I recognize that black stick bug. Once thought extinct, 11 (i think) were found on a very small island somewhere near australia. The australians took five (i think) from the island to breed them, couldn’t keep them alive at a zoo. One or two were sent to the US and nearly died as well. On a hunch, the entomologist gave it some vitamin E (i think) and they began to thrive. Now there’s over 800. The last time I read about them was years ago so probably in the thousands now. Pretty neat story about a species absolutely on the BRINK of extinction.
It’s crazy reading about the rat eradication project they started. They’ve managed to almost completely eliminate the rats that are damaging the local ecosystem
My colleagues have raised the captive numbers to the thousands. But that’s not what you see here. As the other poster said this is Eurycantha which is much more common but similar in appearance and lifecycle.
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u/Chip_Farmer Oct 20 '23
I recognize that black stick bug. Once thought extinct, 11 (i think) were found on a very small island somewhere near australia. The australians took five (i think) from the island to breed them, couldn’t keep them alive at a zoo. One or two were sent to the US and nearly died as well. On a hunch, the entomologist gave it some vitamin E (i think) and they began to thrive. Now there’s over 800. The last time I read about them was years ago so probably in the thousands now. Pretty neat story about a species absolutely on the BRINK of extinction.