Have you ever wondered what new animals are being discovered and old species that are being rediscovered in today’s environment? You probably know the endangered species like the dolphins and the whales, but what the new species? I asked myself this and I did a little research on the discovery and rediscovery animals that are appearing. I just thought that people should know what new animals are coming into the spotlight and should be recognized by people.

A New Tortoise

A species of tortoise, Chelonoidis elephantopus, is still thought to live in the tropical islands of Galapagos. Journalist from Current Biology suggests that there are at least 38 tortoises that are decedents from a purebred of a Chelonoidis elephantopus. In 1835, Charles Darwin observed the tortoises, which live on the volcanic slopes on the island of Isabela, to having a saddle-shaped shell, where the tortoises on the island of Floreana had domed-shaped shells. How do they know this, you’re maybe asking? Well, a team of Yale researchers that were visiting Volcano Wolf on Isabela Island took blood samples of 1600 tortoises and compared them to extinct and living tortoises. I was surprised on the blood test results. The test shows that 34 of the 1600 of the Volcano Wolf Tortoises had the genetic signatures of C. elephanopus. That said, that means that one of their parents was a purebred C. elephantopus. If you add the 30 cases of breeding in the last 15 years, plus the lifespan of a tortoise (100 yrs.), researchers say that the probability that a purebred is still living is very high. Tortoise lovers must be very happy.

 Beyoncé’s Bug

I found this to be pretty fascinating and funny. There was a recently unnamed horse fly, which has a been name pop diva Beyoncé, Scapia beyoncea, that’s right Beyoncé. You’re probably wondering how they came up with the name? Well, CSIRO’s Bryan Lessard, (the guy who named the fly) said, “It was the unique dense golden hairs on the fly’s abdomen that led me to name this fly in honor of the performer Beyoncé as well as giving me the chance to demonstrate the fun side of taxonomy—the naming of species”. In addition, the rare horse fly was found in 1981, the year Beyoncé was born. How weird is that!

One Tiny Frog, One Big Discovery

Get this, Chris Austin, a curator at LUS’s Museum of Natural Science, found two new frog species in New Guinea. One of the frogs he discovered turned out that one of the frogs, Paedophryne amanuensis, now holds the record for the words tiniest vertebrate. The crazy part is that the frog is only 7.7mm long! How does someone find a vertebrate that small? Well, Chris Austin, so difficult to locate the frog that he had to rely on the high pitched insect-like mating call the male frogs make. The original record holder was the small Indonesian fish that averaged about 8 mm. It’s still unbelievably that guy found such a tiny frog.

It’s alive!!!! 

A  rare, and I mean VERY rare, primate that has been rediscovered in Borneo by a group of international scientists. The primate’s name is Miller’s Grizzled Langur, and it’s considered to be one the rarest primates in the world, talk about a lucky siting! The team of scientists’ exploit brought them to the Wehea Forest in East Kalimantan, Borneo, which is most undisturbed forest. When the team found the primate, they were surprised to see the primate so far away from it natural habitat, which lies in the northern part of Borneo. The primate was thought to be extinct in 2004, but since little is known about the Grizzled Langur, this discovery could lead to a better understanding of this creature.

Isn’t it fascinating what new animals arebeing discovered and ones that are being rediscovered every day? I hope you learn how important these animals are to scientific data and discovery, because that’s what I learned. When I chose this topic, I was very uncomfortable with it, but now I’m hooked like a fish to this topic. I would love if you would review my blog and find more sources on this topic so that I can improve on errors I may have made on this blog that would super! I hope you too got hooked on the topic and I thank you for reading my blog (here are some future questions to think about)!

• How does the discovery of animals effect our live?
• How does the discovery of animals led to other discoveries?
• How does the discovery of animals help us in the future?