Comments on: Indonesia - new species discovered

Indonesia - new species discovered

Protocols of the Elders of Awesome — Tue, 07 Feb 2006 05:16:20 -0800

"Lost World" found in Indonesian Papua (with audio)

By: The Salaryman

The Salaryman — Tue, 07 Feb 2006 05:40:19 -0800

Saw this first thing at the start of another day of pointless electric toil and it brightened it a shade. Reminded me of all the lost species, many undiscovered, that once populated island ecosystems. That Douglas Adams book, Last Chance to See, talked about some of this - forest penguins, Kakapos et al. Thanks for posting and your handle is more than correct. Finding a pristine corner of the Earth is awesome.

By: Protocols of the Elders of Awesome

Protocols of the Elders of Awesome — Tue, 07 Feb 2006 05:45:47 -0800

I also like the fact that, perhaps uniquely, "civilised" man and the natives are making first discovery of a territory together as friends.

By: fungible

fungible — Tue, 07 Feb 2006 05:47:04 -0800

"It's beautiful, untouched, unpopulated forest; there's no evidence of human impact or presence up in these mountains," Dr Beehler told the BBC News website. He then belched and threw his beer can over his shoulder.

By: iamck

iamck — Tue, 07 Feb 2006 06:15:02 -0800

I invoke bevets!

By: Protocols of the Elders of Awesome

Protocols of the Elders of Awesome — Tue, 07 Feb 2006 06:19:00 -0800

By: cloeburner

cloeburner — Tue, 07 Feb 2006 06:19:32 -0800

It's beautiful that the species do not fear human beings. Hopefully the scientists leave as little trace of their presence as possible. To be honest, it kind of makes me sad that they're making a return voyage. I wonder if Diamond withheld information in order to maintain the pristine beauty of the area.

By: orthogonality

orthogonality — Tue, 07 Feb 2006 06:20:38 -0800

Hobbitses?

By: Protocols of the Elders of Awesome

Protocols of the Elders of Awesome — Tue, 07 Feb 2006 06:28:19 -0800

Those double-quotes weren't supposed to imply that the scientists aren't civilised. I have a theory that double-quotes are more frequently interpreted to imply sarcasm than single-quotes. "civilised" man 'civilised' man ya.

By: you just lost the game

you just lost the game — Tue, 07 Feb 2006 07:03:04 -0800

Does it have oil????

By: Atreides

Atreides — Tue, 07 Feb 2006 07:17:51 -0800

Its just a matter of time until they return with a massive deadly queen spider, who'll mate with a common local variety type, and terrorize a small community. Great. Just great.

By: JeffK

JeffK — Tue, 07 Feb 2006 07:23:20 -0800

Screw oil. The harvest of exotic wood alone is worth a fortune. Let the logging begin! (Humans suck)

By: PlusDistance

PlusDistance — Tue, 07 Feb 2006 07:24:14 -0800

"It's beautiful, untouched, unpopulated forest; there's no evidence of human impact or presence up in these mountains" OK. But there's...like... a Starbucks, right?

By: wfrgms

wfrgms — Tue, 07 Feb 2006 07:31:12 -0800

Old and busted: woods behind Grandma's house Sexy new hotness: "Lost World" found in Indonesian Papua

By: driveler

driveler — Tue, 07 Feb 2006 10:13:04 -0800

'It seems sad, that on the one hand such exquisite creatures should live out their lives and exhibit their charms only in these wild inhospitable regions, doomed for ages yet to come to hopeless barbarism; while on the other hand, should civilized man ever reach these distant lands, and bring moral, intellectual, and physical light into the recesses of these virgin forests, we may be sure that he will so disturb the nicely-balanced relations of organic and inorganic nature as to cause the disappearance, and finally the extinction, of these very beings whose wonderful structure and beauty he alone is fitted to appreciate and enjoy.' - Alfred Russel Wallace

By: davejay

davejay — Tue, 07 Feb 2006 10:51:22 -0800

It's beautiful that the species do not fear human beings. Beautiful, and their ultimate downfall if the villagers that were so surprised to find the place decide they might be tasty. Sitll, imagine what was going through the mind of the first person who tried to pick it up. I mean, it's a lost world -- it might have shot out spines or something.

By: gaspode

gaspode — Tue, 07 Feb 2006 11:00:26 -0800

It's beautiful that the species do not fear human beings. Yup, just like the dodo.

By: brundlefly

brundlefly — Tue, 07 Feb 2006 12:24:20 -0800

This is really cool, but.. what? No rat-monkeys?

By: Smedleyman

Smedleyman — Tue, 07 Feb 2006 12:25:41 -0800

I was wondering where I put that world. Anyone find my keys?

By: George_Spiggott

George_Spiggott — Tue, 07 Feb 2006 12:47:26 -0800

gaspode is nominated for the most poignantly on-target comment.

By: kirkaracha

kirkaracha — Tue, 07 Feb 2006 15:01:33 -0800

The expedition discovered the origin of Berlepsch's Six-wired Bird of Paradise and took the first-ever photos of the bird. They did not discover King Kong or dinosaurs. The first scientific trip to the region was 25 years ago, by Jared Diamond, of Guns, Germs, and Steel fame.

By: dejah420

dejah420 — Wed, 08 Feb 2006 17:48:24 -0800

Wow. I wish the Beeb hadn't told people where it was, to be honest.