The recent rediscovery of the ivory-billed woodpecker (Campephilus principalis) has environmentalists are all aflutter (pun intended), and rightfully so. The extinction of any species represents an irrecoverable loss to biodiversity; when the species in question is as charismatic as the Ivory-billed woodpecker, the loss is that much harder to bear. Unfortunately, the rediscovery of a bird that hasn’t been seen since 1944 and has been cited as an example of the ecological harm caused by habitat fragmentation could generate fuel for environmental skeptics.

Carl Zimmer does an excellent job of cutting them off at the pass, so I’ll refer you to his article rather than rehashing it here. Of course, we’ll see if the aforementioned skeptics read his piece, or the article by Stuart Pimm that he commends to them (Forest losses predict bird extinctions in Eastern North America – PDF). Zimmer has kindly offered to post links to any such articles or blog posts for anyone who feels inclined to correct the authors, so make sure to check back later this week.

If you have a subscription to Science, you can read the article here, or read the BBC article here. Finally, rather than heading out to Arkansas yourself, check out the short species profile of the ivory-billed woodpecker on at Wikipedia.

The rediscovery is also a chance to refer back to the piece about the presumed-extinct Tasmanian wolf, or thylacine (Thylacinus cynocephalus) that Chris Clarke of Creek Running North kindly contributed to Organic Matter shortly after our inception. This would be another really remarkable animal to have back from the dead.