The discovery -

Opinion

The discovery and salvation - of a new Pacific animal

VER SINCE the exploration of the island of New Guinea got under way last century, biologists have looked on that jungled, mountainous land as a I* scientific El Dorado: literally the last place on Earth where any significant number of new plant and animal species might await discovery and description.

That scientific faith has been amply rewarded, especially m the post-World War II era of scientific exploration. Hitherto unknown (at least in zoological and botanical terms) areas have been found to contain marvels: and the trend continues, with new and unusual organisms coming under professional scrutiny each year.

Prominent in one important area of research is Dr Tim Flannery, head of the mammal section at the Australian Museum in Sydney. In the past few years Dr Flannery has described new marsupials, bats and rodents including a bizarre mountain-dwelling giant rat up to a metre in length from Papua New Guinea and Irian Jaya.

In 1985, Dr Flannery almost paid the ultimate price for his interest in New Guinea’s rare and endangered mammals: while on an expedition in the Tor ricelli Mountains in northern PNG, he contracted scrub typhus and was only saved by an arduous journey to a mission station. One of the men carrying Dr Flannery’s stretcher through the rugged Torricellis wore a large black animal claw on a pendant; still fascinated by the natural world despite his illness, the young scientist bought the pendant and wondered for three years about the animal from which the claw had come.

Last year, he had his answer: a new and totally unsuspected species of tree kangaroo, or kapul in Tok Pisin. Part of the amazement with which the discov ery of the new tree kangaroo has been greeted stems from its size up to 20 kilograms in weight, and significantly larger than its cousins (indeed, it is the largest mammal endemic to Melanesia), ft is black overall but for a patch of orange fur at the base of its long, robust tail another feature that has had scientists wondering why it took so long to be discovered.

There is, however, a note of urgency about the new find: with a severely restricted (and dwindling) range, and a population estimated at no more than 200 individuals, the new species is critically endangered.

The story could end there another rare and beautiful creature consigned to extinction through habitat destruction, hunting pressure and look of interest but for an innovative lifesaving scheme.

In an era of privatisation and self-reliance (and in recognition of higher priorities on the part of national and provincial governments), Dr Flannery has decided to seek the assistance this animal so desperately needs through what can only be called sponsorship. The benefits to a sponsor are immediate: not only the pleasure of doing something concrete for conservation, but the unusual gratification of having the new species named after an individual or corporate sponsor (or, indeed, after an individual nominated by that sponsor). Dr Flannery needs finance to conduct research into the tree kangaroo’s ecology, reproduction and social life, and in partnership with the PNG Division of Wildlife to establish a wildlife management area and captive breeding program.

The cost of sponsorship is not cheap. Dr Flannery estimates that half a million dollars (Australian) will be needed to fund a five-year research programme and to establish a captive breeding programme but it is money that will be more than well spent, for how many opportunities can there be to save a beautiful and rare animal from extinction?

Dr Flannery is to be congratulated for his imaginative approach. It is, no doubt, one that will be imitated elsewhere but again, it is one worthy of imitation. Readers of Pacific Islands Monthly who may be interested in contri buting to the preservation of a unique Pacific mammal can contact Dr Flannery at: The Australian Museum, PO Box A 285, Sydney South NSW, Australia 2000 or by telephone on (61 02) 339 8114. Give, so this animal may live. □