Rarest Insect in One of the World’s Remotest Places
(Image via: Pro Dive)
In a world of dwindling resources and ever-increasing extinction rates it is always remarkable to see an exception to the rule – particularly one composed of a series of chance happenings and involving one of the strangest species and off-the-map locations on Earth: an odd insect that has survived only under one bush, on one bare rock face, hundreds of feet in the air and miles from other land.
(Image via: Environment.gov)
Ball’s Pyramid is a towering 2,000-foot spire that shoots up from the waters of the Pacific Ocean, essentially bare, desolate and isolated – except that it is home to what might be the most endangered insect on the planet.
(Image via: Howe Divers)
This remarkable little stick insect was thought to have died out after their single largest habitat – the adjacent Lord Howe Island – was the site of a shipwreck that spread black rats (which ate the insects) nearly a hundred years ago. Since their rediscovery scientists have brought sample populations back to shore in order to breed them in captivity.
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This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 11th, 2009 at 12:12 am and is filed under Consciousness, Green Living, Health, Science, Spirituality. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
