Rare venom-biting mammal caught on video

William Atkins
Friday, 09 January 2009 22:21

Science - Biology

To watch the rare video of the Haitian Solenodon, go to the January 9, 2009 BBC News article “Venomous mammal caught on camera.”

The BBC News article quotes Dr. Sam Turvey, a Zoological Society of London scientist involved with the research on the animal.

Dr. Turvey states, "It is an amazing creature - it is one of the most evolutionary distinct mammals in the world."

Turvey adds, “Along with the other species of solenodon, which is found in Cuba (Solenodon cubanus), it is the only living mammal that can actually inject venom into their prey through specialised teeth.”

And, "The fossil record shows that some other now-extinct mammal groups also had so-called dental venom delivery systems."

"So this might have been a more general ancient mammalian characteristic that has been lost in most modern mammals, and is only retained in a couple of very ancient lineages."

According to the January 8, 2009 Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust article "Rare Hispaniolan solenodon caught on film", a group of organizations are striving to conserve the native species of Hispaniola, including this strange-looking mammal.

The article states, "Together with the Zoological Society of London (www.zsl.org/conservation/edge), the Ornithological Society of Hispaniola, the Audubon Society of Haiti, and the Dominican Republic’s National Zoological Park and Agency for Protected Areas and Biodiversity, the project aims to build the capacity and the knowledge-base to conserve Hispaniola’s endemic land mammals, including the Hispaniolan solenodon."

"At the end of the project, the partners would work together to draw up a species action plan, which would set out the main actions needed to conserve the species, and develop an island-wide monitoring programme to understand if future conservation efforts are effective."