Tiny possum and glider thought extinct for 6000 years found in remote West Papua

Two mammal species long believed extinct for about 6,000 years have been found alive in remote West Papua: a pygmy long-fingered possum and a ring-tailed glider. The possum is a striped marsupial of roughly 200 g with a fourth finger on each hand twice the length of the others, used to extract wood‑boring insect larvae; it was thought to have disappeared from Australia during the last Ice Age. The ring‑tailed glider lives in hollows of tall trees and uses a prehensile tail to grasp branches. Finding even one so-called "lazarus taxon" is rare; the simultaneous rediscovery of two is being called exceptional by researchers.

Researchers reached the identification by piecing together decades-old fossils, rare photographs and museum specimens, then conducting field visits to remote New Guinea locations with crucial guidance from local Tambrauw and Maybrat elders. Co-authors including Tim Flannery, Kris Helgen and University of Papua collaborators - among them Maybrat researcher Rika Korain - report the glider is regarded as sacred by some communities and protected by tradition. The discoveries raise immediate conservation concerns: logging threatens the glider’s tree‑hollow habitat, prompting efforts to secure native title and restrict logging without local consent.