Friday, April 23, 2010

Freaky fauna found in Borneo

KUCHING: A frog with no lungs, a “ninja” slug firing love darts at mates and the world’s longest insect are among new species discovered in the three years since the Heart of Borneo (HoB) conservation plan was drawn up.

The plan is jointly implemented by the governments of Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam and Indonesia to conserve 220,000sq-km of irreplaceable tropical rainforest.

The World Wildlife Fund For Nature’s report, titled Borneo’s New World: Newly Discovered Species in the Heart of Borneo, detailed 123 new species discovered since the plan was implemented in February 2007.

“As the past three years of independent scientific discovery has proven, new forms of life are constantly being discovered in the Heart of Borneo,” said Adam Tomasek, leader of HoB Initiative.

Explorers have been visiting the island of Borneo for centuries but vast tracts of its interior have yet to be biologically explored, he said.

“If this stretch of irreplaceable rainforest can be conserved for our children, the promise of more discoveries must be a tantalising one for the next generation of researchers to contemplate,” he said.

The HoB is home to 10 species of primates, more than 350 birds, 150 reptiles and amphibians, and a staggering 10,000 plants that are found nowhere else in the world, the report said.

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