The researchers also solved a major ornithological mystery - the location of the homeland of Berlepsch's six-wired bird of paradise.
The team took the first known photographs of it, a bird that was last recorded in the 19th century, when indigenous hunters provided a specimen but could not say where they had found it. However, the day after the expedition arrived, its members watched spellbound when a male bird performed an elaborate courtship ritual dance for a female that had wandered into their camp, shaking the long feathers on its head!
It was the first time a live male of the species had been observed by Western scientists, and proved that the Foja Mountains was the species' true home.
"This bird had been filed away and forgotten; it had been lost. To rediscover it was, for me, in some ways, more exciting than finding the honeyeater. I spent 20 years working on birds of paradise; they're pretty darn sexy beasts," Dr Beehler enthused.Another find was the golden-mantled tree kangaroo. It was believed to have been hunted nearly to extinction in neighbouring Papua New Guinea, where it was discovered in 1993.
Mr Beehler said some of the creatures the team came into contact with were remarkably unafraid of humans. Two long-beaked echidnas, primitive egg-laying mammals, even allowed scientists to pick them up and bring them back to their camp to be studied.
“When we finally got out of the helicopter it really was a lost world, untouched by humans. Birds and animals had no fear of man. They were so tame you could pick them up.”
The team says it did not have nearly enough time during its expedition to survey the area completely and intends to return later in the year.
Logging is rampant, although there appears to be no immediate threat to the lost world. The locality lies within a protected zone and Dr Beehler believes its future is secure in the short term. The team needed six permits to fly in and land.
"The key investment is the local communities. Their knowledge, appreciation and oral traditions are so important. They are the forest stewards who will look after these assets," finished Dr Beehler.
