What do the Eurasian lynx, black rhino, and Tasmanian devil have in common? All of them went extinct in the wild and managed to make a comeback due to extensive reintroduction programs.

Conservation scientists are professionals who use captive breeding and translocation to re-establish animal populations that have disappeared in the wild. Reintroducing such animals to their native territories is an important step in the process of combating extinction because it enables an increase in population numbers and leads to the restoration of degraded habitats.

Extinct Animals That Were Successfully Reintroduced to the Wild

1. Eurasian Lynx

The Eurasian lynx went extinct across Central Europe during the 1800s. But since then, conservation scientists have managed to reintroduce the feline into the flora and fauna of several countries, including Switzerland, Austria, Italy, France, and Germany. They began their efforts in the 1970s and while still facing certain challenges, it’s safe to say that the Eurasian lynx is once again part of Europe’s wildlife.

2. Arabian Oryx

Having been hunted for its meat, horns, and hide, the Arabian oryx died out in the wild during the 1970s. Since then, the animal has been reintroduced in Saudi Arabia, Oman, Israel, and the United Arab Emirates. According to the latest numbers, there are currently 1,200 Arabian oryx in the wild, which prompted a change in its status from “endangered” to “vulnerable.”

3. Black Rhino

Humans decimated the black rhino population during the 20th century. During the 1990s, an estimate of 2,400 was left in the wild. This led to a reaction from the scientific community, which introduced different programs, including translocation, in an effort to save the species. Nowadays, black rhinos in the wild have doubled their numbers and have been successfully reintroduced in areas where they were completely extinct.

4. Cheetah

During the 20th century, the population of the world’s fastest land animal plummeted by 93%. This was mainly due to hunting and habitat loss. The cheetah became extinct in many of its natural territories, including India. In 2017, after two decades of absence, the big cat made a return to Malawi’s wildlife.

5. Tasmanian Devil

The Tasmanian devil hasn’t always been indigenous to Tasmania. More than three millennia ago, it roamed across Australia but disappeared from the local fauna after the arrival of the dingoes. Their numbers were further reduced because of a contagious disease. In 2020, these cute marsupials were reintroduced to an animal sanctuary in New South Wales.

Other Animals Worth Mentioning

Apart from the listed animals, conservation scientists also managed to re-establish the populations of the Chinese alligator, European bison, Przewalski horse, Guam rail, and more. Their efforts are showing that humans can undo the harm that they have done to different species of animals.

No matter whether you’re a fan of art or whether you’re a stranger to this world, there’s a high chance that you’re familiar with the names of Rembrandt and Leonardo Da Vinci. These two artists have changed history with their work and their train of thought and philosophy over the years, but there is one thing that has made some experts question their lives. From their self-portraits, it seems as though these two artists may have suffered from an eye condition. However, one expert has now come up with a new idea to thwart that notion.

The Artist’s Eye

As more and more people have looked upon the self-portraits of these two artists, many of them came to the conclusion that they may have had something wrong with one of their eyes. If you look closely, their portraits all offer skewed eyes that seem a little off, and this led many experts to believe that they had a literal artist’s eye. This is a real eye disorder that’s also called exotropia, and it occurs where one eye looks inward as normal, but the other eye turns outward. This makes their eyes look as though they are very different.

Another Option

However, it seems as though this might not be the real reason why their eyes are skewed in their self-portraits. An ophthalmologist at Johns Hopkins University, David Guyton, suggests that the two artists didn’t have exotropia, but instead just had a more dominant eye – something which every single person on this planet has. Those who have a more dominant eye often allow this eye to see what it thinks, and this is especially true the closer you get to the thing that you’re focusing on. So, if Rembrandt and Da Vinci were focusing on their eyes in a mirror while painting their portrait, they may have just seen themselves differently.

What do you think? Could they have really had exotropia?