Whoville News

WWN -  The West Who Academy of Science announced its main focus in conservation this year will be consumer conservation and animal conservation.  Academy Director Margaret Neiderer said “our efforts will be to focus public awareness on the four R's: Rethink, Reduce, Recycle, Repair.  We want people to think about local purchasing, moral purchasing and the sustained, and efficient use of renewable resources.” The Director also said the Academy was greatly concerned about the decline of the world's primates.  A report by the highly respected International Primatological Society, found that of the world’s 634 different kinds of primates almost 50 percent are in danger of going extinct.  The West Who Academy of Science noted this as a major concern.

 

However, on the positive side the BBC reported that two never-before described species of monkey have been found in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest and a new giant ape has been found by scientists in the Democratic Republic of Congo.  The new giant ape is similar to a giant chimpanzee but behaves more like a gorilla.  Also a new species of monkey was discovered in India in 2004.  These remarkable finds shows that there is still much to discover and learn about biodiversity in general on our planet.

 

Finally the West Who Academy of Science released information that scientists have discovered hundreds of new species in a remote mountain rainforest region of western New Guinea.  These species included birds, frogs, butterflies, palm trees, and many other plants yet to be classified.  Other animals such as tree kangaroos, wallabies, and anteaters—all extremely rare elsewhere—were also found. Scientists noted that many of the animals were not afraid of humans, and some were even easily picked up, suggesting they had generally not encountered humans before.