New plant, animal species found in Negros province

MANILA, Philippines - Several new plant and frog species were discovered during a recent biological expedition in North Negros Natural Park, an online news site reported. Visayan Daily Star reported the species also included droppings and palm trees very recently eaten by the Visayan spotted deer. “Although it (North Negros Natural Park/NNNP) may not be the biggest patch of forest it is one of the most important pieces of forest anywhere in the world," expedition team leader James Sawyer said. Sawyer led a team of environmentalists from the United Kingdom and the Philippines in a two-week biological expedition into the interior of the NNNP. Sawyer, a veteran of expeditions to 25 countries, said their finds can make Filipinos proud that a globally important area is right at their doorstep. He said the team's findings prove that the area has critical biological worth. Sawyer also said the presence of the Visayan spotted deer is an important find as it is the rarest deer in the world. He added there has been no evidence of the Visayan spotted deer being alive in the wild for 10 years. “We believe there are two distinct populations of the spotted deer in the NNNP interior and we only covered about one percent, which is great news," he said. “We brought droppings of the deer back with us for the Negros Forests and Ecological Foundation Inc. and Silliman University (SU) to analyze to learn more about their diets to help those in captivity," he added. NFEFI based in Bacolod City and SU in Dumaguete City have been breeding the Visayan spotted deer in captivity. "In addition we believe that we have found new species of frogs but a full report of the expedition will be made after analysis of our finds, Sawyer said. The current size of the NNNP is 80,454 hectares with only 16,487 hectares of forest remaining. Dr. Craig Turner, an environmental management expert, said he and Sawyer have worked in tropical rainforests all over the world and have never seen anything quite like what they saw in the NNNP interior, it is “very exciting." “This is definitely a unique environment, the center of this park in the most pristine rainforest that we have seen anywhere in the world," he said. Joining the expedition were six British, one Irish and five Filipino members. It took the expedition five days to get to the interior of the park, after long hard trekking, Sawyer said. “The geography of interior is very steep and in a way that’s what protects the area," he added. “We found a cloud forest, a very different type of rainforest, with much greater diversity of plant and animal life. There were lots of very strange looking insects and frogs. A lot of the amphibians we found we could not identify using the standards species guides, which means we need to go to specialists and show them the photos we took and see what they think," he said. “Our feeling is there are lots of new species in the interior, which makes it a critically important area to protect," he added. The expedition was partnered by the NFEFI that undertook biodiversity surveys between 1999 and 2006 with Coral Cay Conservation in parts of the NNNP covering Talisay, Murcia and Silay – all part of the watershed of Bacolod City. Sawyer lauded NFEFI work at protecting the NNNP despite limited funds. To prove that the rare species they saw exists, specimens have to be taken out of the forest that they have not done yet because their two week expedition was only to conduct a rapid biodiversity assessment, he said. He added they want to go back in 18 to 24 months with more scientists to prove that there are new species in the NNNP. “Much work has to be done, we see our initial findings as a start," he said. Sawyer said it is important to credit the Filipino members of their team because, without them, the expedition would not have succeeded. - GMANews.TV