9/07/2009

This many new species discovered in a tiny three-kilometer area

How many tiny three-kilometer areas might there still be?

A lost world populated by fanged frogs, grunting fish and tiny bear-like creatures has been discovered in a remote volcanic crater on the Pacific island of Papua New Guinea.

A team of scientists from Britain, America, Hawaii and Papua New Guinea found more than 40 previously unidentified species when they climbed into the kilometre-deep crater of Mount Bosavi and explored a pristine jungle habitat teeming with life that has evolved in isolation since the volcano last erupted 200,000 years ago. In a remarkably rich haul from just five weeks of exploration, the biologists discovered 16 frogs which have never before been recorded by science, at least three new fish, a new bat and a giant rat, which may turn out to be the biggest in the world.

The discoveries are being seen as fresh evidence of the richness of the world's rainforests and the explorers hope their finds will add weight to calls for international action to prevent the demise of similar ecosystems. . . . .

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1 Comments:

Blogger TooMuchTime said...

So. Science has found more than 40 new species but we are told that extinction is happening at an alarming rate.

Which one is it?

As I understand, there has been an increase in the number of mammal species from about 4000 to 5000. How can that be massive global extinction? It seems to me that we're actually finding more and very few are becoming extinct.

9/08/2009 12:42 PM  

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