There
are many unique species in Papua
New Guinea Rainforest.
New
Guinea is
one of those
places like Australia and Madagascar,
which
have been isolated for a long time - something that causes
the development of many unique species.
In the
rainforests of New
Guinea, there are about 9000 species of plants, 250 species
of mammals, and 700 species of birds.
As typically
for Oceanian
countries, native mammals
include many
species of bats and rats. But
surprisingly, Papua New Guinea's mammal life
also resembles this of Australia.
There are 60 species of marsupials,
including tree kangaroos, and two species of monotremes (echidnas) -
animals that are also found in Australia.
New Guinea is mostly known for
its 700
species of birds.
The most
famous are the birds of paradise (43 species), but other amazingly
beautiful birds include kingfishers, parrots, and crown pigeons. Male
bower birds build amazing bowers which they maintain and decorate with
fresh flowers. And the cassowary
- a colourful flightless ratite
related to emu
- is only found in New Guinea and northern Australia.
It
used to be that commercial
logging was fairly localised in New
Guinea. But lately, as in many other countries in the world, the
commercial operations start more and more to be linked to global
market. This increases the scale of logging. With
all the unique
animal species above, and the fact that rainforest
destruction increases global
warming, it is very important to save the forests.
Note:
This site uses British English, which is the English we use in
Australia. Disclaimer:
This website is about interesting facts about rainforests.
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trying to be comprehensive. Although best efforts
have been made to
ensure
that all the information on this
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