Mt. Bosavi, Papua New Guinea
The UK Guardian has a fascinating report out on the discovery of “fanged frog” and giant rats:
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.
Black and Yellow Noctuid Caterpillars
Bosavi Wooly Rat
A team of scientists from Britain, the United States 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 team of biologists included experts from Oxford University, the London Zoo and the Smithsonian Institution and are believed to be the first scientists to enter the mountainous Bosavi crater...”These discoveries are really significant,” said Steve Backshall, a climber and naturalist who became so friendly with the never-before seen Bosavi silky cuscus, a marsupial that lives up trees and feeds on fruits and leaves, that it sat on his shoulder.”
Buff-faced Pygmy Parrot
To read the rest of this interesting discovery click here.
Photographs borrowed from the Guardian, http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/sep/07/discovery-species-papua-new-guinea