A "living Fossil" Was Discovered In Belarus
- 6.11.2026, 12:09
This animal hasn't changed in 8 million years.
The Russian desman was considered extinct in Belarus since the 1990s, but in early October, scientists discovered traces of the animal in the floodplain of the Sozh River. Together with Irina Krishchuk, a leading researcher at the National Research Center for Bioresources of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, journalists smartpress.by investigated why the European desman hasn’t evolved and looks the same as it did 8 million years ago, and why its return to our country is so important.
They searched the floodplains of three rivers but found it in only one
The news of the desman’s return to our fauna was, in a sense, sensational. After all, the animal hadn’t been seen here for several decades.
“Together with our colleagues from Russia—Alexander and Maria Onufrienya, experts from the Oka State Natural Biosphere Reserve—we surveyed the water bodies of the Iputi, Sozh, and Ptichy rivers,” says Irina Krishchuk. “In the floodplain of the Sozh River, after surveying 42 bodies of water, we discovered signs of the animals’ activity in the form of feeding pits and trenches, which they constantly dig leading to their burrows. We also found several dozen inhabited burrows.”
However, the scientists were unable to spot the animal itself. This is not surprising, though: desmans are very cautious and secretive.
“A Living Fossil”: Why Doesn’t the Desman Evolve?
The Russian desman is the oldest mammal in Europe. The species has remained unchanged for about 8 million years, and the desman’s history stretches back even further. These animals first appeared on the planet about 30 million years ago.
“The desman has chosen a very narrow ecological niche for itself, living between floodplain water bodies and underground burrows,” the zoologist points out. “And the physical form it developed in ancient times turned out to be optimal. It lived—and continues to live—in bodies of water with a stable hydrological regime, where food is plentiful and there are no larger insectivorous competitors.” It had no reason to change. Moreover, all the species’ physical characteristics are functionally justified. Its underground and underwater lifestyle necessitates hind feet that act as flippers, with hairs and webbing—a kind of “oars” that allow it to paddle efficiently through the water.
Its front paws, like those of moles, are “tailored” for digging: the desman builds underwater tunnels in the riverbanks “with its own hands,” where it spends most of its life.
The snout plays a special role: it serves primarily as a navigational tool. Because desmans spend all their time in the dark, their eyesight is poorly developed, and their snout compensates for this. They use their proboscis to grasp food and “scan” the riverbed as they move. This creates a “3D image” of their surroundings in the animal’s mind. Eismer’s organs—sensitive receptors on the proboscis—help desmans find food: aquatic mollusks or, if those are scarce, plant matter.
Nets, dams, drought: what is killing the desman?
The desman population is declining worldwide. In 2020, it was estimated at just 6,000 individuals.
“Of all human inventions, fishing nets are the number one killer of Russian desmans: they are the very cause of the extinction of most of the species’ population in Russia,” the scientist states. “This animal is a mammal; it breathes through its lungs and needs oxygen. When it gets caught in a net, the animal becomes entangled and dies of asphyxiation within a few minutes.”
The draining of wetlands and the construction of dams also take a toll on the blubber-tailed toad. Changes are occurring in their habitat: either the flooding of their usual water bodies or, conversely, their drainage. But it is not only direct human actions that pose a threat to the species.
“Current climate change is causing water bodies to dry up; they become overgrown with dense mats of water plants—such as water hyacinths—which block the animals’ exits from their burrows,” adds Irina Krishchuk. – In addition, rising air temperatures cause the water to warm, which can lead to the death of the invertebrates that live there, including the desman’s primary food source—mollusks.
The expert points out that when the water level drops, the entrances to the burrows end up above the surface, making the animals more vulnerable. The desman is not very agile, moves clumsily on land, and has poor eyesight; to find comfortable conditions, it has to move to another body of water. Along the way, it becomes easy prey for predators.
“It has musk glands and emits a rather unpleasant odor when it’s frightened or needs to mark its territory, and this repels predatory mammals,” says the expert. – But this is more to deter them from eating the desman than from killing it.
And how did this relict animal manage to survive the Ice Age with such a high degree of vulnerability?
“The glacier retreated gradually, and during that process, refugia—areas with conditions suitable for surviving the harsh environment around them—were preserved,” explains the zoologist. – For the desman, such refuges included, for example, deep lakes that did not freeze over and provided sufficient food.
Uniting to Survive Hard Times
Like other mammals, these small animals are interesting for their social behavior. For example, they use their musk glands as a kind of “perfume” to attract the opposite sex. For the same purposes, desmans showcase their vocal abilities: they are capable of producing various sounds, ranging from a “purr” to a “hysterical” squeak. Some of the animals’ behavioral patterns resemble those of humans.
“Desman are monogamous: pairs form during the breeding season,” explains Irina Krishchuk. – The male stays with the female for a long time, and when she leaves the young to feed, the father looks after the cubs and keeps them warm with his body.
The expert notes that communal behavior is characteristic of desmans. Although they are usually quite aggressive toward one another, during floods or other emergencies, completely unrelated individuals band together, weather the adverse conditions in a single burrow, keep each other warm, and do not fight.
Maybe we should import desmans from Russia?
Although the Russian desman is a species that is rare everywhere, in neighboring Russia, thanks to special programs, the population has been successfully increased. So why shouldn’t we bring some of these animals from there to reintroduce them in Belarus?
“Theoretically, it’s possible,” says Irina. “But why, if we’ve already found a population right here that we simply need to preserve?” After all, desmans have a very hard time with transport; quite often they simply die before reaching their destination.
The zoologist points out that you won’t find desmans in zoos. And there’s a reason for that. The animal simply cannot tolerate artificial conditions.
“Although these animals can live in captivity if their natural habitat is recreated there—in Russia, there’s a breeding facility where a male lived for up to 8 years,” adds the expert. – But the animals at the breeding facility never actually began to reproduce. Prior to this, specialists had noticed that during a flood there was a surge in desman reproduction in the wild, and they decided to replicate that situation. They flooded the burrows at the breeding facility, but the attempt proved unsuccessful.
“Unphotogenic” and unknown: why did the desman disappear without a trace?
There are species that people actively fight to save. In Belarus, at one time, the entire country, as they say, rallied to save the bison. People all over the world worry about pandas, which were previously threatened with extinction. But few ordinary people ever gave much thought to the desman, and hardly anyone knew that it lived in our country and then disappeared.
“The desman has no media image,” the scientist notes. “Bison, or even pandas and koalas—they’re large animals that can be seen and photographed from various angles. These species are ‘photogenic,’ and it’s easy to promote them.” But the desman looks strange, leads a secretive lifestyle, and rarely comes into view. And the very word “desman” has taken on various additional—and not particularly pleasant—connotations. You could say the little creature lacked “publicity.”
Why do we even need the desman?
The fact that this once-extinct species has been rediscovered in Belarus has already been called a sensation on a national scale. But what exactly is the value of this discovery, and is the creature of any use?
According to a zoologist, the desman is a bioindicator and a natural engineer for aquatic ecosystems. It digs trenches and burrows, stirs up silt, aerates the water—helping to create suitable conditions for the growth of aquatic plants—and regulates the population of aquatic invertebrates.
“It’s a fairly rare species worldwide,” the expert emphasizes. “And for our country, its loss would be a blow to biodiversity. That is why it is important to conserve the desman, especially since our water bodies are perfectly suited for it.”