First New Meat-Eating Mammal in 24 Years -- Surprise, It's Already Endangered
Durrell's Vontsira (Salanoia Durrelli) The first new carnivorous mammal to be discovered for 24 years. It was discovered on the Island of Madagascar by a team from Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust (DWCT), the Natural History Museum, London, Nature Heritage, and Conservation International (CI). Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust Meet the Durrell's vontsira (Salanoia durrelli). It ain't pretty, but this small, mongoose-like critter-pronounced "voontseera"-has the distinction of being the first carnivorous mammal discovered in 24 years. The last was the related Grandidier's vontsira, which, like the new creature, was found on Madagascar. Researchers from the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust first spotted the one-pound animal swimming in the marshes of the Lac Alaotra wetlands of central eastern Madagascar in 2004 during a field survey of bamboo lemurs. The research, co-authored by scientists from Durrell; the Natural History Museum, London; Nature Heritage; and Conservation International, appears in the latest issue of the taxonomic journal Systematics...