The rediscovery of an iconic species
Deep in the Cyclops Mountains, a lost species of egg-laying mammal has finally been rediscovered by science after more than 60 years.
This is the first ever video recorded of Attenborough’s long-beaked echidna, captured by remote trail cameras during Expedition Cyclops. ‘Lost’ for over sixty years, this footage proves that this extraordinary egg-laying mammal survives in the Cyclops Mountains, the only place it has ever been seen. It is critical that we now act to conserve the echidna and its threatened mountain home.
“Attenborough's long-beaked echidna has the spines of a hedgehog, the snout of an anteater, and the feet of a mole. Because of its hybrid appearance, it shares its name with a creature of Greek mythology that is half human, half serpent.
It appears so unlike other mammals 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.”
Dr James Kempton, expedition lead and biologist from the University of Oxford