New Mammal Species

New Mammal Species

A new mammal, possibly a carnivore, has been sighted in the central forests of Borneo. The local people, on looking at the images said the new animal was unfamiliar to them, and it from the few pictures, researchers have also remarked it does look something new. The forests in South East Asia are under growing pressure from logging and trade in palm-oil. The story is remarkable in that finding a new mammalian species is actually quite unusual. A camera trap, relying on infra-red beams across a forest path, captured the animal. There are only two images, one from the front, and another from the back. Dr. Nick Isaac from the institute of zoology in London remarked that it might be a viverrid, related to mongoose and civets. The picture shows a red furry red creature, about the size of a mongoose, with a long muscular tail. The long tail may indicate that it spends a lot of time in the trees. It is not likely to be a lemur (though some may say it does look like one), as they are mostly confined to the island of Madagascar. The idea that it spends a lot of time in the trees may be responsible for the fact that it has not been seen before, but now, with shrinking forests and the population pressures encroaching onto rapidly clearing forest land may lead to more sightings in the future. The WWF has accused the governments of Indonesia and Malaysia (which share the parts of Borneo), of encouraging loss of the native forests in support of palm oil plantations. Once again, the new mammal, a new species, nameless yet, has exposed to us what still may still be inside the jungles, and what all we may stand to loose in face of reckless development.

2004’s Red list, prepared by The World Conservation Union, showed shows that 15,589 species - 7,266 animals and 8,323 plants and lichens - are either Critically Endangered, Endangered or Vulnerable. It is an increase of more than 3,000 from 2003.

Though the discvery of the new mammal is exciting, such discoveries have been quite regular ,though few, in the past few years. A new species of monkey was discovered in 2004 in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, and called the Arunachal Macaque. It is a comparatively large primate, with a short tail. Although the monkey was new to science, it was well known to the local people as “mun zala” or the “deep-forest monkey”. It was also interesting in that the last macaque species was discovered way back in 1903.

In another case, a new species of dolphin, the first in over 30 years was discovered in Australia. In Madagascar, two new species of lemur were found this year too. This was really remarkable, lemurs are the most endangered of all primates. They are found exclusively on Madagascar. One of these species is called the Giant Mouse Lemur or “Mirza zaza”. It is the size of a squirrel and has a thick bushy tail. The other species is the Mouse Lemur, a lemur the size of a mouse. A really cute looking lemur if you ever saw one!