Stick insects: Three females remain
By Susan Milius
Australian biologists have discovered live specimens of a dramatic insect species given up as extinct decades ago.
A special expedition in February sponsored by the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service located three female Dryococelus australis on a ledge of a small, rocky island called Balls Pyramid off the eastern coast of Australia. “We couldn’t jump for joy or we’d have fallen off the ledge,” says codiscoverer Nicholas Carlile.