Is it a squirrel, a rat, a guinea pig? Maybe a chinchilla? The long-whiskered rodent with stubby legs and a tail covered with dense hair resembles them all but has turned out be a previously unknown species that actually represents an entire new family of wildlife, the Wildlife Conservation Society said.
BANGKOK, Thailand — Is it a squirrel, a rat, a guinea pig? Maybe a chinchilla? The long-whiskered rodent with stubby legs and a tail covered with dense hair resembles them all but has turned out be a previously unknown species that actually represents an entire new family of wildlife, the Wildlife Conservation Society said.
The kha-nyou, as local people call it, was discovered by a team of scientists in a hunter's market in central Laos, according to a news release from the New York-based group.
"It was for sale on a table next to some vegetables. I knew immediately it was something I had never seen before," Robert Timmins, a WCS researcher, was quoted as saying of his find.
Another colleague, Mark Robinson, later discovered other specimens caught by hunters, and also identified bone fragments in an owl pellet. Based on morphological differences in the skull and bone structure, coupled with DNA analysis, it was estimated that the animal diverged from other rodents millions of years ago.
WCS is working in Laos, in southeast Asia, to stop an illegal wildlife trade that has devastated animal populations. While wild animals are hunted for food, the biggest toll has been taken by the smuggling of wildlife to China for traditional medicine and consumption.
!ADVERTISEMENT!
"To find something so distinct in this day and age is just extraordinary. For all we know, this could be the last remaining mammal family left to be discovered," Timmins said.
Very little is known about the kha-nyou, other than it seems to prefer areas of limestone outcroppings and forest cover and appears to be a nocturnal vegetarian. It also gives birth to one offspring at a time, rather than a litter.
Timmins, who also discovered a new species of striped rabbit from the same region in 1999, warned that habitat protection and regulations to reduce hunting are vital to safeguarding remaining populations of the kha-nyou and other unusual species.
"Skeptics might say that if we are still discovering such amazing new animals, why are people worried about wildlife loss. But of course it is an indication of how little we know and a window onto what we could be losing without ever knowing," Timmins said.
The new species has been described in the recent issue of the journal Systematics and Biodiversity by authors from WCS, The Natural History Museum in London, University of Vermont and World Wide Fund for Nature-Thailand.
Source: Associated Press
