Ain't nature blooming luvverly..?

A break from fatwas, feringhis and wilful fireraising.

An international team of scientists says it has found a "lost world" in the Indonesian jungle that is home to dozens of new animal and plant species.

A summary of the team's main discoveries:

• 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)
• 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 14mm long
• A series of previously undescribed plant species, including five new species of palms
• A remarkable white-flowered rhododendron with flower about 15cm across
• Four new butterfly species

Comments

[dearieme]

"A break from fatwas, feringhis and wilful fireraising." You starry-eyed optimist you: there are those who think that the Indonesians are indulging in a bit of East-Timor-style misbehaviour there.