They were thought to be extinct soon after black rats invaded their native Lord Howe Island in 1918, but were found clinging on in Ball’s Pyramid 83 years later. The lucky couple were tree lobsters Dryococelus australis, stick insects the size of a human hand. No, this isn’t a bizarre take on the story of creation. Two escaped and just nine years later there were 9,000, the children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren of Adam and Eve. And there they were – halfway up its sheer cliff edge, sheltering under a spindly bush – the last of the species. The tiny islet of Ball’s Pyramid lies 600km east of Australia in the South Pacific, rising out of the sea like a shard of glass. This story is featured in BBC Future’s “Best of 2016” collection.
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