'Garden of Eden' discovered in Papua New Guinea

|PIC1|Dozens of animal and plant species ranging from vividly coloured birds to exotic frogs, and from the world’s largest-flowered rhododendron to a tree kangaroo, have been discovered in Papua New Guinea by scientists who have nicknamed it a "Garden of Eden"

An international team of scientists says it has found a "lost world" in the Indonesian jungle that is home to dozens of new animal and plant species. "It's as close to the Garden of Eden as you're going to find on Earth," said Bruce Beehler, co-leader of the group.

The team recorded new butterflies, frogs, and a series of remarkable plants that included five new palms and a giant rhododendron flower.

The survey also found a honeyeater bird that was previously unknown to science.

Bruce Beehler, co-leader of the expedition, said: "There was not a single trail, no sign of civiisation, no sign even of local communities ever having been there. It is as close as you can get to the Garden of Eden."

|QUOTE|The findings of the team, from Conservation International and the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, could prove one of the most spectacular scientific discoveries of recent years. After trekking through an area in the mist-shrouded Foja Mountains, located just north of the vast Mamberamo Basin of north-western (Indonesian) New Guinea, the researchers spent nearly a month in the locality, detailing the wildlife and plant life from the lower hills to near the summit of the Foja range, which reaches more than 2,000m in elevation.

"We were dropped in by helicopter. There's not a trail anywhere; it was really hard to get around." continued Bruce

He said that even the headmens from the local indigious groups, Kwerba and Papasena, who accompanied the scientists, were astonished at the area's isolation.

"The men from the local villages came with us and they made it clear that no one they knew had been anywhere near this area - not even their ancestors," Mr Beehler said.


Unafraid of humans

|PIC2|The expedition identified twenty new frogs, four new butterflies, five plants including the rhododendron with the six-inch bloom, and the first new bird to be discovered in New Guinea for 60 years, a previously unknown honeyeater with a bright orange face-patch and a pendant wattle under each eye - a remarkable discovery.

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.

|TOP|"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.