Ghost hunters: On the trail of a 'living fossil'
Page last updated at 23:40 GMT, Sunday, 30 May 2010 0:40 UK

By Rebecca Morelle
Science reporter, BBC News, Sierra de Bahoruco, Dominican Republic

Scent of a solenodon: Joe Nunez-Mino reveals how sniffing caves can help to track down these "ghosts" of the forests
It is swelteringly hot and unbearably humid as we set off on our journey deep into the heart of the Dominican Republic's tropical forests.

And as we drive along the bone-joltingly bumpy track, crammed into a truck loaded with enough supplies for our week in the wilderness, the excitement amongst the researchers grows.

We are on our way to see if we can track down one of the most strange and ancient mammals in the world - the Hispaniolan solenodon.

But finding one will not be easy: naturalists once thought that you would be more likely to see a ghost than this elusive creature. And, indeed, few have ever come face-to-face with one.

The solenodon is one of just a handful of venomous mammals
The nocturnal solenodon, which is only found in the Dominican Republic and in one of the last forested patches of Haiti, is often described as a "living fossil", thanks to the fact that it has been around, virtually unchanged, for the past 76 million years.

Remarkably, this means it would have once scuttled amongst the giant feet of the dinosaurs, in the days when they roamed the Earth.

Continue reading the main story
The problem is that we really don't know anything about these animals

Dr Richard Young
Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust
And it is an odd-looking animal.

It is the size of a rabbit, with a ginger-brown coat. It has disproportionately large, clawed feet, beady little eyes and a very long, thin nose.

But perhaps its most bizarre - and prehistoric - feature is that it is the only mammal that can inject venom through its teeth, the same way a snake does.

The poison, while not deadly to humans, is the perfect tool for the insectivore, allowing it to dine on bugs as it moves around the forest at night.

Last survivors
But this unique creature is now under threat.

The Dominican Republic and Haiti, which together make up the island of Hispaniola, used to have a diverse mix of monkeys, shrews, sloths and rodents, but these have died out one by one.

The hutia is also one of Hispaniola's last native mammals
This has left the solenodon and a tree-dwelling rodent called the hutia as the only native mammals that remain.

Now, researchers from the UK and the Dominican Republic, with the help of a grant from the UK government's Darwin Initiative, have embarked on a project called The Last Survivors, which they say could be our last chance to save the solenodon and hutia before they vanish from the forests forever.

The programme involves the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), the Hispaniolan Ornithological Society (SOH) and the Dominican Republic's national zoo and environment ministry.

Dr Richard Young, head of conservation science at Durrell, explains: "The problem is that we really don't know anything about these animals - we don't know where they are, how many there are and how this relates to their habitats.


Jorge Brocca says that many Dominicans have not heard of solenodons
"And before you can start to conserve them, you need to answer some really basic questions."

But, given the suggestion that a supernatural sighting might be more likely than snatching a glance of a solenodon, finding these creatures to uncover the answers is not going to be easy.

And in fact, says Jorge Brocca, SOH's director, few people in the Dominican Republic have ever seen one, and many have never heard of them.

He explains: "We've been showing local people photographs, and most of them do not know what these animals are."

The Sierra de Bahoruco is topped by a stunning pine forest
We head for the Sierra de Bahoruco, a mountain range in the south-west of the Dominican Republic, which straddles the border with Haiti. At its highest point it reaches an elevation of 2,200m (7,200ft).

As we negotiate the steep incline, we see a spectacular range of habitats - from dry, cactus-studded forests in the lowlands, up to vibrant, cloud forests dotted with giant trees, ferns and mosses, and finally, at the peak, a pine forest, that looks something like a tropical version of Scandinavia.

Here, the team is surveying patches of forest for solenodons - the start of an attempt to get a comprehensive grasp of the mammal's spread across the country.

Solenodons leave a "nose poke" as they probe the ground for insects
Much of this work takes place during the day, while the animals are sound asleep in their burrows.

As we trek ever deeper into the forest, Durrell's Joe Nunez-Mino, who is working in the field with the SOH's Pedro Martinez and local research assistants Nicolas Corona and Lleyo Espinal, tells me that trying to find them feels a bit like being a detective.

The first clue, he says, is the "nose poke" - he points to one as we tramp through the dense vegetation.

He explains: "These are holes that the creatures make in the ground as they use their long noses to probe the earth as they look for insects."

Nearby, we find what might be the entrance of a burrow.

He bends down and takes a deep sniff inside the cave.

Solenodons, he says, have a really musty smell, a bit like a goat. And sure enough, a pungent odour seeps out of the cave - an exciting sign that one might be in there.

Long wait
But until night falls, the solenodon will remain asleep in its subterranean den, and there is little more we can do here.

So we return to our wooden cabin, set in a small clearing, and feast upon our campfire-cooked meal, waiting for darkness to descend over the forest.

Continue reading the main story
It's going to be one of those life-defining moments to see one in the wild

Dr Sam Turvey
ZSL
For the ZSL's Dr Sam Turvey, who works on the Edge of Existence Programme, the prospect of spotting a solenodon is thrilling.

"I cannot tell you how excited I am about seeing one. Being in the middle of the forest, in the middle of nowhere, in the night, is going to be amazing," he says.

"It's going to be one of those life-defining moments to see one in the wild."

We know our chances of finding one might be slim, but with good weather, the expert skills of our local research assistants and a huge pinch of luck, we grow ever more hopeful that we might soon become some of the fortunate few to have come face-to-face with this elusive forest "ghost".

LOL we posted the same article at the same time, well you beat me by a couple of seconds. nice!

The dreaded solenodon, which game wardens, taxidermists, and taxi drivers agree resembles a hairless coyote in the fetal position is probably the ugliest-looking, most nauseating creature on the face of the earth excluding Amy Winehouse of course.
Samana Game Warden Chencho Seneca, who has written three books on the solenodon said that people do not know that even though the solenodon looks extremely stupid, it is really quite intelligent.Seneca said that he has studied the migratory habits, the eating habits, the drinking habits, and even the drug habits of this ugly-looking piece-of-shit creature.
In Seneca's book on the horrendously horrid hairless critter entitled, My First Book On The Horrendously Horrid Hairless Critter, he writes that although somewhat misunderstood in the culinary sense the ugly-as-hell wild solenodon actually seeks out permanent companionship much the same sense as a piranha seeks out human fingers.Remember only the" Funky Chicken " deserves extinction " The Funky Chicken " and the "Yodeling Moron " of Samana

Close encounter with a bizarre venomous beast

Science reporter, BBC News, Sierra de Bahoruco, Dominican Republic

Dr Richard Young gets up close with one of the world's weirdest mammals
Conservationists are in the Dominican Republic to save one of the world's strangest and most ancient mammals - the Hispaniolan solenodon.

After days of searching, the team finally tracks down one of the bizarre beasts.

A shout from the forest sounds, bursting through the night chorus of frog tinks and cricket chirrups.

"They've got one, they've got one," someone yells.

It is the middle of the night, and local research assistants Nicolas Corona and Lleyo Espinal have been trawling the dense forest vegetation, attempting to track down the elusive Hispaniolan solenodon.

They need complete silence to find the animals: they pinpoint them by listening for the sounds of rustling leaves as the little creatures scuttle across the forest floor.

Continue reading the main story
At last, science reporter Rebecca Morelle gets to meet a solenodon

On the trail of a 'living fossil'
A story of solenodon survival
With anticipation building, we head towards them, our head torches illuminating the path ahead, all the while attracting a blur of insects drawn by the light.

The solenodon has been placed in a bag, which is the best way to keep it calm while it is temporarily captured.

As the bag is opened, a pungent, musty smell - the solenodon's signature scent - seeps out.

It is carefully pulled out by its tail. And while this looks uncomfortable, the researchers say this is the least stressful way to hold the animal.

Thick gloves are donned, essential for protection against the solenodon's most ancient feature - it is the only mammal in the world that can inject venom through its teeth.

While the poison is not deadly to humans, it is far from ideal to get bitten - and this seems even more pertinent as the creature first tries to sink its sharp teeth into Dr Sam Turvey, and then, when it is my chance to hold it in my glove-covered hand, me.


The venomous solenodon attempts to nibble Dr Sam Turvey
At last, face to face with the animal, and it is easy to see why it has been dubbed one of the world's oddest creatures - it looks like a cross between an ant-eater, a shrew and a rat.

It has a ginger-brown coat and is about the size of a rabbit. It has a long, slender nose, which it is snuffling about with in the palm of my hand; its super-sensitive whiskers are twitching around.

And every now and then, it has a little scratch with its huge clawed feet, all the while peering at the cooing crowd with its tiny, beady eyes.

The animal has been around since the time of the dinosaurs
It is hard to believe that the animal I am holding would probably have looked more or less the same when it shared this land with the dinosaurs, 76 million years ago.

But while this creature has managed to survive through a whole series of major trials and tribulations - the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs, major changes to the climate and then the arrival of humans - today, the animal is under threat.

And this is the reason why we are here.

The team I am with, made up of scientists from Jersey's Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), the Hispaniolan Ornithological Society (SOH), have embarked on a project called The Last Survivors.

They say that this scheme, which is funded by the UK Government's Darwin Initiative, and is supported by the Dominican Republic's national zoo and environment ministry, could be our last chance to save the solenodon.

And from our few days in the Sierra de Bahoruco, a mountain range that straddles the border between the Dominican Republic and Haiti, some of the problems facing this mammal are plain to see.

Haiti has suffered from heavy deforestation, which has had a devastating impact on the country
As we drive along the aptly named international road - a bumpy track that at some points, marks the border between the two countries - the differences are clear.

Where the Dominican side is mostly lush, green and vegetation covered, Haiti is dry and brown, with barely a tree in sight. And this does not just occur in the border area. While about 25% of the Dominican Republic is covered with forest, only 1% of Haiti is.

Jorge Brocca, director of the SOH, says: "It's probably impossible for the solenodons to survive in that kind of habitat."

He says that in some ways, the problems caused by deforestation in Haiti, such as the soil degradation that has left the country flash flood-prone, serve as a stark warning to the Dominican Republic - and to the rest of the world.

Charcoal problems
But the Dominican part of this mountain range is still suffering problems.

As we trek through the dense vegetation, we frequently come across patches that have been cleared of trees, the wood burnt in a pit covered with earth to create charcoal.


Pedro Martinez says that more and more trees are being burnt down to make charcoal
The SOH's Pedro Martinez tells me: "This has always happened, but we've been finding more and more of these since the earthquake in Haiti."

Poor Haitians, displaced by the earthquake, he says, are coming across the border into the Dominican Republic's tree-rich forests to make charcoal to take back Haiti to sell.

He explains: "They have no trees left in Haiti, so they come here."

But loss of habitat is not the only problem facing the solenodons. Animals that have been introduced to the country over the last few hundred years are also causing problems.

Cats have been caught on camera coming out of solendon burrows
Dr Richard Young, head of conservation science at Durrell, explains: "Invasive animals like rats, mongoose, cats and feral dogs have all been suggested to be major threats."

Motion-sensitive camera traps that the team have been setting outside solenodon burrows are beginning to shed light on how much of an issue this might be.

Dr Young said: "We've filmed cats and rats emerging from their burrows. And this is really worrying."

Wishful thinking
As our close encounter with the solenodon nears its end, the team record the GPS location where it has been found, measure the animal, and take some DNA samples by pulling out a tuft of hairs.

They are doing this to start to build up a clearer scientific picture of an animal that has, until now, been barely researched.

Continue reading the main story
What we want to do is ensure the long term survival of this unique animal

Dr Richard Young
Durrell
Dr Young says: "This is a mammal in a region of the world that is fairly well developed, it's not that remote - but yet, still, we know next to nothing about it, which is really quite shocking."

Over the next three years, The Last Survivors team wants to answer some of the really basic questions about solenodons - where they are found, how many there are, and how problems such as deforestation and invasive mammals might be affecting them.

And then, once they know that, says Dr Young, the conservation of the solenodon can really begin in earnest.

He says: "We are really laying the groundwork for the survival of the solenodon - what we want to do is ensure the long term survival of this unique animal."

After the tests are complete, the little creature is finally released. It scurries back into the forest - making a quick stop for an insect snack on the way.

And as it vanishes into the darkness of the night, I feel hopeful that this remarkable animal, which has managed to survive against all the odds for the last 76 million years, could somehow, with the help of these scientists, remain a weird and wonderful fixture in these forests for many more years to come.

Blut doesn't need an excuse for extinction - its coming quickly.....
There's too much drug money in the DR....
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=9359520
S.

Shark warning:

Blut is hunting!
S.

That's my Ex Girlfriend you are looking for. She doesn't live in a Cave but in Bella Vista.