Comments on: 408 New Species Revisited

By: Shift

Shift — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 07:55:22 +0000

hey i just noticed something…..that first critter looks kinda like a unicorn; In Early Europe the unicorn is described as having a black horn turned backwards….. and if you look closely it does have two horns but it looks like it just has one tis’ makes you wonder…

By: norman-uk

norman-uk — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 23:57:30 +0000

UCTZoology
Isnt it a bit of a contradiction to write of ”wonderful species discovered” and then refer to them as ”ordinary, incredibly similar” and worst ”run of the mill”. I think your first description was nearer the mark and an analysis of the actual discoveries would bear this out.
Perhaps following on from the discovery of the Saola and the giant squid, the giant peccary and the very special Laotian rock rat, the Ammamite striped rabbit which is certainly not run of the mill! I know you could say that frogs are just frogs but there are some very special new frogs and similar creatures like the new huge stick insect and more to come!
Not forgetting the biggest of them all the Homo floresiensis. Whatever state this particular anthropologic adventure is in, it certainly is not run of the mill.
I know apart from the Hobbit these are not mind blowing, but i think its pretty good fare for those interested in new discoveries. It is a beautiful thing to see the mysteries of nature unfold even if it is mixed with some sadness because of what might happen to them if they have some properties that man desires and can exploit apart from just their being.
Scientists are now looking for alien life on earth, small probably, like the new bugs found living in the atmosphere, so there is real hope for you still. Then there is the fairly recent matter of the ubiquity of life in earth totalling a hugh biomass-more then on the surface probably

By: DWA

DWA — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 20:23:55 +0000

UCTZoology: don’t fret.

I mean, except for the saola (which was really new) I agree with you. A giant muntjac or a giant peccary or a dwarf manatee could be overlooked by many to whom they appear to be similar animals we already know about.

To me the marquee cryptids – and I speak especially of such as the sasquatch, yeti and orang pendek – are animals for which science hasn’t even reviewed copious evidence. A completely different “beast” from most animal discoveries.

It doesn’t matter to me how many new species are found by scientists pushing further out on already-blazed trails. It is, in fact, almost irrelevant to the discussion of the marqueee cryptids, for which science isn’t even looking.

By: UCTZoology

UCTZoology — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 16:04:56 +0000

Of all these wonderful species discovered, am I the only one thinking that all the new species are quite ordinary, or incredibly similar to those we have discovered already (we know of the genus at least). Very few, barring the giant squid and ‘heel-walkers’ (mantophasmatodea, a new insect ORDER found down the road by one of my lecturers et al.) look pretty much like what we have seen already. Nothing close to the hopes of finding reptilian chupas or mothman etc., makes you wonder doesn’t it?

All the new stuff we find is pretty run of the mill.