Recently, scientists announced the discovery of a new species of elephant shrew in the mountains of Tanzania. Related more to elephants and aardvarks than to shrews, this new species is the size of a very small dog and weighs only 1.5 pounds. It’s another example of how there are many new animals to discover.
The discovery was published in the Journal of Zoology on January 31. I heard of it through Conservation International, which helped fund zoologist Francesco Rovero and his project to document wildlife in the remote Ndunlulu Forest of Tanzania’s Udzungwa Mountains. His camera “traps” took photos of lions, antelope and the new elephant shrew.
Rovero and his team estimate that there are a few thousand of these elephant shrews, named Rhynchocyon udzungwensis, living in two forests, far away from people. The species will likely be classified as rare or endangered. In an online chat, Rovero said that finding a new mammal in Tanzania usually means there are 40 or so new amphibian species there as well, waiting to be discovered. This was the first new species of elephant shrew found in more than 126 years.
New finds such as this one indicate that we don’t yet have a full picture of all the life on Earth. We must protect and preserve as much of the environment as we can, so we don’t lose species — plants and animals — that we never knew existed. Each species can possibly teach us something; it’s always exciting to hear that a new one has been found.
View photos of the elephant shrew, its habitat and the research team.
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