From: Straits Times
A bird-eating frog with fangs and powerful jaws, a snake with tiger-like stripes and a gecko with leopard-like spots are among as many as 163 new species of life forms found and documented by scientists in the Greater Mekong area last year alone.
While some of the species were found in habitats that had already been explored, many were found in remote jungles which until recent years were off limits because of politics and conflict. Many are highly specialised, found only in particular habitats or places.
The leopard gecko, with its large cat-like eyes that give it an alien look, is found only on the small island of Cat Ba off the coast of Vietnam.
The newly discovered Nonggang Babbler which prefers to walk and run rather than fly, was discovered in karst rainforest on the Chinese-Vietnamese border, a rugged area of limestone cliffs, caves, sinkholes and underground streams.
Mr Stuart Chapman, director of the World Wide Fund for Nature's (WWF) Greater Mekong Programme told journalists yesterday while releasing the WWF's report on the new species: 'After millennia in hiding, these species are now finally in the spotlight and there are clearly more waiting to be discovered.'
Of the 163 species not previously known to science, 100 are plants; 28 are fish; 18 are reptiles; 14 are amphibians; and there are two mammals and one bird.
Many were discovered through modern technology like self-triggering camera traps set out in remote locations. But some were also discovered through old-fashioned research, with biologists exploring forests at night with torches and collection bags.
'The Mekong is the second most bio-diverse river in the world, and second only to the Amazon in terms of numbers of fish,' Mr Chapman said.
The WWF said an immediate and ongoing threat to the newly discovered species is hunting for meat, medicine and the pet trade.
Forest loss and large infrastructure projects are also isolating species in dwindling habitats.