“I had no idea what kind of animal I was seeing, but I was sure it wasn't common.” He said Einer Quispe, the lucky coffee farmer who was the first to capture an Amazonian weasel on video (Newgal Africana). Researchers don't see this animal often: this was the 24th documented sighting in total, and only three specimens were found between 1990 and 2020.
The weasel is so rare that hunters in the Amazon rarely encounter it, and as a result, it is impossible to know where it lives. The current record is also special because it was taken 900 kilometers south of the previous record holder, which also means that the Amazon weasel is found in a much larger area. Presentas previously thought.
Not officially endangered
According to Nuria Bernal, a professor of biology at Texas Tech University, it is a special pleasure to hear the animal's voice in the video, and she is confident that with the advent of smartphones, more recordings will be made of it – and in the meantime, researchers will be able to learn more about the weasel, whose name is also based on a mistake: a specimen from the museum was mistakenly thought to have been hunted in Africa, and accordingly, it was awarded the record. Newgal Africana name.
Amazon weasel officially Is not considered It is considered endangered, but as the authors of the study on cognition pointed out, that doesn't mean it's not at risk, so in 2022 researchers began reviewing the situation.
