Prague Zoo joins the effort to ensure the survival of a rare insect once considered extinct

PRAGUE (AP) — The Prague Zoo has joined an international effort to ensure the survival of a rare insect that had been considered extinct for more than 80 years.

The zoo is among six institutions around the world that have been able to create living conditions for the largest species of flightless insect, the Lord Howe Island stick insect, which grows up to 15 centimeters (5.9 inches) long. They are on display, a rare chance that only London and San Diego also offer.

The insect, also known as the Lord Howe Island phasmid, is native to a remote archipelago in the Tasman Sea off Australia.

The uninhabited archipelago was discovered in 1778. Rats that arrived with a ship stranded offshore in 1918 appeared to wipe out the insect's population.

Mountain climbers found signs of the insects in the 1960s on a rocky island 23 kilometers (14 miles) offshore from Lord Howe. In 2001, it was confirmed that specimens were surviving there. Two pairs were taken to Australia for breeding, a step considered necessary for the critically endangered species.

“They had to make an enormous effort to survive 100 years on such a tough place as the Balls Pyramid, and now need such sensitive care to live in captivity," Vojtěch Vít, an expert keeper at the Prague Zoo, said Tuesday.

The zoo had to create an air-conditioned building with disinfection equipment for keepers at the entrance to protect the insects that are susceptible to bacterial and virus infections, and get approval from Australian authorities for breeding.

The goal of the breeding program is to return the insect to its natural environment on Lord Howe Island after rats were eradicated there in 2019.