More than 60 years after it was last seen, a team of researchers has rediscovered one of the strangest mammals on the planet; because, among other features, it also has the feature of laying eggs. Sir David’s zaglossus, also known as Attenborough’s long-beaked echidnaThis photograph, named in honor of the famous British naturalist, was recorded and photographed for the first time in the Cyclops Mountains of Indonesia’s Papua province, one of the most unexplored places in the world.
Recorded by science only once, in 1961The Attenborough long-beaked echidna is a monotreme: an evolutionarily distinct group of egg-laying mammals that also includes the platypus. This species of echidna is very special as it is one of the five extant species of monotremes, the only representative of this unique branch of the tree of life.
Echidnas are very difficult to find because they are nocturnal, live in burrows, and tend to be very shy. The animal has not been observed anywhere other than the Cyclops Mountains and is currently classified as Critically Endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species.
To find it The research team installed more than 80 remote-controlled monitoring cameras, made many climbs into the mountains and climbed more than 11,000 meters in total. But during the almost four weeks the team spent in the forest, the cameras recorded no sign of the echidna.
It was just the last dayThe cameras’ memory card was nearly full when the team took the long-awaited photos of the elusive mammal. These are the first and only images of the Attenborough echidna. The identification of the species was later confirmed by mammalogist, chief scientist and director of the Australian Museum Research Institute (AMRI), Professor Kristofer Helgen.
Oxford University biologist James Kempton, who designed and led the expedition, said: “Attenborough’s long-beaked echidna It has the spines of a hedgehog, the nose of an anteater, and the legs of a mole.. Due to its hybrid appearance, it takes its name from a half-human, half-snake creature in Greek mythology. The reason it looks so different from other mammals is that it is a member of the monotremes. an egg-laying group that split off from other mammals about 200 million years ago.”
“The discovery is the result of a lot of hard work and more than three and a half years of planning,” he added. “One of the main reasons why we were successful is that, with the help of YAPENDA, we spent years building relationships with the Yongsu Sapari community, a village on the northern edge of the Cyclops Mountains. Trust between us was the foundation of our relationship. Success because they shared with us the knowledge of navigating these dangerous mountains and even They even allowed us to explore lands never before trodden by man.
Other discoveries
In addition to searching for echidnas, the expedition also conducted the first comprehensive assessment of invertebrate, reptile, amphibian and mammal life in the Cyclops Mountains. By combining scientific techniques with the experience and forest knowledge of the Papuan team members, the team made a number of new discoveries. These included Several dozen species of insects completely new to science and the rediscovery of Mayr’s honeycreeper (Ptiloprora mayriIt is a bird that has attracted the attention of science since 2008 and is named after the famous evolutionary biologist Ernst Mayr.
Another extraordinary finding is A completely new species of terrestrial and arboreal shrimp. “We were very surprised to discover this shrimp in the heart of the forest, because it is significantly far from the typical coastal habitat of these animals,” said Leónidas-Romanos Davranoglou, the expedition’s chief entomologist.
“We believe that the high level of precipitation in the Cyclops Mountains means that humidity is high enough for these creatures to live entirely on land.”
The team also uncovered a treasure trove of subterranean species, including blind species.
More information: https://phys.org/news/2023-11-bizarre-egg-laying-mammal-rediscovered-years.html
Source: Informacion
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