The first pictures showing a live specimen of a rodent species once thought to have been extinct for 11 million years have been taken by a retired Florida State University professor and a Thai wildlife biologist.

In this photo provided by Florida State University, a Diatomyidae is seen in Laos in May 2006. The Diatomyidae, or Laotian rock rat, was the first live specimen of its species to be photographed in Doy, a small village in central Laos during an expedition by Florida State University professor David Redfield and Thai biologist Uthai Treesucon. The species once was thought to have been extinct for 11 million years. (AP Photos/Florida State University, Uthai Treesucon)

They took video and still photographs of the “living fossil,” which looks like a small squirrel or tree shrew, in May during an expedition to central Laos near the Thai border.

Known as Diatomyidae, scientists have nicknamed it the Laotian rock rat. The creature is not really a rat but a member of a rodent family once known only from fossils.

The pictures show a docile, squirrel-sized animal with dark dense fur and a long tail but not as bushy as a squirrel’s. It also shows that the creature waddles like a duck with its hind feet splayed out at an angle – ideal for climbing rocks.

David Redfield, a science education professor emeritus, and Uthai Treesucon, a bird-watching colleague, befriended hunters who captured a live rock rat after four failed attempts. They returned the animal, which the locals call kha-nyou, to its rocky home after photographing it.