This is pretty cool, but I wish there were pictures:
An international expedition to one of Asias most isolated jungles has discovered a virtual "lost world" of new species and giant flowers as well as rare mammals that were unafraid of humans, organizers said.
Scientists were stunned to find dozens of new species and resolved a century-old ornithological mystery, environmental group Conservation International — which organized the December 2005 trip — said Tuesday.
The astonishing array of untouched biodiversity was found in the Foja Mountains in the Indonesian-administered western part of the island of New Guinea.
Experts from the United States, Indonesia and Australia found species that had never been described before, including frogs, butterflies, plants and an orange-faced honeyeater, the first new bird found on the island in more than 60 years.
"Its as close to the Garden of Eden as youre going to find on Earth," said Bruce Beehler, vice president of Conservation International’s Melanesia Center for Biodiversity Conservation.
"The first bird we saw at our camp was a new species. Large mammals that have been hunted to near extinction elsewhere were here in abundance."
I wonder if they found any man-animal hybrids.