Aldabra rail

plural Aldabra rails

1. A flightless bird which inhabits Aldabra in the Indian Ocean (variously considered a distinct species Dryolimnas aldabranus or a subspecies of Dryolimnas cuvieri), noted for having gone extinct about 136,000 years ago and then reevolved 100,000 years ago.

   The Aldabra Rail is a flightless bird found only on the remote coral atoll of Aldabra, 420 km to the north-west of the northern tip of Madagascar. On Madagascar itself lives another rail, called the White-throated Rail,[…]

   2013 June 12, Clifford Frith, The Woodhen: A Flightless Island Bird Defying Extinction, CSIRO PUBLISHING, →ISBN, page 28

   3 more examples

   The last remaining flightless bird of the Indian Ocean is the Aldabra rail, Dryolimnas aldabranus. Confined to Aldabra, the rails are surviving well on the islands of Picard, Polymnie and Malabar, which are the best places to see[…]

   2008, Lyn Mair, Lynnath Beckley, Seychelles, Bradt Travel Guides, →ISBN, page 37

   The Aldabra rail bird is the only animal to return from extinction without being cloned. I don't mean people thought it was extinct and it was rediscovered. The Aldabra rail bird was completely wiped out but returned from the dead.

   (Can we date this quote?), James Egan, 3000 Facts About Animals, Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 99

   Fossils of Aldabra rails have been found that date back 136,000 years, but it is known that the atoll was submerged by rising sea levels during the late Pleistocene (126,000 to 11,000 years ago). This would have wiped out the [population].

   2020 October 20, Marianne Taylor, The Story of Life in 10 1/2 Species, MIT Press, →ISBN, page 182