Indonesia’s ‘ Lost World’ a biological paradise

In 2005 a team of scientists discovered an area of Papua (Irian Jaya) that was a virtual Garden of Eden. New species of plants and animals were found and not even the Papuans themselves had any knowledge of the area.

According to Reuters:

Many more species are probably yet to be found in pristine jungle in Indonesia’s Papua province, where two mammals believed to be new to science were discovered in June, an Indonesian zoologist and a conservationist said.

Scientists found the two mammals — a pygmy possum and a giant rat — during an expedition involving Indonesian and American scientists in Papua’s Foja Mountains.

In late 2005 the same team discovered dozens of new plants and animals on their first trip to the region.

The Foja mountain range is part of the great Mamberamo Basin, the largest unroaded tropical forest in the Asia Pacific region, and has been described as a “Lost World” because of its deep isolation.

Here’s the rest of the article.

Let’s hope they don’t find hardwood in that jungle or it will be clearcut by next Christmas.