How are scientists able to say that a random species is extinct? Did they have to look everywhere?
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Nowadays, we tend to closely observe animals that are close to extinction. Scientists will tag and keep watch of them and generally have a good idea of how many remain. If and when one dies, they tend to know. If they’re aware of the total population and they’ve been observing for decades and watching them die off one by one, they can say with confidence that they are extinct.
For animals that aren’t as closely observed or perhaps live in a larger geographical range, if no animals of this species have been seen in the area for a certain amount of time, they’re classified as extinct.
But if they somehow, miraculously, reappear, they can be moved from extinct to not extinct.
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