From People:
Owls absent from the skies and trees of Austria for decades could be making a comeback.
Three rare Ural owls recently arrived at the Zurich Zoo in Switzerland. The nocturnal birds once plentiful in Austria have been considered extinct in the European country since the mid-20th century, according to Zenger News.
For the past ten years, the Zurich Zoo has been working to reintroduce the Ural owl to Austria. Their three new Ural owl residents are a way for the facility to step up “its commitment to protecting the species” and helping the birds return to one of their native habitats.
According to the Zurich Zoo’s Facebook page, their three Ural owls consist of one male and two females. In a post, the Swiss zoo shared that they are optimistic that the owls will have offspring, which “will hopefully contribute to conservation” of the species.
Ural owls are known for being silent hunters, per Zenger News. The birds can stealthily sneak up on prey without being heard thanks to their velvety, frayed-edge feathers and slow flight.
According to the IUCN Red List, while there are currently no wild Ural owls in Austria, the birds can be found throughout Russia and in numerous European countries, including Finland, Sweden, and Poland. It is estimated that over 350,000 Ural owls are living in the wild.
“Extinct in an area” isn’t a thing. The word is “extirpated.”
The headline had me thinking there was some Jurassic Park shit going on.
I’m wondering if this is a regional or generational vocabulary thing. I do come across research papers using “local extinction” as a proper term, and searching extirpated gives you a definition of local extinction. I have come across extirpated before, but not near as much. We should probably be familiar with both terms with while our climates are still trending to the unfavorable side.
I don’t expect the famed biological journal, People, to use the word extirpate, but I agree with you just calling them “extinct” is a good bit misleading, but they at least acknowledge it at the end of the article.
Edit: Jurassic Park the Laughing Owl, I love its face! There should still be some viable DNA out there.
Bless you!