Great find! A small species of elephant shrew has reappeared in the Horn of Africa after 50 years. The species, which is about the size of a mouse, is called the Somali sengi and became a “lost species” after its last scientific record in 1968, despite local sightings, which were ultimately never confirmed.
So far, the little creature had been found alive and well in Djibouti, a country in the Horn of Africa, during a scientific expedition and was found among the 25 most sought after species in the world.
This small animal is the size of a mouse, has an elongated nose for collecting insects, and has the ability to run almost 30 kilometers per hour.
There are currently believed to be 20 species of elephant shrew in the world, with the Somali sengi being one of the most mysterious. Not only has it not been scientifically documented for over five decades, but even then it was only known to science because 39 of the animals had been collected decades ago and stored in museums.
The species was previously only found in Somalia, hence the name. Scientists were so intrigued by the species that they set out to search for the animal in Djibouti last year after receiving information from locals that they had been sighted there. The team then took advantage of local knowledge, as well as their own, to place traps in places they would expect the creature to visit. In total, they found 12 copies.
Steven Heritage, a research scientist at the Duke University Lemur Center in the US, was a member of the group that went to the Horn of Africa in 2019 and said he was delighted to put the species “back on the radar”. .
Now, scientists plan to launch another expedition in 2022 to GPS radio tag individual sengi to study their behavior and ecology, and the team is pleased to report that there are currently no obvious threats to the creature’s habitat.