Scientists discover 52 new species on the island of Borneo

Borneo to Be Wild

Over the last 17 months, scientists have identified 52 new plant and animal species in the rainforests of Borneo, a Southeast Asian island, the World Wildlife Fund announced yesterday. The finds include 30 unique species of fish, two tree-frog species, three new trees, a plant that grows only a single large leaf, 16 types of ginger, and a partridge in a pear tree. The world's second-smallest vertebrate -- a fish 0.35 inches long -- was discovered, as well as a catfish with an adhesive belly and protruding teeth. (Alas, the legendary Wild Man remains elusive.) No wonder Charles Dickens described Borneo as a "great wild untidy luxuriant hothouse made by Nature for herself." As always, the diverse habitat is threatened by human activity; only half of Borneo's original forest cover remains, thanks to deforestation for rubber, palm oil, and paper pulp production. And we had been so optimistic there for a moment.

straight to the source: Bloomberg News Service, Ed Johnson, 19 Dec 2006

straight to the source: Reuters, Ed Davies, 19 Dec 2006

straight to the source: The Times, Lewis Smith and Lucy Alexander, 19 Dec 2006

straight to the source: Houston Chronicle, Associated Press, Eliane Engeler, 18 Dec 2006

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Comments: (4 comments)

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Big wind farms

Has anyone given any thought to how many birds will meet their death as a result of these wind farms? Or have the wind farms been planned so as to avoid migratory routes of birds?

by organicgardener at 2:37 PM on 19 Dec 2006

Indeed

From The Independent:

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds dropped its objection to the Thames Estuary plans after it was assured that a wintering colony of birds would not be harmed.

From The Guardian:

The Royal Societ for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) ... has also given its backing to the London Array project, after plans were modified to protect an endangered bird, the red-throated diver.

From The Telegraph:

Mark Avery, the conservation director at the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, said: "The co-operation of the developers has been exceptional and we are confident that the birds will not be affected by this first stage of the development.
"If monitoring shows that they are, then the developers have accepted that their plans for additional turbines will have to be dropped."

by Sarah K. Burkhalter at 3:06 PM on 19 Dec 2006

Relax it's just pollution - New EPA rules

I'm on an SBA listserv, and I got a note today about how great the new EPA rules will be for small business. (http://www.sba.gov/advo/)

I went to the EPA websit...) to understand what kind of impact it might actually have on a small business. Not for nothing, but I have a graduate business degree...even Wall Street has to write prospectuses (prospectii?) that the average bear can actually read...

But on another note, how in the heck did the EPA and SBA manage to get their PR so coordinated so quickly, when we're hearing that intelligence agencies still can't communicate with one another?

Anne L

by Anne L at 7:45 PM on 19 Dec 2006

Homeland security?

The good folk at the various branches engaged in homeland security do not have email yet do they?

The SBA and EPAers probably bring in their own laptops to work. That is no doubt a breach of security, remember the stolen laptop with all the personal information of thousands of veterans?

But the secret police at father..er homeland security never got the email about the other agencies using computers!! Somebody's gonna end up at gitmo if Rove's "guckert" squad finds out. Shhhhh!

The internet is a liberal plot. Just like "pollution" and "global warming".

Maybe some faithbaser (like a freebaser or "crackhead", but high on jesus instead of crack)will drop 37 cents on a stamp and expose this looming disaster!

http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog John Schneider, Northern Wisconsin

by amazingdrx at 6:24 AM on 20 Dec 2006

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