Dozens of New Species Found in Indonesia

Ecclesiastes chapter I verse 9 states, “there is nothing new under the sun.” Perhaps, but biologists announced yesterday that they had found a valley in Indonesia’s Papua province full of previously unknown species. To paraphrase President Truman, the only new things in the world are plants and animals we haven’t looked for yet.

As a group, scientists aspire to a rather cold and calculating view of the world. They may be given to flights of fancy like the rest of humanity, but without solid evidence to back it up, their enthusiasms wane, and rightly so. Yet, the find has Bruce Beehler of Conservation International saying to the press, “It’s as close to the Garden of Eden as you're going to find on Earth."

He added, “It’s beautiful, untouched, unpopulated forest; there's no evidence of human impact or presence up in these mountains …. The men from the local villages came with us and they made it clear that no one they knew had been anywhere near this area -- not even their ancestors.” Humans have a habit, as predators, of wiping out species when they don’t provide any immediate value to human survival – or when they provide such value and humans get greedy.

According to the BBC, the expedition found: “a new species of honeyeater, the first new bird species discovered on the island of New Guinea since 1939; the formerly unknown breeding grounds of a ‘lost’ bird of paradise -- the six-wired bird of paradise (Parotia berlepschi); the first photographs of the golden-fronted bowerbird displaying at its bower; a new large mammal for Indonesia, the golden-mantled tree kangaroo (Dendrolagus pulcherrimus); more than 20 new species of frogs, including a tiny microhylid frog less than 14 millimeters long; a series of previously undescribed plant species, including five new species of palms; a remarkable white-flowered rhododendron with flower about 15 centimeters across; and four new butterfly species.”

Such discoveries are a good vaccine against becoming jaded and cynical. After all, how bad can the world be if there are 20 new species of frog mankind didn’t know about on New Year’s Day? And how much more is out there?

The Danish flag appears here as a protest against the violence being done to the free press of that country and elsewhere by those offended by some cartoons of the Prophet Muhammed, peace be unto him. A perceived insult is not an excuse for intimidation and violence, even in the name of the Creator. One cannot insult God, only small-minded men who falsely claim to speak for Him. © Copyright 2006 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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