The Victorian grassland earless dragon, not seen in the wild since 1969, has been rediscovered, Australian officials said.
“This is an amazing discovery and offers an opportunity for us to recover a species once thought lost to our state and the world,” Victoria’s environment minister, Ingrid Stitt, said in a statement.
The earless dragon, which measures roughly six inches long, is so named because it lacks an ear opening and a functional ear drum. It was once common in the grasslands near Melbourne, but its numbers dwindled as the city and farms expanded and foxes and feral cats hunted the creature.
Read more at Yale Environment 360
Image: A Victorian grassland earless dragon. Credits: MELBOURNE ZOO