A New Primate

Rejoice! Another new primate has been discovered, this time in an unexplored part of Brazil.

It is described as a type of the exquisitely named titi monkey.  What other new species lurk in darkest Brazil?

BBC - Earth News - New species of snub-nosed monkey discovered in Myanmar

Another new species of monkey discovered in Burma …BBC - Earth News - New species of snub-nosed monkey discovered in Myanmar

How wonderful that yet another large (-ish) mammal has been discovered, this time related to other snub-nosed monkeys found in Vietnam and China.

BBC News - 'Vital' science spared deep cuts

 

Well it looks like the science budget has not been cut as much as feared (BBC News - 'Vital' science spared deep cuts).

This is good news and will enable “science” to get on with the jobs that are vital to all our futures.  Expect to see a raft of new research programmes designed to better previous endeavours such as :

• Why flies have wings;
• Why wildebeests aren’t blue;
• Why cross-eyed lions can’t see straight;
• Why the tops of mountains are cold (this will examine the counterintuitive argument that things closer to the Sun are actually colder than those further away); and (not forgetting applied science):
• How to boil an egg on an electric guitar.

How the leopard got its spots

 

 

The BBC is carrying this astonishing story BBC News - On how the leopard got its spots

It seems, following a research programme, that leopards have spots so they can hide in trees and not be seen – Doh!

Now I guess everyone probably knows this because it is intuitively obvious.

Cutting the science budget is possibly no bad thing if it is spent on this sort of ridiculous research!

Texas Pumas Rescue Florida Panthers | Big Cat Endangered Species, Wild Cats & Inbreeding | LiveScience

WHAT’s IN A NAME? 

This LiveScience article ”Texas Pumas Rescue Florida Panthers | Big Cat Endangered Species, Wild Cats & Inbreeding | LiveScience” is quite interesting but for a while I was wondering which animal was being referred to.  The talk, as shown by the title, was of panthers.  But I didn’t think there were any wild panthers outside of Asia and Africa so the bit about panthers in Florida had me a bit bemused.  So some Wiki Work was called for.

Turns out there are (at least) three wild big cats that wear the label Panther:

• Melanistic leopards (Panthera pardus), found in Africa and Asia;
• Black Panthers which are melanistic Jaguars (Panthera onca), found in the Americas; and
• Florida Panthers which are a blue-eyed subspecies of of the Puma [also known as a Cougar] (Puma concolor), also found in the Americas.

The one thing they all have in common is being big black cats.  So when you say Panther it depends on who you are as to what you mean. That’s exactly why scientific names are so important because each one is specific and unique.

In any event all big cats, with the possible exception of lions, are in trouble so the substance of the article is good news.

Heart of Borneo emerges as home of world’s longest insect, lungless frog and “ninja” slug

WWF is carrying this article on newly discovered species in the Heart of Borneo rain forest. I have blogged before about the discovery of new species in rainforests and hence the very real possibility of species becoming extinct before we know about them.  This report is clear that we must get our skates on if we are to prevent this.

Heart of Borneo emerges as home of world’s longest insect, lungless frog and “ninja” slug: "Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei: A frog with no lungs, a “ninja” slug firing love darts at its mate, and the world’s longest insect are among new species discovered in the three years since the Heart of Borneo conservation plan was drawn up by the three governments with jurisdiction over the world’s third largest island.
New WWF report Borneo’s New World: Newly Discovered Species in the Heart of Borneo details 123 new species discovered since the February 2007 agreement by Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia and Malaysia to conserve 220,000 km2 of irreplaceable tropical rainforest, designated the Heart of Borneo (HoB).
“As the past three years of independent scientific discovery have proven, new forms of life are constantly being discovered in the Heart of Borneo,” said Adam Tomasek, leader of WWF’s HoB Initiative.
Explorers have been visiting the island of Borneo for centuries, but vast tracts of its interior are 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 added.
The HoB, an “island within an island” is home to ten species of primate, more than 350 birds, 150 reptiles and amphibians and a staggering 10,000 plants that are found nowhere else in the world, the report says.
The rate of discovery since the foundation of the HoB is more than three new species per month, providing ample justification for the decision to protect the region.
Speaking at the launch of the report during a meeting of the three Heart of Borneo governments, Brunei Darussalam’s Minister of Industry & Primary Resources, the Honourable Pehin Dato Yahya, paid tribute to the dedicated scientists who spent countless hours in challenging conditions to uncover the staggering bio-diversity.
“These amazing new findings highlight the importance of our efforts to implement the HoB Declaration’s bold vision,” he said of the region which also contains the pygmy elephant, orangutan, rhinoceros, and clouded leopard.
With so many new species discovered every month, WWF has made the region a global priority through its Heart of Borneo Initiative. WWF offices in Malaysia and Indonesia support tri-government efforts to conserve and sustainably manage the HoB.
Under the 2007 agreement, the three governments have committed to enhance protected area and trans-boundary management, develop eco-tourism and support sustainable resource management.
“Three years on, the Heart of Borneo Declaration is proving to be an irreplaceable foundation for conservation and sustainable development by establishing a framework for action to protect Borneo’s globally outstanding biodiversity, eco-system services and livelihoods,” WWF’s Tomasek said.
“The discovery of these new species in the Heart of Borneo underlines the incredible diversity of this remarkable area and emphasizes the importance of the commitments already made by Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia and Malaysia to protect it,” he added.
The discoveries also highlight the need to increase financial and technical support to ensure their continued survival, he said."

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Squirrels

Britain has a native squirrel, the Red Squirrel, Sciurus vulgaris,  which was fairly widespread until the introduction of the American Grey Squirrel Sciurus carolinensis at the turn of the 19th century.  The larger Grey Squirrel outcompeted the more timid Red Squirrel by being more aggressive, more omnivorous and probably more fecund.  So now the Red Squirrel, once widespread is relatively uncommon.  Because this invasion was so dramatic and extensive a number of "Squirrel Myths" have arisen:

1. Grey Squirrels give Red Squirrels the Pox (Squirrel Pox that is!).  Probably true but the science is probably not as conclusive as some might think it is.
2. Grey Squirrels have a terrible effect on indigenous woodland bird populations.  Not so apparently. A new survey by the British Trust for Ornithology concludes  "Grey squirrels do not have a significant impact on the populations of many of England's woodland bird species"
3. Red Squirrels are now extremely rare and secretive, surviving only on Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour and in the remote Scottish Highlands.  Not so as the picture below taken from my study window in suburban Dunblane shows.

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Rare tongue-eating parasite

Rare tongue-eating parasite: "A rare louse which eats fish tongues is found off Jersey."

This is the isopod I wrote about yesterday.

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Extinction is Forever

It's ironic isn't it that at a time when the loss of species of living creatures is great, we seem to be discovering new species, previously unknown to science at a great rate.

New species discovered in the last twelve or so months include:

• a new type of Clouded Leopard in Borneo and Sumatra
• a new type of Malaria (not a new strain) in the Far East
• an isopod (a sort of louse) that survives on eating fish tongues
• a parrot no bigger than a man's thumb in Papua and New Guinea (PNG)
• a rat bigger than a man's arm - in fact the World's largest - in PNG
• a new species of song bird with a bald head in Laos

And there are many others.  The one thing that links all these new species is rainforest.  That is not to say that new species are only found in rainforests, they are not, but rainforests do host a disproportionate number of the new discoveries, with no signs that the pot is exhausted. If the rainforests of the World are squandered not only will we succeed in destroying a myriad of known species, but in all likelihood a host of species we don't even know about.  And humanity will be the poorer for it.

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