New Discoveries on Earth

Segmants taken from National Geographic

During a 15-day stay in December, Bruce Beehler and team set out on a wildlife expedition he co-led into the isolated Foja Mountains on the tropical South Pacific island of New Guinea.

Within minutes of landing, the scientists encountered a bizarre, orange-faced honeyeater bird ( see photo). It proved to be a new bird species, the first discovered in New Guinea since 1939.

On the second day the lakebed group made another suprising find when a male and female Berlepsch's six-wired bird of paradise came into the camp to perform a mating dance. Until now the homeland of this "lost" bird had been unknown. It was the first time Western scientists had even seen an adult male ( see photo). "We had forgotten it even existed," Beehler said.

Giant crowned pigeons, small wallaby kangaroos, cassowary birds, tree kangaroos, and wild boars are abundant within an hour's walk of the village. The Kwerba told the expedition members the locals had never ventured farther into the forest.

Beehler and his team located a series of display bowers—chambers or passages built by males to attract mates—of the golden-fronted bowerbird. Though Diamond had discovered the species, Beehler's team took the first photographs of the bird (see photo).

Another highlight of the expedition was the discovery of a population of the golden-mantled tree kangaroo. It was the first record of this species in Indonesia ( see photo).

Meanwhile, reptile experts documented 60 different kinds of frogs, including more than 20 new species. Perhaps the most exciting discovery was a tiny frog less than 14 millimeters (0.6 inch) long. The animal that was detected only when it produced a soft call from among leaves on the steepest part of the forest floor ( see photo).

A botanical team collected more than 550 plant species, including at least five previously unknown woody plant species. Entomologists encountered more than 150 insect species, including four new ones.

In the Foja Mountains there are more than 740,000 acres (300,000 hectares) of old-growth tropical forest that are apparently never visited by humans.