Scientists working with Indigenous communities in Papua, Indonesia, have stunned the conservation world by confirming that two small mammals thought extinct for around 6,000 years are alive in the forests of New Guinea. The rediscovery of a pygmy long fingered possum and a ring tailed glider shows how little is still known about marsupials in this rugged region and raises urgent questions about how logging and climate change could affect species that have only just reappeared in the scientific record.
Pygmy long fingered possum
The pygmy long fingered possum, also known as Dactylonax kambuayai, was previously known only from sub fossil remains that suggested it had vanished roughly 6,000 years ago. Researchers working with local guides in the Bird’s Head Peninsula confirmed that this tiny nocturnal hunter is still alive, describing it as one of two Lazarus animals that had been missing for about 7,000 years in scientific records. The possum’s elongated middle finger helps it probe bark and rotting wood for insects, a niche similar to that of the aye aye in Madagascar.
Field teams report that Dactylonax kambuayai survives in high elevation moss forests that are difficult to reach and therefore still relatively intact. That isolation may explain how a species written off in the fossil record persisted unnoticed for millennia in West Papua, Indonesia. Scientists argue that its survival strengthens the case for protecting remaining upland habitat before new roads and timber concessions fragment the forest and expose this fragile population to hunting, invasive predators and rapid shifts in temperature.
Ring tailed glider
The ring tailed glider, formally named Tous ayamaruensis, is a small gliding marsupial that had also been known only from ancient bones. Researchers now confirm that this animal is alive in the same New Guinea forests, where it uses a membrane that stretches along its body to glide between trees. Compared with its Australian cousins, the ring tailed glider is smaller, has unfurred ears and a tail adapted for grasping, details highlighted in reporting on the two marsupial species once thought extinct.
Some local Indigenous groups had long known of this glider, but biologists had not documented it alive until collaborative expeditions combined traditional knowledge with camera traps and spotlight surveys. The animals represent distinct branches of the marsupial family tree, a point stressed by scientists such as Sascha Pare, who described the research as a rare second chance. Conservation biologists now see the ring tailed glider as a flagship for arguing that logging plans in parts of Papua, Indonesia, should be reassessed before they erase species that science has only just rediscovered.
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*This article was researched with the help of AI, with human editors creating the final content.
