Monsters, giants and dwarfs emerge in a threatened land

[emad]

The Independent
By Steve Connor, Science Editor
23 December 2004


Monster cockroaches, giant millipedes, dwarf crabs and blind catfish. It sounds like a menagerie from another world, but these are just some of the new species that have been found living in a huge system of caves on the Indonesian island of Borneo.

Many of the animals and plants collected during an expedition earlier this year are so new to science that they still don't have a name, yet all of them are under threat from people making destructive incursions into their pristine habitat.

The scientists who took part in the five-week expedition found that loggers and miners have begun tearing down or burning many of the trees that form the heart of the species-rich rainforest of Borneo's East Kalimantan - one of the most remote regions in the world.

The Nature Conservancy in Washington, which organised the trip, said yesterday that the expedition has yielded at least five new species of insect and two new species of fish, including the eyeless catfish.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/story.jsp?story=595641

[LiberalEsto]

1. So THAT'S where Cheney came from!

It explains a lot.

[emad]

2. The missing link......

[SariesNightly]

3. The priorities of our world are skewed and twisted..

I want to say something about the PNAC, IMF and petro dollars, but it would be going off on a long tangent so I'll just say for every scientist who cherishes discovery, science and life there's a couple of thousand of hand to mouth hoodlums who's only purpose in life is to get rich or die trying.

[oneighty]

4. Eyeless Catfish.

I wonder. Do they taste good?

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