The Somali elephant shrew is back

Amidst all the gloom and doom of the pandemic and lockdowns and social distancing and the possibility of Donald Trump being reelected, there is one piece of excellent news this week: the Somali elephant shrew, thought to have been extinct for 50 years, has been rediscovered alive and well and looking really cute. Pretty well everything about the environment and climate change is negative but this dear little mouse with the long nose looks to be in good shape. We need these moments to give us hope that Mother Nature hasn't totally given up on us. The one rediscovered after half a century is living in Djibouti. I always think it's amazing and uplifting when a new tribe is discovered buried in a jungle, living like prehistoric natives unaware of mobile phones, closed circuit television, laptops, surveillance satellites, artifical intellligence, self-driving cars and Donald Trump. There they are surviving in their own special way, not needing to rely on all the gadgets that obsess our daily lives. I feel the same way about this elephant shrew. He has somehow managed to survive despite everything going so wrong on the planet. God bless you little elephant shrew. May your future be long and safe.