Marbled Lungfish

Fish > Lungfishes

The Marbled Lungfish (Protopterus aethiopicus) is an ancient sarcopterygian (lobe-finned) fish that represents a living evolutionary portal into the transition of aquatic vertebrates to terrestrial land life. Inhabiting the stagnant, oxygen-poor swamps and papyrus...

Caucasian Wingnut

Plants > Trees & Shrubs

The Caucasian Wingnut (Pterocarya fraxinifolia) is a colossal, ancient deciduous tree belonging to the walnut family (Juglandaceae), native to the ancient, relict Hyrcanian forests of the Caucasus and northern Iran. Famous for its monumental, multi-stemmed trunks,...

Modjadji Cycad

Plants > Cycads & Zamiaceae

The Modjadji Cycad (Encephalartos transvenosus) is one of the largest and most awe-inspiring palm-like gymnosperms on Earth. Native to the mist-shrouded mountain slopes of Limpopo, South Africa, this majestic living fossil forms a prehistoric forest preserved for...

Monito del Monte

Mammals > Marsupials

The Monito del Monte (Dromiciops gliroides), meaning ‘little monkey of the mountain’ in Spanish, is an astonishing biological ‘living fossil’ inhabiting the ancient Valdivian temperate rainforests of Chile and Argentina. Although native to...

Attenborough’s Long-beaked Echidna

Mammals > Monotremes

Attenborough’s Long-beaked Echidna (Zaglossus attenboroughi), named in honor of naturalist Sir David Attenborough, is among the rarest and most enigmatic mammals on Earth. Endemic exclusively to the rugged, cloud-shrouded Cyclops Mountains of Indonesian Papua,...