New Species Discovered at The Borneo Rainforests
posted in Animal Species |
A new species of fish was discovered, which is so tiny that it ranks as the world’s second smallest vertebrate around the polluted water of Borneo. This fish like the other species on our earth is threatened by the habitat destruction. The scientists identified around 52 new species of animals and plants that around the southeast Asian island.
According to a report by the global conservation organization WWF, these species include 30 unique fish species, two tree frogs, 16 ginger species, and three new species of trees. Borneo is a mountainous region of 220,000 square kilometers covered with equatorial rainforest in the center of the island.WWF warns that the habitat where these plants and animals have thrived undiscovered for millions of years is at increasing risk.
This miniature new fish species, Paedocypris micromegethes, is translucent in color and measures around 7.9 mm and represents the two smallest vertebrates known to science. The swamp where these fishes live in are now threatened by logging, urbanization and agriculture.
Conservationists have warned for many years about Borneo losing most of its lowland forest and there is an urgent need to conserve the habitat and species of the world’s third largest island. Huge forests of Borneo are being cleared for rubber, oil palm and pulp production. According to the estimates of WWF , only half of Borneo’s original forest covers remain.
It is a bit of a paradox that where on one side we find huge species diminishing from the face of the earth we find tiny species being discovered! The habitat destruction caused by man puts the survival of so many hundereds of species at risk. The question we need to ask ourselves is : what are we doing to ourselves in the name of development and urbanization?