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Scientists Find New Species In Remote New Guinea
An anonymous reader writes "A team of scientists exploring an isolated jungle in one of Indonesia's most remote provinces said they discovered dozens of new species of frogs, butterflies and plants as well as large mammals hunted to near extinction elsewhere. The team also found wildlife that were remarkably unafraid of humans during their rapid assessment survey of the Foja Mountains, which has more than two million acres of old growth tropical forest."
First pics
They did, but the darn things kept running/flying away.
"1, 2, 3...1, 2...1, 2, 3..."
Microsoft has just released their much anticipated hands-free cordless mouse. Warning, it may hurt a little at first.
We found dozens, if not hundreds, of new species ..
Dozens? Hundreds? Do you mean to tell me that nobody actually counted?
I think the problem is that you can't always tell two organisms are of different species with a quick glance. Sometimes you actually need to do things like behavioral or genetic studies to be sure. Also, until they've had time to sort through the records, there's also the possibility that some of the species they've discovered have already been found elsewhere.
The Apollo lunar surface journal is the official record of everything which happened on the moon during the apollo program. It is very detailed. I have plucked it on to my palm pilot and I read it when I have free time.
Pete Conrad was the commander of the Apollo 12 mission and he is (alas was) a real character. Mike Collins (CM pilot on Apollo 11) said in his book that Conrad was the only astronaut who exactly fitted the public perception of "Buck Rogers" astronauts.
Neil Armstrong almost ran out of fuel for his landing. He got distracted by the engineering (not his job) and then lost right of the ground during final approach. He was the first, but some would say not the best.
Conrad got to the landing site early with loads of fuel. He flew a circuit over the landing area, checking out several possible places to set the LM down. This being his only opportunity to fly an LM he found time for a couple of very radical turns at low altitude, nearly turning the LM on its side, throwing it around like he was in an airshow. Then he picked his spot. Hovered for a nice dramatic pause, and plonked the spacecraft right down on the exact edge of surveyor crater.
The quote is from a point in one of the two EVA's on that flight where Conrad was in a lot of pain from a badly fitting pressure suit, but still kept his focus and managed the occasional joke.
Al Bean pauses and checks his suit pressure. He says he felt a change in suit pressure
Conrad: I thought you were going to go off like a ballon there Al!
The thing is, the man had style.
http://michaelsmith.id.au
Recommended Reading: Throwim Way Leg - Tim Flannery
Documents the journy's of a mammalian biologist during his 11 years in Puapua New Guinuie
*First Contact with new tribes
*Discovery of new spiders, snakes, tree kangaroos etc
That may be due to the fact that "species" is a term so vague as to be scientifically useless.
See the discussion in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Species
Set your phasers on "funky"!
Here it is. Free registration/bugmenot required :-).
-A
"- What's so unpleasant about being drunk?"
"- You ask a glass of water."[from h2g2]
Actually, like pork.
/. has now had a post from an auto-cannibal. And if this doesn't get modded informative, I'll eat my ......
You may recall that the South Sea islanders who enjoyed a little cannibalism refered to man as 'long pig'. They may still do so, for all I know.
And the pig has very similar body structures to ourselves - so much so that pig heart valves were once used for organ transplants (and may still be, for all I know).
But the cincher for me was an experience while welding in the kitchen (as you do...). When you hit rust you get a shower of sparks, and one minute globule of molten metal hit me on an unprotected tbumb. It was very small, but white hot, and burnt straight through my skin before stopping. I put my thumb in my mouth (reflex action) and was rewarded with a strong taste of pork crackling. Under a glass, the edges of the wound looked exactly like the skin on a pork roast.
So
Wow, never heard of this bird before, so I wikipedia'd it. Of particular interest:
The Southern Cassowary is the second-largest bird in Australia and the third-largest remaining bird in the world (after the ostrich and emu). Adult Southern Cassowaries are 1.5 to 1.8 m (5½ feet) tall and weigh about 60 kilograms (130 pounds). They have a bony casque on the head that is used to batter through underbrush, making them the only armoured bird in the world. Females are bigger and more brightly coloured.
A cassowary's three-toed feet have sharp claws; the dagger-like middle claw is 120 mm (5 inches) long. This claw is particularly dangerous since the Cassowary can use it to kill an enemy, disemboweling it with a single kick. They can run up to 50 km/h (32 mph) through the dense forrest, pushing aside small trees and brush with their boney casques. They can jump up to 1.5 m (5 feet) and they are good swimmers.
The 2004 edition of the Guiness Book of Records lists the cassowary as the world's most dangerous bird. Normally cassowaries are very shy but when disturbed can lash out dangerously with their powerful legs. During World War II American and Australian troops stationed in New Guinea were warned to steer clear of the birds. They are capable of inflicting serious injuries on an adult human, even causing death, but these instances usually result from provocation by the human, or are due to the involvement of dogs; wounded or cornered birds are particularly dangerous. Humans are well advised to stay away from Cassowaries in their natural environment as the bird can easily outmaneuver even an armed person. Cassowaries, deftly using their surroundings to conceal their movements, have been known to out-flank organized groups of human predators. Cassowaries are considered to be one of the most dangerous animals to keep in zoos, based on the frequency and severity of injuries incurred by zookeepers.
An unprovoked attack on a Papua New Guinea village has also been documented, but was the result of a bird previously raised in captivity being released into the wild. At least two people, a man and his mother, were confirmed to have died as a result of this attack.
More recently, Cassowaries have been known to lose their natural fear of man. As a result, large areas of Australian National Parks have been temporarily closed to avoid human contact with the bird.