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A researcher holds up De Winton’s golden mole on the sandy beach.
Nicky Souness/Endangered Wildlife Trust
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Nicky Souness/Endangered Wildlife Trust
A researcher holds up De Winton’s golden mole on the sandy beach.
Nicky Souness/Endangered Wildlife Trust
A historic number of animals are endangered or extinct around the world. And, according to the United Nations, the rate at which species are being driven to extinction is accelerating.
But some of these species are in limbo. Although they are not definitively extinct, they have disappeared from the scientific record.
According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, a species receives this “lost” status if no trace of it has been found for 10 years.
“Species are frequently lost because they are threatened by human-induced impacts, such as climate change, pollution, and habitat removal,” says Thomas Evans, a conservation scientist at the Freie Universität Berlin. “Their populations are declining and that’s why they aren’t found. That means they may be on the verge of extinction.”
These species pose challenges to scientists and local communities.
If a lost species is indeed still alive, it needs protection to save it from extinction. But when there is little or no evidence that the species exists, it is difficult to raise the funds needed to conserve land or fund research that confirms the species’ current existence. It may become.
Complicating matters is the disparity in species exploration and conservation, as evidenced by a recent study published in Global Change Biology. For this study, Evans and his collaborators studied lost quadrupeds and rediscovered animals to understand what factors contribute to the likelihood that a species will be rediscovered. A database of quadrupeds was created.
“Charismatic” animals are more likely to be rediscovered and receive the conservation benefits associated with their rediscovery. They tend to be large, cute, or furry. As a result, some “non-charismatic” lost species that might have been saved through measures such as captive breeding and habitat protection have withered away from the human eye.
Historically, rodents have been one group of animals that bear the brunt of this contradiction. About a third of the mammals Evans studied were rodents, but half of the lost mammal species were rodents. They are often small, live in remote areas, come out only at night, and spend most of their time in burrows. All of these reasons make it difficult for scientists to identify them.
Evans said the situation is made worse by the fact that “rodents aren’t particularly charismatic; they’re not well-loved, so people don’t seek them out as much as larger, more charismatic species.” He says he is doing it.
A long journey to rediscover species
Rediscovering lost species is not easy. You may need to travel to remote locations or explore vast areas to find just a handful of animals. This difficulty has forced scientists to reach for the latest technology available to find traces of animals in surrounding areas.
One example is South Africa, where Samantha Minhart, a conservation biologist with the Endangered Wildlife Trust, has spent years studying golden moles. Seeing that conservation groups were listing the de Winton golden mole as one of the most important species to be rediscovered, she began discussions with her collaborators and ultimately decided to rediscover the mole. I will discover it.
But just getting the project started was an uphill battle.
De Winton’s mole had not been discovered for nearly a century, and many of her colleagues suspected it still existed. Burrowing moles have been known to elude many of the tools conservationists rely on to identify and track animals, but not enough to track down the iridescent creatures. did. For example, no team has ever successfully captured a mole. Trapping is a necessary step in traditional DNA collection.
So her team ultimately settled on combining scent detection dogs with the collection of eDNA, or environmental DNA. As animals end their lives, they leave behind tiny traces of DNA in their hair follicles, skin cells, and excrement that scientists can test in the lab. The researchers used dogs to track the areas where the moles were, collecting soil samples and testing the area for eDNA.
During an expedition to the west coast of South Africa, Minhardt and his crew successfully captured a mole. But it wasn’t until they later returned to the lab and analyzed the eDNA from the soil that they were able to confirm that it was the mole species they were looking for.
“It was a really great feeling. I mean, the anticipation that had built up leading up to that moment,” Minhardt said. “When we confirmed that, we were just ecstatic.”
A group of local scientists finally discovered De Winton’s golden mole on a recent expedition.
Nicky Souness/Endangered Wildlife Trust
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Nicky Souness/Endangered Wildlife Trust
A group of local scientists finally discovered De Winton’s golden mole on a recent expedition.
Nicky Souness/Endangered Wildlife Trust
From rediscovery to stronger protection
Away from the ocean, University of Melbourne biologist Tyrone Lavery has a similar story. He spent 14 years studying the Vangunu giant rat, a species lost to Western science but still better known to the Vangunu Islanders as “Vika,” an occasional rodent. .
He had a hard time doing so, perhaps in part because there was very little left.
“It’s such a rare animal that very few people have been able to see it,” Lavery says. Even he, who has been searching for the Vangunu giant rat for 14 years, has yet to come across one.
Lavery’s earliest concrete indication that the rodent was alive came from Vika’s interactions with logging companies.
When he was working in the area, the local government gave the go-ahead for logging in forests where the rodent lived. One day, when a tree was cut down, Vika jumped out of it. One of Lavery’s collaborators was able to capture it. The injured rat died soon after, but Lavery finally had proof that there were rats in the forest.
He redoubled his efforts to find clear evidence that it lives in Vangunu Forest. He spent six months setting camera traps around the forest, and his work paid off when he finally obtained photographic evidence.
Since his research was published in the journal ecology and evolution A few months ago, there was no official move to protect rats. In fact, before his study was published, the government had approved further logging around Vika’s habitat. But shortly after the book was published, “suddenly they took down the machines and retreated. So, officially nothing has happened. But unofficially, there seems to have been a little change.”
Camera trap captures image of giant rat on Vangunu Island.
Kevin Cece & Tyrone Lavery
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Kevin Cece & Tyrone Lavery
Camera trap captures image of giant rat on Vangunu Island.
Kevin Cece & Tyrone Lavery
Both de Winton’s golden mole and Vanguene giant rat may be on their way to save their lives, but the same may not be true for all “non-charismatic” animals.
“People are eager to go find primates and big cats and other really charismatic animals, but many have never even heard of the golden mole,” Minhardt said. To tell. “This is sad because every species on our planet is precious and worth protecting.”
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This episode was produced by Margaret Cirino and Rebecca Ramirez. Rebecca was also in charge of editing. Mr. Anil Oza confirmed the fact. The audio engineer was Robert Rodriguez.
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