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Lost World of Fanged Frogs and Giant Rats

Posted by kdawson on from the raise-you-one-camouflaged-spider dept.

pilsner.urquell writes "40 previously unidentified species were discovered inside the crater of an extinct volcano on Papua New Guinea. The finds include a hairy caterpillar, an iridescent beetle, a striped possum, and what may be the world's largest rat — the size of a 'well-fed cat,' and showing no fear of man. The extinct volcano Mount Bosavi last erupted more than 200,000 years ago." There are also an audio interview with the expedition leader and a gallery with 15 photos of the new species.

4 of 93 comments (clear)

  1. Those guys have a pair... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Jungle Spider

    A quick google / wiki couldn't give me any deep information about a "jungle spider". Is that guy really holding an unknown species of spider with his bare hands? That's pretty ballsy.

  2. Pristine Ecosystems by zlel · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Do newly discovered ecosystems also represent new ecosystems of viruses, bacteria and diseases?

  3. Large rats by aclarke · · Score: 2, Interesting

    This is slightly OT, but in high school in Kenya, some guy came by who was buying frozen rodents for dissection in American college biology classes. He was paying something like $0.50 or $1 per rodent. We got him as many bats as he could handle (which was less than we'd hoped for) but my friend put out a bounty out to the local community on rodents. He said he'd pay them something like $0.15 per rodent they brought him.

    I guess he didn't specify DEAD rodents so someone assumed he meant alive. According to the who brought the rat, he had his 4 year old son go into a hole and pull out a giant rat that was so big that it had to be folded up to fit in a shopping bag. My friend got this rat in the bag, which I saw. It was still alive, barely. My friend stopped the bounty at that point as he didn't want to be responsible for some kid getting seriously injured for $0.15.

    --

    www.clarke.ca
  4. Forget the rats and frogs! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Everyone here seems to be missing the an important part of TFA. Here's the paragraph with what I'm refering too, emphasis added on the important part:

    They found the three-kilometre wide crater populated by spectacular birds of paradise and in the absence of big cats and monkeys, which are found in the remote jungles of the Amazon and Sumatra, the main predators are giant monitor lizards while kangaroos have evolved to live in trees. New species include a camouflaged gecko, a fanged frog and a fish called the Henamo grunter, named because it makes grunting noises from its swim bladder.

    I didn't know that Paupa New Guinea had kangaroos at all, much less any that lived in trees!