New Discoveries in the Garden of Eden
A friend showed me this CNN article regarding the newly found “Garden of Eden” right on my own backyard of Papua. The jungle sounds like a newly discovered “lost world” with previously unseen species, like the tree kangaroo.
Incidentally, my brother was there a couple of months ago. He actually saw a kangaroo climbing a tree. Could it have been the very species the scientist claimed to have been previously unsighted in Indonesia? Could my brother have been the first person to see this?
Though my brother’s observation preceeded the scientists’, the locals beat them by a long shot. Local tales showed that this animal is an every day sight. I find it a bit ironic that we excitedly proclaim to have found a new species whereas it is nothing new at all for the indigenous people. A lost world, indeed.
I’m sure, this is not the end of the tale. There is still more discoveries to be made. What else will the dense jungle of Papua yield?
February 9, 2006
A different friend sent me a Washington Post article on the same Papua expedition, which I believe is a more descriptive and balanced version of the same story.
