10,000 species go extinct every year. Let’s do what we can to help–and also encourage Douglas Adams to write another one of these books because I can only take this bad news in his comic voice.