Quick Facts Attenborough's long-beaked echidna, Conservation status ...

Attenborough's long-beaked echidna
Z. attenboroughi specimen
Conservation status
Critically Endangered  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
CITES Appendix II (CITES)[2]
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Monotremata
Family:	Tachyglossidae
Genus:	Zaglossus
Species:	Z. attenboroughi
Binomial name
Zaglossus attenboroughi Flannery & Groves, 1998

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Zaglossus attenboroughi, also known as Attenborough's long-beaked echidna or locally as Payangko, is one of three species from the genus Zaglossus that inhabits the island of New Guinea.^[3] It lives in the Cyclops Mountains, which are near the cities of Sentani and Jayapura in the Indonesian province of Papua. It is named in honour of naturalist Sir David Attenborough.

It is currently classified as critically endangered by the IUCN, and it has not been seen since its initial collection in 1961 until a sighting in November 2023.^[4]

It is the smallest member of the genus Zaglossus, being closer in size to the short-beaked echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus). The male is larger than the female, further differentiated by the spurs on its hind legs.

The long-beaked echidna is not a social animal, and it comes together with its own kind only once a year, in July, to mate. During the reproduction stage, the female lays the eggs after about eight days, with the offspring staying in their mother's pouch for around eight weeks or until their spines develop. The creature is nocturnal; it rolls up into a spiny ball when it feels threatened, resembling the behavior of a hedgehog. It weighs from 5 to 10 kilograms (11 to 22 lb).^[5] "Subsequent systematic revision of Zaglossus by Flannery & Groves" (1998) identified three allopatric species and several subspecies present within the island. These authors established a new species, Z. attenboroughi (Attenborough's long-beaked echidna), to describe a single echidna specimen (Plate 1) collected in 1961 at 1,600 metres (5,200 ft) near the top of Mount Rara, in the Cyclops Mountains of northern Dutch New Guinea.

The diet of Sir David's long-beaked echidna consists of earthworms, termites, insect larvae, and ants.^[6]

Z. attenboroughi was described from a single damaged specimen collected in the Dutch colonial era (c. 1961), and no other specimen has been collected since.^[7] The ongoing anthropogenic disturbance of the Cyclops Mountain forest habitat is a threat to Z. attenboroughi populations in the area, where the echidna is endangered by hunting and habitat loss. It was thought to be extinct until some of its "nose pokes" were found in the mountains of New Guinea during an expedition in 2007. These "nose pokes" result from the echidna's unique feeding technique.^[8]

Z. attenboroughi is classified as critically endangered by the IUCN.^[1] A campaign was initiated by local communities to educate the Papuan people about the endangered echidnas in an effort to stop the common tradition of hunting and killing the creature to share with rivals as a peace offering.^[6]

Researchers from EDGE of Existence programme visiting Papua's Cyclops Mountains discovered burrows and tracks thought to be those of Zaglossus attenboroughi in 2007, and after further communication with locals, it was revealed that the species had possibly been seen as recently as 2005.^[9] In 2007, Sir David's long-beaked echidna was identified as one of the top-10 "focal species" by the Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered (EDGE) project.^[10]

As of 2017^[update], this species of echidna was among the 25 "most wanted lost" species which are the focus of Re:wild's "Search for Lost Species" initiative.^[11]

In 2023, during an expedition led by Oxford University scientists to the Cyclops Mountains, the species was spotted on footage retrieved from a trail camera.^[12][13] This was more than 60 years after it was last spotted by scientists.^[14]

• List of things named after David Attenborough and his works