Bashful but brainy.

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Scientists have long considered the long-beaked echidna (Zaglossus bartoni) nearly impossible to study. One of the world's oldest, rarest, and shyest animals, it's found only the rain forests of New Guinea and surrounding islands. But Muse Opiang, whose initial. research was at the Bronx Zoo in New York, managed to capture and attach transmitters to 22 echidnas. The spiny creatures are a living link between birds and mammals: Although they lay eggs, they nurse their young with milk. Another oddity is that the females are larger than the mates. These animals also have a mighty brain, says Peggy Rismiller, a scientist based in Australia. "Among humans," says Rismiller, "the neocortex that allows us to reason accounts for 30 percent of the brain; in echidnas, it's 50 percent."