Mammals are not especially diverse. Roughly 6,800 mammal species are known to exist, compared with about 8,800 species of amphibian, 11,000 species of bird and 12,500 of reptile. Yet when most people picture biodiversity, they often think of charismatic mammals first: pandas, orangutans, elephants or tigers.
That visibility comes with scrutiny. Mammals are among the best-studied organisms on Earth – and among the most threatened. On the international inventory of the conservation status of species, more than one in four mammal species is classified as vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered.
Because they are so intensively researched, it’s genuinely rare for scientists to find and formally describe a new mammal species. The discovery of the olinguito (Bassaricyon neblina) made global headlines as the first new carnivorous mammal identified in the Americas in 35 years.
