Posted on 06/18/2026 4:00:45 PM PDT by Red Badger
"We were quite shocked to discover this shrimp in the heart of the forest."
“Though some might describe the Cyclops as a ‘Green Hell’, I think the landscape is magical, at once enchanting and dangerous, like something out of a Tolkien book."
Image courtesy of James Kempton, Expedition Cyclops 2023
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Acompletely new genus of shrimp was uncovered during an expedition to the Cyclops Mountains in Papua, Indonesia. The unexpected discovery occurred during a challenging 2023 journey and reveals an entirely new habitat for these crustaceans, which are usually found in water.
The expedition was one for the history books, reanimating a species that was thought to have been extinct since the 1960s: Attenborough’s long-beaked echidna, Zaglossus attenboroughi. Named after wildlife broadcaster and natural historian Sir David Attenborough, the monotreme made a surprise appearance on camera traps left in the Cyclops Mountains.
“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,” expedition lead Dr James Kempton of Oxford University told BBC News.
However, while the world was reeling from the reunion, another, arguably more obscure discovery went a little more under the radar. You see, on that same expedition, the team discovered a new genus of ground- and tree-dwelling shrimp.
If you’re thinking, “Well that’s not where shrimp live,” you’d normally be right, and the discovery of these typically water-dwelling crustaceans so high up was a surprise for the scientists, too.
“We were quite shocked to discover this shrimp in the heart of the forest, because it is a remarkable departure from the typical seaside habitat for these animals,” said lead entomologist for the expedition Dr Leonidas-Romanos Davranoglou (a Leverhulme Trust Postdoctoral Fellow at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History), in a statement.
“We believe that the high level of rainfall in the Cyclops Mountains means the humidity is great enough for these creatures to live entirely on land.”
Your standard shrimp breathes using gills to extract oxygen from water and depending on the species will either live in marine or freshwater environments. To be thriving so far inland must mean this new genus has adapted a way to breathe without being fully submerged in water, as Davranoglou says, perhaps aided by rainfall or humidity.
The team was due a few wins following such a perilous and challenging expedition that put them in sometimes life-threatening situations. They faced earthquakes, causing them to evacuate cave systems, and came across many venomous snakes and spiders.
Several of the team suffered illness and injury. Davranoglou’s arm was broken in two places while another team member contracted malaria, and a third had a leech stuck to their eye for a day and a half before a hospital team could remove it. Despite the perils of the Cyclops Mountains, they've lost no love for the landscape.
“Though some might describe the Cyclops as a ‘Green Hell’, I think the landscape is magical, at once enchanting and dangerous, like something out of a Tolkien book,” said Kempton. “In this environment, the camaraderie between the expedition members was fantastic, with everyone helping to keep up morale. In the evening, we exchanged stories around the fire, all the while surrounded by the hoots and peeps of frogs.”
A previous version of this article first appeared in 2023.
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Really fascinating. Smart adaptable little critter.
But isn’t it frying itself out in the sun? Suicidal Shrimp?
Can we breed them? This could be the start of a new fast-food chain specializing in fried shrimp.
Now we know how to get cats out of trees. Send shrimp up there after them, and the cats will chase them down again….🐱🐱🐱🦐🦐🦐
SO, when parents tell their children not to eat so many shrimp, because they don’t grow on trees, they were lying?
The line “shrimp is the fruit of the sea” was famously said by the character Benjamin Buford “Bubba” Blue (played by actor Mykelti Williamson) in the 1994 film Forrest Gump. Is there a sea there?
"And oh! In the future...tree shrimp."
Oh come on! I just made my scampi and you wanna suggest I’m doing it all wrong. For the record I used pesto and the parmesan cheese with butter. Chardonnay of course. Don’t forget the pepper and extra garlic.
Tree shrimp, and tree ducks.
What’s next?
Oh the hu-manatee
Tree shrimp. Cyclops mountains.
Sounds like an H.P. Lovecraft story.
No side of fava beans? And all this time I thought land shrimp were called crawfish.
btw-I just bought some frozen duck and frog legs-different. The bad news is that posters say the frog legs taste like chicken. Recipes suggest the spices and milk marinade are necessary to get the most out of them. Is it worth it to look into the many different ways to cook it? Next is the duck. Fry, bake, or broil? What preparation?
Talk to me.
Frog legs?
Meh
Duck?
Yum! Dark meat.
French do them best.
They are on an island..............
I would not want to go into those mountains:
“Several of the team suffered illness and injury. Davranoglou’s arm was broken in two places while another team member contracted malaria, and a third had a leech stuck to their eye for a day and a half before a hospital team could remove it. Despite the perils of the Cyclops Mountains, they’ve lost no love for the landscape.”
Thanks for not saying shrimp scampi.
The duck is good roasted (if cut up broil) with a wild rice stuffing, or lots of other ways. I always like frog’s legs fried with some good bacon and onions. or lots of other ways.
I just saw a nature show where they highlighted the only songbird in Scotland that fishes in the water for insect nymphs, minishrimp types, and tiny fish. They also make a nest in earth hidden by or behind a waterfall. Fishing songbirds and tree dwelling shrimp, what an amazing world.
Bake then broil pouring water and oil over the skin. Crispy duck.
Shrimp in trees, and leeches on eyes...
Probably live in the jungle understory. I breed and sell pet freshwater shrimp native to SE Asia.
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