Foja Expedition 2008

CI Headquarters, Arlington, Virginia, United States
November 22, 2008

A young pineapple plant in Kwerba garden.

The RAP mountain team recently called in by satellite phone, from the Bog Camp in the Fojas. They note that field work has gone well and the team has been very productive of the past two and a half weeks. Everyone is happy with where things are.

They've seen quite a few novel species and have lots of documentation of some of the most interesting species up there. A few examples are good photographic encounters with the long-beaked echidna and the golden-mantled tree-kangaroo, and the display ground of the six-wired bird of paradise was located a couple of days ago, below the bog camp.

The researchers have found various species believed to be new to science, but they need to confirm identification before any announcement.

The bird team reached the 2,200-meter summit last week, but there were not many surprises up there which was a disappointment. The team is now working at the 1,250-meter camp and there is hope this will be quite productive – it already produced 15 species of frogs in a single night!

All this new knowledge will help CI and its institutional partners to plan for the long-term management of this vast rainforest environment, as Indonesia develops its last wilderness over the next decade.

(right) A golden-fronted bowerbird. Photos © Bruce Beehler/CI

– Reported by Bruce Beehler

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