Japan’s crested ibis — locally extinct since 2003 — returns to its last known habitat

Eight crested ibises were released into the wild in Hakui, in Japan’s Noto region, where they were last seen before disappearing from the main island of Honshu in the 1970s. Bred at a conservation center using a pair donated by China in 1999, the species now numbers around 500 on Sado. Ten more birds are waiting to be released, and the Noto region welcomed them back.