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Blind golden mole that “swims” in sand detected in South Africa for first time in 87 years

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A golden mole that “swims” in sand has resurfaced in South Africa after 87 years in the wilderness when many specialists feared it had become extinct, researchers announced.

Traces of two De Winton’s golden moles have been found under the sands of a beach after a “detective novel search,” said Esther Matthew, Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) senior field officer, on Tuesday.

“It was a very exciting project with many challenges,” Matthew said in a statement. “Luckily we had a fantastic team full of enthusiasm and innovative ideas.”

EWT and University of Pretoria researchers covered up to 11.2 miles of dune habitat a day as they spent months hunting for signs, said Matthew.

A blind mole with an iridescent coat sheen that ‘swims’ through sand and has been lost to science since 1936 is lost no…

Posted by Endangered Wildlife Trust on Tuesday, November 28, 2023

The blind moles are cute but excessively timid.

They pick inaccessible areas to burrow homes and have extremely sensitive hearing to detect ground vibrations made by anyone who could be looking for them. The last scientific trace dates back to 1936.

The team used a scent-detecting Border Collie dog, Jessie, to find traces of the moles’ tunnels.

There are 21 species of golden moles and the De Winton’s were detected using environmental DNA samples — skin, hair and bodily excretions — taken from soil at Port Nolloth beach on the northwest coast.

More than 100 samples were collected from the dunes.

Even now the researchers have not physically seen the blind mole that has an iridescent coat sheen that allows it to “swim” through sand.

To finally make a connection, they have made videos and taken photos.

Their research paper, “Environmental DNA from soil reveals the presence of a ‘lost’ Afrotherian species,” was published Nov. 24 in the scientific journal Biodiversity and Conservation.

“We solved the riddle”

The De Winton’s golden mole was one of the top 25 animals on a list of long-lost species drawn up by the Re:wild non-government group in 2017.

Eleven have now been discovered again.

“Though many people doubted that De Winton’s golden mole was still out there, I had good faith that the species had not yet gone extinct,” said Cobus Theron, senior conservation manager for EWT and a member of the search team. “I was convinced it would just take the right detection method, the proper timing, and a team passionate about finding it. Now not only have we solved the riddle, but we have tapped into this eDNA frontier where there is a huge amount of opportunity not only for moles, but for other lost or imperiled species.”

Christina Biggs, a lost species specialist for Re:wild, praised the persistence of the team that found the moles.

“They left no sandhill unturned and now it’s possible to protect the areas where these threatened and rare moles live,” said Biggs.

The rediscovered De Winton’s golden mole is the eleventh of the “world’s most wanted lost species” to be rediscovered, according to Re:wild.   

The use of environmental DNA was a “case study on how such forward-thinking technologies can be utilized to find other lost species.”

The team found traces of four other golden moles in the same region. Matthew said the De Winton’s are still threatened by mining and residential developments near the beaches that are their home.





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Domestic extremists with “election-related grievances” could turn to violence, intel bulletin warns

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Washington — A joint intelligence bulletin issued by the Department of Homeland Security and FBI warned of the potential for domestic violent extremists “with election-related grievances” to target political candidates and elected officials in the coming weeks.

The bulletin, which CBS News obtained, is dated Oct. 3 and says domestic extremists “pose a threat of violence to a range of targets directly and indirectly associated with elections through at least the presidential inauguration” on Jan. 20, 2025. 

Election workers, judicial personnel involved in election-related court cases, members of the media, political party representatives and perceived political opponents are also potential targets. Publicly accessible venues, including voting locations and campaign events, also make “attractive targets,” the bulletin says, noting the attempted assassination against former President Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13. 

It also refers to the second assassination attempt against the Republican presidential nominee at his private golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sept. 15, saying that “threat actors may seek to target individuals at their private residences or other non-public locations.”

Domestic extremists “could seek to use a range of violent or disruptive tactics against these targets, including but not limited to physical attacks, threats of violence, swatting and doxing, mailing or otherwise delivering suspicious items, arson, and other means of property destruction,” according to the bulletin. 

There have already been a number of election-related threats during the 2024 campaign, including letters containing white powder sent to election officials, fake bomb threats to state capitol buildings and “swatting” calls, in which a caller makes a false crime report intended to draw law enforcement to people’s homes.

“In many of these incidents, the perpetrators and their motives remain under investigation, but their actions likely are intended to instill fear and disrupt election operations,” the bulletin says.

The bulletin also notes there has been an increase in threats to election workers in recent months which tends “to correlate with jurisdictions where results are contested via recounts, audits, or public election disputes.” 

A senior DHS official told CBS News on Wednesday that there are concerns that election workers will be targeted on Election Day “to try to derail the process that those workers have a hand in overseeing.”

Domestic extremists aren’t the only threat to the democratic process. Federal law enforcement officials have long warned about foreign election interference from Russia, China and Iran.

Nation states have become “increasingly sophisticated” and more effective at using new technologies such as artificial intelligence to “broaden the scope and scale of those efforts,” the DHS official said. 

Matthew Olsen, who leads the Justice Department’s National Security Division, recently told CBS News that Russia, Iran and China “are looking at ways at which they can change the outcome of our election, or to find issues that divide us in ways that support their national interests at the expense of ours.” 



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Biden’s first White House briefing since taking office

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Biden’s first White House briefing since taking office – CBS News


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President Biden appeared at a White House press briefing for the first time since taking office. CBS News senior White House correspondent Weijia Jiang was there as Biden took questions about the port strikes and September’s jobs report, the possibility of former President Donald Trump denying the 2024 election results and Israel’s growing conflict in the Middle East.

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Jobs report blows away expectations

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Jobs report blows away expectations – CBS News


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The September jobs report blew away expectations from economists after a slowdown in hiring in earlier data prompted the Federal Reserve’s rate cut. CBS News business analyst Jill Schlesinger looks at the data.

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