A Decade of New Species Discoveries in the Himalayas [Slide Show]
The remote eastern Himalayas--home to tiny deer and big vipers--have offered enterprising researchers a wealth of new species to document and describe
![A Decade of New Species Discoveries in the Himalayas [Slide Show]](https://static.scientificamerican.com/sciam/cache/file/DEFA3829-0907-4A75-B71FCEB3A731058D.jpg?w=590&h=393)
A Decade of New Species Discoveries in the Himalayas [Slide Show]
- GENUINE JUNGLE BIRD Just south of the Tibetan border in Burma's Kachin State, researchers discovered the Naung Mung scimitar-babbler (Jabouilleia naungmungensis), which was described in 2005. The midsize forest-dweller uses its big bill to nose around on the ground for food. CHRISTOPHER MILENSKY/WWF NEPAL
- FANTASTIC FISH Swimming in the streams, ponds and swamps near the Brahmaputra River in the rainforests of Assam, India, the orange-spotted snakehead (Channa aurantimaculata) was discovered in 2000. The carnivorous fish's head resembles a snake (hence its name), and it can grow to be about 40 centimeters [about half a meter] long. The purple and orange coloration makes for a striking appearance. ANDERS LINDERSSON/WWF NEPAL
- MISCHIEVOUS MONKEYS The first new primate species described in more than a century, the Arunachal macaque (Macaca munzala) had been the bane of local farmers for ages. Nicknamed the mum zala (deep-forest monkey) by the local Dirang Monpa, the Arunachal macaque had long been accused of messing with crops in its native Arunachal Pradesh territory. It's one of the highest altitude–dwelling monkeys in the world, living between 1,600 and 3,500 meters. Subsequent surveys have found about 569 of the stocky simians, but its conservation status remains unknown. ANINDYA SINHA/WWF NEPAL
- DIMINUTIVE DEER The leaf deer (Muntiacus putaoensis) is not only one of the world's smallest known deer, but it also hails from the muntjac, the oldest fawn family (which crop up in fossils 15 million to 35 million years ago). Standing, the deer measures just 60 to 80 centimeters short—and weighs about 11 kilograms. (To compare: the North American white-tailed deer stands about 107 centimeters tall and tips the scales at 57 to 136 kilograms.) But the little deer wasn't new to villagers in India, who had known about it long before researchers found it in Burma and then in the Namdapha Tiger Reserve in Arunachal Pradesh. PANTHERA/ALAN RABINOWITZ/WWF NEPAL
- SURPRISING SNAKES This poisonous pit viper grows to a menacing 1.3 meters and was discovered by scientists in 2002 around Putao. The Gumprecht's green pit viper (Trimeresurus gumprechti) lives in the northern reaches of Burma at altitudes above 400 meters and varies widely between the sexes. Females are larger and have yellow eyes and a thin white or blue stripe on their heads, whereas males (pictured here) are a bit shorter and have red eyes and a bright red stripe. GERNOT VOGEL/WWF NEPAL
- BRIGHT BIRDS Few new bird species have been reported in India since the 1940s, but an astrophysicist described the Bugun liocichla (Liocichla bugunorum) in 2006. Ramana Athreya spotted two of the Asian babblers in 1995 around the Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary in Arunachal Pradesh. Particular in its habitat requirements—preferring hill forests with open canopies—the Bugun liocichla is only known to live at altitudes ranging from 2,000 to 2,350 meters. RAMANA ATHREYA/WWF NEPAL
- ARRESTING AMPHIBIANS The Smith's litter frog (Leptobrachium smithi), was discovered nearly 10 years ago in the state of Assam in northeastern India. The fantastic-looking frog is only a few centimeters long but has large, gold eyes. Despite its fresh discovery, the frog—found first in the Mayeng Hill Reserve and Garbhanga Reserve forests—is facing harsh realities of habitat destruction from tree clearing and water pollution. S. MILIVOJE KRVAVAC/WWF NEPAL
