Almost 200 years of concern that the world’s smallest otter species had gone extinct in Nepal have finally ended. The Asian small-clawed otter (Aonyx cinereus) had not been spotted in Nepal since 1839, and thus biologists feared that the species had gone extinct in the country. But after an individual was found in a Nepal river in February 2025, concerns were put to rest.

This is not the first occurrence of a species reemerging after presumptions of extinction in an area or in the wild entirely. Several elusive species have been sighted for the first time in many years, including the Galápagos crake observed by Charles Darwin, which was presumed extinct since 1835, the Fernandina giant tortoise that was thought long-gone for over 100 years, and the coelacanth, a giant fish believed to have gone extinct 66 million years ago but was rediscovered in 1938.

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