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Among the rediscovered animals are two species in Africa: a tiny mouse-size elephant shrew called the Somali sengi in Djibouti, and the Voeltzkow’s chameleon in Madagascar.

“For us living in Djibouti, and by extension the Horn of Africa, we never considered the sengis to be ‘lost,’ but this new research does bring the Somali sengi back into the scientific community, which we value,” study co-author Houssein Rayaleh said in the statement.

The researchers found S. sengi after setting more than 1,200 traps at 12 locations during their 2019 expedition, using a bait comprised of peanut butter, oatmeal and yeast.

As luck would have it, they caught S. sengi in the first trap they set.

“When we opened the first trap and saw the little tuft of hair on the tip of its tail, we just looked at one another and couldn’t believe it. A number of small mammal surveys since the 1970s did not find the Somali sengi in Djibouti—it was serendipitous that it happened so quickly for us.”