Long-lost mammal rediscovered in remote Indonesia mountains
Scientists have rediscovered a long-lost species of mammal described as having the spines of a hedgehog, the snout of an anteater and the feet of a mole, in Indonesia's Cyclops Mountains, more than 60 years after it was last recorded.
Attenborough's long-beaked echidna, also known as Sir David's, named after British naturalist David Attenborough, was photographed for the first time by a trail camera on the last day of a four-week expedition led by Oxford University scientists.
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.
The species has only been scientifically recorded once before, by a Dutch botanist in 1961. Short-beaked echidnas are common throughout Australia and lowland New Guinea.
