Anyone can find another species of beetle, but it’s rare to find a new species of mammal, which are a lot harder for nature to hide. But scientists are announcing this evening that they have discovered a species of elephant shrew that until now somehow managed to escape anyone’s notice.

Elephant shrews, which evolved in Africa some 100 million years ago and have never left the continent, are so named because of their long, flexible snouts. (Ironically, genetic analysis has recently found that they are actually more closely related to elephants than to shrews; other kinfolk include sea cows and aardvarks.) Scientists knew of 15 species, but now Galen Rathbun of the California Academy of Sciences and collaborators have found a 16^th, as they report in The Journal of Zoology. It's the first new one discovered in 126 years.

Named the gray-faced sengi (Rhynochocyon udzungwensis), the new species weighs about 700 grams (1.5 pounds), more than 25 percent more than any other elephant shrew. It lives only in two high-elevation forests in the mountains of south-central Tanzania. It has a distinctive gray face and a jet-black lower rump—and shows yet again that nature still harbors secrets from nosy scientists.

The following letter was received after the Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF) disputed a New York Times report on high mercury levels in tuna sushi and a post on this blog about the Times story.

There is no longer a need to debate whether the writings of journalists such as Sharon Begley (NEWSWEEK) and Marian Burros (The New York Times) are credible or biased, because there is a global consensus among scientists addressing the toxicity of mercury, its sources and the implications of both on public health. This consensus has been documented and is available to the public. As it turns out, their writings are consistent with that consensus.

Last year, many of us joined over 1,000 of the world’s foremost mercury experts for the International Conference on Mercury as a Global Pollutant. Together we developed a consensus declaration that addresses some of the specific points that have been raised here and elsewhere in the discussion around the New York Times article and the Oceana/Mercury Policy Project study. Many of us also have published peer reviewed scientific papers on the subject.

While the consensus declaration was not cause for tremendous alarm, it clearly highlighted the need to recognize that mercury levels in fish are cause for concern and that sensitive populations should choose low mercury fish in order to get the benefits of seafood while avoiding the risks of mercury. The consensus included the following points summarized below: 

1. About two thirds of the mercury in our environment is derived from human activities.
2. Mercury is highly toxic, biomagnifies in the aquatic food web and places humans at risk if they consume high levels of fish that are high on the food chain.
3. In many populations there is evidence that current levels of exposure are sufficient to affect several physiological systems and as a result current mercury exposure levels constitute an important public health problem.
4. Methylmercury affects nervous system development and there is sufficient evidence to warrant the prudent selection of fish in the diet, specifically for pregnant women and children.
5. Long-lasting effects of fetal methylmercury exposure have been documented in children throughout the world.

Rather than following the selective science approach, and chasing down one or two studies that support a particular viewpoint, we recommend anyone who is truly interested should benefit from the full weight of the evidence by reading the scientific consensus in the Conference Declaration which is available here:

http://www.mercury2006.org/portals/31/Mercury2006_conferencedeclaration.pdf

Sincerely,

Henry A. Anderson, MD
Chief Medical Officer
Wisconsin Division of Public Health
PO Box 2659
Madison, WI 53701

H.Vasken Aposhian,  PhD
Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology
Professor of Pharmacology
LSSB Rm 444
The University of Arizona
PO BOX 210106
Tucson, AZ 85721-0106

David R. Brown Sc.D.
Public Health Toxicologist
Faculty member
Applied Ethics
Fairfield University
Fairfield, CT

Richard W. Clapp, D.Sc., MPH
Professor
Boston University School of Public Health
Boston, MA 

Prof. Dr. Ralf Ebinghaus
Department for Environmental Chemistry
Institute for Coastal Research
GKSS Research Centre Geesthacht
Germany

Philippe Grandjean, MD, PhD
Adjunct Professor of Environmental Health
Department of Environmental Health
Harvard School of Public Health
Boston, MA

Wendy J. Heiger-Bernays, PhD
Associate Professor
Department of Environmental Health
B.U. School of Public Health
715 Albany St. T4W
Boston, MA 02118

Jane Hightower, MD
California Pacific Medical Center
2100 Webster Street Suite 418
San Francisco, CA 94115

Tord Kjellstrom, Med Dr, PhD, MEng
Visiting Fellow
Australian National University
Canberra, Australia

Lynda Knobeloch, Ph.D.
Research and Toxicology Unit Leader
Wisconsin Division of Public Health
1 West Wilson St,  Room 150
Madison, WI 53703

Kathryn R. Mahaffey, Ph.D.
Research Professor
Boston University School of Public Health
Boston, MA  USA

Peter Maxson
Director
Concorde East/West Sprl
10 ave. René Gobert
B-1180 Brussels, Belgium

Donna Mergler PhD
professeure émérite
CINBIOSE,
Centre Collaborateur OMS-OPS pour la prévention des maladies reliées au travail et à l'environnement
Université du Québec à Montréal
CP 8888 succ Centreville
Montréal, Québec, Canada H3C 3P8

Dave McBride
Toxicologist
Office of Environmental Health Assessments
Division of Environmental Health
Washington State Department of Health
PO Box 47846
Olympia, WA  98504-7846

John Munthe, PhD
Department Head
IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute
Gothenburg
Sweden

Lewis Pepper, MD, MPH
Boston University School of Public Health
715 Albany Street, T 4 West
Boston, MA 02118

Darren Rumbold, Ph. D
Associate Professor of Marine Science
Depart. of Marine and Ecological Sciences
Florida Gulf Coast University
10501 FGCU Blvd. South
Fort Myers, FL 33965

Ellen K. Silbergeld, PhD
Professor, Environmental Health Sciences
Johns Hopkins University
Bloomberg School of Public Health
615 N Wolfe Street, Rm E6644
Baltimore MD 21205

Alan H. Stern, Dr.P.H., D.A.B.T.
Adjunct Associate Professor
Dept. of Environmental and Occupational Health
University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-School of Public Health

Raphael Stricker, MD
California Pacific Medical Center
450 Sutter Street
Suite 1504
San Francisco, CA 94108

Leonardo Trasande, MD, MPP
Assistant Professor
Departments of Community and Preventive Medicine and Pediatrics
Mount Sinai School of Medicine
NY, NY

Pál Weihe MD
Chief Physician
Department of Occupational Medicine and Public Health
The Faroese Hospital System
The Faroe Islands

Roberta F. White, PhD, ABPP/cn
Professor and Chair, Department of Environmental Health
Boston University School of Public Health
715 Albany St.—Talbot 4W
Boston, MA 02118