James is a researcher in the Department of Biology at the University of Oxford. In the summer of 2023, he led an international coalition of scientists to New Guinea for Expedition Cyclops. The purpose of the expedition was to survey the arthropod, reptile, amphibian, and mammal fauna of the Cyclops Mountains - as well as to conduct a thorough geological survey – so that we can better understand the evolutionary origins of New Guinea’s contemporary biodiversity. As part of the work, the team climbed over 11,000 metres of mountain to deploy 80 camera traps among sacred peaks, all while enduring leeches in eyes, earthquakes, malaria, and snakes marauding through camp. A tantalising possibility was also the rediscovery of Attenborough’s long-beaked echidna. Not seen for 62 years, the echidna is a member of the enigmatic egg-laying mammals called the monotremes, of which only four survive. Or perhaps five?