“A petite, flightless grasshopper once thought to be extinct has been spotted in Virginia for the first time in nearly 80 years. The last time anyone officially documented the Appalachian grasshopper in the state was in 1946, according to a January statement from the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation. But Andrew Rapp, a field zoologist with the department’s Natural Heritage Program, recently captured an adult female in the northwest part of Virginia—proof that the elusive species has not completely disappeared,” reports Smithsonian Magazine.
It was captured in Augusta County, near the border with West Virginia. The Appalachian grasshopper is a small, ground-dwelling insect with “impressive camouflage.” Historically, it was found in five counties in Virginia, as well as in a few counties in West Virginia and Pennsylvania.
The Appalachian grasshopper has been affected by the regrowth of Virginia’s forests. “The insects prefer young, open forests with tall grasses and shrubs. But as Virginia’s forests mature, that habitat is disappearing,” Smithsonian Magazine says.
A dog recently discovered a species of mole long thought to be extinct, De Winton’s golden mole.
Scientists have developed genetically-modified bananas to keep the principal variety of banana from being wiped out by a dangerous blight. They also engineered bionic silkworms that spin fibers six times stronger than Kevlar.
Bison have made a comeback in Europe. “In the 1920s, there were just 54 European bison, all in captive areas, after intense hunting over millennia, but thanks to rewilding efforts there are now around 10,000″ bison in Europe, “mostly in Russia and Belarus.”
The snow leopard population has doubled in Kazakhstan. Mountain gorillas are making a comeback in the African country of Rwanda.
The critically-endangered Siberian crane is growing more numerous.
Wild horses recently returned to Kazakhstan after being absent for two hundred years.
