Papua or New Guinea is the island exited me, this island has very very beautiful plants and animals, and also many of them are new species.Papua is located in southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies to thes Malay Archipelago and become second largest island in the world after Greenland.With some 786,000 km² of tropical land — less than one-half of one percent (0.5%) of the Earth's surface — New Guinea has an immense biodiversity,containing 5 to 10 percent of total species in this planet.
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| Cicinnurus Regius |
A high percentage of New Guinea's species are endemic,and thousand of them still unknown to science, probably over 200.000 species of insects,between 11.000 to 20.000 plant species,and over 650 resident bird species.In the period from 1998 to 2008, conservationists have found 1,060 new species in New Guinea, they were 218 kinds of plants, 43 reptiles, 12 mammals, 580 invertebrates, 134 amphibians, 2 birds and 71 fish, Amazing ! isn't it?
Something that amaze me now is its bird, yes they call them bird of paradise. Here in the sweaty,vine-tied jungle of New Guinea is nature's most absurd theater, the mating game of the birds of paradise. No other birds on Earth go about the business of breeding quite like these.To dazzle choosy females, males strut in costumes worthy of the stage: cropped capes, shiny breast shields, head ribbons, bonnets, beards, neck wattles, and wiry feathers that curl like handlebar mustaches. Their vivid reds, yellows, and blues blaze against the relentless green of the rain forest. What makes for the sexiest mix of costume and choreography is a mystery, but it seems the more extreme the better.
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| Cendrawasih |
Birds of paradise perch on an improbable branch of the avian family tree, the flashy cousins of straitlaced ravens and crows.They began splitting off from their bland kin millions of years ago, evolving into today's 38 eclectic species. Of these, 34 live only on New Guinea and its satellite islands.
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| King of Saxony bird |
The indigenous people of New Guinea revered the birds long before outsiders paid heed. The finest plumes were used as bride price, and the birds figure prominently in local myths as ancestors and clan totems. They are revered still. "We love these birds," says a lowland tribesman. "The people of my family are birds of paradise."
source:Wikipedia,National Geographic
