Critically Endangered
Four out of five in the red mini-series.
These make me laugh. They were thought extinct for 113 years! Suddenly, one showed up in a wildlife reserve in front of some people studying other animals. It was a juvenile, decided to hang out for a while, then left. They were rarely seen before it was thought they went extinct too, but obviously they are good at hiding! I find that amazing for what is essentially a red guinea pig sized fuzzy thing. Their ears are very small and almost look damaged because they have uneven edges. Because they are nocturnal they have quite large eyes. They are also known as the red-crested soft-furred spiny-rat, which is a rather long name for a fairly small animal.
I do so love when you hear about an animal suddenly deciding to stop letting everyone think they are extinct. When they just show up and hang out with a bunch of scientist type people very nonchalantly and then wander off it is even better. I always like to imagine different animals suddenly showing up to say hi to me when I am out wandering with a camera. I can't do that much anymore, my back doesn't let me carry my heavy digital camera. Some day we will be able to get a mirrorless one that is a lot lighter so I can do photography again. In the meantime, I can photograph things in the house, or with my old $30.00 Voigtlander Brilliant camera (from 1928). This picture is from some waterfalls about 4 hours from my home, taken with the Voigtlander. Some day I plan on building a camera from scratch...but not for a while I'd say.