Scientists found all kinds of lost world wildlife in Indonesia:
The trip was the second time that CI had visited the Foja Mountains, part of the Mamberamo Basin, the largest pristine tropical forest in the Asia Pacific region.In 2005, the area was dubbed a “lost world” after scientists discovered dozens of new plants and animals in the dense jungle.
During the most recent trip, in June of this year, scientists accompanied by a film crew managed to capture courtship displays of the golden-fronted bowerbird (Amblyornis flavifrons) and of the black sicklebill bird of paradise (Epimachus fastuosus).
They also recorded the wattled smoky honeyeater (Melipotes carolae), documented for the first time on the 2005 expedition and known only from the Foja Mountains.
The bird, with a bright orange patch on its face, was then the first new bird species to be sighted on the island of New Guinea in more than 60 years.
The team also captured an old friend on film – the “lost” Berlepsch’s six-wired bird of paradise (Parotia berlepschi).
The iridescent gold-breasted bird was “rediscovered” in 2005 by CI experts after 20 years without a confirmed sighting by a western scientist.
However, the most surprising finds of the trip were the two new species of mammal — the Cercarteus pygmy possum and Mallomys giant rat.
“The giant rat is about five times the size of a typical city rat,” said Kristofer Helgen, a scientist with the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.
“With no fear of humans, it apparently came into the camp several times during the trip.”