‘Lost Echidna’ Feared Extinct Found Alive for the First Time in Six Decades
The Attenborough echidna has not been seen in six decades but was miraculously caught on camera in Indonesia fending off fears that was extinct. The footage was posted to Facebook by the AFP New Agency. 📺 Embedded…
The Attenborough echidna has not been seen in six decades but was miraculously caught on camera in Indonesia fending off fears that was extinct.
The footage was posted to Facebook by the AFP New Agency.
📺 Embedded media — coming soon
According to RTL Today, the recent discovery is being celebrated by the team who made it.
Named after British naturalist David Attenborough, the Zaglossus attenboroughi is a shy long-beaked echidna that went missing decades ago.
It is difficult to spot due to its nature and has never been officially seen outside of the Cyclops Mountains of Indonesia’s Papua region.
University of Oxford biologist James kempton led the expedition that made the new discovery.
Kempton noted, “The reason it appears so unlike other mammals is because it is a member of the monotremes –- an egg-laying group that separated from the rest of the mammal tree-of-life about 200 million years ago.”
During the trip, Kempton’s team set up 80 different camera trap points. Local residents helped them through rough terrain and even allowed them safe passage onto sacred lands.