New Species of Mammals Still Being Discovered

Many people would be surprised to learn that new species of mammals are being discovered every year and there are more left to be discovered.

New Mammals Have Been Discovered.

According to MongaBay.com, "Researchers have discovered a new species of spiny mouse that lives on four mountainous forests in the Cordillera de la Costa mountain range, which runs along Venezuela's northern coast. The mouse has come to be known as the Overlook Spiny Pocket Mouse."

This discovery was published in a bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History but it's not the first or the last mammal that has been found. Research for finding this small mouse was funded by the National Science Foundation.

MongoBay.com also reported, "A five week expedition into a remote extinct volcano has uncovered a treasure trove of new species in Papua New Guinea, including what may be the world's largest rat, a fanged frog, and a grunting fish. In all the expedition estimates it may have found around forty species unknown to science."

The BBC filmmakers who took this expedition into Papau New Guinea were very surprised at how tame the giant woolly rat was. The new species of giant rat, was as big as a large cat and weighed nearly three and a half pounds.

Are there more species left to find?

Humans are often blamed for animals being put on the endangered species list. With climate change, pollution, logging and destruction of animal habitats not to mention invasive species taking over and killing off native animals, we usually only hear about how close to extinction some animal species are to being and how we have to help save them.

But according to MongaBay.com "The discovery of 408 species of mammals - the planet's best-known group of animals - since 1993 demonstrates our poor understanding of global biodiversity, argue scientists writing in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences."

There are probably still dozens of species of animals, insects and plants deep in the forests, oceans, caves, volcanoes and deserts just waiting to be discovered. With all these different species of animals, insect and plants being found, it is evident at least to me that we as humans don't know the planet we live on as well as we sometimes think we do.

In areas of the world where man has had very little influence, different species are flourishing without us even knowing about them. The impact of our going to these places and logging, researching, new construction, clearing away of their habitat and interaction with humans may have impacts on these species that we don't know of.

The diet of many of these new species of mammals isn't known or we know very little about. We don't know what stress, diseases from us or interaction from us will do to them in the long run.

Why should we protect these new species and all animals from extinction?

Animals have a key role in the make up of our planet. How we eat, what we eat, what grows and what doesn't is all affected by animals. Some animals such as certain mammals, disperse seeds underground and thus have a large impact on helping plant species grow and flourish.

According to Rain-Tree.com, "Experts estimates that we are losing 137 plant, animal and insect species every single day due to rainforest deforestation. That equates to 50,000 species a year. As the rainforest species disappear, so do many possible cures for life-threatening diseases. Currently, 121 prescription drugs sold worldwide come from plant-derived sources. While 25% of Western pharmaceuticals are derived from rainforest ingredients, less that 1% of these tropical trees and plants have been tested by scientists."

Our ecosystem is intertwined with that of animal and plants and if they are gone we might just follow.

Sources:

http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0208-hance_newspiny.html

http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0907-hance_bosavi.html

http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0209-mammals.html

http://www.rain-tree.com/facts.htm