In 2005 a camera trap caught the first image of a cat-sized elephant shrew that turned out to be a new species.
New Types of Equipment
Technological advances make new types of recording equipment possible, and each time a new type of equipment is used in the field there is a good chance of discovering something new.
The use of new photographic equipment has revealed much about animal behaviour, and using remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) to take photographs has recently allowed a better understanding of the way whale carcasses are eaten on the sea bed. Camera traps often take unexpected pictures.
Camera Traps and a New Sengi in Tanzania
In 2005 Francesco Rovero set a number of camera traps in the Udzungwa Mountains of Tanzania, and he got a big surprise. One of his photographs showed a large elephant shrew (sengi) that he had never seen before.
Rovero guessed that this image showed a new species of sengi and contacted Galen Rathbun of the California Academy of Sciences. Rathbun had never seen the animal before, so in 2006 he and Rovero set off to try to catch one.
They were successful, and the new sengi (The Grey-faced Sengi Rhynchocyon udzungwensis) has been added to the list.
New Rare Animal Discoveries
New recording techniques and new access to remote areas have led to the discovery of many new animals in recent years, and the fact that large mammals like the Grey-faced Sengi and the Kipunji have eluded scientists for so long (both only discovered in 2005) suggest that there might still be many more new animals still to find.
Unfortunately the fact that any new animal has never been seen before means that it is invariably rare and often endangered - it risks being discovered, then named, then recorded as extinct, all within a short space of time.
These new discoveries show how little we really know about life on earth, and emphasise the urgent need to conserve unusual habitats.
When a new species of animal is found a lot of immediate interest is generated. This will highlight the animal's habitat, and sometimes there will be efforts to conserve both the habitat and the animal. This habitat conservation will also save a large number of smaller and less obvious animals, and the ecosystem will remain available for future study.
The elephant shrew that got caught in a camera trap will help efforts to conserve a remote Tanzanian habitat.
Reference: 'Bizarre new creature discovered', BBC Newsround - 2008.
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