{"id":316887,"date":"2026-03-07T01:25:18","date_gmt":"2026-03-07T01:25:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/316887\/"},"modified":"2026-03-07T01:25:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T01:25:18","slug":"tiny-possum-and-glider-thought-extinct-for-6000-years-found-in-remote-west-papua","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/316887\/","title":{"rendered":"Tiny possum and glider thought extinct for 6,000 years found in remote West Papua"},"content":{"rendered":"

A tiny possum with one extra-long finger on each hand is one of two species thought to have been extinct that have been discovered in West Papua, in what’s been called an “exceptional” scientific discovery.<\/p>\n

The other is a a ring-tailed glider with a tail that can grasp branches. Both have been found living in remote rainforests after they were thought to have disappeared 6,000 years ago.<\/p>\n

Finding living examples of a lost species is rare, but discovering two is “remarkable,” say scientists who published their findings in the Records of the Australian Museum journal on Friday.<\/p>\n

Such discoveries are known as “lazarus taxon”, a term inspired by a biblical figure who was raised from the dead.<\/p>\n

“The discovery of one lazarus taxon… is an exceptional discovery,” said Prof Tim Flannery, a prominent Australian scientist best known for his 2005 The Weather Makers book about climate change.<\/p>\n

“But the discovery of two species, thought to have been extinct for thousands of years, is remarkable.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The newly discovered ring-tailed glider, which lives in the hollows of tall trees [Arman Muharmansyah]<\/p>\n

The first rediscovered species was the pygmy long-fingered possum, a striped marsupial weighing about 200g, which is understood to have vanished from Australia during the Ice Age.<\/p>\n

A distinguishing feature is that on each hand, the possum’s fourth finger is twice the length of other digits, which scientists say help it dig out wood-boring insect larvae, it’s main source of food.<\/p>\n

The second species is the ring-tailed glider, and just like its Australian cousin the greater glider, it lives in the hollows of tall trees.<\/p>\n

The discoveries were made by piecing together parts of a puzzle with scientists combing through decades-old fossils, rare photos and old specimens to gather clues before making visits to remote New Guinea locations.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The pygmy long-fingered possum uses its elongated finger to dig out wood-boring insect larvae [Carlos Bocos]<\/p>\n

Flannery, along with another of the paper’s co-authors Prof Kris Helgen and researchers from the University of Papau, spoke to local elders from the Tambrauw and Maybrat clans – some of whom have only had contact with the modern world since the 1960s.<\/p>\n

Identification of the species would not have been possible without their help, according to Rika Korain, a Maybrat woman and another co-author.<\/p>\n

“They’re very traditional people,” Flannery added, and regard the glider as so sacred that “not only won’t they hunt it, they won’t mention its name”.<\/p>\n

But the gliders habitat was increasingly coming under threat from logging in the area, Flannery said.<\/p>\n

This, in part, has prompted efforts by scientists and wildlife groups to try secure native title for the forests to ensure logging cannot be carried out without consent from locals, he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A tiny possum with one extra-long finger on each hand is one of two species thought to have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":316888,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[171730,101904,171731,111,139,69,147,64025,171209,406],"class_list":{"0":"post-316887","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-carlos-bocos","9":"tag-greater-glider","10":"tag-lost-species","11":"tag-new-zealand","12":"tag-newzealand","13":"tag-nz","14":"tag-science","15":"tag-scientific-discovery","16":"tag-tim-flannery","17":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316887","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=316887"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316887\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/316888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=316887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=316887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=316887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}