Lost world discovered in Australian rain-forest Tuesday, October 29, 2013 Scientists have discovered a mini eco-system full of strange creatures in a remote territory of Australia. The lost world, as scientists are calling it, is believed to have remained undisturbed for millions of years. The discovery was made by Dr. Conrad Hoskin, of James Cook University, and Dr. Tim Laman, from Harvard University, who led a four-day expedition to the Cape Melville area of Australia, a region that he had been aware of for a decade but had previously only viewed from above. Their destination was a remote place situated on top of a high plateau measuring 1.8miles (2.9km) by 1.8 miles, and forms part of a larger range of mountains which extends for about nine miles (14.4km) and is around 3 miles (4.8km) across. The secret forest sits atop a gigantic pile of massive boulders and is totally inaccessible; the team were only able to reach it via helicopter. Dr. Hoskin said that their first impression of the new world was a magical combination of incredible rainforest, good earth and clear, flowing streams. The lush paradise began to reveal its mysteries on the second day, when three brand new species of reptile were discovered: a bizarre-looking leaf-tailed gecko, a boulder-dwelling frog, and a golden-coloured skink that hunts insects by leaping boldly from rock to rock, unlike its mainstream relatives back in civilisation who have evolved to hide away in leaf litter, presumably to avoid detection from man and other predators. Were talking about animals that are ancient — they would have been around in the rainforest of Gondwana... rainforest thats been there for all time, said Dr Hoskin. I was just walking around along the ridge line and there was this small lizard, a skink, that was something completely new, he said. Read the original source: unknowncountry/news/lost-world-discovered-australian-rain-forest#ixzz2jAddb4qt unknowncountry/news/lost-world-discovered-australian-rain-forest
Posted on: Wed, 30 Oct 2013 03:01:09 +0000
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