Nov 19 2008
New Life in Indonesia
Recently three specimens of the pygmy tarsier, a nocturnal creature the size of a small mouse, with an uncanny resemblance to the Furby electronic toy and having the appearance of a big-eyed gremlin, were trapped and tracked on Mount Rorekatimbo in Lore Lindu National Park in Central Sulawesi on an expedition to the region by Texas A&M University.
Pygmy tarsiers, among the rarest of the tarsier species in Asia and the Pacific, had been written off by some primatologists as extinct. They are less than 4 inches in length and most of that is tail, weigh less than 2 ounces, and, unlike Furbys, their vocalizations are few and far between. Before this re-discovery by Texas A&M only three specimens had ever been collected.
Just last December two mammals, probably new to science, were found in a virtual lost world uncovered in Papua, Indonesia in 2005, but a follow-up visit in 2007 to the Foja Mountains were the occasion for the discovery of two new mammals: a Cercartetus pygmy possum, one of the world’s smallest marsupials, and a Mallomys giant rat. The giant rat is some 5 times the size of a city rat, in other words the size of a medium sized cat, and would often visit the scientist’s camp, seeming to have no fear of humans.
Mammalogist Martua Sinaga holding a 1.4 kg Mammolys rat, courtesy Conservation International.
Bruce Beehler, of Conservation International, and leader of the expedition, made the statement: “It’s comforting to know that there is a place on earth so isolated that it remains the absolute realm of wild nature. We were pleased to see that this little piece of Eden remains as pristine and enchanting as it was when we first visited.”
Cercartetus pygmy possum courtesy Conservation International.
