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Unique Carnivore Rediscovered in Tanzania

harlequin2005

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Unique Carnivore Rediscovered in Tanzania
BRONX, New York, June 19, 2002 (ENS) - An American scientist working in southeastern Tanzania has rediscovered a carnivore that has remained undetected for the last 70 years. Photographed by a camera trap on the eastern side of Udzungwa Mountain National Park, the Lowe's servaline genet - a three foot long relative of the mongoose - was previously known only from a single skin collected in 1932.

"This is the first ever photograph of Lowe's servaline genet and confirms the animal's existence after 70 years," said Daniela De Luca, who works with the Wildlife Conservation Society based at New York's Bronx Zoo. "We now hope to find out more about the animal and thus help ensure its survival."

De Luca's remote camera trap survey was the first to focus on carnivores in the Udzungwa Mountains, a region noted for its high levels of biodiversity and unique wildlife.

"Compared to larger carnivores, the smaller species such as genets and mongooses are very poorly understood," said De Luca, "so one of our aims is to shed more light on this important and secretive group of animals."

Lowe's servaline genet was first described by and named after British explorer and naturalist Willoughby Lowe.

Apart from the assumption that the Lowe's servaline genet is, like other servaline genets, nocturnal and tree-dwelling, De Luca points out that nothing is known about the genet's ecology, distribution and abundance.

Findings on carnivore diversity and habitat requirements will be used to formulate recommendations on how to minimize the impact of human activities and settlements to wildlife.

Another of Lowe's discoveries, the Miss Waldron's red colobus monkey, was declared extinct in 2000 after an extensive survey in the monkey's former Central African habitat failed to find any evidence of its persistence.

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Nice one!

Makes it lookk a bit more hopeful for the Thylacine...

8¬)
 
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