That's the name given to remote areas of Papua New Guinea accessible only by foot or helicopter, where scientists from Conservation International have recently released their discoveries of scores of fascinating creatures, from tiny frogs to mean, spiny katydids and mice with white-tipped tails.
In total, the researchers have discovered about 200 new species, including 24 frogs, two mammals, 100 insects and an assortment of spiders.
The highlight of all the finds, however, is the rarely-before-seen tube-nosed fruit bat (Nyctimene sp.): a Yoda look-alike of a winged mammal with pointy ears, a bizarre nose, presumably wise, with unconfirmed force powers.
While the planet faces very real concerns about mass extinctions and species loss, finds like this serve to remind researchers and the public not only how little we actually know about the world, but what we risk losing.
"There's a lot of concern, quite rightly, about biodiversity loss and climate change and the impacts on biodiversity and what biodiversity means to us," research team leader Stephen Richards said, according to The Associated Press. "Then we do projects like this and we discover, 'Hey -- we don't even know what biodiversity is out there."
The region has been nominated for a U.N. World Heritage Site, like the Great Barrier Reef and Yellowstone National Park, and these discoveries could help put international safeguards in place to protect it from development.
That's the name given to remote areas of Papua New Guinea accessible only by foot or helicopter, where scientists from Conservation International have recently released their discoveries of scores of fascinating creatures, from tiny frogs to mean, spiny katydids and mice with white-tipped tails.
In total, the researchers have discovered about 200 new species, including 24 frogs, two mammals, 100 insects and an assortment of spiders.
The highlight of all the finds, however, is the rarely-before-seen tube-nosed fruit bat (Nyctimene sp.): a Yoda look-alike of a winged mammal with pointy ears, a bizarre nose, presumably wise, with unconfirmed force powers.
While the planet faces very real concerns about mass extinctions and species loss, finds like this serve to remind researchers and the public not only how little we actually know about the world, but what we risk losing.
"There's a lot of concern, quite rightly, about biodiversity loss and climate change and the impacts on biodiversity and what biodiversity means to us," research team leader Stephen Richards said, according to The Associated Press. "Then we do projects like this and we discover, 'Hey -- we don't even know what biodiversity is out there."
The region has been nominated for a U.N. World Heritage Site, like the Great Barrier Reef and Yellowstone National Park, and these discoveries could help put international safeguards in place to protect it from development.
