SA's 'lost' golden mole spotted for the first time in 86 years - why it matters

The De Winton's golden mole was last detected in the coastal town Port Nolloth in the Northern Cape in 1937 - and was subsequently declared lost. 

More than 80 years later, a group of four conservationists, and a sniffer dog, rediscovered the mole in Port Nolloth once more. 

The sighting came after a then-postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pretoria, Samantha Mynhardt, was approached by Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) to assist in the search, given her research into alternative, noninvasive means of studying golden moles.