Lost World

Dozens of previously unknown creatures have been found deep inside a volcanic crater

Mount Bosavi is an extinct volcano in the Southern Highland province of the Pacific island of Papua New Guinea whose last eruption occurred 200,000 years ago.

Today, it is the site of a "lost world" that has just been discovered by a team of scientists from America, Britain and Papua New Guinea, and is the subject of the new BBC documentary "Lost Land of the Volcano."

"Fanged frogs, grunting fish and tiny bear-like creatures" were among the over 40 previously unrecorded species found 9,200 feet (2,800 meters) deep in Mount Bosavi's crater, according to the Guardian UK.

The find included "16 species of frog, at least three new species of fish, 20 species of insect and spider and one new species of bat," according to Times Online. A massive vegetarian rat three feet (82 cm) in length and weighing more than three pounds (1.5 kg), provisionally named the Bosavi woolly rat, is believed to live nowhere else in the world but the crater.

According to the Guardian UK, "The discoveries are being seen as fresh evidence of the richness of the world's rainforests and the explorers hope their finds will add weight to calls for international action to prevent the demise of similar ecosystems. They said Papua New Guinea's rainforest is currently being destroyed at the rate of 3.5% a year."

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image: The ERS-1 SAR scene represents about 100 by 100 km and was acquired by Alice Springs (Australia) on orbit 4255 on 9 May 1992 at 00:42 hours UTC and processed by ESA/ESRIN. The image centre is located at 6-00 south and 143-10 east. The scene consists mainly of tropical rain forest of central Papua. The prominent concentric feature near the upper right corner suggests a heavily eroded volcanic cone, with a caldera, open towards the south. It is Mount Bosavi, rising more than 2000m above the surrounding plain. The ERS-1 SAR uncovers huge lava flows running eastsoutheastwards. It seems that at least three different effusive activities can be distinguished, with lava flows one running on top of the previous one. On the surface of the most recent lava flow small ring craters, holes and long cracks, some of several hundred meters, and one of 2 km of diameter are visible; they may have been the result of explosions of trapped gas. Flow patters quite similar to those found on glaciers can be observed. There is a further volcanic feature near the lower right corner, with lava flows that are short and concentric. The mountain ranges to the north are made of limestone. The drainage runs parallel to the lava, the Hegidio River in the north, Guari and Kanuwe in the south. With the exception of some small settlements visible as bright spots especially along the rivers, no human activities (plantations, logging, etc.) is visible. (credit: ERS Data Utilization Section, European Space Agency/ESRIN)