They thought that the eastern cougar went extinct in 1913. Several years ago they got DNA evidence that this wasn't true. About the same time, at sunrise, I heard some turkeys gobbling away and
coffee cup in hand, I sauntered off to check them out. Was I surprised to come face to face (50 meters) with a cougar. We stared a each other for a minute, then he turned 180 degrees (as only a cat can) and 1, 2, 3 strides he was gone. You don't stay "extinct" for a hundred years without learning how to avoid humans.
We cannot change the waves of expansion and contraction, as their scale is beyond human control, but we can learn to surf. Nicole Foss @ The Automatic Earth