Dozens of New Species Found in Island Crater

[joeunderdog]

Most people bring back the usual mementos from their overseas vacations: photographs, T-shirts, diarrhea. The BBC Natural History Unit, however, came home with something better. A crew of scientists, academics and filmmakers from the British broadcaster visited the South Pacific island of Papua New Guinea this past spring to film a nature documentary and in the process discovered more than 30 new species of animals. Among the unknown creatures — all living inside the crater of the extinct volcano Mount Bosavi — was a giant rat that measured 32.2 in. and weighed more than 3.3 lb., making it one of the largest rodents on Earth (scientists provisionally named the housecat-size animal the Bosavi woolly rat). The historic find also included 16 new species of frogs, at least three new types of fish and one bat. "It was mind-blowing," George McGavin, a biologist with the BBC team, told England's Guardian newspaper. "The crater of Mount Bosavi really is the lost world."

While the sheer number and size of the found animals were extraordinary — and made possible because the volcanic crater's ecology had been virtually undisturbed by humans — the scientific discovery of new species is actually quite routine. In fact, biologists are identifying new species at a torrid rate, about 50 a day; nearly 17,000 new plants and animals were described in 2006 alone, or some 1% of the 1.8 million species that have been recognized so far. (See 10 species near extinction.)
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Yet even as we discover new species, the existing ones are coming under increasing threat. We're losing species 10,000 times faster than the natural rate, a loss of life so great that we've entered the sixth great mass extinction in Earth's history. Why? Global warming plays a role. When the environment changes faster than animals and plants can adapt, extinction is inevitable. By one estimate, more than one-third of all land plants and animals could be extinguished by 2050 if climate change continues unabated. (See pictures of India's contraband wildlife.)

But the more imminent danger comes from the annihilation of forests — especially tropical rain forests, which house a richer variety of animals and plants than anywhere else on the planet. Papua New Guinea lost more than a quarter of its forests from 1972 to 2002, and the BBC team noted that trees were being logged just 20 miles from where the Bosavi woolly rat was found. As of 2005, some 6 million hectares (14.8 million acres) of primary, untouched forest were being leveled annually — and each time a rain forest is burned or logged, it takes with it species we'll never get the chance to count.


http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1921262,00.html

[elocs]

1. Interesting, read about it here earlier today:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=115x209439

[Bobbieo]

2. Evolution is alive and well!

[yawnmaster]

3. I saw a documentary about something like this once...

I think they were all killed by dinosaurs.

[Canuckistanian]

4. PNG is a fascinating place, both for sociologists and natural scientists

With it's wild and impassable terrain, it discouraged easy exploration attempts.

There were whole societies that weren't discovered until very recently. And some of them had lived centuries without seeing another tribe. There are over 300 different languages and 200 different dialects in West Papua alone.

It's not surprising that there are corners of PNG that have completely astounding finds, even today.

[jberryhill]

5. Many Are Reported To Be Quite Tasty! /nt