Khmerization: Science from the Bottom of the Food Chain

Wednesday, 31 December 2008

Science from the Bottom of the Food Chain

The rare black-shanked Douc have just been in Cambodia.

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New Species Galore!

Over the past ten years, over one thousand new species have been discovered in the "treasure trove" of diversity that is the Greater Mekong region. This is the area in SE Asia that includes parts of China, Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, and Cambodia. It encompasses many different habitats but is mostly straight up Asian tropics, which is not surprising considering that globally, tropical regions sport the greatest species diversity. Scientists have been trying to figure that one out for years and it's still a topic of debate.

In any case, highlights from the Mekong include a poisonous pink millipede that produces cyanide, a new kind of green pit viper with yellow eyes, a new species of striped rabbit, a color changing frog, a frog with green blood and blue bones, and a species of rat that scientists thought had gone extinct over 11 million years ago!

Check out photos of these guys at the World Wildlife Fund website. Just click here!