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General Category => General Talk => Topic started by: ase on December 17, 2008, 08:11:25 am

Title: 1,000 new species discovered in Southeast Asia
Post by: ase on December 17, 2008, 08:11:25 am: http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/12/16/rat.mekong/index.html

Man, stories like these always fascinate me!

Over the past few years (2003-on) scientists have been busy in the jungles of the Mekong Delta (Vietnam, Myanmar, Thailand) studying and observing hundreds of new species of plants, mammals, fish, amphibians, reptiles and insects. I had heard there were expeditions in various unexplored areas like Indonesia and Papua New Guinea but this caught me by surprise! The scientists decided to publish their findings before they were ready because the area is apparently being destroyed by industrialization and also happens to be the same area hit by devastating typhoons.

(http://gamingw.net/pubaccess/32484/mekong_frog.jpg)

(http://gamingw.net/pubaccess/32484/pink_pede.jpg)

(http://gamingw.net/pubaccess/32484/mekong_rat.jpg)

I'd love to watch a documentary on something like this. If anyone knows of any good discovery channel (or anything else) documentaries about discovery of new species, recommend 'em!
Title: 1,000 new species discovered in Southeast Asia
Post by: Pulits on December 17, 2008, 08:50:41 am: And when we think we know it all that's left in our blue planet, God says "FUCK YOU HUMANS" and give us a new array of species. Seriously, that dude must laugh his ass off every second.

Anyways, amazing story. :)

EDIT: CHECK THE IMAGES. Some of these animals are truly fascinating
Title: 1,000 new species discovered in Southeast Asia
Post by: Aten on December 17, 2008, 09:01:02 am: coming soon: ogers, trolls, dragons.

But shit. 1000 is a fucking lot.
Title: 1,000 new species discovered in Southeast Asia
Post by: Mongoloid on December 17, 2008, 09:14:23 am: This is pretty amazing, but for the record a lot, or probably most of these are from other families of animals, and when they say new species, a lot of the time they mean "frog with red legs and blue toes instead of blue legs and red toes!"

I am impressed though! How can people industrialize unexplored areas?
Title: 1,000 new species discovered in Southeast Asia
Post by: Vellfire on December 17, 2008, 02:13:41 pm: Man, this is really cool shit! I had heard about that millipede (or centipede I forgot) but I didn't know it was part of a bigger thing, I just thought they had found it by itself. That rat is especially neat, since they thought they were extinct. It blows my mind that even something as big as a rat that is just hanging around a marketplace is something that we didn't know was still there.

Also that pitviper was really cool looking, it was like a green tree python turned venomous.
Title: 1,000 new species discovered in Southeast Asia
Post by: something bizarre and impractical on December 17, 2008, 02:15:57 pm: This is pretty neat, although I'm probably not as concerned about extinction as most people are because I've convinced myself that once we have a more thorough understanding of genetics WE WILL BE GODS.

Also I skipped the article and went straight to the pictures, but that 'Dragon Millipede' has glands that produce cyanide. How cool is that?
Title: 1,000 new species discovered in Southeast Asia
Post by: Sarevok on December 17, 2008, 02:19:06 pm: When I clicked this I was kinda hoping for brand new species rather than slight variations on existing ones, but this is still cool. That rat is pretty darn cute.
Title: 1,000 new species discovered in Southeast Asia
Post by: Mince Wobley on December 17, 2008, 04:13:15 pm: 1000 isn't a lot there are a lot more undiscovered species
Title: 1,000 new species discovered in Southeast Asia
Post by: Jayce on December 17, 2008, 04:17:27 pm: What sort of bullshit logic is that?

Also damn that millipede looks awesome (they freak the fuck out of me)
Title: 1,000 new species discovered in Southeast Asia
Post by: Ragnar on December 17, 2008, 05:32:44 pm: DOUBLE HAWK

but yeah I didn't even know what animals were in Thailand anyway. The millipede/centipede looks freaky. The others look ok, the rat's kind of cool because it's so old

man what is it with people in every other country being like 'I've never seen this animal before I have to eat it and/or make a milkshake out of its bones because it's some weird Viagra/just have a feeling it would work like Viagra'
Title: 1,000 new species discovered in Southeast Asia
Post by: CodeBLACK on December 17, 2008, 05:45:15 pm: Oh man, that's awesome. I love the look of that millipede. I wouldn't let it near me, but still, it's cool looking.
Title: 1,000 new species discovered in Southeast Asia
Post by: crone_lover720 on December 17, 2008, 06:22:05 pm: those are cool. I really like the rat.

it's true that there are a lot more undiscovered species (millions maybe) but most of them are like DIATOMS and not as cool to look at.
Title: 1,000 new species discovered in Southeast Asia
Post by: Cardinal Ximenez on December 17, 2008, 06:41:51 pm: Somehow I am not surprised in the least.

Also, I want one of those squirrel-rat things. They look like delicious morsels for my cats. :)
Title: 1,000 new species discovered in Southeast Asia
Post by: EvilDemonCreature on December 17, 2008, 06:55:40 pm: This is interesting. I assumed (with the exception of the deep ocean) that most of the species out there have already been recorded. I can imagine seeing two or three, or a few dozen new species, but 1000 all at once? That's unreal.
Title: 1,000 new species discovered in Southeast Asia
Post by: Mince Wobley on December 17, 2008, 07:22:08 pm: It wasn't at once it took 10 years
Title: 1,000 new species discovered in Southeast Asia
Post by: Artis Leon Ivey Jr on December 17, 2008, 09:28:11 pm: buuuuttt that's 833 species per month in an uninhabited area, this is 1000 in a fairly well explored place!

edit oh wait this was over years too nvm.
Title: 1,000 new species discovered in Southeast Asia
Post by: Doktormartini on December 17, 2008, 09:32:54 pm: This is cool. Let's not fuck this up, considering around 100 species go extinct each day.
Title: 1,000 new species discovered in Southeast Asia
Post by: ase on December 17, 2008, 09:42:21 pm: Quote from: konix on December 17, 2008, 08:57:43 pm
yeah this is hardly noteworthy. an average of about 10000 new species of animals are discovered every year in the amazon.
link me please. also i seriously doubt you meant "animals." maybe "organisms" but definitely not animals. i bet a majority of those are plants.

not saying that isn't the case in Mekong (it is) but it's still pretty cool seeing as how this near an inhabited area
Title: 1,000 new species discovered in Southeast Asia
Post by: Shepperd on December 17, 2008, 11:13:52 pm: dude I bet they are all Species variations, not even genus variations. I dunno, I didnt read the article
Title: 1,000 new species discovered in Southeast Asia
Post by: ase on December 17, 2008, 11:50:10 pm: Quote from: DJ Soup on December 17, 2008, 11:13:52 pm
dude I bet they are all Species variations, not even genus variations. I dunno, I didnt read the article
thank you for this remarkable insight. i would definitely like to hear more of your thoughts on other articles/topics that you didn't read.

@konix: thanks. yeah, it seems you are right. The wording of the article is a bit confusing, though. It says "the rate of new species being discovered annually is around 10,000 with a majority in the Amazon River basin," which leads me to believe that 10,000 is the worldwide tally. The Amazon River Basin is a HUGE area (8,235,430 km2 according to Wikipedia, which is almost exactly 1/2 of South America). The Mekong Delta, on the other hand, is only 39,000 km2 (211 times smaller). Still, even if 5,000 of those are Amazon discoveries, that is still fascinating!
Title: 1,000 new species discovered in Southeast Asia
Post by: Shepperd on December 18, 2008, 12:02:31 am: Quote from: ase on December 17, 2008, 11:50:10 pm
thank you for this remarkable insight. i would definitely like to hear more of your thoughts on other articles/topics that you didn't read.
Hence the word "bet"

smurtusss
Title: 1,000 new species discovered in Southeast Asia
Post by: EvilDemonCreature on December 18, 2008, 03:46:21 am: Quote from: Mince Wobley on December 17, 2008, 07:22:08 pm
It wasn't at once it took 10 years

Time is relative.
Title: 1,000 new species discovered in Southeast Asia
Post by: Farren on December 18, 2008, 04:49:52 am: Quote from: Doktormartini on December 17, 2008, 09:32:54 pm
This is cool. Let's not fuck this up, considering around 100 species go extinct each day.

:( poor buny rabits

maybe we should all stop eating meet so we can save all the rare buny rabit
Title: 1,000 new species discovered in Southeast Asia
Post by: the_hoodie on December 18, 2008, 06:44:54 am: On this note, they discovered a species that they thought to be previous extinct in August.
It's really fucking cool looking

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pygmy_Tarsier
Title: 1,000 new species discovered in Southeast Asia
Post by: olrox on December 18, 2008, 06:59:47 am: the dragon millipede is really amazing........................
Title: 1,000 new species discovered in Southeast Asia
Post by: Tears on December 19, 2008, 04:47:09 pm: That dragon millipede thing looks gross and deadly as fuck. That's sick.
Title: 1,000 new species discovered in Southeast Asia
Post by: Dale Gobbler on December 19, 2008, 05:10:36 pm: Quote from: Wikipedia
"Lesser Spectral Tarsier"

Who names these?

That centipede is probably the most cool thing found so far, but I would still like for there to be actual new types of animals/plants found and not just variations of existing creatures.
Title: 1,000 new species discovered in Southeast Asia
Post by: Ragnar on December 19, 2008, 05:48:32 pm: pygmy tarsier looks like a mid-1980's lovable movie mascot

like the guy from Gremlins... and probably something else

Edit: Don't know a way other than 'mascot' to describe what I mean that it's not a cartoon and just appears with normal people in the movie
Title: 1,000 new species discovered in Southeast Asia
Post by: Mama Luigi on December 19, 2008, 05:56:56 pm: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/11/081124-giant-squid-magnapinna.html

This thing was only recently discovered as well. Jesus it looks like a boss from Metroid or something.
Title: 1,000 new species discovered in Southeast Asia
Post by: crone_lover720 on December 19, 2008, 07:28:53 pm: Quote from: Mama Luigi on December 19, 2008, 05:56:56 pm
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/11/081124-giant-squid-magnapinna.html

This thing was only recently discovered as well. Jesus it looks like a boss from Metroid or something.
no those have been known for a while.

and also guys these are really cool even if 1000 is a number to scoff at
Title: 1,000 new species discovered in Southeast Asia
Post by: ase on December 19, 2008, 07:30:03 pm: shit, that is really cool

edit: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/06/photogalleries/species-photos/ - These are pretty cool. I especially like the rhino beetle, michelin-man-plant, and sleeper ray
Title: 1,000 new species discovered in Southeast Asia
Post by: Mama Luigi on December 20, 2008, 02:33:25 am: Quote from: earl chip on December 19, 2008, 07:28:53 pm
no those have been known for a while.
Uh... no? The article is dated November 24th?
Title: 1,000 new species discovered in Southeast Asia
Post by: esiann on December 20, 2008, 03:38:32 am: if you read the article you'd find that it's not claiming the squid's new (cause it's not, just pretty rare) and it's just saying "that vid you took? it's this squid." also the video is a year old.

all this stuff is still cool though! i thought the rhinoceros beetle was old! why would anyone name a plant after the michelin man.
Title: 1,000 new species discovered in Southeast Asia
Post by: crone_lover720 on December 20, 2008, 06:23:51 am: there are a lot of rhinoceros beetles (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Chalcosoma_atlas.jpg) but this one's new! but pixar apparently knew about it because there was a character that looks exactly like it in a bug's life.
Title: 1,000 new species discovered in Southeast Asia
Post by: Mongoloid on December 20, 2008, 06:30:43 am: I read about this in the news before this topic was made and it mentioned a spider as big as a dinner plate. I'm not finding anything about that anywhere now though.