Sunday, December 21, 2008

Mekong, Vietnam - "Treasure Trove" of Undiscovered Wildlife

Last week, the World Wildlife Fund released a report saying that parts of Vietnam and five other countries, is home to 1068 previously unknown wildlife species, including mammals, plants lizards and fish. The report has a timeframe of discoveries made from 1997 to 2007. Currently, the WWF averages two new discoveries a week. One such discovery is a lizard known as cyrtodactylus phongnhakebangensis, which has a brown body with a bright yellow tail for the most part, and white at the tip of the tail. It was discovered in 2002. Another discovery is an odd millipede, discovered in Thailand in 2007. It is bright pink and produces hydrogen cyanide for protection. Not all the discoveries made were absolutely new. Some of them are considered to be 'rediscovered', especially the Laotion Rock Rat, also known as Laonastes aenigmamus, which is a living fossil, thought to have been extinct for 11 million years. Oddly enough, it was spotted at a food market. In the report a total of 519 plants, 279 fish, 88 frogs, 88 spiders, 46 lizards, 22 snakes, 15 mammals, four birds, four turtles, two salamanders and a toad were found. Below are some pictures and footages of the wildlife.


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