RAJA AMPAT, Indonesia — Practically a million men and women go to the Shark Reef Aquarium on the Las Vegas Strip in Nevada each year. There is a prospect they see zebra sharks (Stegostoma tigrinum) among the much more than 15 shark species roaming the aquarium. But they may possibly not be knowledgeable that those zebra sharks are a section of a rewilding venture that attempts to preserve the shark from extinction — the to start with of its variety in the globe. In 2023, eggs from the aquarium sharks were being delivered more than 12,100 kilometers (7,500 miles) to the Raja Ampat archipelago in jap Indonesia. A few of them not too long ago hatched, with two new sharks emerging, named Buddy and Marshall. Each sharks are now remaining saved in a hatchery on the island of Kri, hosted by the Raja Ampat Investigate and Conservation Centre (RARCC) and run by the nonprofit Papua Diving. When Mongabay frequented the hatchery at the conclusion of January, the two juvenile sharks ended up saved in different tanks. They ended up staying fed everyday, with food stuff that is obviously readily available in their habitat, to the issue the place they would be sturdy plenty of to be launched into the wild. A Zebra shark named Buddy swimming in a tank at a hatchery in Raja Ampat. Impression by Ridzki R. Sigit/Mongabay. The shark rewilding undertaking, called StAR (Stegostoma tigrinum Augmentation and Recovery) undertaking, is an initiative that focuses on restoring zebra shark populations back to their pure habitat. Only 20 zebra sharks are approximated to remain in Raja Ampat…This article was originally released on Mongabay