Hark! New Animals Discovered
- Posted by: Siobhan O'Connor
- on June 16, 2009 at 12:50 pm
Great news. While as many as 27,000 species become extinct every year, new ones are being discovered and they are mighty cool looking (I especially love the supremely ugly E.T. salamander and the crystal frog, which is see-through). You can read more about the good folks who discovered them here, and their efforts to protect these new beasts’ natural habitat in southeastern Ecuador from agriculture, mining, and (duh—abstract is there, but login required) logging. Below, some images.
That’s the thing that looks like E.T. It’s a rare salamander.
This is a poison-arrow frog. It’s male, and is carrying a tadpole.
That’s a katydid. They found it was a new species by its partially inaudible calling song.
This little guy maxes out at half an inch in size. It’s a minute frog.
Photos (from top): Luis A. Colomba; Jessica Deichmann (2); Holger Braun; Luis A. Colomba
DISCUSSION: 3 Comments
I loved the transparent frog which is the first picture shown of the new species that had been discovered. I had heard of this before when they believe the animals are becoming extinct, they discover new animals that they hadn’t seen before. We may not be becoming extinct at all. It could be that the new species are merely adapting to a changing environment. Like what Darwin had discovered, there is what is called evolution and natural selection. Maybe new life doesn’t take millions of years to germinate if these new creatures are now being discovered. I believe this is truly hope for all of us.
New animals are discovered all the time, what sad is to think about how many animals will dissapear before we ever realize they existed. Even if animals are adapting, a lot of them will die off or significantly lose numbers. It’s more than animals, it’s plants as well and seeing how most of our medicine comes from chemicals found on plants. That’s bad news for survival as well.
I’ll admit, these look really cool. I’d say the only reason they’re being discovered is because we’re also chopping down/destroying their habitats, bringing them closer to extinction as well.