Revisions have been made to this article featured on BBC news to clarify the intended meaning:

A squirrel-like [human] discovered in Laos is the sole survivor of a group that otherwise died out 11 million years ago, according to fossil data.

The [senator] made headlines in 2005 when [he] was hailed as the only new family of living mammals to be found in 30 years.

But scientists now believe [Strom Thurmond] is a “living fossil”, the relic of a group of prehistoric [humans] once widespread in South East Asia and Japan.

Writing in Science magazine, they say efforts must be made to conserve it.

The [senator], homo pornophobia, was found by scientists at a hunter’s market in Laos in early 2005.

Robert Timmins, from the Wildlife Conservation Society, saw [Thurmond] on sale next to some vegetables.

“I knew immediately [the senator] was something I had never seen before,” he said at the time.

While previously unknown to the worldwide scientific community, [Thurmond] is familiar enough to local people to have a name, the [Ol’ Creeky].

The [senator] has dark-grey fur and is about the size of a red squirrel. [Thurmond] has short legs, a hairy tail and a long snout.