In an exceptional scientific discovery, scientists have found a tiny possum and ring-tailed glider in West Papua after 6,000 years.
For decades, the researchers have thought these species to be extinct, but the recent remarkable discovery has rewritten the history of lost species.
According to findings published in the Records of the Australian Museum journal on Friday, a tiny possum with one extra-long finger on each hand and a glider have been found living in remote rainforests.
The long-fingered possum, which is a striped marsupial, is thought to have vanished from Australia during the Ice Age. The recently rediscovered possum possesses a distinctive fourth finger on each hand, twice the length of other digits, which helps it dig out wood-boring insect larvae.
The ring-tailed glider is found living in the hollows of tall trees with a long tail that can grasp branches. The locals from the Tambrauw and Maybrat clans consider it sacred and neither hunt it nor mention its name out of respect.
According to scientists, the local elders from the Tambrauw and Maybrat clans helped them identify these species.
“The discovery of one lazarus taxon… is an exceptional discovery, ” said Prof Tim Flannery, a prominent Australian scientist best known for his 2005 The Weather Makers book about climate change, said.
“But the discovery of two species, thought to have been extinct for thousands of years, is remarkable,” he added.
