Above is a picture of a Grey-Faced Elephant Shrew, a species recently discovered in the mountains of African country Tanzania. It is the size of the average domestic cat.
"This is one of the most exciting discoveries of my career," said Galen Rathbun, who was part of an international team which confirmed that the animal was a new species. They are now going to find out how many exist, and find out if they need protecting or not.
As well as having different colouring than any other elephant shrew, the new mammal is much larger, weighing 700g. and measuring about 30cm. in length.
Dr. Rathbun said they were amazing: "They are not like a dog or cat you can interact with - but they are so bizarre-looking and a lot of their behavioural ecology is so unique and interesting, you kind of get wrapped up with them."
You can see footage below. Enjoy.
It is brilliant to discover a brand new species. I hope it is well populated.
Please comment.
Thank you.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment