Found at last: Bizarre, egg-laying mammal finally rediscovered after 60 years
More than 60 years after it was last recorded, an expedition team has rediscovered an iconic, egg-laying mammal in one of the most unexplored regions of the world. Attenborough's long-beaked echidna, named after famed broadcaster ...
Alongside the echidna's rediscovery, the expedition—a partnership between the University of Oxford, Indonesian NGO Yayasan Pelayanan Papua Nenda (YAPPENDA), Cenderawasih University (UNCEN), Papua BBKSDA, and the National Research and Innovation Agency of Indonesia (BRIN), Re:Wild—made many other remarkable finds.
These included Mayr's honeyeater, a bird lost to science since 2008; an entirely new genus of tree-dwelling shrimp; countless new species of insects; and a previously unknown cave system. This was despite the difficulties posed by extremely inhospitable terrain, including venomous animals, blood-sucking leeches, malaria, earthquakes, and exhausting heat.
One of the world's most unusual mammals finally caught on film
Recorded by science only once in 1961, Attenborough's long-beaked echidna is a monotreme: an evolutionarily distinct group of egg-laying mammals that includes the platypus. This echidna species is so special because it is one of only five remaining species of monotremes, the sole guardians of this remarkable branch of the tree of life.
Echidnas are notoriously difficult to find since they are nocturnal, live in burrows, and tend to be very shy. Attenborough's long-beaked echidna has never been recorded anywhere outside the Cyclops Mountains, and is currently classified as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
Attenborough's long-beaked echidna, photographed by a camera trap. Credit: Expedition Cyclops.
Cenderawasih University (UNCEN) student and team member Gison Morib setting up one of the eighty camera traps which were placed in the Cyclops Mountains in order to capture images of Attenborough's long-beaked echidna for the first time. Credit: Expedition Cyclops.
A new species of terrestial shrimp, found in the soil and in the trees of the Cyclops Mountains. This shrimp belongs to a lineage that is normally found on the seashore, and it was an enormous surprise to the expedition team when it was discovered living hundreds of meters high up on the slopes of the mountains. Credit: Expedition Cyclops.
A temporary expedition campsite on the northern slopes of the Cyclops Mountains. Members of the Yongsu Sapari community helped prepare paths and campsites for the expedition to conduct their research. Credit: Expedition Cyclops.