OTAGO, New Zealand, Oct. 4 (UPI) -- A rare seabird scientists had believed to be extinct has been declared alive and well by New Zealand researchers who conducted DNA studies.
Scientists at the University of Otago compared ancient and modern DNA and confirmed the New Zealand storm petrel is still flying in the skies over the island nation, China's official Xinhua news agency reported.
The discovery that the species lives on justifies establishing a program to try to restore the bird's numbers, Otago zoologist Bruce Robertson said.
The researchers began taking blood samples after the first bird thought to be the extinct storm petrel flew into the wheelhouse of a fishing vessel off the east coast of New Zealand in 2003.
They compared DNA with that from three 150-year-old skins of the New Zealand storm petrel collected in the 1800s and held by museums in England and France.
"We found they were one and the same, and these birds are a distinct species of storm petrel," Robertson said in a report published last week.
