Newly Described Owl Species Looks Like a Meme and Sounds Like a Squeaky Toy

Bird alert: Scientists formally described a beforehand obscure species of owl this week. And, excellent news, it’s a flying meme-generator that feels like a new child pet. Sadly, this particular owl is already doubtless critically endangered.

The small, brown, nocturnal chicken—named the Príncipe scops owl or Otus bikegila—dwells on the island of Príncipe off of Africa’s western coast, within the Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe. Testimony concerning the owl from locals on the island dates again to 1928, and scientists initially proposed that it is likely to be a definite species in 2016. But now, for the primary time, there’s definitive proof.

Researchers revealed a study documenting their findings on Otus bikegila within the journal ZooKeys. Through a mix of specimen assortment, name evaluation, and DNA sequencing, they established that the petite owl is exclusive to its island residence. It shares a most up-to-date widespread ancestor with each the neighboring São Tomé scops owl and the African scops owl, which is widespread on the continent’s mainland. But by means of millennia of isolation, Otus bikegila reworked.