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An expedition team, just back from a trip to Papua New Guinea, has discovered some new species… including a camouflaged gecko, a fanged frog, and a fish that that makes grunting noises. The team filmed their expedition for a BBC-TV program called “Lost Land of the Volcano.” Anchor Marco Werman speaks with the team leader, George McGavin of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History.
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MARCO WERMAN: You could be forgiven if you’re skeptical about the claims of an expedition team that just got back from Papua New Guinea. After all those claims sound pretty far fetched. They include the discovery camouflaged gecko, a fanged frog, a fish that makes grunting noises, and a giant rat. All of them never known by biologists to have existed. But leave your skepticism at the door. These guys have proof. They filmed their expedition for a BBC TV program called “Lost Land of the Volcano.” The team leader was Professor George McGavin of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History. So George McGavin how many new species did you find?
GEORGE MCGAVIN: Well it’s hard to be absolutely sure because obviously with the small stuff, with the insects and the spiders, they are so small they will require careful looking at. But what’s really interesting is it’s the large things like a giant rat which is 32 inches long. Like we found 16 new species of frog for heaven’s sake. You know three species of fish at least. Possibly one new bat and that’s not to say anything about the orchids and things. I mean this is a very rich area indeed and it’s almost hard to believe that an area of the earth’s surface hasn’t been properly explored but it hasn’t.
WERMAN: Right well let’s talk about that area and then we’ll talk about some of the details of these creatures you discovered. This is in a volcano. How did you know about this volcano and how’d you get inside?
MCGAVIN: Well this is actually our third outing. We filmed the series in Borneo in Guyana and we try to pick areas which are A) remote – hard to reach and which have sort of interesting features. And the thing with this particular place is it’s a very large volcano indeed which was active about a quarter of a million years ago. Okay so in that time it’s now quiet or got extinct and it’s become covered with forest and in there of course are all these animals. Now the reason that they’re there and the reason that they seem to be quite unafraid of humans is that there’s not much hunting there although there are humans there. You know if you’re a hunter you don’t really want to go right up to the top of this volcanic rim and then go down inside and then have to carry all your things out again. So basically it’s been pretty much untouched for a very long time.
WERMAN: So it’s a pristine place. That means nothing comes out and thing goes in.
MCGAVIN: Yeah I mean of the places we’ve seen it’s about as pristine as you can get I would say.
WERMAN: Apparently the local Kasua tribe, a lot of them acted as trackers for this expedition. They don’t actually go inside themselves. Are there any cultural taboos that were preventing you form going into the crater?
MCGAVIN: No. I mean they were happy that we were in there. And the reason that they don’t hunt there isn’t because of some spiritual taboo. It’s just that you know if you can easily find what you need elsewhere without having to walk for three days you know up a volcano and into it you know you don’t do that. And that was seen in the way the animals were. I mean this giant rat, which is a very attractive animal I have to say. It’s got silvery-grey fur. It was very laid back. It was very chilled and it would just sit there.
WERMAN: Tell us about finding this rat. I mean … .
MCGAVIN: Oh well now see I can’t claim to have been in the team that actually found the rat because we had to split into two groups. Chris [PH] Helgin who is the expert on that sort of animal he was in the crater with half the team and it was in here that they found this pretty amazing animal.
WERMAN: There is a video of it that our listeners can come and see online at The World dot org. But in it it’s pretty striking because you literally just stumble upon it.
MCGAVIN: Yes they… . I mean I’ve watched the film a few times and it is quite amazing. You know it showed hardly any fear at all. Now here we are at a time when these habitats are hugely under threat and in fact there are extraction operations of wood and timber only 20 miles from where we filmed. And the forest is being cut down at an alarming rate. And these are habitats which now only cover under 6% of the land surface area but yet they contain as much as 80% of all the species of animals and plants on earth. And if we’re going to avoid the worst effects of global climate change we have just got to keep this forest in tact.
WERMAN: For a scientist describer for us the emotion of climbing into a crater that’s never been explored and then you know the icing on the cake – to find numerous species of animals that have never been seen or identified.
MCGAVIN: It’s a huge thrill and that’s part of the reason that we film these expeditions is because we want to share it with an audience and I have to say after I come home ordinary home things seem a bit dull really.
WERMAN: That was Professor George McGavin of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History. Well if you want to see something that’s not dull we’ve got video of that giant wooly rat and some pictures of other creatures George McGavin found on Mount Bosavi in Papua New Guinea at The World dot org.
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