Our World

"‘Lost World’ of wildlife found in Indonesia"

In Jakarta, Indonesia, last December, on an expedition to one of Asia’s most isolated jungles, scientists from the U.S., Asia, and Australia, found several dozen new species of frogs, butterflies, flowers and birds. The remote area covers over two million acres, where they also found large mammals that have been hunted to near extinction, where there they occurred in abundance.
"There was not a single trail, no sign of civilization, no sign of even local communities ever having been there," said Beehler, who’s a Conservation International scientist and leader of the expedition. There did not appear to be any immediate conservation threat to the area, which has the status of a wildlife sanctuary. "No logging permits are given to this area, there is no transport system — not a single road," Beehler said. "But clearly with time everything is a threat. In the next few decades there will be strong demands, especially if you think of the timber needs of nearby countries like China and Japan. They will be very hungry for logs."
At first I didn’t think this article was that interesting, but as I read on, I realized its significance and importance. It’s a whole different world out there, and its amazing that we continue to find new discoveries everyday. I think it’s really cool that we can still discover tropical forests and new species of animals. But it’s sad that someday it will probably look like the rest of the world, treeless and industrialized.
Lost World of Wildlife

posted by Anonymous @ 2/07/2006 06:19:00 PM