![]() In the meantime, there are some tree lobsters living on the island in captivity, at a museum and a school. Lord Howe Island, in the South Pacific, is once again home to some of its namesake insects - but only in captivity so far. "It's a very romantic story," he says, "in that there's always that hope that one day, they may go home." Zookeeper Rohan Cleave takes care of them there, and thinks it's amazing how this species really, sort of, came back from the dead. The Melbourne Zoo now has a breeding program and hundreds of the insects. Two years later, on Valentine's Day in 2003, climbers went back to Ball's Pyramid and retrieved two male tree lobsters and two females. event for insects," Howorth says, "especially an insect like this, which is not one you would deem charismatic, you know, for the most part." ![]() The rediscovery made headlines around the world. They went back that night and, lo and behold - there were a couple dozen of the giant bugs. ![]() High above the shoreline, they spotted insect droppings beneath a shrub growing in a rocky crevice. But in 2001, a few guys went out there to find out once and for all if this really was the creature's last redoubt. It seemed like an unlikely refuge for a plant-eating insect. "Ball's Pyramid is a very inhospitable place," says Howorth.
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