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What's the rarest animal you've seen in person? (lemmy.ml)

submitted 1 month ago by CraigOhMyEggo@lemmy.ml to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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[–] Nakoichi@hexbear.net 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Cruz_long-toed_salamander

So rare I don't even know if they still exist.

I did some field biology work back in the mid 2000s and this is the only reason I know this.

There is also the California Condor and a species of kangaroo rat in the Mojave. The former is less rare now due to an immense amount of work we did to save the species to the point where they actually got removed from the endangered list at one point.

Look at this little guy though

As for the Condors:

The condor population (wild and captive) has steadily increased, reaching over 460 in 2017 (with 170 wild condors in California). For the most current update check out the Condor Population Status Summary (PDF)

Back when I was doing field work they were down to only 27 and all had been moved to captivity.

The situation with the salamander is much more dire

Its limited range and fragile specialized habitat place severe restrictions to the viability of this species. There is no definitive population estimate for the Santa Cruz long-toed salamander, but the numbers are deemed to be quite small. Further disturbance of its limited habitat could lead to this species' extinction.