Dawn redwoods in a lake at Zimaling Park, Zhongshan, China

© Yaorusheng/Getty Image

Giants rescued from extinction. The story of a rediscovered redwood

Like most things in nature, the trees featured on today’s homepage are worth a closer look. This species, known as the dawn redwood, was thought to be extinct for hundreds of years. Unlike other redwood trees (picture the towering, evergreen giants that grow on California’s coast), this redwood is deciduous; in the fall its needles turn a brilliant orange, and then fall to the ground. Fossilized evidence of the species is common in the Northern Hemisphere, but there was no evidence known of its existence after Miocene era, which ended more than 5 million years ago. The tree was thought to have been long extinct until 1944, when a giant dawn redwood was discovered in Southcentral China. More were found in surrounding lowlands, and today the tree is a popular ornamental in many parts of the world. The trees in our image, from Zhongshan, China, are standing in a shallow lake, which reflects the blue sky above.