List of resurrected species

This is a list of resurrected species. A previously extinct or lost species can be "revived" or recreated through various methods such as cloning, breeding, genome editing, thawing, and seed germination in plants.

The Pyrenean ibex (Capra pyrenaica pyrenaica) is an Iberian ibex subspecies with the unfortunate moniker of the first animal to go extinct twice. Endemic to the Pyrenees and Cantabrian Mountains, this ibex was driven to extinction by the year 2000 due to competition with livestock and introduced wild ungulates and following the death of Celia, the endling of the subspecies. Several attempts were made to clone the Pyrenean ibex, and one individual was born to a domestic goat mother in 2003. However, this newborn died within minutes due to a lung defect.^[1]

The Judean date palm is a cultivar of the date palm (Phoenix dactylifera) that is historically endemic to ancient Judea (modern-day Israel and Palestine). It is genetically unique, and closely related to modern Iraqi and Moroccan varieties.^[2] Between 1963 and 1991, archaeologists discovered Judean date seeds in excavation sites. Through radiocarbon dating, they were determined to be between 1,900 and 2,300 years old. In 2008, researchers at the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies began to germinate the seeds.^[2]

As of 2023^[update], 7 Judean date palms have successfully germinated. In 2020, researchers began to harvest dates from these trees. Experiments to revive this cultivar are ongoing.^[3]

The Montreal melon, also known as the Montreal market muskmelon, Montreal nutmeg melon, and melon de Montréal (Melon of/from Montreal) in French is a commercial cultivar of melon native to Canada. Traditionally grown around the Montreal area, hence its namesake. The fruit was known for being the largest melon in North America during its initial cultivation.^[4] It disappeared entirely from family farms and cultivation in the region by the 1920s due to industrialisation in Canada and being ill-suited for agribusiness. In 1997, seeds of the melon were discovered in a seed bank in the American state of Iowa. Since then, the Montreal melon has been reintroduced to its former range by local gardeners.^[5]

In September 2024, a specimen of a never-before-seen Commiphora by the name of Sheba reached maturity. In the 1980s, Sheba was found in excavations of a cave in the Judean desert as seed but was not germinated until recent times. Sheba is estimated to be over 1000 years old through radiocarbon dating, and researchers suspect that Sheba may be the tsori or Judean balsam, two plants stated to have healing properties in the Bible.^[6][7]

• Pithovirus sibericum: A 30,000-year-old giant virus^[8]
• Panagrolaimus kolymaensis: This novel species of nematode was resurrected from cryptobiosis in 2023. The nematodes had been frozen in the Siberian permafrost since the Pleistocene, approximately 46,000 years ago.^[9]

The Rastreador Brasilerio (Brazilian Tracker) is a dog breed that was bred in the 1950s to aid in hunting jaguars and wild pigs in Brazil. In the early 2000s, a group named Grupo de Apoio ao Resgate do Rastreador Brasileiro (Brazilian Tracker Rescue Support Group) dedicated to reviving the breed and having it relisted by Confederação Brasileira de Cinofilia located dogs in Brazil that had genetics of the extinct breed to recreate a purebred.^[10] In 2013, the breed was de-extinct through successful preservation breeding from descendants of the final original members and was relisted by the FCI.^[11]

• De-extinction
• Breeding back
• Lazarus taxon
• Rewilding
• Oldest viable seed