Mega rat, mini possum found in 'lost world'

BRUCE M BEEHLER/Conservation International

BIG DISCOVERY: Scientist have found two new species - an enormous rat five times the size of a city rat and a pygmy possum - in a 'lost world' forest in Indonesia's Papua.

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Scientists believe they have found two new undocumented mammals – a pygmy possum and a giant rat – in the jungles of a remote mountain range in Indonesia's Papua province, a conservation group said.

During an expedition to Papua's Foja Mountains in June, Conservation International (CI) and Indonesian scientists documented the two mammals – a Cercartetus pygmy possum, one of the world's smallest marsupials, and a Mallomys giant rat, the conservation group said in a statement.

Both mammals are currently under study and are apparently new to science, it said.

The scientists, accompanied by a film crew, also recorded the mating displays of several rare and little-known birds for the first time.

Scientists from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences and CI discovered dozens of new plants and animals on their first trip to the region, described as a "Lost World", in late 2005.

The giant rat is about five times the size of a typical city rat, Kristofer Helgen, a scientist with the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, said in the statement.

"With no fear of humans, it apparently came into the camp several times during the trip," he said.

The Foja Wilderness is part of the great Mamberamo Basin, the largest unroaded tropical forest in the Asia Pacific region.

With 42 million hectares of tropical forests and some of the richest bio-diversity in the world, Papua is considered the country's last rainforest frontier. But it is under threat from increased cutting and clearing for palm oil plantations as well as rampant illegal logging.