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Lord Howe Island stick insect adult and juvenile

Lord Howe Island Stick Insect Fact Sheet
Now Available

Curious to see where one of the world’s rarest insects lives? Surf on over to Google Earth. Then click on the magnifying glass icon and punch in “Ball’s Pyramid” — the name of an ocean islet 360 miles east of mainland Australia. Behold the islet’s sheer cliff faces and towering 1,800-foot-high peak. Imagine climbing those rocky surfaces to scout for a 5-inch-long insect — one that looks just like a stick. BTW, this insect is nocturnal, so you’re climbing in the dark. On high, scary cliffs. With the wind whipping by and gravity working against you.

These are the conditions scientists face when studying the Lord Howe Island stick insect — a critically endangered species and unlikely flagship animal for invertebrate conservation — in the wild. Ball’s Pyramid supports the only remaining wild population, estimated to be fewer than 40 individuals strong.

Image credit: © Natalie Tapson via Flickr. Some rights reserved, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

The Lord Howe Island stick insect wasn’t always so rare. In the 1910s, naturalists observing wildlife on Lord Howe Island — the Pyramid’s island neighbor to the northwest — described this species as abundant. But robust populations quickly faded into the stuff of memory and fishermen’s tales after a stick-insect predator, the black rat, was accidentally introduced to Lord Howe Island in 1918. For decades, biologists considered the Lord Howe Island stick insect to be extinct. But in 2001 and 2002, wildlife surveyors discovered more than 20 Lord Howe Island stick insects munching on Ball’s Pyramid shrubbery.

The Lord Howe Island stick insect still precariously clings to survival, because the only suitable habitat for these animals on Ball’s Pyramid is a single group of tea tree shrubs on the islet’s northwest face. However, Australian conservation scientists and their colleagues around the world are working to ensure this animal is never again declared extinct. The species’ rescue portfolio includes maintaining conservation rearing programs on multiple continents, continuing to safeguard Ball’s Pyramid as a nature preserve, and reintroducing stick insects into the wild on Lord Howe Island.

The Lord Howe Island stick insect’s journey is far from over, and San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance will continue to aid this species' recovery. For now, we can huddle around our virtual globe to admire the fortitude of wind-ruffled insect and intrepid wildlife conservationist, alike.

Learn more about stick insects

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