Life has new meaning in the Himalayas
By Raja Murthy
MUMBAI - An intrepid tribe of scientific Indiana Joneses has unearthed a
remarkable treasure trove of unknown species in the eastern Himalayas, marking
one of the biggest-ever series of discoveries of new life forms on Earth.
In a search from 1998 to 2008 that covered the eastern Himalayan regions of
India, Myanmar, Nepal, Bhutan and Tibet, scientists found 353 new species -
including 242 plants, 16 amphibians, 16 reptiles, 14 fish, two birds, two
mammals and 61 invertebrates.
The high number of new species found in one sub-region suggests a call for
increased investment to learn and care more about
terrestrial life forms - before spending billions looking for extra-terrestrial
versions in Mars and beyond.
With the major success of the biological brand of Indiana Jones in the eastern
Himalayas, the region ranks among the top of famous biological hotspots among
200 globally designated areas rich with animal and plant life, such as Borneo
in Asia and the California Floristic Province in North America.
A World Wildlife Fund (WWF) report released on August 10, titled "Collision of
Worlds - New Species Discoveries, Eastern Himalayas", gave more details of the
fascinating finds over the past decade.
Star discoveries included the leaf deer (Muntiacus putaoensis) which is
now the world's smallest deer, standing 60 centimeters to 80 centimeters tall
and weighing about 11 kilograms.
Other significant recent finds included the primate Arunachal macaque (Macaca
munzala) that is the first new monkey species found in over a century,
and a brightly colored bird named the Bugun Liocichla (Liocichla bugunorum)
that an Indian astronomer and bird-watcher Ramana Athreya first spotted in
2006.
The discovery of the Arunachal macaque, for instance, was most significant, say
scientists. The macaque, a type of monkey, was named after India's Arunachal
Pradesh state where it was found. Finding new mammal species, especially
primates - the order of beings that include lemurs, apes, monkeys and,
allegedly, us humans - is ranked high in the "very rare" list among scientists
worldwide.
"The Arunchal macaque is also one of the highest-dwelling primates in the
world, and certainly of all macaques, occurring between 1,600 meters and 3,500
meters about sea level," said the WWF report.
The biological exploring of the the eastern Himalayas included the Chinese
botanist duo of Yuan Yong-ming and Ge Xue-jun, who discovered the blue diamond
impatiens flower in Medog, Tibet, a remote region nearly 1,000 meters above sea
level and 100 kilometers from any roads.
The blue diamond impatiens (Impatiens Namchabarwensis) was named after
the remote Namcha Barwa canyon where the Chinese duo first spotted it. Growing
to 60 centimeters in height, it can blossom all year and its petals
dramatically change color according to season. It sometimes appears beautifully
blue during cool weather and then turns purple, as if angry in hotter
temperatures.
Biologists Yuan and Ge found this highly endemic (meaning region-specific)
marine-blue flower in 2005. They had determinedly plunged into the bowels of
the Namcha Barwa canyon, a gorge nearly 250km long and with some of its areas
nearly twice as deep as the Grand Canyon in the US.
More such fascinating floral life forms could be waiting to be discovered in
the Himalayas, for instance in the Valley of Flowers in India's Uttaranchal
state.
The Himalayas, the world's largest range of mountains, is already designated
home to an estimated 10,000 plant species, 300 mammal species, 977 bird
species, 176 reptiles, 105 amphibians and 269 freshwater fish.
More famously, the eastern Himalayas also hosts the highest population of the
Bengal tiger and the one-horned rhino in the world, two majestic beasts facing
extinction thanks to human greed and foolishness.
The near-mystical snow leopard, too, prowls this region. Myth has it that the
Yeti, the un-abominable snowman, resides somewhere in a penthouse cave in the
Himalayas.
Much life already teems in the Himalayas. "The world's northern-most tropical
rainforests can be found in the eastern Himalayas and nearly half of the
flowering plant and bird species known from India," confirms the WWF report
"Collision of Worlds". "The plant life of Arunachal Pradesh is considered among
the most diverse in the world, ranking second only to Sumatra in Indonesia and
greater than Borneo, Brazil and Papua New Guinea."
The title "Collision of Worlds" refers to the creation of the 3,000-km
"Himalayas", the word meaning "abode of snow" in the ancient Indian Sanskrit
language. The Himalayas arose from a mighty collision of two continental plates
- the chunk of earth containing India crashing into the rest of Eurasia - some
50 million years ago.
The collision of the two "worlds" was so emphatic that the pressure is still
being felt 50 millions years later. Geologists say the Himalayas continues to
grow taller into the skies.
Inevitably, the 30-page "Collision of the Worlds" report listing discovery of
so many life forms - in so brief a period in just one region of the Himalayas -
makes one wonder how many more life forms await discovery in the rest of the
land and water of planet Earth.
Oceans, for instance, from where the mighty Himalayas arose, cover about 70.8%,
or 361 million square kilometers, of the Earth's surface. What strange and
wonderful creatures do the oceans of the world hide?
"There are more species of animal in the deep sea than beetles in the
rainforest," according to Dr John Copley, a deep-sea biologist in the National
Oceanography Center, Southampton, quoted in Britain's Telegraph newspaper in
its May 11, 2009, edition.
An intriguing hint of what incredible and mysterious life forms lurk in watery
depths comes up in deep-sea exploration projects such as HADEEP, in
collaboration with the University of Tokyo.
Funded by the Nippon Foundation in Japan since 2006, and by the British Natural
Environment Research Council since 2007, HADEEP is the Indiana Jones of the
vast ocean depths. The project uses deep-sea machines, or "landers", carrying
high-definition video cameras that can operate at ocean depths where no human
can survive.
At depths where the mountain of water above is equivalent to the pressure of
1,600 elephants standing on the roof of a small car, HADEEP machines - with
their roof made not of glass, but a sheet of sapphire - produced footage that
stunned scientists.
They expected to find little or no life at ocean depths of 11,000 meters, a
depth vertically more downwards than Mount Everest in height, where there is
little oxygen and light for life forms to survive. Yet they found this ocean
depth awash with life.
"We got some absolutely amazing footage from 7,700 meters," project leader Alan
Jamieson, aboard the Japanese research ship Hakuho-Maru, said in a media
release dated October 7, 2008. "More fish than we or anyone in the world would
ever have thought possible at these depths."
The incredible life forms included the black dragon fish that emits infra-red
light. Another strange creature of the deep, the spookfish, also called
barreleye - because its eyes can turn through 90 degrees - has a transparent
skull through which its glowing green brain can be seen throbbing.
How many life-filled Himalayas lie in ocean depths? The 353 new species found
in the past decade in the eastern Himalayas finds awesome perspective in the
"Census for Marine Life", a decade-old global network of researchers in over 80
countries that is studying life in oceans.
The census, a first-of-its kind project undertaken by the Washington-based
Consortium for Ocean Leadership, plans to release "the world's first
comprehensive census of marine life - past, present and future" in 2010.
Involving an astonishing number of over 400 governmental and private
organizations worldwide, the Census for Marine Life is one of the most
significant and least-known projects in the world.
Its participants include the New York-based Alfred P Sloan Foundation, Google,
the Cousteau Society, the National Institute of Oceanography of India, the
Ministry of Science and Technology of China, the European Commission, the
National Geographic Society, Stanford University, the US Army Corps of
Engineers and the World Wildlife Fund, Canada.
Biologists have already identified 1.5 million terrestrial plants and animals
in the 23% of land that forms the Earth. But if an average of 30 new life forms
is being discovered in one sub-region of the Himalayas, how many more unknown
millions of remarkable creatures share our land space?
The remaining 73% of watery Earth hosts a confirmed list of 230,000 species of
marine animals, the number a mere fraction of what scientists expect to find in
the deep. They estimate a mind-boggling 10 million undiscovered species living
in the oceans, undetected perhaps for millions of years. The number might as
well be 100 million, given the vast ocean depth terrain.
Vast underwater oceanic mountain ranges, also called sea-mounts, number in the
tens of thousands and offer secluded places were it may take centuries of
evolved high-technology scientific equipment to detect life forms.
For instance, the deepest place on the surface of Earth is under ocean waters.
It's called the Mariana Trench, near Guam in the Pacific Ocean, east of the 14
Mariana Islands, at 11"21' north latitude and 142" 12' east longitude, and near
Japan. Scientists say that if Mount Everest were placed in the deepest part of
the trench, there would be 1.6 kilometers of water above it.
The "Collision of the Worlds" report and the Census for Marine Life project
strongly indicate how many more millions of life forms exist. Sadly, if the
endangered Asiatic elephant, the Bengal tiger and the one-horned rhinoceros
could hire public relations agencies, they might warn these undiscovered,
exotic species to stay hidden from humans.
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