It may seem hard to believe that such an unusual looking animal has remained hidden for so long。

世界上存在如此相貌罕見而不為人知的動(dòng)物，這似乎有點(diǎn)難以置信。

But scientists have only just discovered a new species of elephant shrew – or round-eared sengi - in the remote deserts of south western Africa。

但科學(xué)家在遙遠(yuǎn)的西非南部剛剛發(fā)現(xiàn)了象鼩的一個(gè)新品種——圓耳象鼩。

While it is the smallest known member of the 19 sengis in the order Macroscelidea, the small creature is in fact genetically more closely related to an elephant than a true shrew。

雖然這一新發(fā)現(xiàn)的小動(dòng)物是象鼩品種中最小的，但從遺傳學(xué)角度看它卻是大象的親戚，而非鼩鼱科。

The Etendeka round-eared sengi was discovered by scientists from the California Academy of Sciences. It is the third new species of elephant shrew to be found in the wild in the past decade。

這種圓耳象鼩是被加利福尼亞州科學(xué)院的科學(xué)家發(fā)現(xiàn)的，它是過去十年中新發(fā)現(xiàn)的第三種象鼩新品種。

The diminutive animal is smaller than other sengi and has rust-coloured fur, a large, hairless gland on the underside of its tail and lacks dark skin pigment, according to the study published in the Journal of Mammalogy。

據(jù)《哺乳動(dòng)物學(xué)雜志》的研究報(bào)告稱，這種小動(dòng)物體型比其他象鼩要小，長(zhǎng)著黃銹色的皮毛，尾巴下方有著大型無毛腺，缺乏深色皮膚色素。

Its unusual appearance attracted the attention of experts Jack Dumbacher and Galen Rathbun, who noted it looked different from any museum specimens they had encountered。

圓耳象鼩獨(dú)特的外表吸引了Jack Dumbacher和Galen Rathbun兩位科學(xué)家，他們發(fā)現(xiàn)這種動(dòng)物和他們之前看到過的任何一種博物館樣本都不一樣。

Genetic analysis showed important differences between this specimen and close relatives。

基因分析表明，這一品種和其他相似物種有著重要的區(qū)別。

Together with experts from the National Museum of Namibia and the Republic of Namibia Ministry of Environment and Tourism, they scoured museums for similar animals and conducted more genetic tests, before confirming that they had found a new species。

兩位科學(xué)家同納米比亞國(guó)家博物館及納米比亞共和國(guó)環(huán)境和旅游局的專家一起，追蹤了博物館中的類似物種，做了更多的基因測(cè)試。之后才得出了這是一個(gè)新物種的結(jié)論。

‘The differences between this and all other known species are very subtle,’ said Dr Dumbacher。

Dumbacher博士說道：“這種小動(dòng)物和所有相似物種的區(qū)別非常微小。”

Elephant shrews are restricted to Africa and despite their small size, are more closely related to elephants, manatees (known as sea cows) and aardvarks than they are to true shrews。

象鼩生活在非洲。雖然體型微小，但和鼩類動(dòng)物相比，它們與大象、海牛、土豚等大型動(dòng)物的關(guān)系更密切。