Recently, scientists working in South Africa spotted something that stopped them in their tracks. For decades, many assumed this animal was extinct. It turns out, they were wrong.
De Winton’s golden mole, an extremely rare species of mole, may be more widespread than researchers once believed, according to a study recently published in Biodiversity and Conservation.
Smithsonian Magazine reports that the last recorded sighting of De Winton’s golden mole was 87 years ago, in 1936.
These hamster-sized mammals are unique in so many ways. According to Scientific American, De Winton’s golden moles are “iridescent blind mole[s] with hearing superpowers.” The animals usually glide, or “swim,” through the sandy dunes of the South African coast, making them “very difficult to locate.”
“Golden moles are elusive little animals that spend nearly their entire lives underground,” Molecular biologist Samantha Mynhardt said in an interview with Scientific American. “They are very seldom seen by humans.”
A team of scientists from Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) and the University of Pretoria spent years looking for this mole. Through countless trials, they never gave up.
“It was a very exciting project with many challenges,” said Esther Matthew, a senior field officer with EWT, in an interview with Re:wild. “Luckily, we had a fantastic team full of enthusiasm and innovative ideas. Which is exactly what you need when you have to survey up to [11.2 miles] of dune habitat in a day.”
For the hardworking research team, finding this rare animal and working to ensure the lasting legacy of the species is worth all the effort.
“Though many people doubted that De Winton’s golden mole was still out there, I had good faith that the species had not yet gone extinct,” Cobus Theron, a senior conservation manager for EWT, said in an interview with Re:wild. “I was convinced it would just take the right detection method, the proper timing and a team passionate about finding it.”
