Scientists celebrate after extremely rare animal makes monumental comeback following decades-long absence: 'We know that outright extinction is a real threat'

Nearly 40 years after they were declared "extinct in the wild," conservationists have released six Guam kingfishers onto a predator-free atoll with the hope of establishing a breeding population there, Mongabay reported.

The Guam kingfisher, known locally as the sihek, was driven to near-extinction by the invasive brown tree snake, which likely arrived in Guam accidentally in imported cargo, according to the USDA National Invasive Species Information Center. By 1986, the species had been declared extinct in the wild.

Since then, a small number of Guam kingfishers were kept alive as part of a captive breeding program. Now, the conservationists running that program have decided that it's time for the species to make its triumphant return.

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"Our Guam Sihek, a symbol of our island's beauty, with their cerulean blue and cinnamon coloration mirroring our ocean blue water and red-orange sunsets, have been achieving the seemingly impossible," Yolonda Topasna, a representative of the Guam Department of Agriculture's Division of Aquatic and Wildlife Resources, said in a statement. "Today, the Sihek were set free from their aviaries! Their return to the wild is a testament to our people's spirit and our commitment to preserving our heritage."

According to some experts, the release of these birds into the wild did not come a moment too soon. There are currently dozens of species classified as "extinct in the wild" that are being kept alive in captivity. In an op-ed in The Conversation, conservation experts Donal Smith and Sarah Dalrymple explained that time may be running out to reintroduce many of these species to their natural environments.

"Conservationists, and society more widely, must do better," Smith and Dalrymple wrote. "We know that outright extinction is a real threat."

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For now, though, we can celebrate along with the people of Guam and wish the best for the newly released kingfishers, which are currently being monitored via radio trackers. Although extinction is still possible, several species around the world have been successfully reintroduced, such as the Siamese crocodile, and the Partula tohiveana snail on the South Pacific island of Moʻorea.