9 Animals Science Says Are Extinct — They're Not

Officially, some animals are gone. Declared extinct, extirpated, wiped off the map decades ago. But the sightings never stopped — and in more than one case, the science was wrong. This video counts down 9 animals that science wrote off as extinct in America, and the reports, footage, and rediscoveries that say otherwise: the eastern cougar, declared extinct while trail cameras kept firing; the eastern elk, gone since the 1800s and now back in the woods of the East; the red wolf, the ivory-billed woodpecker, and other species people insist they still see. For each one we separate what the record claims from what witnesses actually report — and explain what those sightings most likely are. The point isn't to mock the people who saw something. It's to take them seriously, look at the evidence, and figure out what's really out there. Sometimes the eyewitnesses were right all along. Have you ever seen an animal that "isn't supposed to exist" where you live? Tell us what and where in the comments. Covered: animals declared extinct still alive, extinct animals caught on camera, eastern cougar sightings, eastern elk, red wolf, ivory-billed woodpecker, rediscovered species, cryptid and unexplained wildlife sightings, North American wildlife, trail camera footage.