New Mammal!

I am always pleased to hear about the discovery (rather than the extinction) of a new plant or animal, and the identification of a new mammal is quite remarkable. Recently, scientists found a new species of elephant shrew, which are neither elephants nor shrews. These 16 species of small mammals actually comprise their own Mammalian Order, the Macroscelidea. That means that they are so different from other mammals that they are the taxonomic (classification) equivalent of carnivores (Order Carnivora), insectivores (Order Insectivora), or primates (Order Primates). So this is a huge find!