Can we undo extinction? A growing effort to restore lost sharks

Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. In the turquoise shallows of Raja Ampat, Indonesia, a conservation experiment is attempting the rewilding of an endangered shark. The initiative, known as ReShark, seeks to restore populations of the Indo-Pacific leopard shark (Stegostoma tigrinum), also called the zebra shark, to reefs from where it had vanished. Led by Re:wild in partnership with the IUCN SSC Shark Specialist Group (SSG), Conservation International, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, and more than 100 institutions in 20 countries, the project draws comparisons to terrestrial reintroductions such as that of wolves in Yellowstone in the U.S. “This is a first for the ocean, and especially f