Extinction is a serious matter all over the world. So when people believe an animal has gone extinct many studies began to find out the causes behind the lose of the animal life and quite often measures are taken to prevent the lose of more animals from similar causes. So what happens when a previously thought to be extinct animal is seen again?
The Short-Nosed Sea Snake
Short-nosed sea snakes have not been seen in fifteen years, leading to the belief that they had been driven to extinction for a number of reasons. However, recently off the Western Australian Ningaloo Reef a park ranger got a few pictures of snakes swimming around. Later, he submitted them to scientists to confirm that they were indeed Aipysurus apraefrontalis snakes. Researches published the confirmation of these living snakes in the journal of Biological Conservation recently letting people know that they and another snake specie we found alive. Not only were the short-nosed sea snakes alive they were also living naturally in the Ningaloo Reef and appeared to be performing a courting dance. Scientists are excited because this means that there is a good possibility that they have the potential to breed and begin making a come back.
What Happens To Them Now?
Currently, scientists have no answer as to why these two types of sea snakes have left their natural habitat and migrated more than one thousand miles from their known home of Ashmore Reef. Without knowledge as to why they suddenly dropped from making up half of the known sea snakes in 1990's to suddenly dropping ninety percent in the survey taken in 2000 it will be hard to locate a reason why their population dropped and they were believed to be extinct. Currently, it is unknown why they moved, why no one has seen them, or how many are still left. Scientists do know that a form of fishing known as trawling is a threat to all sea snakes but that was not an issue around Ashmore Reef at the time of either snakes disappearance. The Reappearance of the short-nosed sea snake and the leaf scaled sea snake is a real mystery because previously researchers only knew that these types of sea snakes lived around tropical reefs. The only hint that scientists currently have is that maybe the declining of the ecosystem's health and coral bleaching may be the cause of the near extinction of the sea snakes. The main goals of researchers are to find any possible threats to their life and survival. Before they can start an effective conservation strategy they must know any dangers that are out their for both species of sea snakes.
Could There Be More Animals Hiding In The Ocean
Finding these two once thought extinct sea snakes opens up the possibility that many other animals may still be hiding in the protection of the vast ocean waters. Discovering these two sea snakes may encourage scientists and researchers to begin looking for more animals within the ocean water with the increasing number of technology advances in ocean exploration may prompt more studies into the wildlife throughout the ocean.