Scientists Find A Giant Insect On An Island That Was Thought To Be Extinct

With over 20,000 species approaching extinction, our world is in the midst of a major biodiversity crisis. And while it may be true that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, it doesn't really account for how chaotic our world can be.

Since there's so many issues competing in the quest to raise awareness, it's difficult to stay the center of popular attention unless we're talking about a stark, immediate problem.

But nearing extinction is about as close as the animal world gets to staying in the forefront. For once something crosses that threshold, they're gone forever, right?

Well, sometimes there's a little more room for hope than that. And what this case from a remote Australian island will show you.    

Here's the island, which is known as Ball's Pyramid.

It's a treacherous place, but it's home to a very small, very important little bush.

And in neighboring Lord Howe Island, there used to be a lot of these.

This insect is commonly called a tree lobster due to its large size–about 4.7 inches–and hard outer shell. Local fishermen used to bait their hooks with it, but that's not why it died out.

No, the real reason has to do with these fellas.

When a British ship wrecked on the island in 1918, black rats escaped from the ship and were able to survive on the island. With no predators and a steady supply of giant bugs to eat, the rat population ballooned and devoured the tree lobsters into extinction.

Or that's what everyone thought since nobody saw another one for 80 years.

And yet, when two Australian scientists climbed Ball's Pyramid in 2001, they happened upon that special bush I mentioned earlier. And there, they found some large insect droppings.

But to find the bugs themselves, they had to do something dangerous. 

They had to climb the difficult rock again, this time at night.

They risked life and limb to get to the bush, but when they arrived they found the insects crawling all over it. 

As far as anyone can tell, those 24 tree lobsters are the world's last members of their species.

And so the plan was to start a breeding program to save the species.

But they were only allowed to remove four insects from the island. And after two of them died and another got sick, the project seemed to be doomed. 

But zoo breeder Patrick Honan was able to nurse the bug back to health. 

Thanks to his formula – a mixture of calcium and nectar – the tree lobster recovered and was able to lay eggs. 

And by 2008, the Melbourne Zoo was able to raise 700 adult tree lobsters with 11,376 more eggs on the way.  

But what about the insects back on Ball's Pyramid?

The Melbourne Zoo proposes a campaign to eliminate the rats in the area, but residents ofLord Howe Islandare reluctant to welcome the tree lobsters back.And so, the Melbourne Zoo's mission is to convince them that the large insects are worth saving. And this video is part of a new public relations campaign to do just that.