HEY, DON'T RUSH US

"Lost World" of wildlife found in Indonesia" (MSNBC, February 7th, 2006)

Describing it as the discovery of a “Lost World,” conservation groups and Indonesia on Tuesday said an expedition to one of Asia’’s most isolated jungles had found several dozen new species of frogs, butterflies, flowers and birds.

“It’s as close to the Garden of Eden as you’re going to find on Earth,” Bruce Beehler, a Conservation International scientist who led the expedition, said in a statement.

“The first bird we saw at our camp was a new species,” he added. “Large mammals that have been hunted to near extinction elsewhere were here in abundance. We were able to simply pick up two Long-Beaked Echidnas, a primitive egg-laying mammal that is little known.”

The team of U.S., Indonesian and Australian scientists ventured into the Foja Mountains of Papua New Guinea last December. The remote area covers more than two million acres of old growth tropical forest.

“There was not a single trail, no sign of civilization, no sign of even local communities ever having been there,” said Beehler, adding that two headmen from the Kwerba and Papasena tribes, the customary landowners of the Foja Mountains, accompanied the expedition.

“They were as astounded as we were at how isolated it was,” he said from Washington, D.C. “As far as they knew, neither of their clans had ever been to the area.”

Among the discoveries was a new species of the honeyeater bird. The first new bird discovered on New Guinea since 1939, it has a bright orange facepatch.

“Other discoveries included what may be the largest rhododendron flower on record —— almost six inches across —— along with more than 20 new frogs and four new butterflies,” Conservation International said.[...]

One of the most remarkable discoveries was the Golden-mantled Tree Kangaroo, an arboreal jungle-dweller new for Indonesia and previously thought to have been hunted to near extinction.

The scientists also found a tiny microhylid frog less than a half inch long and five new species of palm.

Why do these nosy biologists keep discovering isolated populations before they have had time to turn into something really new and exciting?