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."

Comments

So tell us.

[falzer]

How do they taste?

Consequences of Discovery

[Iron (III) Chloride]

Hopefully this might provide more public incentive in terms of supporting conservation efforts.

They found them !!!

[__aahlyu4518]

So anyone taking bets on how long it will take before these 'hunted to near extinction' mammals will really be extinct?

Re:They found them !!!

[User 956]

So anyone taking bets on how long it will take before these 'hunted to near extinction' mammals will really be extinct?

That depends. Can you make fancy shoes out of them?

Uh-oh

[Council]

the team also found wildlife that were remarkably unafraid of humans

That's what happens whenever you find animals that haven't encountered humans before. Thing is, the after the first few encounters they'll sort themselves into two groups.

One group is the ones who learn to be afraid of us. The other, well . . .

Re:Uh-oh

[B3ryllium]

We call that other group "tasty".

wood logging companies

[jurt1235]

Sarcasm on

They could only reach the remote mountainous area by helicopter, which they described it as akin to finding a "Garden of Eden".

Wood logging companies & local farmers have been found willing to provide easier access to the area, as a local farmer said:
I will burn down 5 hectares a month to create new places for my crops. That way tourist will be able to get closer to these pretty animals everyday without having to endanger them (the editor: By them he meant the tourist, because everybody knows that road travel in Indonesia is the safest way to travel) by helicopter.

A loggin company responded too:
2 million years without forest maintenance is not good for tourism. We are willing to trim the trees for easier access.

Sarcasm off

Learning the Birds n' Bees

[malia8888]

Dr Beehler, an expert on birds of paradise, which only live in northern Australia and New Guinea, said: "It was very exciting, when two of these birds, a male and a female, which no one has seen alive before ... came into the camp and the male displayed its plumage to the female in full view of the scientists."

Which is the closest thing to a sex life these scientists have ever had in their bespectacled, nerdy lives. ... Bespectacled? nerdy? I must be projecting heavily here.

Tourism

[MichaelSmith]

This whole island: Papua and W New Guinea is too dangerous for normal people to consider going there. But is has forests and wildlife which have been wiped out in most other parts of Asia.

If the politics can be sorted out the people living there will be sitting on an economic goldmine from tourism alone.

Re:Tourism

[krystofa]

PNG does have a reputation for being dangerous. However, it is possible to visit. As a child I used to live in Goroka, although crime was apparent I don't remember it being more of a menace than where I live now, Manchester UK.

Of course, the /. article isn't clear as to whether this is PNG (East side of the island) or Irian Jaya (The Indonesian province). My understanding of Irian Jaya is that it is dangerous, whereas I have every intention of visiting PNG again I would draw the line at Irian Jaya.

As with everywhere; if you want to visit, take precausions and read about it first.

Re:Tourism

[Weh]

Hmm, I was born in PNG, it is true that Port Moresby is one of the most dangerous cities in the world and there is a lot of unrest going on in the country (Bougainville etc.). However the Indonesian part (I also lived there for a few years) is relatively safe, basically the Indonesians (Javanese) took over the role of the Dutch as colonizers and (at the time) there was military everywhere.

The biggest threat to wildlife in west papua comes from the mining companies (like Freeport and logging.

Well, obviously...

[st1d]

...we'll have to send a number of scientists into the area to catalog all these new finds. Several teams of to catalog plants, birds, insects, mammels, etc. Then we'll need to create research areas for these scientists to work, because they'll need time to do all the research needed. Naturally, they'll need supplies, and flying in supplies to so many scientists will be extremely costly, so we should build a few roads to deliver goods to all the areas they'll be working in. It's a large area, so we should probably build a little infrastructure for refueling and medical needs, as well. That infrastructure will require power, so we should run a number of power lines to each of the various places. Of course, with this much research to be done, it would be a lot to ask for those scientists to have to leave their families behind for long periods of time, so we should build accomodations for their families. Those kids of theirs will need an education, so schools are a must. All work and no play is bad for morale, so we should build a few different types of entertainment for the residents, too. Naturally, with this many people in a newly discovered source of rare and unknown plants and animals, we need to make sure no one takes animals and plants out of the area, so we'll need to make sure we provide a healthy number of resource control officers, and they have needs and families as well. Geez, with this many people, we're bound to have crime and disorganization, so we'll need police and government officials to help maintain the order. Of course, we'll need judges and lawyers, to keep the police and politicians honest and make sure balance is maintained somewhat. We'll need construction workers to help build all this, and they'll need... :)

How do YOU taste

[Mrs. Grundy]

If you read the article you may have notice the passing reference to the giant cassowary. It's basically a four foot chicken with a bad temper and a crazy look in its eye who can use its razor-sharp talons to disembowel a man where he stands. That's right, this is one of the last remaining birds that can easily kill a person and while it's not a man-eater, I'm sure there are plenty of other animals in the jungle that would be happy to let the cassowary play the butcher and carve you up like a holiday ham for their culinary delight. So before you start wondering about what kind of wine to server with tree kangaroo, you might first stop to ask yourself, how do you taste.

Re:How do YOU taste

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, like pork.

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 /. has now had a post from an auto-cannibal. And if this doesn't get modded informative, I'll eat my ......

Re:How do YOU taste

[kalirion]

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.

How many?

[deep44]

We found dozens, if not hundreds, of new species ..

Dozens? Hundreds? Do you mean to tell me that nobody actually counted?

Re:pictures?

[phyl0x]

First pics

Noah

[quokkapox]

Noah had a big ark, and was really thorough.

Or there maybe could be something to this new "Theory" of "Evolution".

How many more of these discoveries do we need before the fanatics finally give it up?

Tree Kangaroos. Five hundred previously unknown plant species. Wow. Just wow.

Thylacines (Marsupial Wolf) ??

[Savage-Rabbit]

Hopefully this might provide more public incentive in terms of supporting conservation efforts.

This raises some interesting possibilities. According to some of the local tribes, Thylacines supposedly still exist in some of the high mountain valleys of New Guinea. It would be really nice if a viable population was found and this sounds like just the place where that might happen. If that was the case the I bet the Australians will be interested.

Recommended Reading

[bmgoau]

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

Common sense area unit

[Life700MB]

For the ignorants out there, an area of two million acres is equivalente to a 1,264M Volkwagens one.

No, really.


--
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New species are nothing new

[stunt_penguin]

It's not that hard to find a new species- walk into any isolated forested region on earth and before you know it you'll be batting away unclassified insects, hacking your way through undiscovered shrubs, and if you're really unlucky, being poisoned by some new snake venom or frog toxin. People should realise that we really don't know shit about what's in the rainforests of the Amazon, never mind Papua New Guinea.

This is, however an excellent discovery, and I don't mean to just dismiss the achievements of the scientists involved- I just want to point out that there are thousands of types of plants and animals out there that we haven't classified yet.

NYtimes article, with pictures

[animeshpathak]

Here it is. Free registration/bugmenot required :-).
-A