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Scientists have confirmed the rediscovery of Attenborough's long-beaked echidna, a species previously thought to be extinct for over 60 years.This ancient, egg-laying mammal was found deep within the rainforests of Indonesia.It is scientifically known as Zaglossus attenboroughi and named after the legendary naturalist David Attenborough.Echidnas, characterized by their spiky fur and beaks, are often referred to as "living fossils" due to their ancient lineage, believed to have originated around 200 million years ago during the time of dinosaurs...In 2023, during an Oxford University expedition to the remote Cyclops Mountains — located 2,000m (6,561ft) above sea level — a glimmer of...

Platypus eating a worm. ============================================================== The first complete map of a platypus genome has just been released, and it's every bit as strange as you'd expect from a creature with 10 sex chromosomes, a pair of venomous spurs, a coat of fluorescent fur, and skin that 'sweats' milk. The duck-billed platypus is truly one of the oddest creatures on Earth. Along with the spiky echidna, these two Australian animals belong to a highly-specialised group of mammals, known as monotremes, which both lay eggs but also nurse their young with milk. The genes of both are relatively primitive and unchanged, revealing...

A lost bet and a sweet tooth led to the announcement this week of a new mammal named after a chocolate brand. Dubbed Kryoryctes cadburyi — as in Cadbury chocolate — the dinosaur-era mammal was roughly the size of a large cat, covered with quills, and toothless. A distant relative of today's spiny anteater, the species lived about 106 million years ago alongside dinosaurs in what is now Australia. The tale of how the low-slung creature came to be named after a candy company, however, begins about ten years ago in a rocky cove some 140 miles (220 kilometers) southwest...