Cat-Size Creature Resembles

First spotted swimming in Madagascar's Lac Alaotra in 2004, the cat-size creature resembles a "scruffy ferret" or mongoose, said John Fa, a director of conservation science at the U.K.'s Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, who was part of the discovery team.

"We biologists are a bit like children," Fa said. "We like new things. So a new species is something that really excites us."

Dubbed Durrell's vontsira in honor of the late conservationist Gerald Durrell, the new carnivore is an especially rare find: "The probability of finding a new herbivore"—or plant-eater—"is always greater, because there're more of them," Fa said. "Carnivores are much more specialized and usually found in low densities."