The De Winton’s golden mole was last seen in 1937 on the north-western coast of South Africa, and later declared officially lost. This iridescent blind mole with hearing superpowers evades contact with humans and “swims” through sand dunes, making it very difficult to locate. But in November 2023, a team of conservationists and geneticists from the Endangered Wildlife Trust, Stellenbosch University and the University of Pretoria found the mole after tracking its environmental DNA through the sand dunes. Molecular biologist Samantha Mynhardt was part of the team that found the mole. We asked her about it.
