Why Are New Species So Glorious?
Posted by: Loren Coleman on May 19th, 2010
This week the Foja Mountains of western New Guinea, Indonesia, have (again) been revealed to be a treasure trove of new species, including the world’s smallest known wallaby, a Pinocchio-nosed frog, a pink-blue pigeon, a blossom bat and a yellow-eyed gecko.
Why does it seem that photographs of new species are almost always so remarkably beautiful? Is it because they are “new” or merely just striking? Are the dull new species’ photos not widely disseminated? All are significant, of course.
Above photos by Tim Laman/National Geographic.
Can you find the Latin names of all the new species in thirty seconds on the Internet? Think about how long it took scholars to hear about the discovery of the mountain gorilla in 1902 and learn its scientific name.
Other 21st century images of Fojo Mountains discoveries are below:
[Remember the one with a photoshopped camera put into the framing?]
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Loren Coleman no longer writes for Cryptomundo. His archived posts remain here at Cryptomundo.
The reason they’re so beautiful is because they are a reminder to us. A reminder that even though man has nearly destroyed Mother Earth, she still offers us the amazing, the beautiful, the awe inspiring, and more reasons to conserve what little we do have left. These kinds of things are just those beautiful glimmers of hope for what the future may hold for us, and what we may lose.
To answer Professor Coleman’s question, the reason why they are so glorious is because of their ability to have remained away from the eyes of humanity for as long as they have. Locals in Indonesia have probably seen them before, but from a global perspective many “new” discoveries are coined as such because most of the world’s population has never actually seen these creatures before, in person or in film.