If you ask the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the ivory-billed woodpecker is extinct. It’s been more than half a century since anyone has seen the iconic animal, which was last officially spotted in 1944. Extensive searches through the swamplands and forests of the southern U.S. that it was once known to occupy have come up empty, which led to the declaration that the bird was gone forever.
Not so fast. Despite being labeled as extinct, researchers from the National Aviary claim to have documented physical evidence that the bird is still alive in Louisiana. In a pre-print research paper that has not yet been peer-reviewed, lead author Steve Latta and a number of other researchers lay out the evidence that while the ivory-billed woodpecker may be reclusive, it has not been wiped out entirely.
