David Attenborough 'delighted' over sighting of 'extinct' animal named after him

10 November 2023 , 22:07

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The animal has been named after Sir David Attenborough (Image: Dave Benett/Getty Images)

An animal named after Sir David Attenborough that was thought to be extinct has been spotted in a remote mountain range.

Researchers in Indonesia filmed four short clips of the long-beaked echidna. Dubbed “living fossils”, they are thought to have emerged 200 million years ago, when dinosaurs roamed the Earth.

Until now, the only evidence that this particular species – Zaglossus attenboroughi – had ever existed was a decades-old museum specimen of a dead animal.

The animal has been found not be extinct (Expedition Cyclops)

Dr James Kempton, a biologist from Oxford University, led the four week expedition to unexplored stretches of a rainforest in the Cyclops Mountains. It was there, 6,561ft above sea level, that they captured footage of the Attenborough echidna. Dr Kempton said: “The whole team was euphoric.”

He added that Sir David, 97, was “absolutely delighted” to hear about the sighting. The multi-national team also discovered new species of insects and frogs during the expedition.

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