Lots of scientifically exciting things are happening in Peru nowadays - there was that discovery of a dog cemetery, the discovery of an ancient Peruvian solar observatory, and of course their is that brain museum you could visit once the Peruvian tour gets a tad too boring. Now, an extremely rare species of a tiny owl has been seen in the wild for the first time. This was confirmed by the American Bird Conservancy.

The owlet which has long whiskers and dubbed as Xenoglaux, is said to be one of the world's smallest owls (no bigger than your fist) and was first discovered in 1976. It was re-spotted in the wild last February by researchers, in fact, they encountered the owlet three times during the day and they recorded its calls frequently at night.

According to David Geale of the Association of Andean Ecosystems, "seeing the long-whiskered owlet is a huge thrill...Its population is estimated to be less than 1,000 birds and possibly as few as 250". He further explained that Xenoglaux is threatened by the rapid destruction of its forest habitat.