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A new species of shrew has been discover living luxuriously on a single acme in the Philippines , and no one knows how it got there .
The shrew , a tiny grayish puppet with grown front feet and an unusually fuzzy tail , in all likelihood separate evolutionarily from its last relative about 10 million year ago . The mountain it go on , Mount Mantalingahan on Palawan Island , is no more than 5 million years previous .
The Palawan moss shrew (Palawanosorex muscorum) lives only on Mount Mantalingahan in the Philippines.
That means theshrewtraveled far to land in its current location , but wait — the raw species ' closet relative ( which are n’t all that confining ) are found in Africa . [ The World ’s 6 Smallest mammal ]
" The one good deal is the only spot that we have sex of them pass , " said Lawrence Heaney , one of the authors of a new newspaper describing the shrewmouse and the Negaunee Curator of Mammals at The Field Museum in Chicago . " So one of the questions is , ' Well , how did it get there ? ' "
A weird little shrew
scientist first discovered the shrew in 2007 on an expedition to appraise Mount Mantalingahan for biological variety . research worker fascinate multiple specimens of the animals in traps baited with nightwalker or fry coconut coat in peanut butter .
The shrew , now dubbedPalawanosorex muscorum , or the Palawan moss shrew , straight off offend the interest of Danilo Balete , the leader of sphere sight for the Philippine Mammal Project and a research associate degree at The Field Museum .
" I start getting message saying , ' Oh , we ’re get this weird little shrew . We do n’t cognise what it is , ' " Heaney said .
The newfound Palawan moss shrew has strong front feet and a fuzzy tail.
The research worker come up the shrew living in woodland between 5,085 feet and 6,398 feet ( 1,550 to 1,950 meters ) up on the 6,844 - foot - tall ( 2,086 m ) mountain . It dwells in the folio litter among low Tree constellate with orchids and ferns , and it ’s active entirely at night , Heaney said . The animal valuate about 3.5 inches ( 90 millimeter ) long on average and weigh about 0.7 ounce ( 20 gm ) when fully develop .
Mysterious origins
What makes the termagant unearthly are its potent front feet and the dark fur covering its tail . Most shrews have tails covered with scaly hide , Heaney said .
The shrew is one of three mammal coinage endemic to Mount Mantalingahan , mean they live solely in that diminished geographic region . The other two are the Palawan montane squirrel ( Sundasciurus rabori ) and the Palawan soft - furred deal stinker ( Palawanomys furvus ) .
" The Philippines , we have gradually come to realize , has the bang-up assiduousness of unique mammalian diversity — the expert term we habituate is’endemic diversity ' — of any country , " Heaney said . [ Image Gallery : Colorful Creatures of the Philippines ]
The Palawan moss shrew ’s existence is like a piece to a puzzler that research worker did n’t know exist . Because the specie predates its habitat ( the Philippines are very geologically participating , and Mount Mantalingahan did n’t rise above the sea until at least 5 million year ago , and possibly only 2 million or 3 million years ago ) , the creature must not have evolved on the mint ’s slopes .
So where did it come from?
" Best surmise is that they came in from Borneo , " Heaney said . Many of Palawan Island ’s animals hail from Borneo , the penny-pinching large island . Researchers conceive there might have once been a land bridge between the two island when ocean level were lower . The shrew likely demand to live at high tiptop to go in today ’s mood , but perhaps at some early clock time , climatic condition were such that the little creature had more allowance to wander , Heaney suppose .
The only problem is that no one has ever find any closelipped congener of the shrew on Borneo . If one is there , though , the world may fuck shortly . One of the co - authors of the study , Louisiana State University biologist Jacob Esselstyn , is doing fieldwork in Borneo , searching for shrews .
" They ’re out there face for possible relatives of this beast , " Heaney enounce . " So maybe something will move around up . "
The research seem today ( May 8) in the Journal of Mammalogy .
Original article on Live Science .
