Red head mouse 're-exported' after more than 100 years

Scientists discovered a species of rat that has never been seen since 1898 in the El Dorado nature reserve, Colombia.

Santamartamys rufodorsalis rats appear again after 113 years . Photo: UPI.

Two volunteers, Lizzie Noble and Simon McKeown, of the Colombian wildlife conservation group, discovered the rodent while surveying amphibians. They had already taken pictures of the rat before it ran into the forest.

According to UPI, it is a tree mouse with red mane around the neck, scientific name is Santamartamys rufodorsalis .

" We are very happy to see such an interesting creature. Surely the El Dorado reserve will have many other interesting things to explore ," Noble said.

This red-headed, raccoon mouse belongs to an ' extremely endangered ' animal in the Red Book of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The main threat to this species is wild cats.