Saving long beak echidnas

COVER STORY

EXTRAORDINARILY, little is known in Papua New Guinea (PNG) about the echidna, let alone how to differentiate between a long and short beak echidna.
Did you know? Echidnas are prized above cassowaries when it comes to bride price ceremonies in some parts of the country because of the quality of their meat and skin and they support soil formation and nutrient cycles of their habitats when they dig and claw at logs.
Native to Australia and New Guinea, these cat size nocturnal mammals still remain undiscovered, according to one of PNG’s experts on biodiversity offset and leading researcher on the long beak echidna, Muse Opiang.
Inspired by a foremost expert on mammalogy Dr Timothy Flannery and how he said the fate of the echidna is unknown, Muse has dedicated the better half of his life and career to studying the long beak echidna.
Life and dedication to research
Born in Lae, the Yakop-Hongo native of Kabwum district, Morobe, completed his formative education at Kalolo Primary School, Wasu Secondary School then moved to Eastern Highlands to attend Aiyura National High School.
Although he initially decided on a career in medicine, he recalls how during his years at the University of PNG (UPNG), Professor Simon Saulei told him to pursue a field less recognisable so as to stand out.
“Step into something that is unfamiliar and uncommon. Do something challenging and the world will know you,” says Muse reminiscent.
“I was actually interested in genetic engineering and biochemistry. So, I went to the medical faculty and then did my second year and streamed at UPNG to complete my degree programme in 1998,” he said.
After graduating, he joined Prof Saulei, who was in charge of the United Nations-funded climate change programme, working as his first officer from 1998 to 1999.
He highlights this as significant because it was the first time a spotlight had been shone on climate change in PNG.
Following this, he joined the Research and Conservation Foundation in 1999, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) that manages Crater Mountain Wildlife management area in Eastern Highlands.
“I was the field research coordinator, so my role at that time was to assist international field researchers, scientists who had come in to do their research on wildlife in Crater Mountain. I was coordinating and assisting them,” he said.
“And then it hit me; I realised and wondered why I was assisting international researchers when we can learn from them and do it ourselves?” he added.
He is a firm believer that the onus lies on us, as the custodians of our own land to protect our pristine forests. Conservation comes from within or at least should do so.
“I’d like to see more well-trained field researchers/field biologists; the real conservation comes from within, we cannot depend on outsiders to advise us what to do.”
In 2004 he travelled to the United States for the first time to present his research on long beak echidnas at the University of Miami. After which he travelled around the US for a bit, partly as a tourist, partly as a presenter.
“When I published my study/report, I did my presentation at Journal Association for Mammalogy in New Mexico and my research was the cover page for scientific journals” he said.
While visiting Missouri, he received some funding after also presenting at the University in St Louis (what would later become his alma mater) and talked to a professor who had actually taught in PNG years back.
“There was actually a professor working at the University of Missouri, who had taught at UPNG and he pleaded with me to apply to the university so when I returned home, I applied for the US South Pacific Programme (USSP),” he explained.
“They only select five students every year, out of the 15 Pacific island states and the countless students that apply. I was one of the lucky ones to get accepted,” he said.
He graduated with a Masters in Ecology, Evolution and Systematics at the University of Missouri in 2009 and when he returned to PNG, did some work for ExxonMobil. He was part of a team that established the biodiversity monitoring programme for the PNG LNG Project.
He shares how during his time in the US his study was featured in the New York Times and was even contacted by the team at National Geographic for an opportunity to capture an echidna egg. In 2011 he went to Tasmania with the hopes of doing his PhD but could not complete it due to an illness.
While there, he started working for the Tasmanian Forest Authority and would fly to PNG every now and then, to carry out consultancy work for the PNG Forest Authority (the sister organisation to the one in Tasmania).
In 2015, he contacted TotalEnergies PNG, offering them his expertise on biodiversity offset and started working with them from 2016 to present.
“I was going to do my PhD, to study the short beak echidnas in Tasmania on a farm, while also training/mentoring some young graduates while in Tasmania but I was not able to complete my PhD because of a number of issues,” he said.

Long beak echidnas
To the untrained eye, an echidna looks like the love child of a Kiwi and a Wombat, owing to its hybrid like features.
“It’s very, very hard to find an echidna. Dr Flannery himself, a world expert mammologist, has spent years of his life, looking for that animal and has never come across it. When I talked to locals, I found it,” he shared excitedly.
“We know all about short beak echidnas but nothing on the long beak. Even my studies and research does not fully capture who they are and there’s still more to do and I still want to do it,” he adds.
These nocturnal mammals are best found in the darkest depths of the forests and are the only mammals in the world to lay eggs and baby echidnas are affectionately called puggles by biologists.
He initially approached Dr Andrew Mack and Dr Deborah Wrights, directors of the American Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) Wildlife Conservation Society in the early 2000s and they were his biggest supporters and first sponsors.
With the funding he received from them, he was able to pay the locals to aid in the search for an echidna and on the second night managed to spot one. He took photos of the elusive mammal (which are still being used worldwide today).
“We caught the animal, attached radio transmitters for radio tracking to monitor their movement and estimate their home range. I spent almost four years and I found only 24 individuals: That’s how difficult it is to find them,” he said.
“According to my home range calculation and when we estimated, there are less than 500,000 echidnas in PNG. But that’s without dogs searching for them. If hunters had gone out, they could have easily found them, but that’s an ethical decision as well,” he adds.
He alluded to there being more echidnas in the world, after various biodiversity surveys had been conducted, thus reducing their status from ‘critically endangered’ to simply ‘endangered’. “I found a female but it was already lactating because it had already laid eggs somewhere else. They actually dig deep down, they burrow the ground down to hide their young puggles,” he said.
An adamant supporter of training more researchers, he actively encourages students to carry on the study of echidnas and is willing to support any way he can.

Need for researchers
Very vocal about forest conservation and the need for more trained biologists, while working and doing his research in the late 1990s and early 2000s, together with a colleague, they established an NGO called Institute of Biological Research (IBR), whose core function was to train young graduates to be researchers.
“I had this in mind: Papua New Guineans can conduct our own research, by working and collaborating with international researchers,” he stated.
It was running very successfully, we trained/produced a lot of researchers. A couple of our students went through to do their masters and PhD and are now in high demand within their respective industries.
It is his dream to train more students how to research the long beak echidna. One of the students he has trained thus far, is now working on his PhD in the Czech Republic in Europe looking at mammals in Morobe.
“PNG needs qualified science researchers. That is what I would like my legacy to be. PNG is lacking that; we don’t have enough field researchers and field biologists. PNG needs to develop or at least invest more on capacity building.
“At least I trained one Papua New Guinean to be a good researcher. We need to train more. Throughout my whole career, up until now, I still want to train more young students,” he stressed.
He notes that after the investment support from USAid, interest from relevant government agencies is slowly starting to pick up with respect to research and conservation.
“I would encourage young scientists and biologists in my field to carry out research on something that has not been studied before. If it’s challenging, go for it. If you love what you do, you will be recognised for it,” he added.
Muse has mentored the country’s first female veterinarian, who he still maintains strong ties with, as well as several biologists, field researchers and countless more in groups through his consultancy work.
“Seeing young Papua New Guineans rise up in the fields of science and biology, that’s what I want to see as my legacy, that’s my dream,” he said.

• Article and pictures from TotalEnergies PNG External Communications