What a beauty! This is a "Tube-nosed" bat from Papua New Guinea.
He and his kind been on Earth probably for about a million years
and yet we just "discovered" him.
2010 has been a banner year for wildlife and marine biologists as technology has finally allowed many remote areas of Earth to be genetically mapped out. Not since the 1800's has there been more cataloging and naming of newly discovered species.
The rainforests of Borneo and Papua New Guinea have revealed more unknown wildlife than was thought possible in the modern age where most people are under the false impression that science has already catalogued and charactertized all there is to know in the world. FAR FROM IT!
And under the sea...marine biologists have discovered more than 20,000 new species of marine life. 20,000! There are some pretty whacked out looking things out there...the truth isn't just stranger than fiction, it's not even in the room.
"The Census of Marine Life" found living creatures everywhere, even where heat would melt lead, seawater froze to ice, and light and oxygen were lacking. It expanded known habitats and ranges in which life is known to exist. It found that in marine habitats, extreme is normal"
You don't want to know what this is...just that it's "new"
This little guy is a pink-eyed caecidia.We think he looks pink-footed as well!
Our planet has such abundant bio-diversity, it's a shame we didn't realize before it was too late.
Papua New Guinea article
Oceanic Census article
No comments:
Post a Comment