Scientists discover new species that looks like a tiny, furry elephant

A new species of elephant shrew, a long-nosed, insect eating mammal native to Africa, was spotted scampering through a remote forest in Kenya.

A furry mammal with a trunk-like nose was caught scampering about in a remote African forest. This elephant shrew, a large one, is likely a new species.

A new species of elephant shrew, similar to this Cape Elephant Shrew shown here in South Africa, was spotted in Kenya. Photo CreditNewscom/File

Conservationists studying the biodiversity of the Boni-Dodori forest on the coast of northeastern Kenya had set up camera traps there after a scientist had spotted an elephant shrew (also called a sengi) she didn’t recognize.

From the images of the new species, researchers now know the animal has maroon coloring on its sides, shoulders and back, and a lower rump that's jet-black. It's relatively large for an elephant shrew, weighing in at 1.3 pounds (600 grams) with a total length of 22 inches (550 millimeters), and a tail length of about 10 inches (250 mm).

The team, which included the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), will next analyze the animal’s DNA to confirm whether or not it is indeed a new species of elephant shrew.

If it is a new species, that would make 18 species of sengi in the family Macroscelididae (13 species of soft-furred sengi and five species of the giant sengi). All are native to Africa. The animals are more closely related to elephants than shrews, despite being relatively small creatures – ranging from 4 to 12 inches (10 to 30 centimeters) in length and weighing from less than a tenth of a pound to 1.5 pounds (30 to 700 grams).

The peculiar name is a reflection of their long, flexible, trunk-like noses, which they use to search for insect meals. The newly captured animal is a type of giant sengi, which have patterned coats and other distinct features from the smaller sengis.

"With their ancient and often misunderstood ancestry, their monogamous mating strategies, and their charismatic flexible snouts, they are captivating animals," study researcher Galen Rathbun from the California Academy of Sciences said in a statement.

In 2008, Rathbun announced another new species of giant sengi caught in the forests of Tanzania. Its weight gave this animal away: "From the moment I first lifted one of the animals into our photography tent, I knew it must be a new species — not just because of its distinct coloring, but because it was so heavy," Rathbun said in 2008 of that discovery.

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Sc/Navel Gazing Reveals New Species

Forget trekking to the Amazon; new and mysterious species await discovery much closer to home. A new project is revealing the previously unknown inhabitants of our belly buttons.

The Belly Button Biodiversity project wants to know what miniscule organisms live on us and what we can learn from them. After analyzing swabs taken from 92 participants, researchers have found at least 1,400 species of bacteria — a number they say is conservative.

"About 600 or so don't match up in obvious ways with known species, which is to say either they are new to science or we don't know them well enough," said Rob Dunn, an associate professor in the North Carolina State University biology department, and the belly button principal investigator.

"The crazy thing about these species (is) we are discovering new things that are living on people. They are right there, incredibly close to us," Dunn said.

Once the researchers have the belly-button samples, the team runs a genetic analysis to determine the species present. They also attempt to culture the microbes in petri dishes; however, this technique doesn't work for many species, because they don't like the microbe food in the dishes. In fact, scientists have no idea what many of these species eat.

Some belly-button inhabitants are familiar, even if you don't know their names. For instance, Bacillus subtilis, known to cause foot odor, also lives in some people's belly buttons.

"I would predict those people have feet-smelling belly buttons," Dunn said.

The ongoing analysis has shown that belly buttons contain many species, but that a substantial number of those species are common to many people, he said.

While we know very little about the fauna on our skin, it's clear that microbes can be helpful, acting as a first line of defense against infectious bacteria. For instance, when antibiotics clear the gut of these beneficial bacteria, the potentially colon-inflaming bacterium Clostridium difficile can establish a foothold, according to the Mayo Clinic. 

In addition to collecting samples, this project is also part of an effort to pique people's interest in the surprisingly mysterious things that live on and around us.

To date, the project has collected more than 400 samples. The researchers are currently overwhelmed by those wishing to share the contents of their belly buttons, but you can get information on how to contribute here. Anonymous photos of petri dishes with their fuzzy contents are posted online.

On Friday (Aug. 12), Nina Roundtree, an undergraduate student working on the project, is scheduled to discuss the project and its results to date at the Ecological Society of America's annual meeting in Austin, Texas.

SOURCE: LiveScience

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