Sep 9, 2009

More from Mount Bosavi

Mount Bosavi on the New Guinea mainland is turning up all sorts of new critters. There are some bizarre ones and some beautiful ones. And some ugly ones. Guess which ones I'm bringing you.

For a broader sample, click on this link to the Guardian. For a sample of the ugly, allow me to do the leg work for you...

The common tube-nosed bat. Complete with, um, a tube nose.



















A jungle spider camouflaged to look like lichen.




















Here's another shot of the giant woolly rat. I think it's kinda cute, but it's a rat, and my wife cringed when I showed it to her, so it qualifies for UgO. Besides, how could I possibly pass up posting on a real life ROUS. And, they aren't afraid of humans (haven't come to know us well enough).



















This is where all these creatures are being found. So much life in an ironically labeled 'extinct' volcano.



















Thanks for the link, Sherry.

5 comments:

Mike said...

Beautiful spider. The rat, I think, is rather cute...

... The bat, on the other hand lives up to the site's namesake!

Katie Kleber said...

and the spider is probably *really venimous,* but i hope not for the sake of the guy holding it. it is pretty, but as with many pretty things in the world, probably dangerous. i agree whole-heartedly with Mike about the bat, though.

Yvonne Navarro said...

I like the bat. He looks happy. Happy bats are good. Unhappy bats fly out of the sky and suck your blood out. Or crawl into an outdoor light fixture hole, find their way into your ceiling space, and die, whereupon they stick up an entire bedroom, closet, and bathroom. Yes, we have firsthand knowledge of just such an UNhappy bat occurrence.

Raging Wombat said...

A happy bat is a good bat. I like that. Smacks of old-timey wisdom. My quality of life would certainly go down if the bats in my neighborhood were disgruntled.

jannahsworld said...

Hey were going to run some amazing eco-tourism trips to see the Mount Bosavi region of this amazing country(PNG), which includes actually staying at the basecamp that was established for the BBC documentary. After speaking with the local villages in the region, the pressure from logging is so high that these incredible creatures risk being lost forever. However ecotourism is one way to keep the loggers in check
If you are keen for an amazing adventure contact Northern Distracktions(northerndistracktion.com.au), the trips to this incredibly remote area are going to be amazing!!