Pygmy Parrots & Giant Rats!

Surfing around my news sites this morning as I usually do, I came across a couple of articles I thought that fellow "science aficionados" might find interesting. Both stories relate to a new TV series coming out on the BBC television called "The Lost Land of the Volcano" that starts to air this month; see stories for dates. It sounds like the show could be very interesting to watch.

 The first article/link is about a Pygmy Parrot filmed for the first time in Papua New Guinea, and the videos of them I thought pretty neat. The Parrots are about the size of your thumb and remind me of Parakeets or Budgies.

The world's smallest parrot has been filmed in the wild for the first time.

The tiny bird, which is not much bigger than an adult person's thumb, is smaller than some of the insects with which it shares the forest.

An expedition team filming in Papua New Guinea for the BBC programme Lost Land of the Volcano caught two of the buff-faced pygmy parrots on camera.

Another adult, which weighs less than half an ounce, was also trapped by the expedition team's bird expert.

On average, buff-faced pygmy parrots ( Micropsitta pusio ) stand less than 9cm tall and weigh 11.5g (0.41oz).

They are found across the northern lowlands of the island of New Guinea from the west to the southeastern tip, up to an altitude of around 800m.

Read and watch more at the link below~

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8236000/8236410.stm

This next article from the series is about a giant Rat they discovered while filming in the Volcano, Mount Bosavi, in the Southern Highlands of Papua New Guinea.

Watching the video it is amazing how tame this rat is... like a big cat, with no fear of people what so ever. Imagine coming across a rat this size in your home! They say it is a "true rat" like any other you might find in a modern city, only much larger. I wonder if it evolved to grow to that size after jumping ship from early explorers or what? All I know is that it is big! I guess I'll have to watch the show to find out more...

A new species of giant rat has been discovered deep in the jungle of Papua New Guinea.

The rat, which has no fear of humans, measures 82cm long, placing it among the largest species of rat known anywhere in the world.

The creature, which has not yet been formally described, was discovered by an expedition team filming the BBC programme Lost Land of the Volcano.

It is one of a number of exotic animals found by the expedition team.

Like the other exotic species, the rat is believed to live within the Mount Bosavi crater, and nowhere else.

"This is one of the world's largest rats. It is a true rat, the same kind you find in the city sewers," says Dr Kristofer Helgen, a mammalogist based at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History who accompanied the BBC expedition team.

Initially, the giant rat was first captured on film by an infrared camera trap, which BBC wildlife cameraman Gordon Buchanan set up in the forest on the slopes of the volcano.

Read and watch more at the link below~

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8210000/8210394.stm

Hope you enjoyed the stories and videos from the BBC, and I for one intend to try and watch that new series Lost Land of the Volcano. From some of the other links within the articles, it appears they will be showing all kinds of interesting/weird animals and insects unique to that part of the world. I hope it is on one of my cable channels, have to check... ;-)

Thanks.

 Mount Bosavi

Oh, and if you have a chance, why not check out the group "Natural History, Dinosaurs, and Fossils" here. (click on blue)

Take care.