By John R. Platt
The shrewlike Cuban solenodon (Solenodon cubanus) - a "living fossil" that has not changed much in millions of years - was all but wiped out in the 19th century by deforestation and introduced species. The 30-centimeter-long, nocturnal solenodons possess a unique, venomous saliva that they inject through their teeth into their prey. They lack the ability, however, to protect themselves from predators such as cats, dogs and black rats. The animals have a slow, ungainly gait, and when chased tend to stop and hide their heads, making them easy pickings even for animals not much bigger than them. By the 1970s many believed the species had gone extinct, but that changed when a few of the animals showed up in 1974 and 1975.
Solenodon sightings since then have been few and far between, but one of them was spotted in 2003 in the mountainous Alejandro de Humboldt National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site on the northeastern end of Cuba. A team of Cuban and Japanese researchers has been searching for the animals, known by locals as almiquÃ, ever since. They finally had success this March and April when they captured and studied seven of the rare creatures...