Six new animal species have been found in remote forests of the
Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), conservationists announced yesterday.
A two-month expedition, led by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), discovered a tiny bat (see photo below), a rodent, two shrews, and two frogs previously unknown to science.
"If we can find six new species in such a short period, it makes you wonder what else is out there," Andrew Plumptre, director of WCS's Albertine Rift Program, said in a press release.
The Albertine Rift region includes the Misotshi-Kabogo Forest and nearby Marungu Massif along the western banks of Lake Tanganyika, the long skinny lake between the DRC and Tanzania (see a DRC map).
These forests have been off-limits to researchers for decades because of violence and instability in the region.
"Scientists first explored the region around Kalemie—the main town on Lake Tanganyika in DR Congo—in the early 1900s but didn't really get into the mountains on the escarpment above Lake Tanganyika until the 1950s," Plumptre told National Geographic News.
"Collections of birds were made in the 1950s and also some frogs. Mammal collections were made at some point—probably in the 1940s."
Only a small area of the forest was surveyed before the rift became inaccessible in the 1960s. According to Plumptre, no further expeditions had visited the sites along the length of the forest block until this year.
Treasure Trove
The survey, conducted between January and March, gave researchers a chance to document the rift's rich biodiversity.
In addition to the newfound creatures, scientists logged a variety of known species including chimpanzees, bongos (a type of antelope), buffalo, elephants, leopards, and several types of monkeys, birds, and reptiles.
"There is an endemic bird species, the Kabobo apalis, and a subspecies of black-and-white colobus [monkey] only from this forest," Plumptre said.
The expedition team also found several unique plant species, some of which were unidentifiable by survey botanists. Those samples will be sent to specialists for further investigation.
"Given the findings with the vertebrates, it is likely that some of the plants will represent new species as well," Ben Kirunda of WCS's botanical team said in the release.
Researchers suspect that the unusual plants and animals evolved in these forests because they have been cut off from the Congo rain forest, one of the largest in the world.
"It's isolated from the main forest block of the Congo Basin and probably has been like this for at least 10,000 years," Plumptre said.
Protection Plan
As a result of the survey, conservationists have pegged the region that includes Misotshi-Kabogo and Marungu as one of the most important sites for conservation in the Albertine Rift.
Aside from a few instances of gold mining, there is little human impact to the forests at the moment, they note.
(Read a related feature about logging pressures in central Africa.)
And when survey members met with the heads of local villages, the team found that most leaders are supportive of turning the forests into a protected region.
"Since few people live there, it would be relatively easy to create a park while supporting [their] livelihoods," James Deutsch, director of WCS's Africa Program, said in the press statement.
译文:
刚果发现六种新的蝙蝠和蛙类
昨天，自然资源保护论者宣布，在刚果民主共和国(the DRC)的人迹罕至的森林里，人们发现了六种新的动物。
野生动物保护协会(WCS)领导了这次为期两个月的探索。期间，他们发现了一种微型蝙蝠（见上图）、一种啮齿动物、两种类鼠动物和两种蛙类，而在此之前，这些物种未曾为科学界所知。
“如果你能在这么短的时间里发现了六个新物种，你肯定会觉得往前走可能还会有惊喜。”在新闻发布会上WCS艾伯丁断裂带探险项目主管安德鲁·普拉姆崔（Andrew Plumptre）如是说。
艾伯丁裂谷（Albertine Rift）包括密叟奇卡博戈森林(Misotshi-Kabogo Forest )以及其附近的马鲁安古块状山(Marungu Massif) ，位于狭长的坦噶尼喀湖(Lake Tanganyika)西岸，刚果民主共和国和坦桑尼亚(Tanzania)之间（参考刚果地图）。
因为本区暴乱不断，社会动荡，这些森林已有数十年不曾允许研究者进入。
普拉姆崔向美国国家地理新闻社解说时提到：“20世纪初，科学家并没有深入山区，而是首先展开对卡莱密镇（Kalemie）周边地区的考察，此镇是刚果民主共和国境内坦噶尼喀湖畔的主要城镇。直到20世纪50年代，对坦噶尼喀湖畔的悬岩峭壁的探索方始展开。
“鸟类标本的采集在20世纪50年代完成，同时进行的还有一些蛙类的采集。而哺乳动物类的采集则约成于20世纪40年代。”
在20世纪70年代大裂谷变得难以深入以前，科学家只完成了很小一片森林的勘查工作。按普拉姆崔的说法，在今年以前还没有深入这片密林的进一步探索。
物种宝藏
一月及三月先后两次的调研为研究人员提供了一次考证大裂谷物种丰富程度的机会。
除去新发现的生物，科学家同时获得了大量已知物种的数据，包括黑猩猩、邦戈羚（bongos羚羊的一种）、水牛、象、豹、以及几种猴子、鸟类和爬行动物等。
普鲁姆崔提到：“这片森林里有种特有的鸟类，卡波波阿帕里斯鸟（Kabobo apalis），还有一种黑白非洲疣猴的亚种，这些都是这里独有的物种。
探险队同时还发现了几种独特的珍稀植物，有些连植物学家都无法识别，这些标本将送交专家进行更深入的分析和研究。
WCS植物研究组的本·克伦达乐观的预测：“鉴于脊椎动物的研究成果，也许其中的一些植物也会代表新物种的问世。”
另有研究人员猜测，在这片林区，珍惜的动植物发生变种，其原因正是林中生物圈已与世界最大的雨林即刚果雨林生物圈的完全隔离。
普鲁姆崔推测：“这片林区早年从刚果盆地的主要林区分离出来，而且很可能彼此已经隔离了至少上万年。”
保护计划
探测结束，作为结论，自然资源保护论者将连同密叟奇卡博戈森林（Misotshi-Kabogo ）和马鲁安古块状山（Marungu）在内的整个地区划定为艾伯丁断裂带（Albertine Rift）保护区。
他们还注意到，除了既有的几处金矿，迄今本区尚未受到人类活动的进一步影响。
(相关阅读：非洲中部的水井压力)
另外，当调查人员与当地村庄头领见面时，他们发现这些头领都很赞同将林区划为保护区的举措。
詹姆斯·杜奇（James Deutsch），WCS非洲项目的负责人，在一次媒体发布会上提供了这样一个说法，他说：“因为那里人烟稀少，所以设立公园得构想与当地人维持生计并不矛盾，相比来讲会更易于实现”