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Context

• An elusive echidna named as Zaglossus attenboroughi, feared extinct after disappearing for six decades has been rediscovered in a remote part of Indonesia.

Zaglossus attenboroughi

• The Zaglossus attenboroughi, a kind of long-beaked echidna named for famed British naturalist David Attenborough, had last been seen in 1961.
• Echidnas are nocturnal and shy, making them difficult to find at the best of times, and the Attenborough long-beaked echidna has never been recorded outside the extremely remote Cyclops Mountains of Indonesia's Papua region.
• Attenborough's long-beaked echidna (Zaglossus attenboroughi), also known as Sir David's long-beaked echidna or the Cyclops long-beaked echidna, is one of three species from the genus Zaglossus that inhabits the island of New Guinea.
• It lives in the Cyclops Mountains, which are near the cities of Sentani and Jayapura in the Indonesian province of Papua. It is named in honour of naturalist Sir David Attenborough.
• It is currently classified as critically endangered by the IUCN.

Description

• It is the smallest member of the genus Zaglossus, being closer in size to the short-beaked echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus).
• The male is larger than the female, further differentiated by the spurs on its hind legs.
• The long-beaked echidna is not a social animal, and it comes together with its own kind only once a year, in July, to mate.
• During the reproduction stage, the female lays the eggs after about eight days, with the offspring staying in their mother's pouch for around eight weeks or until their spines develop.
• The creature is nocturnal; it rolls up into a spiny ball when it feels threatened, resembling the behavior of a hedgehog.
• It weighs from 5 to 10 kilograms (11 to 22 lb).
• The diet of Sir David's long-beaked echidna consists of earthworms, termites, insect larvae, and ants.

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