Aug. 10: More than 350 new species, including a flying frog and the world’s smallest deer species, have been discovered in the Eastern Himalayas in the last decade, according to the WWF.
The eastern Himalayas, the region which spans Bhutan and Northeast India, north Burma, Nepal and southern parts of Tibet Autonomous Region in China, faces an alarming threat from climate change.
In the last decade, 244 plants, 16 amphibians, 16 reptiles, 14 fish, 2 birds, 2 mammals and at least 60 new invertebrates have been discovered in the region, the wildlife agency said in a report released on Monday.
The flying frog, (Rhacophorus suffry), uses red and long webbed feet to glide in the air. Miniature muntjac, also called the "leaf deer," is the world’s oldest and smallest deer species. The region harbours a staggering 10,000 plant species, 300 mammal species, 977 bird species, 176 reptiles, 105 amphibians and 269 types of freshwater fish. The region also has the highest density of the Bengal tiger and is the last bastion of the charismatic greater one-horned rhino and is home to Asian elephants.
However, only 25 per cent of the original habitats in the region remain intact and 163 species that live in the eastern Himalayas are considered globally threatened, the agency added. Urging governments to commit to a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by industrialised countries of 40 per cent by 2020, WWF’s conservation science adviser Mark Wright said, "There is no room for compromise on this issue; without these cuts the Himalayas face a precarious future — impacting both the unique wildlife and the 20 per cent of humanity who rely on the river systems that arise in these mountains."
The WWF has launched a campaign, called Climate for Life, to focus attention on the plight of the Himalayas.
