Sunday, May 06, 2018

Kangaroo rat un-extinct

When scientists suspect an animal has gone extinct, they desperately hope they are wrong.  Sometimes, happily, they are wrong. No one had seen the ridiculously adorable San Quintin kangaroo rat (Dipodomys gravipes) of Baja California since 1994.  About 12cm long, it was a once-populous species ground down by habitat destruction and other factors until there wasn't anything left of it. 
Now we know they are still there, thanks to four specimens trapped in 2017.    It's good to have the little critter hopping around in the desert again. 

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