HAVANA, Cuba (AP) -- A living example of an insectivore native to
Cuba -- but believed for years to extinct -- has been found in the
island's eastern mountains, a Cuban news agency reported.
The discovery of the male insect-eating mammal known as an almiqui
raises hopes "that it will not wind up in the catalog of the
irretrievable animals disappearing from the face of the Earth,"
Prensa Latina said in reporting the discovery.
The creature looks like a brownish woolly badger with a long,
pink-tipped snout and can measure up to 50 centimeters (about 19
inches), according to Prensa Latina's Monday dispatch.
The nocturnal animal burrows underground during the daytime,
explaining why it is rarely seen by people. After the sun goes
down, it emerges to root out worms, larvae and insects.
Named "Alejandrito" by the farmer who found it, the living almiqui
weighed 688 grams (24 ounces) and veterinarians declared the animal
in perfect health.
"Alejandrito" was held in captivity for two days of study and
medical tests, then marked and let free in the same general area it
was found, Prensa Latina said.
The almiqui was described for the first time in 1861 by the German
naturalist Wilham Peters, who wrote of the difference between the
Cuban animal and a similar one found in neighboring Haiti.
Since, only 37 of the animals known by the scientific name
Solenodon Cubanus have been captured, including
"Alejandrito."
The last reported sightings of the creatures were in 1972 in the
eastern province of Guantanamo, and 25 years later in 1999 in the
eastern province of Holguin.
