Enter a 'lost land of the weird'

By Matt Walker
Editor, Earth News

Weird tree kangaroo caught on film

A host of weird and wonderful animals has been discovered by a BBC expedition which ventured deep into some of the world's most remote rainforest.

The team explored the crater of a pristine giant extinct volcano located in the highlands of Papua New Guinea.

Accompanied by the first biologists ever to set foot in the crater, the team filmed strange spiders, giant caterpillars and tree-living kangaroos.

Series producer Steve Greenwood describes what they found.

"The BBC's Natural History Unit in Bristol has been making filmed expeditions to remote parts of the rainforest since 2006, firstly to Borneo for the programme Expedition Borneo, and then Guyana for Lost Land of the Jaguar," he says.

The team may have discovered up to 40 new species Giant rat found in 'lost volcano'

"When it came to organising the third expedition, the team were desperate to take on the challenge of New Guinea, the largest and most mountainous tropical island in the world."

To film the latest programme, Lost Land of the Volcano, the team visited the crater of Mount Bosavi, a pristine extinct volcano located in the southern highlands of Papua New Guinea.

The area is so remote and inaccessible that no people live in the crater. Even villagers in the few scattered settlements surrounding the volcano rarely ventured in, due to the difficulty of climbing the slopes leading to a 2,800m summit.

"'If you fall when climbing in,' one village elder said, 'no one will ever find your body,'" recounts Greenwood.

The area has an astonishing collection of invertebrates In Pictures: Weird crater creatures

The expedition team comprised a filming team of two cameramen, two sound recordists, two directors and support staff, along with a medic specialised in remote areas and an expert in ropes and climbing trees.

They joined with a number of expert scientists, specialising in mammals, birds, frogs, fish and bats among others, led by Professor George McGavin of Oxford University and the University of Derby in the UK.

Together they found a wealth of new creatures, during the three-week expedition.

The team can't be sure until scientists have had a chance to formally evaluate and describe the animals found, but they suspect they may have discovered up to 40 new species, including approximately 16 species of frog, one species of gecko, at least three new species of fish, 20 species of insect and spider and one new species of bat.

"Highlights include a camouflaged gecko, a fanged frog and a fish called the Henamo Grunter, so named because it makes grunting noises from its swim bladder," says Greenwood.

The creatures were documented during a three-week expedition

They also found a Doria's tree kangaroo, which wandered close to camp.

Tree kangaroos are notoriously wary of people, but this particular one seemed unfazed by the team's presence.

That confirmed what the expedition team suspected, that the huge crater walls had effectively cut off the animals living within the volcano crater, allowing them to be naive to people.

As well as large creatures, the team also encountered a variety of odd-looking insects including bizarre spiders.

On one trip outside the crater, they found a giant caterpillar surrounded by hundreds of smaller maggots.

The caterpillar appears to have tried to escape the maggots, which were attempting to eat it.

Broadcast of The Lost Land of the Volcano series will begin on BBC One on Tuesday 8 September at 2100 BST.

Leopard gecko and fanged frog among new species discovered in Mekong

WWF announces wealth of new species discovered in Mekong river region but warns creatures' survival at risk from climate change
 

In pictures: The Mekong's fanged frogs and gaudy geckos

 

A Cat Ba leopard gecko - one of some 163 species discovered in the Greater Mekong river region. Photograph: Thomas Ziegler/WWF/EPA

 

The world is reassuringly stranger than we thought: another fanged frog has hopped into view, along with a leopard striped gecko, a tube nosed bat and a bird called the Nonggang babbler, all recently discovered in the Mekong delta in south-east Asia.

The announcement comes weeks after the revelation by a BBC team of their fanged frog, a different newly identified species, along with rats as big as cats, grunting fish and a teddy bear-like tree-climbing silky cuscus, all found on an expedition to a volcanic crater in Papua New Guinea.

The new bird-eating fanged frog, which lies in wait along the riverbank for prey including birds and large insects, is among a wealth of new species announced today by WWF International.

In 2008, scientists discovered 100 plants, 28 fish, 14 amphibians, two mammals and the new bird species in the region – on top of over 1,000 new species identified there in the previous decade.

Scientists believe the frog, found in eastern Thailand, and named Limnonectes megastomias, uses fangs as intimidating as any snake's in combat with other males, as well as to catch prey.

The leopard gecko, Goniurosaurus catbaensis, turned up on Cat Ba island in northern Vietnam. It has large beautiful cat-like eyes, and leopard stripes along the length of its body.

The scientist who found it, Lee Grismer from La Sierra University in California, said he was so engrossed in trying to capture it, it took his son to point out that his hand was resting on a rock inches away from the head of a pit viper.

"We caught the snake and the gecko, and they both proved to be new species," he said.

The bat was found in south-eastern Vietnam, and the Nonggang babbler bird in the rainforest on the border between China and Vietnam.

"After millennia in hiding, these species are now finally in the spotlight, and there are clearly more waiting to be discovered," said Stuart Chapman, director of the WWF Greater Mekong Programme.

He warned, however, that climate change, including floods and drought, threatened the survival of many of these species, just as the world learned of their existence.

"Some species will be able to adapt to climate change, many will not, potentially resulting in massive extinctions. Rare, endangered and endemic species like those newly discovered are especially vulnerable because climate change will further shrink their already restricted habitats."

Lost Land of the Volcano, Episode 3 (Part 1)

Part 1 of the last episode of the BBC series "Lost Land of the Volcano". An international team of scientists, cavers and wildlife filmmakers venture deep into the heart of the remote tropical island of New Guinea to explore a giant extinct volcano - Mount Bosavi. Narrated by Philip Glenister.

Coming Soon! Rest of the parts of the last Episode, Episode 3

Lost Land of the Volcano, Episode 2 - Part 1

Watch the rest of the parts of Episode 2 on Youtube Now! 

Lost Land of the Volcano, Episode 1 - Part 1

Watch the rest of the parts of Episode 1 on Youtube Now!

BOX-EYED: Lost Land Of The Volcano, Harper's Island & Derren Brown's The Events

September 13, 2009 3:59 PM 

 

By Dan Owen

A new breed of wildlife documentary has been discovered by the BBC; one that combines the usual lush HD photography with a sense of human exploration and pure adventure. Following the success of Lost Land Of The Jaguar last year, the same team of scientists, naturalists and filmmakers have descended on the jungles of New Guinea -- another "unexplored" region that, in an amusing inconsistency, is later revealed to have been explored a few years back by a group that even left behind some old gear. Way to blow the illusion, guys...

The beauty of LOST LAND OF THE VOLCANO is how it cultivates a sense of discovery and adventure from the comfort of your armchair. You half expect the team to stumble upon a tribe sacrificing a blonde showgirl to a giant gorilla, or for a T-Rex to explode out of the foliage and chomp the head off one of the bearded eggheads. It actually makes me sad documentary filmmaking like this wasn't around when explorers really were venturing into uncharted territory. I guess this is as close as we'll get to a fly-on-the-wall expedition led by Dr. Livingtone in the 21st-century. It's easy to be drawn into the vibe Lost Land wants us to feel, even though I suspect the series is exaggerated for effect.

Perhaps the show's biggest success is the fact they really do discover new animals, and not all of them are dull sub-species of bat, frog or millipede. No, they actually found a cat-sized wooly rat! Okay, so even that's not going to stop the presses, but it still carries a certain sense of wonder. In the last series they found a new type of mountain-dwelling shrew, so the discoveries are at least getting bigger... making you wonder if that giant gorilla may appear a few series down the line.

If the Lost Land series has one failing it's that the production team seem more interested in the scientists than the creatures. You might get brief footage of a pygmy parrot, but it'll be outweighed by footage of a cameraman sat inside a camouflaged "hide" complaining about mosquitoes while waiting for said birds to appear. At times, you can understand why the emphasis is placed on the humans, because they do interesting things like climb cliffs, get stuck in whirlpools, and go down dark caves, but sometimes you wish they'd just let the wildlife speak for itself. BBC1/BBC HD, TUE, 9PM

BBC Three have an interesting new US acquisition they're broadcasting in double-bill chunks every Sunday night. While ITV1 gives us Agatha Christie's Miss Marple earlier that evening, BBC Three have HARPER'S ISLAND, partly inspired by Christie's classic Ten Little Indians. It's a high-concept murder-mystery drama about 25 people who arrive on the titular isle for a week of pre-wedding celebrations. Unfortunately, seven years ago the island was the crime scene for a serial-killer who butchered six locals and strung them up from a tree, and now the present-day guests find themselves being killed one by one...

Essentially, this is a serialized slasher film crossed with a glossy US soap. I had fun watching the opening couplet of episodes, but it remains to be seen if it can hold your attention once the novelty wears off. It needs strong characters and a compelling narrative to keep us glued each week, or else you'll just be watching for the bloodshed (which has already included a head-slicing by propeller, a hacked-off torso, a decapitation, and a girl being burned alive in a pit.) If the bride and groom survive the week, I hope they chose a better venue for their honeymoon. BBC THREE/BBC HD, SUN, 9PM.

Mind-fiddler Derren Brown is back for a new series, ominously referred to as THE EVENTS. His first wheeze was to predict Wednesday's National Lottery on live television, broadcast simultaneously across the Channel 4 platform. He succeeded, after insisting there was no significant delay between his transmission and the BBC's feed of the lotto draw, and some channel-hopping seemed to prove this. Of course, theories immediately flooded the internet, ranging from split-screens to mass hypnosis. Many also wondered why Derren didn't show us his prediction before the draw was made, as he mentioned a legal excuse that prevented him from doing so that sounded very suspicious. Friday's hour-long revelation, entitled "How To Win The Lottery" could be described as a disappointment, because no definitive answer was delivered, instead delivering two intriguing theories (one mathematical, one condoning Lotto sabotage), and a few magical set-pieces to illustrate some principles. Good fun, but I can understand people feeling let-down. Still, Derren Brown's one of very few entertainers that can get the whole nation talking for a few days, and you didn't really want the trick spoiled, deep down. Did you? WED, CHANNEL 4 / MORE4 / E4 / FILMFOUR, 10.35PM & FRI, CHANNEL 4, 10PM.

.....

If you enjoyed Box-Eyed, why not head over to Dan's Media Digest for more entertainment-related news, reviews and musings?

The rat that's the size of a cat: BBC team discovers 40 new species in 'lost world'

By Paul Revoir
Last updated at 3:35 PM on 7th September 2009

Rats as big as cats, fanged frogs and grunting fish - they sound like something from a horror movie.
But, incredibly, there is a 'lost world' on a distant island where these nightmarish creatures really exist.
A team of scientists discovered the bizarre animals - and dozens of others - at a remote volcano in Papua New Guinea.

New species: Wildlife cameraman Gordon Buchanan with the Bosavi Woolly Rat

 

No fear: The rat is not afraid of humans, which could make it vulnerable

In the kilometre-deep crater of Mount Bosavi, they found a habitat teeming with life which has evolved in isolation since the volcano last erupted 200,000 years ago.
Among the new species was the the Bosavi Woolly Rat.
One of the biggest rats in the world, it measures just over 32 inches from nose to tail and weighs 3lb.
The silvery grey mammal has dense fur and its teeth suggest it has a largely vegetarian diet and probably builds nests in tree hollows or underground.

 

Surprising find: A new species of frog found near base camp. When scared it puffs up its body.

The Bosavi Woolly was discovered by a team from the BBC's natural history unit as they searched for new wildlife while filming the series Lost Land Of The Volcano.
During the trip to a little-known part of the rain forest, the team also found about 40 other new species, which are at various stages of verification.
This included a marsupial called the Bosavi Silky Cuscus, a camouflaged gecko, a fanged frog and a fish called the Henamo Grunter, which makes a grunting sound from its swim bladder.

 

New species: A frog named, Litoria sauroni, discovered on the trip

Picture shows: A bizarre jungle spider camouflaged as lichen

Researchers also found an extremely hairy caterpillar which is now awaiting cataloguing in Oxford, where the team will give names to their finds.
It is estimated that along with the giant rat and cuscus the expedition found about 16 species of frogs, one species of gecko, at least three species of fish, at least 20 of insects and spiders and possibly one new species of bat.
The expedition was led by climber and naturalist Steve Backshall-wildlife cameraman Gordon Buchanan and head scientist Dr George McGavin.
Mr Buchanan and Smithsonian biologist Dr Kristofer Helgen were first on the scene when the rat was found by a tracker from the local Kasua tribe. Dr Helgen said:
'This is one of the world's largest rats. It is a true rat, related to the same kind you find in the city sewers, but a heck of a lot bigger.
'I had a cat and it was about the same size of this rat. This rat was incredibly tame.

Picture shows: A bizarre hairy caterpillar found in the rainforest

   

 

Amazing: The king bird of paradise, and a buff faced pygmy parrot, found by bird expert Jack Dumbacher

'It just sat next to me nibbling on a piece of leaf. It won't have seen a human being before. The crater of Mount Bosavi really is the lost world.'
Papua New Guinea is famous for the number and diversity of rodents that live there, with more than 57 species from the Murid family of rats and mice on the island.
Further evidence of the rich wildlife of the tropical location came with the discovery of the Bosavi Silky Cuscus. This animal, which resembles a small bear, is a marsupial that lives up in trees, feeding on fruits and leaves.
Weighing in at some 4.5lb, it has thick silky fur adapted for the mountain environment in which it lives. Dr Helgen has identified it as a new subspecies in the group of strange marsupials known as cuscuses.

An iridescent Beetle found in the New Guinea rainforest

 

New species: A beautiful fruit dove discovered during the BBC expedition

He said: 'Long ago it was isolated on this volcano and has become something unique to Bosavi.'
The habitat in the area is currently regarded as pristine, but less than 20 miles to the south of Mount Bosavi extensive logging operations are happening.
The mountain acts like an island in the vast sea of jungle, trapping different species on it.
The expedition base camp was in the foothills east of Mount Bosavi with smaller teams going out to remote locations.

Lost Land Of The Volcano starts on BBC1 tomorrow at 9pm.

Expedition to remote jungle discovers rat as big as a cat

Date: 07.09.2009
Category: BBC One; Factual & Arts TV
 

The BBC's Natural History Unit has discovered a new species of giant rat on an expedition to a remote rainforest in Papua New Guinea. Weighing in at 1.5kg, and measuring 82cm from nose to tail, the Bosavi Woolly Rat is one of the biggest rats in the world – as big as a domestic cat.

The find was made in the crater of the extinct volcano Mount Bosavi while filming for the Lost Land Of The Volcano, the third in a series of BBC One expeditions to remote jungles.

The team, led by climber and naturalist Steve Backshall, wildlife cameraman Gordon Buchanan and head scientist Dr George McGavin, explore little-known and unprotected parts of rainforest searching for new and barely known wildlife.

The crater is 4km wide with walls up to 1km high, trapping the creatures inside a lost world.

The rat is silvery grey and the name woolly is due to its dense fur. The animal's teeth suggest it has a largely vegetarian diet and probably builds nests in either tree hollows or underground.

Dr Kristofer Helgen, Smithsonian biologist, and Gordon Buchanan, were first on the scene, when the rat was found by a tracker from the Kasua tribe that lives outside the crater.

Dr Helgen says: "This is the one of the world's largest rats. It is a true rat, related to the same kind you find in the city sewers, but a heck of a lot bigger.''

Gordon says: "I had a cat and it was about the same size of this rat. This rat was incredibly tame. It just sat next to me nibbling on a piece of leaf. It won't have seen a human being before. This crater of Mount Bosavi really is the lost world."

Papua New Guinea is famous for the number and diversity of the rats and mice that inhabit the island. More than 57 species of true "Murid" rats and mice can be found on the tropical island. 

The giant rat is not the only discovery made by the expedition team. They also found another unique type of mammal called the Bosavi Silky Cuscus.

The animal – which looks like a small bear – is a marsupial that lives up trees, feeding on fruits and leaves. Weighing in at over 2kg, it has dense silky fur adapted for a mountain environment.

Dr Helgen has identified it as a new subspecies in a group of strange marsupials known as cuscuses, saying: "Long ago, it was isolated on this volcano and has become something unique to Bosavi. I travel the world looking for mammals in many different places, but to find something of this size for the first time is a cause for major celebration."

Steve Backshall, who led the team into the crater and held the cuscus in his arms, says: "I can't even begin to say how it feels to have in my hand an animal that has never been seen before."

Like the giant rat, the Bosavi Silky Cuscus also appeared to have no fear of man, suggesting these animals have never come into contact with humans before.

This scientific expedition also found approximately 40 other new species, which are at various stages of being verified. These include a camouflaged gecko, a fanged frog and a fish called the Henamo Grunter – named because it makes grunting noises from its swim bladder.

The expedition base camp was in the foothills east of Mount Bosavi, with smaller teams going to remote locations – one team into the crater and one onto the summit of the mountain. The habitat is currently pristine but, 30km to the south of Mount Bosavi, there are extensive logging operations.

Mount Bosavi was chosen because the fauna of that region is poorly known. The height of the mountain (rising up to 2,700 metres) meant there was a range of habitats from lowland rainforest to montane moss forest. The mountain acts like an island in a sea of jungle, trapping species on it.

Lost Land Of The Volcano (3 x 60-minutes), starts Tuesday 8 September 2009 at 9.00pm on BBC One.

Notes to Editors

1. The science team was lead by insect specialist Dr George McGavin (University of Oxford) who is a regular presenter on The One Show. Other scientists include mammalogist, Muse Opiang (PNG Institute of Biological Research); bat expert, Alanna Maltby (Zoological Society of London); Dr Kristofer Helgen (Smithsonian Institution); bird scientist, Dr Jack Dumbacher (California Academy of Sciences); fish expert, Dr Phil Willink (Chicago Museum); and frog expert, Allen Allison (Bishop Museum, Hawaii). They worked closely with a team of trackers from the Kasua tribe who own the land and crater.

2. All the animals found go through an independent peer-reviewed process. It is currently estimated that along with the new species of giant rat and cuscus, the expedition found approximately 16 species of frogs, one species of gecko, a minimum of three species of fish, at least 20 species of insects and spiders and possibly one new species of bat.

3. The team was based at Mount Bosavi from the end of January to early March 2009.

4. Lost Land of the Volcano follows on from Expedition Borneo (2007) and Lost Land Of The Jaguar, an expedition to Guyana in South America (2008), which won an RTS Award and was nominated for a BAFTA.

5. Lost Land Of The Volcano is a BBC Production in partnership with Discovery and BBC Worldwide. Tim Martin is the executive producer and Steve Greenwood is the series producer.

LK

The Bosavi People's Fund

The Bosavi people number about 2000 and live in tropical rainforest just north of Mount Bosavi, an extinct volcano on the Great Papuan Plateau, in the Southern Highlands of Papua New Guinea. The colonial Australian government made first contact here in1936, but it was not until 1957 that a first census was taken. The building of an airstrip in 1964, the arrival of resident Australian evangelical missionaries in 1970, an increased government presence in the 1980s, and the development of oil and logging projects in the surrounding region in the 1990s have all intensified pressures toward major social change.

The history and culture of Bosavi, and the story of the region’s encounters with the world have been chronicled since 1966 by three researchers: Edward L. Schieffelin, Bambi B. Schieffelin, and Steven Feld.

The Bosavi People’s Fund was created in 1991 to receive the royalties from Steven Feld’s CD recording Voices of the Rainforest, produced by Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart for his World Series on the Rykodisc label. This soundscape of a day in the life of Bosavi illustrates the dramatic world of rainforest musical ecology. Two more recent recordings by Steven Feld also directly benefit the Bosavi People’s Fund. These are Rainforest Soundwalks (2001), an environmental sound collection on the EarthEar label, and a 3 CD historical anthology, Bosavi: Rainforest Music from Papua New Guinea on Smithsonian Folkways Recordings.

The Bosavi People’s Fund receives these royalties as well as donations from individuals and organizations through the Tides Foundation, a 501C3 non-profit foundation dedicated to philanthropic efforts on behalf of social and environmental justice and peace. Please visit the Tides Foundation web site at http://www.tides.org to find out more about their activities.

Bosavi People’s Fund grants through The Tides Foundation have already supported several projects. These include a range of locally defined educational and social initiatives, as well as the publication of the Bosavi-English-Tok Pisin Dictionary, both a scholarly document and an educational resource for the Bosavi community school. Bosavi People's Fund grants also benefit the Music Department of the Institute of Papua New Guinea Studies. Email: ipngs@global.net.pg

For further information about the Bosavi People’s Fund contact Steven Feld at wafeki@cybermesa.com

The Beautiful Bird of Paradise

The Volcanic mountain of Bosavi

Native women from Mt. Bosavi

Find Mt. Bosavi?

Opening to Mageni cave

Weird looking Creatures

Entomologist Professor George McGavin photographed a variety of weird and wonderful creatures while in Papua New Guinea for the BBC programme Lost Land of the volcano.

A Featured Documentary: Lost Land of the Volcano

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lost Land of the Volcano
Series title card
Picture format	16:9 (HDTV)
Episode duration	60 minutes
Creator(s)	BBC Natural History Unit
Executive producer(s)	Tim Martin
Narrated by	Philip Glenister
Music by	Jonathan Gunton
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Language(s)	English
Original channel	BBC One
Original run	8 September 2009– 22 September 2009
No. of episodes	3

Lost Land of the Volcano is a three-part nature documentary series produced by the BBC Natural History Unit which follows a scientific expedition to the island of New Guinea. The expedition team, which includes specialist zoologists, explorers and the BBC crew, travels to the extinct volcano of Mount Bosavi in central Papua New Guinea to document the biodiversity of this little-visited area and search for new species. At the time of filming, logging was taking place about 20 miles (32 km) south from the volcano, and one of expedition's aims was to find evidence to support the case to protect the area. Some members of the expedition team travelled to the island of New Britain several hundred kilometres to the east to chart an unexplored cave system and observe an active volcano.

The series was broadcast in September 2009 on BBC One in the United Kingdom in a three-part run. In the United States, it was broadcast the same month in seven parts on consecutive nights.

Lost Land of the Volcano was the third of the BBC Natural History Unit's "Expedition" series, following Expedition Borneo (2006) and Lost Land of the Jaguar (2008). 

Participants
Philip Glenister was the narrator complementing the commentary by:

• Dr George McGavin; head of the expedition's scientific team, and an expert on tropical insects from Oxford University
• Steve Backshall; climber, naturalist, and expert on snakes
• Gordon Buchanan; one of the cameramen
• Kristofer Helgen; expert on mammals from the Smithsonian Institution
• Allen Allison; expert on frogs
• Jack Dumbacher; expert on birds
• Alanna Maltby; expert on bats from London Zoo
• Phil Willink; expert on fish
• Muse Opiang; field scientist
• Ulla Lohmann; stills photographer
• Jane Stevenson; medic

The film-makers and the team of scientists were supported by expert trackers and guides from the local people and cooks. 

Discoveries

Hundreds of species were catalogued, and over 40 species or subspecies discovered during the nine-month expedition, including 16 frogs, 3 fish, a tube-nosed bat, a tree kangaroo, and a giant woolly rat. The rat, provisionally called the Bosavi Woolly Rat, may be the biggest species of rat in the world measuring 82 centimetres (32 in) in length and weighing 1.5 kilograms (3.3 lb). Papua New Guinea's rainforest is currently being destroyed at the rate of 3.5% per year, and the practice of logging about 20 miles (32 km) south from the volcano presents a potential threat to the ecosystem. One of the expedition's aims was to find evidence to support the case to protect the area. 

Episodes 

One

Mount Bosavi, Southern Highlands Province, Papua New Guinea

Natives of the tribe who own the forests help to make a base-camp on the outer slops of Mount Bosavi in advance of the arrival by helicopter of film-makers and a team of experts from all over the world, including scientists from New Guinea. McGavin explains the importance of the local biodiversity and the destruction that logging is doing to local forests and wildlife, while a lorry loaded with logs is shown filmed from above. The narrator explains the geography and the isolation of the forests on the inner slops of the huge extinct volcano. McGavin finds interesting insects including beetles, ants, and millipedes. Buchanan finds a pygmy parrot nest in a termite mound, and after a long wait in a bird hide he films a pair of Buff-faced Pygmy Parrots by their nest. Buchanan helps to place remote cameras at suitable sites throughout the forest, and later using a laptop computer at the base-camp, he shows a cuscus recorded on a memory card from one of the remote cameras. A Striped Possum is found in one of the animal traps, which is released after being studied and filmed. Buchanan films a cuscus in a tree and bats eating figs at night using infrared illumination. Backshall goes to the island of New Britain to join a group of cavers. 

Two

On New Britain, a small team of British and French cavers led by Dave Nixon are joined by Backshall, the only naturalist in the caving team. They map a Mageni river cave and hope to discover new caves. Backshall becomes weakened by a fever, the team recover at the base-camp, and on their return to the caves they find and chart an undiscovered cave river. On New Guinea Buchanan films a fruit-dove on a nest, Dumbacher takes blood from a King Bird of Paradise for research and reports that the have netted many more species, Allison finds more frogs, and McGavin follows a caterpillar changing into a large colourful moth using time-lapse photography. A team disturb large fruit bats from trees while boating upriver to a village of about 500 poor New Guinean natives. The medic Jane Stevenson attends to villagers including children very ill with malaria and McGavin negotiates with the village leaders. Around a night-fire the tribe show Buchanan feather headdresses and demonstrate a tribal dance wearing feather decorations from birds of paradise. With guides from the village Buchanan traces King Birds of Paradise and Raggiana Birds of Paradise in the forest from their calls, and films their courtship behaviours. 

Three

On New Guinea, two teams are formed, one of which goes into the Mount Bosavi caldera. The extinct volcano is filmed from the air as the helicopter takes an advance team onto its rim, where they have arranged to meet local Kosua people who will be their guides. They climb down into the volcano crater and prepare a base-camp for the rest of the team. Buchanan films a tree kangaroo, and Helgen helps to identify a wallaby, a Painted Ringtail Possum, a new cuscus subspecies (similar to the Silky Cuscus), and a large new rat species provisionally named the Bosavi Woolly Rat.

McGavin heads the other team and goes to an active volcano on New Britain. He sees a Brahminy Kite hunting over the grey ash-covered landscape, and finds an adult rhinoceros beetle and one of the larva in a tree stump. He sees megapode birds digging in the warm ash to bury eggs, and when they have finished he uncovers and reburies a large oval egg. He finds scavenger crabs before spectacular volcanic activity forces the team to evacuate the area. After this, McGavin goes to New Guinea and a helicopter takes him to the rim of Mount Bosavi. He reports on the dangers of climate warming and of humans to the wildlife as he watches an Ornate Fruit-dove. He sets up a night-light which attracts hundreds of moths, and he suspects many are not known to science. As the helicopter arrives to collect him from the summit, he wonders if the rainforest and its biodiversity will be destroyed.

New Species of Spiders Camouflaged as Lichen

A jungle spider camouflaged as Lichen. There are thought to be 5 million species of insect and spiders yet to be found in the world's jungles.

Tail feather of the King Bird of Paradise

The emerald green disc on the tail feather of the King Bird of Paradise which are used in a courtship ritual.

The Beautiful Fruit Dove - New Species

The endangered Litoria Sauroni Amphibian

Biodiversity in PNG - What does it mean to you?

A Buff-faced pygmy, found by Bird expert Jack Dumbacher

An Iridescent beetle found in the Rainforest

Scientist with Giant Wooly Rat

Volcano Crater of Mount Bosavi

Lost Land Of The Squeaky Beetle probably didn’t have quite the same air of drama about it.

But if you enjoyed Lost Land Of The Jaguar and Expedition Borneo, you’ll know what to expect as the team of naturalists heads off again, this time to the unspoiled jungles of New Guinea, hoping to identify new species.

Common Tube nosed Bat

Black and Yellow noctuid Caterpillar

Giant Wooly Rat

Giant Rat discovered - Lost Land of the Volcano

Lost Land of the Volcano: Mt. Bosavi

40 New species of animals found in Papua New Guinea

A team of scientists from Britain, the United States and Papua New Guinea found more than 40 previously unidentified species when they climbed into the kilometre-deep crater of Mount Bosavi and explored a pristine jungle habitat teeming with life that has evolved in isolation since the volcano last erupted 200,000 years ago. In a remarkably rich haul from just five weeks of exploration, the biologists discovered 16 frogs which have never before been recorded by science, at least three new fish, a new bat and a giant rat, which may turn out to be the biggest in the world.

The discoveries are being seen as fresh evidence of the richness of the world's rainforests and the explorers hope their finds will add weight to calls for international action to prevent the demise of similar ecosystems. They said Papua New Guinea's rainforest is currently being destroyed at the rate of 3.5% a year.

"It was mind-blowing to be there and it is clearly time we pulled our finger out and decided these habitats are worth us saving," said Dr George McGavin who headed the expedition.

The team of biologists included experts from Oxford University, the London Zoo and the Smithsonian Institution and are believed to be the first scientists to enter the mountainous Bosavi crater. They were joined by members of the BBC Natural History Unit which filmed the expedition for a three-part documentary which starts tomorrow night.

They found the three-kilometre wide crater populated by spectacular birds of paradise and in the absence of big cats and monkeys, which are found in the remote jungles of the Amazon and Sumatra, the main predators are giant monitor lizards while kangaroos have evolved to live in trees. New species include a camouflaged gecko, a fanged frog and a fish called the Henamo grunter, named because it makes grunting noises from its swim bladder.

"These discoveries are really significant," said Steve Backshall, a climber and naturalist who became so friendly with the never-before seen Bosavi silky cuscus, a marsupial that lives up trees and feeds on fruits and leaves, that it sat on his shoulder.

"The world is getting an awful lot smaller and it is getting very hard to find places that are so far off the beaten track."
Robert Booth
The Guardian, Monday 7 September 2009

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment...
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