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The Laotian ‘puzzle mouse’

Scientists have made a stunning discovery on a food market in Laos.

According to this week’s New Scientist (21 May 2005, p. 18), what Robert Timmins from the Wildlife Conservation Society, New York spotted next to a pile of vegetables is not just a new species of rodent but a new family; making the Laonastidae, the first new family of mammals to be discovered in over 30 years. The creature, locally known as kha-nyou and scientifically as Laonastes aenigmamus has subsequently been trapped in the Khammouan National Biodiversity Conservation Area but the discoverer has yet to see one alive.

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