BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | 'Bizarre' new mammal discovered
Galen Rathbun with the new elephant shrew species (David Ribble)
The cat-sized animal, which is reported in the Journal of Zoology, looks like a cross between a miniature antelope and a small ant eater.
It has a grey face, a long, flexible snout, a bulky, amber body, a jet-black rump and it stands on spindly legs.
"This is one of the most exciting discoveries of my career," said Galen Rathbun, from the California Academy of Sciences, who helped to confirm the animal was new to science along with an international team of colleagues.
They are so bizarre-looking and a lot of their behavioural ecology is so unique and interesting, you kind of get wrapped up with them
Galen Rathbun
Despite its name, the creature, along with the 15 other known species of elephant shrew, is not actually related to shrews.
Dr Rathbun told the BBC News website: "Elephant shrews are only found in Africa. They were originally described as shrews because they superficially resembled shrews in Europe and in America."
In fact, the creature is more closely related to a group of African mammals, which include elephants, sea cows, aardvarks and hyraxes, having shared a common ancestor with them about 100 million years ago.
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