Unseen for Decades, Egg-Laying Mammal Creeps Back Into View

No one had seen the extremely rare Attenborough’s long-beaked echidna since 1961, so it was assumed that the weird, egg-laying mammal was extinct. Earlier this month the beast that looks like a spiny anteater was rediscovered in Indonesia’s Cyclops Mountains, likely the only place on Earth the creature exists.

Oxford’s James Kempton, who led the research expedition team, described the unusual creature in a university press release: “Attenborough's long-beaked echidna has the spines of a hedgehog, the snout of an anteater, and the feet of a mole. 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.”

Zaglossus attenboroughi (“For Sir David Attenborough, who has contributed greatly to the public appreciation of the New Guinean fauna and flora,” according to the biologist who described the species) isn’t just shy, it’s downright antisocial. Apparently the animals live solitary lives, coming together only for a brief period in July to propagate.

Kempton’s four-week expedition found many other interesting creatures as well, including two new frog species, dozens of new insects, and a new genus of terrestrial shrimp.

Attenborough's long-beaked echidna is classified as “Critically Endangered” by the IUCN, which, all things considered, could be worse.

Photo credit: Expedition Cyclops