During the latest conservation international live segment I was able to ask this question of Francesco the man who discovered this new species of giant elaphant shrew that is a relative of elephants and other large mammals and is the size of a small dog.

GC: Is there any link between the large rodents found in New Guinea and your discovery? Also, what are your feelings on other recent species such as the collosal squid in the waters around the Arctic, and ultimately what do discoveries such as yours say about the biodiversity of the Earth?

Francesco Rovero: We know that there are probably perhaps millions of species to be described yet. Most are invertebrates, which can be found pretty much everywhere, but especially in the tropics because they are more diverse.

We also know there are probably millions of undescribed species in the deep oceans, below 1,000 meters. It certainly gives us hope that there are still new forms of life to be discovered. Because of the extinction crises, we need to be faster in our discoveries and act more quickly to protect new species when we find them. Like the giant elephant-shrew, many new species are endangered by the time we find them and are bound to be very restricted.