A rare species of an ancient egg-laying mammal echidna named after broadcaster David Attenborough has been rediscovered by researchers on Cyclops mountains in Indonesia. It was rediscovered more than 60 years after it was last officially seen.
- Known as Attenborough’s long-beaked echidna (Zaglossus attenboroughi), the animal belongs to a small, unique group of egg-laying mammals called monotremes, which also includes the platypus.
- Until now, the only evidence that this particular species Zaglossus attenboroughi existed was a decades-old museum specimen of a dead animal.
- Z. attenboroughi is the smallest known species of long-beaked echidna, weighing between 5 and 10 kilograms.
About Echidnas
- Echidnas have been called “living fossils”. They are thought to have emerged about 200 million years ago, when dinosaurs roamed the Earth.
- Similar to hedgehogs, echidnas are spiny, nocturnal creatures that roll into a ball when they sense danger.
- Echidnas share their name with a half-woman, half-serpent Greek mythological creature, and were described by the team as shy, nocturnal burrow-dwellers who are notoriously difficult to find.
- Aside from the duck-billed platypus, the echidna is the only mammal that lays eggs.
- Of the four echidna species three have long beaks, with the Attenborough echidna, and the western echidna considered critically endangered.
- A different echidna species is found throughout Australia and lowland New Guinea.
