Associated Press and Reuters, AOL Wire Services

Jan. 7) - Scientists said on Tuesday they had found a "Lost World" in an Indonesian mountain jungle, home to dozens of exotic new species of birds, butterflies, frogs and plants.

"It's as close to the Garden of Eden as you're going to find on Earth," said Bruce Beehler, co-leader of the team of 11 U.S., Indonesian, and Australian scientists who made the discoveries during a monthlong expedition.

The team also found wildlife that were remarkably unafraid of humans during its survey, he said. The group visited the Foja Mountains, which have more than 2 million acres of old growth tropical forest located in eastern Indonesia's Papua province.

Indigenous people living near the Foja range, which rises to 7,218 feet, said they did not venture into the trackless area of 1,200 square miles -- roughly the size of Rhode Island.

The team of scientists rode helicopters to boggy clearings in the pristine zone.

"We just scratched the surface," Beehler told Reuters. "Anyone who goes there will come back with a mystery."

The scientists found a new type of honeyeater bird with a bright orange patch on its face, known only to local people and the first new bird species documented on the island in over 60 years. They also found more than 20 new species of frog, four new species of butterfly and plants including five new palms.

And they took the first photographs of "Berlepsch's six-wired bird of paradise," which appears in 19th century collections but whose home had previously been unknown.

The bird is named after six fine feathers about 4 inches long on the head of the male that it can raise and shake in courtship displays.

The scientists said they watched in amazement as, just one day after arriving, a male bird performed a courtship dance for an attending female in their camp, shaking the long feathers on its head.

They also took the first photographs of a golden-fronted bowerbird in front of a bower made of sticks, while he was hanging up blue forest berries to attract females.

The team found a rare tree kangaroo, previously unsighted in Indonesia. Beehler said the naturalists thought there was likely to be a new species of kangaroo living in higher altitudes.

The team visited in the wet season, which limited the numbers of flying insects. "Any expedition visiting in the dry season would probably discover many more butterflies," Beehler said.

Beehler, who works at Conservation International in Washington, said the area was probably the largest pristine tropical forest in Asia.

Animals there were unafraid of humans. Two long-beaked echidnas, a primitive egg-laying mammal, simply allowed scientists to pick them up and bring them back to their camp to be studied, Beehler said.

"I suspect there are some areas like this in Africa, and am sure that there are similar places in South America," he said.

Around the world, pristine areas are under increasing threat from expanding human settlements and pollution. A U.N. meeting in Brazil in March will seek ways to slow the accelerating rate of extinctions.

There did not appear to be any immediate conservation threat to the area, which has the status of a wildlife sanctuary, Beehler said.

"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."

The scientists cut two trails about 2.5 miles long, leaving vast tracts still to be explored.


2/7/2006 05:39:51

well now that the human race has stumbled upon it.....(insert appropriate comment)

muirdo said:

That's what I was thinking. But first I was thinking, "how cool!" I'm trying to stay positive.

It's amazing that with all our technological advances, there are still some surprises left on planet earth

And they took the first photographs of "Berlepsch's six-wired bird of paradise," which appears in 19th century collections but whose home had previously been unknown.

The golden-mantled tree kangaroo -- thought to have been hunted to near extinction -- also lives there.

GangstaFam said:

Well no wonder he's been hunted...look at him! He's up to something, the fucker.

Estrelle said:

Now way! He's camera shy. He's never met us before.

They said the animals were surprisingly unaffected by their presence, that it was because they had never encountered humans before. uh oh!

LleeLlee said:

I know. It's so exciting, yet it makes me really sad at the same time. The fact that there's this little corner of the world where these animals know no fear of us really gets to me.

LleeLlee said:

I know. It's so exciting, yet it makes me really sad at the same time. The fact that there's this little corner of the world where these animals know no fear of us really gets to me.

Estrelle said:

Now way! He's camera shy. He's never met us before.