New Mammal Species Discovered

**andpau66** · 05-28-2004, 07:41 PM

This tiny, orange-coloured, rodent-like mammal was found by a joint US-Filipino team of biologists at a burnt forest clearing on Mount Banahaw, south of Manila. Photo: AFP

A mouse-like mammal that cannot be found anywhere else in the world has been discovered in a Philippine mountain by Filipino and American biologists.

The new species, which weighs about 15 grams, has an eight cm body, a 10 cm tail, a very large head, and heavily muscled jaws, the department said.

"The whiskers are about five times as long as the head," ithe Philippines Department of Environment and Natural Resources said in a statement.

"The front teeth are very narrow, deep. The colour is bright orange."

The mammal was discovered two weeks ago in a slash-and-burn area on Mount Banahaw, south of Manila, considered a holy site by some Filipino sects.

It was discovered by a team composed of representatives from the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, the Utah Museum of Natural History, the Philippine National Museum, a locally-based conversation group and the environment department.

"The team was scouting the area for rare small mammal species," the environment department said. "The American biologists agreed that the small mammal is something very distinctive and unique."

Lawrence Heaney of the Field Museum of Natural History, said he was certain that the mammal was not the same species that can be seen anywhere else in the world.

He, however, could not tell yet what particular family or genus the small mammal belongs to.

Eric Rickart, a curator of vertebrates in the Utah Museum, said it was "not related to any of the other rodents" found in the northern Philippines.

"It represents an entirely different branch on a tree of life," he said.

Heany, who has been researching mammals in the Philippines for more than 20 years, noted that the mammal was able to crack "very hard nuts" and eat the seeds inside.

"No other mammal in the area is able to eat the seeds," he said.

The biologists said the unnamed mammal would be shipped to the United States for further study.

The Philippines has at least 52,177 species of plants, animals and other life forms, more than half of which are not found in other countries, the environment department said.

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/...641708583.html

**dave** · 05-28-2004, 11:25 PM

obviously a cheetos lover. :eating:

**Sirrius** · 05-29-2004, 07:02 AM

heeehheehhehhe...pretty kewl...the mammal is mouse i suppose and somebody must have painted him like that

.just joking...pretty kewl discovery

**Zeakio** · 05-29-2004, 11:44 AM

Mice are rodents, not mammals.

**Ben** · 05-29-2004, 11:53 AM

Errr Zeakio....rodents are mammals! It's a bit like saying whales are fish!

Ben

**andpau66** · 05-29-2004, 12:16 PM

Errr Zeakio....rodents are mammals! It's a bit like saying whales are fish!

Mammal - Any of various warm-blooded vertebrate animals of the class Mammalia, including humans, characterized by a covering of hair on the skin and, in the female, milk-producing mammary glands for nourishing the young.

yep, I would call the little guy a mammal....

A little overboard with the whiskers.... don't you think? ha