Footage proves ‘lost’ Attenborough long-beaked echidna not extinct

A critically-endangered echidna named after Sir David Attenborough has been captured on film for the first time more than 60 years after it was last recorded.

The Attenborough’s long-beaked echidna is part of a species that is notoriously difficult to find as they live in burrows and tend to be very shy.

Using remote trail cameras set up in the Cyclops Mountains of Indonesia’s Papua Province this summer, the Expedition Cyclops team found the animal once was not extinct as was feared.

The team also found Mayr’s honeyeater, a bird lost to science since 2008; a new kind of tree-dwelling shrimp; countless new species of insects; and a previously unknown cave system.