Long 'lost' elephant shrew found after half a century thanks to peanut butter and Marmite
Video report by ITV News Correspondent Martha Fairlie
A little-known mammal related to an elephant but as small as a mouse has been rediscovered in Africa after 50 years of obscurity.
The Somali Sengi is most closely related to elephants, aardvarks and manatees.
The last scientific record of the "lost species" of elephant shrew was in the 1970s, despite local sightings.
Not so much as a whisker. But tempted by some peanut butter and Marmite, it emerged.
It uses its elongated nose to suck up ants, but scientists found it has a weakness for other delicacies too.
The creature was found alive and well in Djibouti, a country in the Horn of Africa, during a scientific expedition.
It's not the only species to be rediscovered in recent times - last year scientists found the tiny silver-backed Chevrotain - nicknamed a mouse-deer - in Vietnam. And in Indonesia they tracked down the world's largest bee - thought lost since 1981. Not quite the taming of the shrew, but with a check list of 25 animals that are feared to have died out, it has been a dream come true for naturalists.