Long-beaked echidna  (Zaglossus spp.)

The decline of these echidnas is probably due mainly to hunting, which continues today with trained dogs (7). Other threats include habitat loss through logging, farming and mining (7). It may be that Z. attenboroughi is already extinct as the only known specimen was collected in 1961 and the species is presumed to be restricted to a single mountain summit with only 50 square kilometres of habitat (5).

This echidna is fully protected in Irian Jaya; it is protected in Papua New Guinea but not from the traditional forms of hunting which continue there (7). The Australasian Marsupial and Monotreme Specialist Group of the IUCN (World Conservation Union) has recommended that priorities for the conservation of this species should include a public education programme, protection of all known populations and the initiation of research into captive breeding programmes (7). At present, captive individuals are only kept at Taronga Zoo, Sydney and a breeding programme is being attempted (5). The recent reclassification of the genus is particularly important for conservation efforts (5). The fossil evidence suggests that monotremes have changed very little during the last 100 million years (2), and urgent action is needed to protect this ancient and intriguing mammal from extinction.