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First-Ever Images Confirm Survival of 'Lost Echidna'

November 10, 2023

After more than six decades, the elusive Attenborough's long-beaked echidna, a mammal species once thought to be lost, has been sighted in Indonesia for the first time.

The Zaglossus attenboroughi, a kind of long-beaked echidna named after Sir David Attenborough, had last been seen in 1961.

These spiky, furry creatures, often referred to as "living fossils," are believed to have originated around 200 million years ago, sharing the Earth with dinosaurs.

Until now, the only evidence that this particular species existed was a decades-old museum specimen of a dead animal.

After an extensive four-week effort involving a team of scientists and experts from both Britain and Indonesia, utilizing 80 camera traps, the elusive echidna finally revealed itself on the expedition's last day, captured on the final memory card of the trip.

Watch the video clip below.

The team's month-long expedition took them through previously unexplored areas of the Cyclops Mountains, a rugged rainforest habitat situated 2,000 meters (6,561 feet) above sea level in Indonesia.

"I'm not joking when I say it came down to the very last SD card that we looked at, from the very last camera that we collected, on the very last day of our expedition," said Dr. James Kempton, a biologist from Oxford University and the leader of the expedition.