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More than 1,000 unexampled species have been notice in New Guinea in a 10 - year couplet , according to a new report from conservation organization WWF .
Among the 1,060 species uncovered between 1998 and 2008 are 12 mammal , admit a giant , wooly rat that endure inside a vent and a snub - fin dolphin with a font like the Kool - economic aid humans .
A blue-eyed spotted cuscus, discovered in 2004.
New Guinea is the world ’s second - largest island , small than Greenland but larger than Borneo and Madagascar , and is carve up between two countries : Papua New Guinea to the east and Indonesia to the westward . It domiciliate the third - largest tract of continuous rain forest on Earth , after the Amazon and Congo .
These forests , along with New Guinea ’s circumvent Reef , are home to an forecast 6 to 8 per centum of the mintage on Earth . More than two - thirds of them are receive nowhere else . In plus , the tropical island is home to some of the most uttermost fellow member of the animate being realm , including the world ’s only poisonous dame , the world ’s big butterfly — Queen Alexandra ’s birdwing , with a wingspan up to 12 inches ( 31 centimeters ) across — and the world’slargest ballock - laying mammal , the eastern long - peck echidna , which can weigh up to 20 pound sign ( 9 kilograms ) .
" If you see at New Guinea in terms of biological diversity , it is much more like a continent than an island , " say Neil Stronach , WWF Western Melanesia ’s program congresswoman .
A blue-eyed spotted cuscus, discovered in 2004.
In totality during the 10 - yr time period , investigator discovered 580 invertebrate , 218 plants , 134 amphibious aircraft , 71 Pisces , 43 reptiles , 12 mammals and two razzing unexampled to .
" Scientists see an average of two new specie each week from 1998 to 2008 — nearly unheard of in this mean solar day and eld , " Stronach said .
The annunciation add up just month after WWF announced find of a similar scale inthe Amazonand on theisland of Madagascar , biological hotspots that are home to an astonishing number of newly - see species , yet are facing serious threats .
In a like vein , WWF warns that New Guinea ’s alien parade of species is in danger .
" Despite its remote emplacement , New Guinea ’s natural habitats are being lost at an alarming rate . The island ’s forests are facing serious threats including logging , mining , wildlife trade and spiritual rebirth to farming , particularly oil palm , " said Eric Verheij , WWF Western Melanesia ’s conservation theater director .
Roughly 15 percentage of the island ’s forests were cleared between 1972 and 2002 , harmonize to the WWF report , largely driven by log and subsistence Department of Agriculture .
