There was virtually no hope that anyone would ever come across a living member of this oviparous mammal. The only specimen we had the opportunity to examine is 60 years old and was dead at the time of discovery. And now, suddenly, it was possible to film a pajezura calmly walking through the undergrowth…
The peculiar oviparous mammal of Attenborough’s sablefish (Zaglossus attenboroughi) was, of course, named after the famous documentarian and naturalist Sir David Attenborough. You can read more about him in the article we wrote on the occasion of his half-round birthday.
Scientists were no longer sure if the sea urchins still existed – on the contrary, they assumed that they had long since become extinct. In the jungles of the Indonesian part of New Guinea, they occasionally came across strange holes in the ground that looked as if they had been carved by a firefly with its long burrow. On the other hand, the last specimen that people had the opportunity to examine was obtained by a Dutch biologist in 1961 (the dried corpse is hidden among the treasures of the Dutch Museum of Natural History), since then no one has seen the pæjejura. Until now.
Leeches, Earthquakes and Tree Shrimp
Biologist James Kempton from Oxford this year led a month-long, multinational naturalist expedition into the inaccessible terrain of the Indonesian mountains Cyclops Mountains. There she had to deal with leeches that descended on her from trees, poisonous animals, scratches and other minor injuries, the ever-present humidity… and she even experienced an earthquake twice.
But the expedition was not only extremely adventurous. It was also successful – in an unexplored rainforest at an altitude of about 2000 meters above sea level, scientists managed to discover new species of insects and frogs, even a new species of shrimp that lives on a treeand had the opportunity to observe a flourishing population of jays and tree kangaroos.
But they had to wait for the most important find. “I’m not kidding when I say that the footage was on the last SD card we looked at, from the very last camera deployed, from the last night of our expedition,“ he explained Kempton for the BBC, adding that he has been corresponding with Sir David Attenborough since the find, who fully shares his enthusiasm.
Ježury and pajejury
Ježury they are an extremely ancient animal, according to scientists, they appeared on Earth 200 million years ago, i.e. in the days when dinosaurs still ruled the planet. They are one of only two known living oviparous mammals (the other being the platypus).
The sea urchin is one of the two species that fall under the sea urchins. It usually comes out of hiding at night, its snout is used to hunt various invertebrates. It is a solitary animal and moves randomly over a large area.
Source: University of Oxford, Expedition Cyclops, BBC, NYTimes, New Scientist
2023-11-26 05:00:49
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