The egg-laying echidna was considered extinct for a long time. The mammal named after David Attenborough has now been spotted by an expedition in Indonesia.
Almost no mammals lay eggs. Platypuses and echidnas are considered exceptions. The long-beaked echidna is one of them, but it has been extinct for decades. At least that’s the assumption – which has now been refuted by an expedition: in Indonesia, a team of researchers led by the University of Oxford spotted the animal.
For a few seconds, the scientists placed the long-beaked echidna, named after British wildlife filmmaker and naturalist Sir David Attenborough, in front of the camera. The animal has hedgehog spines, an anteater’s snout and mole’s paws.
Monotremes separated from other mammals 200 million years ago
“The reason it looks so different from other mammals is because it is a member of the monotremes, the monotremes – an egg-laying group that separated from the rest of the mammal tree around 200 million years ago,” explains the expedition leader. , James Kempton. He was very happy with the images on the memory card, as he describes the moment. They were taken on the last day of the research trip: “A reward on the last day. I shouted to my colleagues who were still there: we found it, we found it!”
Echidnas are among the only remaining mammals that do not give birth to their offspring, but rather lay eggs. They are nocturnal and shy and therefore difficult to find. Attenborough’s long-beaked echidna has never been seen outside of the extremely remote Cyclops Mountains in the Papua region of Indonesia. According to researchers, Zaglossus attenboroughi was last seen in 1961.
Newest animal species discovered on expedition
On their expedition, Kempton and his team also discovered a number of new subterranean species, such as blind spiders, blind harvestmen and a whip scorpion. They found the animals in a previously unexplored cave system that was only discovered when a team member fell through a moss-covered entrance. (red/ag)