Kanguru Indonesia Di Papua

Kanguru ternyata tidak hanya terdapat di Autralia saja. Ternyata di Indonesia, tepatnya di Papua, juga memiliki Kangguru, spisies yang mempunyai ciri khas kantung di perutnya (Marsupialia). Kanguru Papua ini memiliki ukuran yang lebih kecil dibandingkan dengan Kanguru Australia. Sayang Kanguru yang terdiri atas Kanguru tanah dan Kanguru pohon ini mulai langka sehingga termasuk binatang (satwa) Indonesia yang dilindungi dari kepunahan.
Kangguru Papua terdiri atas dua genus yaitu dendrolagus (Kanguru Pohon) dan thylogale (Kanguru Tanah). Kanguru pohon sebagian besar masa hidupnya ada di pohon. Sekalipun begitu satwa tersebut juga sering turun ke tanah, misalnya bila sedang mencari air minum. Moncong kanguru pohon bentuknya lebih runcing jika dibandingkan dengan moncong kanguru darat. Ekornya agak panjang dan bulat, berbulu lebat dari pangkal sampai ekornya. Sedangkan pada kanguru darat kedua kaki depannya lebih pendek dari pada kaki belakangnya, Cakarnya pun lebih kecil. Moncongnya agak tumpul dan tidak berbulu. Ekornya makin meruncing ke ujung, bulunya tidak begitu lebat.
Kangguru Tanah (lau-lau atau paunaro):
Thylogale brunii (Dusky Pademelon) merupakan jenis kangguru terkecil yang ada di dunia. Beratnya antara 3-6 kilogram, tetapi ada juga yang 10 kilogram. Panjang tubuhnya sekitar 90 sentimeter dengan lebar sekitar 50 sentimeter. Satwa langka yang dilindungi ini adalah hewan endemik Papua, dan hanya terdapat di Papua di kawasan dataran rendah di hutan-hutan di wilayah Selatan Papua, dan Papua Niugini. Di Indonesia Thylogale brunii terdapat antara lain di Taman Nasional Wasur (Kabupaten

Merauke) dan Taman Nasional Gunung Lorentz (Mimika).
Thylogale stigmata (red-legged pademelon) merupakan jenis yang hidup di daerah pantai selatan Papua. Thylogale stigmata mempunyai warna kulit tubuh lebih cerah yaitu kuning kecokelatan.
Thylogale brownii (Brown’s pademelon). Selain di Papua, binatang ini juga terdapat di Papua New Guinea.
Kangguru pohon (lau-lau):
Dendrolagus pulcherrimus (Kanguru Pohon Mantel Emas) merupakan sejenis kanguru pohon yang hanya ditemukan di hutan pegunungan pulau Irian. Spesies ini memiliki rambut-rambut halus pendek berwarna coklat muda. Leher, pipi dan kakinya berwarna kekuningan. Sisi bawah perut berwarna lebih pucat dengan dua garis keemasan dipunggungnya. Ekor panjang dan tidak prehensil dengan lingkaran-lingkaran terang.
Penampilan Kanguru-pohon Mantel-emas serupa dengan Kanguru pohon Hias. Perbedaannya adalah Kanguru-pohon Mantel-emas memiliki warna muka lebih terang atau merah-muda, pundak keemasan, telinga putih dan berukuran lebih kecil dari Kanguru-pohon Hias. Beberapa ahli menempatkan Kanguru-pohon Mantel-emas sebagai subspesies dari Kanguru-pohon Hias.
Kanguru-pohon Mantel-emas merupakan salah satu jenis kanguru-pohon yang paling terancam kepunahan diantara semua kanguru pohon. Spesies ini telah punah di sebagian besar daerah habitat aslinya
Dendrolagus goodfellowi (disebut Kanguru Pohon Goodfellow atau kanguru pohon hias atau Goodfellow’s Tree-kangaroo) merupakan jenis kanguru pohon yang paling sering ditemui. Kulit tubuhnya berwarna

cokelat sawo matang dan banyak terdapat di hutan hujan di pulau Papua
Dendrolagus mbaiso (disebut sebagai Kanguru Pohon Mbaiso atau Dingiso) kanguru ini ditemukan di hutan montane yang tinggi dan subalpine semak belukar di Puncak Sudirman. Kanguru pohon ini mempunyai bulu hitam dengan kombinasi putih di bagian dadanya.
Dengrolagus dorianus atau disebut sebagai Kangguru Pohon Ndomea atau Doria’s Tree-kangaroo.
Dendrolagus ursinus (disebut Vogelkop Tree-kangaroo atau Kanguru Pohon Nemena) merupakan kanguru pohon yang paling awal terklasifikasikan. Mempunyai telinga panjang dan ekor panjang dan hitam.

Dendrolagus inustus disebut juga sebagai Kanguru Pohon Wakera atau Grizzled Tree-kangaroo.
Dendrolagus stellarum disebut juga sebagai Seri’s Tree-kangaroo. Kanguru pohon ini terdapat di Tembagapura.
Klasifikasi: Kerajaan: Animalia; Filum: Chordata; Kelas: Mammalia; Infrakelas: Marsupialia; Ordo: Diprotodontia; Famili: Macropodidae Genus: Dendrolagus dan Thylogale

Read More

Katak "Pinokio" Spesies Baru dari Papua

 
Sebuah ekspedisi ilmiah menemukan sejumlah spesies baru di Pegunungan Foja, di Pulau Guinea Baru, Provinsi Papua. Salah satunya jenis katak baru yang pantas disebut katak Pinokio karena memiliki bagian tubuh memanjang di mukanya.

Spesies baru itu yakni katak (Litoria sp nov) yang diamati memiliki benjolan panjang pada hidung seperti pinokio yang menunjuk ke atas bila ada ajakan dari jenis jantan serta mengempis dan mengarah ke bawah bila aktivitasnya berkurang. Katak ini ditemukan herpetologis, Paulus Oliver, secara kebetulan.

Kepala Komunikasi Conservation International (CI) Elshinta S Marsden di Jakarta, Senin (17/5/2010) malam, mengatakan, katak tersebut merupakan salah satu dari sekian banyak spesies baru yang ditemukan selama Conservation International’s Rapid Assessment Program (RAP) pada tahun 2008. Ekspedisi ini merupakan kolaborasi ilmuwan dari dalam dan luar negeri, termasuk para peneliti Lembaga Ilmu Pengetahuan Indonesia (LIPI).

Selain katak pinokio, spesies baru yang ditemukan lainnya, antara lain, tikus besar berbulu, tokek bermata kuning berjari bengkok, merpati kaisar, walabi kerdil (Dorcopsulus sp nov) anggota kanguru terkecil di dunia, serta seekor kanguru pohon berjubah emas yang sudah sangat langka penampakannya, dan sangat terancam keberadaannya karena perburuan dari bagian wilayah Guinea Baru lainnya.

Kejutan terbesar dari ekspedisi itu datang ketika seorang ornitologis, Neville Kemp, melihat sepasang merpati kaisar yang baru ditemukan (Ducula sp nov) dengan bulu-bulu yang terlihat berkarat, agak putih, dan abu-abu. Temuan lainnya yang direkam selama survei RAP itu, antara lain, kelelawar kembang baru (Syconycteris sp nov) yang memakan sari bunga dari hutan hujan, seekor tikus pohon kecil (Pogonomys sp nov), seekor kupu-kupu hitam dan putih (Ideopsis fojana) yang memiliki hubungan dengan jenis kupu-kupu raja pada umumnya, dan semak belukar berbunga yang baru (Ardisia hymenandroides).

"Untuk menentukan temuan tersebut betul-betul terbaru perlu diteliti dulu famili dan habitatnya. Hal itu butuh waktu bertahun-tahun," katanya. Kepastian penemuan itu diungkapkan dalam rangka menandai peringatan Hari Keanekaan Ragam Hayati se-Dunia (International Day for Biological Diversity) pada 22 Mei.

Pada ekspedisi RAP yang didukung The National Geographic Society dan Smithsonian Institution ini, para ahli biologi bertahan menghadapi hujan badai yang lebat dan banjir bandang yang mengancam sambil terus melacak spesies-spesies, mulai dari bukit rendah di Desa Kwerba sampai ke puncaknya pada kisaran 2.200 meter di atas permukaan laut.

Disebutkan juga, Wakil Presiden Regional CI Indonesia Jatna Supriatna, PhD, mengatakan, temuan ini dapat menunjukkan berapa banyak bentuk spesies unik yang hanya hidup di hutan-hutan pegunungan Papua, dan menyadarkan dunia betapa hutan-hutan ini harus dilestarikan.

"Para peneliti LIPI merasa sangat bersyukur turut terlibat dalam pengungkapan keanekaan ragam hayati kawasan Pegunungan Foja, Mamberamo. Adanya kerja sama penelitian ini jelas mendukung program-program konservasi pada kawasan yang memiliki biodiversitas sangat tinggi dan termasuk dalam daftar perlindungan undang-undang RI," kata Ketua Tim Peneliti dari Pusat Penelitian Biologi LIPI Dr Hari Sutrisno.

Sedangkan Gubernur Papua Barnabas Suebu mengingatkan, pihaknya sepakat dan sangat mendukung agar wilayah-wilayah ber-biodiversitas sangat tinggi di Provinsi Papua dipertahankan karena banyak spesies endemik di wilayah ini yang masih terisolasi dan tidak terdapat di belahan dunia lain.

Read More

Pinocchio frog was discovered on a RAP expedition to the Foja Mountains of Papua province, Indonesia

Pinocchio frog, ET salamander, Yoda bat and dinospider: species near extinction

This frog (Litoria sp. nov.), was discovered on a RAP expedition to the Foja Mountains of Papua province, Indonesia in 2008. It has a long, Pinocchio-like protuberance on its nose that points upwards when the male is calling but deflates and points downwards when he is less active. The frog represents a particularly distinctive find that scientists are interested in documenting and studying further. Its discovery was a happy accident, after herpetologist Paul Oliver spotted it sitting on a bag of rice in the campsite.

Read More

Indonesian Horned frogs (Megophrys spp.)

Imported from Indonesia as the Malayan Horned Frog, Megophrys nasuta, this species is in all probability the smaller species Megophrys montana. Our specimens have been collected on the island of Java. Despite having imported them several times, the largest specimen we have ever received has been around 7 cm, while the more frequently imported species known as the Malayan Horned Frog, Megophrys nasuta, grows much larger.

They are very beautiful and reasonably hardy frogs, and as the pictures show they can be quite variable in colors. This seem to change according to the individual specimens mood, and the way they are kept.

They feed greedily on anything that moves, and they love waxworms, which we use after their arrival due to the high fat content. Make sure you keep an eye on the frogs if you feed them crickets, removal of any uneaten cricket is a must, otherwise they do serious damage to the frogs` delicate skin.

Indonesian Horned frogs by Tom Halvorsen

As with the other members of the genus Megophrys the females are considerably larger than the males. The males are avid callers, with a sound quite pleasant to listen to in the late evenings.

The Indonesian Horned Frog usually hides within leaf litter during the daytime, so make sure you provide a layer of dead leaves for them, or plenty of other forms of hiding places such as pieces of cork bark. Keep their environment very clean, and do not expose them to temperatures too low. A heatmat can be used under a small part of their cage, but make sure the frogs can not get burnt from direct access to the heatmat, or otherwise overheat.

As in their natural environment, high humidity is required by frequent misting of their environment, equally good air circulation is important. They sometimes enter water and soak for a while, so it is advisable to give them access to a shallow waterbowl at all times.

Megophrys cf. montana is not commonly available in the trade, and as far as we know are not being bred in captivity. Cannibalism is know to occur within at least the larger Megophrys-species, we have always kept these frogs in larger mixed groups without any signs of cannibalism, despite some of the males being only half the size of the females.

Read More

Katak "Bertanduk" hingga Begonia Batak, "Harta Karun" Indonesia yang Terungkap Tahun 2014

Spesies hewan dan tumbuhan yang cantik, unik, dan aneh terungkap lewat ketekunan taksonom Indonesia dalam mengidentifikasi. Dari ragam spesies yang ditemukan, berikut beberapa yang paling menarik.

Katak Bertanduk

Species Diversity Polypedates pseudotilophus

Katak ini ditemukan oleh ahli herpetologi dari Lembaga Ilmu Pengetahuan Indonesia (LIPI), Amir Hamidy. Nama spesies katak itu adalah Polypedates pseudotilophus.

Sebelumnya, spesies katak bertanduk yang ditemukan di bumi Sumatera (P pseudotilophus) ini dianggap jenis yang sama dengan yang di Kalimantan (P otilophus). Namun, analisis genetik dan morfologi mengungkap bahwa keduanya berbeda.

"Tanduk" yang dimiliki oleh P pseudotilophus sejatinya adalah tonjolan tulang di kepala. Tonjolan ini salah satunya berfungsi untuk melindungi diri dari mangsa.

Bunglon Berleher Ungu dan Jahitan Punggung

Amir Hamidy/Zootaxa Pseudocalotes guttalineatus

Tahun 2014, Indonesia punya tiga jenis bunglon baru. Ketiganya ditemukan di kawasan Bukit Barisan, Sumatera. Ketiganya juga ditemukan oleh Amir Hamidy.

Spesies pertama dinamai Pseudocalotes cybelidermus, disebut bunglon berleher ungu. Jenis kedua disebut P guttalineatus mempunyai ciri unik berupa pola garis putus-putus berwarna kebiruan pada bagian leher.

Jenis ketiga dinamai P rhammanotus, punya  punya karakter khas berupa sisik menonjol di bagian punggung, disebut bunglon dengan jahitan punggung.

Begonia "Bermarga" Siregar

Wisnu Handoyo Ardi Begonia siregarii

Begonia dengan nama Siregar adalah salah satu dari dua begonia baru yang ditemukan oleh ahli botani LIPI, Wisnu Handoyo Ardi.

Begonia siregarii, demikian nama ilmiah bunga itu, ditemukan di Tana Toraja. Nama tanaman setinggi 1 meter ini diambil dari nama Kepala Kebun raya Bogor periode 2009-2014, Mustaid Siregar.

Begonia ini memiliki tepian daun yang bergerigi, tangkai perbungaan betina yang lebih panjang dan tepian tenda bunga betina yang rata.

Satu spesies lagi yang ditemukan adalah Begonia gambutensis, memiliki kekhasan berupa warna rambut-rambut halus yang terdapat pada batang dan daunnya. Bunga ini ditemukan di Gunung Gambuta, Sulawesi.

Burung Sikatan dari Sulawesi

PLOS ONE Muscicapa sodhii

Butuh waktu lama untuk mengungkap identitas burung sikatan baru dari Sulawesi dengan nama Muscicapa sodhii ini, 17 tahun!

Burung ini pertama kali dijumpai pada tahun 1997 dan baru dikoleksi pada tahun 2012 untuk proses identifikasi. Tim Michigan State University dan LIPI sukses menguak dientitasnya sebagai identitasnya sebagai jenis baru setelah melakukan analisis morfologi dan genetik.

M sodhii punya bulu dengan bintik-bintik pada bagian lehernya, ekor yang lebih pendek dengan jenis lain, serta paruh yang lebih tajam.

Ular Berbisa dari Sumatera

G Vogel Trimeresurus gunaleni

Ular yang ditemukan bernama Trimeresurus gunaleni. Namanya diambil dari nama pembiak dan fotografer asal Jakarta, Danny Gunalen.

Spesies ular ini ditemukan lewat kerjasama sejumlah ilmuwan, salah satunya Irvan Sidik dari LIPI. Jenis ini ditemukan di hutan wilayah Sumatera Barat, di hutan pada ketinggian 1.500 hingga 2.000 meter di atas permukaan laut.

Ular ini punya corak hitam hijau yang unik, dengan dominasi warna hijau.

Kumbang yang "Hilang" sejak Tahun 1920

Trigonopterus amphoralis, itulah jenis kumbang baru yang ditemukan. Jenis ini sebenarnya sudah ada di Museum Zoologi Bogor sejak tahun 1920, namun dikatakan "hilang".

Jenis ini ditemukan lewat analisis genetik yang dilakukan oleh sejumlah ilmuwan, termasuk Yayuk Suhardjono dan Cahyo Rahmadi dari LIPI. Kumbang ini berasal dari Bukit Barisan dan Pantai Pedada, Lampung.

Punya ukuran panjang sekitar 3,02 mm, kumbang ini punya warna dominan hitam dengan antena dan kaki berwarna karat.

Read More

The hidden Pyramid in Indonesia

 
The image you see above may be that of an overgrown, 20 000 year old Pyramid. Or it may not be. The jury is still out. I present it as a possibility, not as a fact.
It`s location is at the largest megalithic site of Indonesia, Mount Padang:


Sure, just because a hill has the shape of a pyramid does not make it one. I would have dismissed it, were it not not for the surrounding megaliths and the fact that scientists and even Government officials have openly spoken of a 9000 to 20 000 year old civilization (controversially contradicting the prevailing “we are the first civilization” doctrine) and are themselves trying to find out whether there is a pyramid hidden beneath the hill.
An article by the Sydney Morning Herald on the controversial megalithic site says:
…Gunung Padang has been known (though not widely) as the largest of a number of ancient megalithic sites in Indonesia.
Here our prehistoric forebears, moved by the area’s strikingly shaped columns of volcanic rock, built terraces into the mountaintop and arranged and stacked the stones for whatever indiscernible purpose motivated them.
And Hilman thinks there is much more to it under the surface. If he’s right – and Indonesia’s President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is enthusiastically encouraging his investigations – then buried beneath the piles of ancient stone is by far the oldest pyramid on the planet.
Hilman says it could predate the next oldest by a dozen millenniums or more, suggesting an advanced ancient civilisation in Java. ”It’s older than 9000 [years] and could be up to 20,000,” Hilman says, as he sits on a fallen column of stone. ”It’s crazy, but it’s data.’
Hilman, a senior geologist at Indonesia’s Centre for Geotechnical Research, believes that most of this 100 metre hill is actually man-made, built up on three stages over the millenniums by three different cultures.
If he is correct the find would rewrite prehistory in the same way as the discovery of a mini-human ”hobbit” on the eastern Indonesian island of Flores rewrote paleoanthropology…
In May, Hilman, who holds a PhD from the California Institute of Technology, was summoned to brief Yudhoyono on his findings. The President was so impressed that he appointed a government taskforce to investigate further, while Arif and Hilman continued with their work. President Yudhoyono urged haste, describing the team’s work as a ”task of history … of important value for humanity”. He even offered the services of the army’s earth-moving equipment.
Proving the authenticity of these ancient ruins among the banana palms and tea plantations of Cianjur has taken on the aura of a nationalistic quest.
A test being conducted on this day is one in a series of geo-electric surveys. Men in gumboots arrange long loops of yellow cable on huge columnar rocks denuded of their topsoil.
Hilman stands on the muddy edge and points out what he says are patterns in the arrangement of the rocks. These patterns reflect the geological testing already undertaken, he says – that stones usually found upright have been laid horizontally on beds of gravel. Some are stuck together by an ancient form of glue, he says. These have been carbon dated indicating the sites are well in excess of 9000 years old, he says.
Below this are walls he describes as rooms, internal steps and terraces, all evidence of a massive building, of human intelligence and planning.
”The structure of the building is very good, it’s been defined by many lines of the geo-electric surveys, even 3D, even GPR [ground-penetrating radar] … and core samples,” Hilman says. ”We conclude that the archaeological site, the arrangement of these columnar joints, has laminated the entire hill so it’s 100 metres thick. We also think it’s not just one layer of building, but multiple layers.” They may have discovered archaeological human structures or features to a depth of at least 15 metres.
”It’s huge,” Hilman says. ”People think the prehistoric age was primitive, but this monument proves that wrong.”
The remainder of the article, which I have not quoted in full length, goes into those who dispute the pyramid-theory.
Some images of the hand-carved megaliths at the site:




And some stones that are apparently in the Mountain itself and raise hopes of artificial construction:



One of the only western researcher who seems to be looking into this with any sincerity is Graham Hancock. These are snippets from an early article of his:
“Everything we’ve been taught about the origins of civilization may be wrong,” says Danny Natawidjaja, PhD, senior geologist with the Research Centre for Geotechnology at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences. “Old stories about Atlantis and other a great lost civilizations of prehistory, long dismissed as myths by archaeologists, look set to be proved true.”
I’m climbing with Dr Natawidjaja up the steep slope of a 300-ft high step-pyramid set amidst a magical landscape of volcanoes, mountains and jungles interspersed with paddy fields and tea plantations a hundred miles from the city of Bandung in West Java, Indonesia.
The pyramid has been known to archaeology since 1914 when megalithic structures formed from blocks of columnar basalt were found scattered amongst the dense trees and undergrowth that then covered its summit. Local people held the site to be sacred and called it Gunung Padang, the name it still goes by today, which means “Mountain of Light”, or “Mountain of Enlightenment”, in the local Sundanese language. The summit, where the megaliths were found arranged across five terraces had been used as a place of meditation and retreat since time immemorial, archaeologists were told, and again this remains true today.
However neither the archaeologists, nor apparently the locals realized the pyramid was a pyramid. It was believed to be a natural hill, somewhat modified by human activity, until Natawidjaja and his team began a geological survey here in 2011. By then the summit had long since been cleared and the megalithic terraces recognized to be ancient and man-made, but no radiocarbon dating was ever done and the previously accepted age of the site – about 1,500 to 2,500 BC — was based on guesswork rather than on excavations.
The first scientific radiocarbon dating was done by Natawidjaja himself on soils underlying the megaliths at or near the surface. The dates produced – around 500 to 1,500 BC – were very close to the archaeological guesswork and caused no controversy. However a surprise was in store as Natawidjaja and his team extended their investigation using tubular drills that brought up cores of earth and stone from much deeper levels.
First the drill cores contained evidence – fragments of columnar basalt – that man-made megalithic structures lay far beneath the surface. Secondly the organic materials brought up in the drill cores began to yield older and older dates – 3,000 BC to 5,000 BC, then 9,600 BC as the drills bit deeper, then around 11,000 BC, then, 15,000 BC and finally at depths of 90 feet and more an astonishing sequence of dates of 20,000 BC to 22,000 BC and earlier.
“This was not at all what my colleagues in the world of archaeology expected or wanted to hear” says Natawidjaja, who earned his PhD at Cal Tech in the United States and who, it becomes apparent, regards archaeology as a thoroughly unscientific discipline.
The problem is that those dates from 9,600 BC and earlier belong to the period that archaeologists call the “Upper Palaeolithic” and take us back deep into the last Ice Age when Indonesia was not a series of islands as it is today but was part of a vast southeast Asian continent dubbed “Sundaland” by geologists…
…”It is difficult,” Natawidjaja says, “for us to imagine what life on earth must have been like during the Younger Dryas. It was a truly cataclysmic period of immense climate instability and terrible, indeed terrifying, global conditions. It’s not surprising that many large animal species, such as the mammoths, went extinct during this precise time and of course it had huge effects on our ancestors, not just those ‘primitive’ hunter gatherers the archaeologists speak of but also, I believe, a high civilization that was wiped from the historical record by the upheavals of the Younger Dryas.”
What has brought Natawidjaja to this radical view is the evidence he and his team have uncovered at Gunung Padang. When their drill cores began to yield very ancient carbon dates from clays filling the gaps between worked stones they expanded their investigation using geophysical equipment – ground penetrating radar, seismic tomography and electrical resistivity – to get a picture of what lay under the ground. The results were stunning, showing layers of massive construction using the same megalithic elements of columnar basalt that are found on the surface but with courses of huge basaltic rocks beneath them extending down to 100 feet and more beneath the surface. At those depths the carbon dates indicate that the megaliths were put in place more than 10,000 years ago and in some cases as far back as 24,000 years ago…
…”The geophysical evidence is unambiguous,” Natawidjaja says. “Gunung Padang is not a natural hill but a man-made pyramid and the origins of construction here go back long before the end of the last Ice Age. Since the work is massive even at the deepest levels, and bears witness to the kinds of sophisticated construction skills that were deployed to build the pyramids of Egypt or the largest megalithic sites of Europe, I can only conclude that we’re looking at the work of a lost civilization and a fairly advanced one.”
“The archaeologists won’t like that,” I point out.
“They don’t!” Natawidjaja agrees with a rueful smile. “I’ve already got myself into a lot of hot water with this. My case is a solid one, based on good scientific evidence, but it’s not an easy one. I’m up against deeply entrenched beliefs.”
The next step will be a full-scale archaeological excavation. “We have to excavate in order to interrogate our remote sensing data and our carbon dating sequences and either to confirm or deny what we believe we’ve found here,” says Natawidjaja, “but unfortunately there’s a lot of obstacles in our way.”
When I ask what he means by obstacles he replies that some senior Indonesian archaeologists are lobbying the government in Jakarta to prevent him from doing any further work at Gunung Padang on the grounds that they “know” the site is less than 5,000 years old and see no justification for disturbing it.
“I don’t deny that the megaliths at the surface are less than 5,000 years old,” Natawidjaja hastens to add, “but I suggest they were put here because Gunung Padang has been recognized as a sacred place since time immemorial. It’s the deepest layers of the structure at between 12,000 and more than 20,000 years old that are the most important. They have potentially revolutionary implications for our understanding of history and I think it’s vital that we be allowed to investigate them properly.”
The hypothetical Pyramid is, as of this time, pretty much being ignored outside of Indonesia. That’s why most of the websites I have consulted about it have to be run through the Google-Translator.
According to the Wikipedia site on Mount Padang…
On October 1, 2014, surveyors halted excavation activities temporarily due to these facts and recommendations:^[6]

• There is a large structure below the surface
• A core zone site area has been confirmed
• Many man-made artefacts have been discovered
• The construction of the site spans four eras
• A recommendation has been made to extent the survey, renovation concept, conservation and management of the site

Another view:


The most recent Graham Hancock update provides grounds for optimism (excerpts only):
…evidence of deeply buried man-made chambers and yielding carbon dates going back as far as 26,000 years. This was the last Ice Age when our ancestors are supposed (according to the orthodox archaeological model) to be have been nothing more than primitive hunter gatherers incapable of large-scale construction and engineering feats. Was it possible that geologist Natawidjaja was unearthing the proof of a lost advanced civilization of prehistoric antiquity? Such ideas are heresy to mainstream archaeologists and sure enough the archaeological establishment in Indonesia banded together against Dr Natawidjaja and his team, lobbied the political authorities, agitated locally and succeeded in slowing down, though not completely stopping, the further exploration of Gunung Padang.
Dr Natawidjaja fought back, doing some high-level lobbying of his own, taking the matter to the President of Indonesia himself. There were further delays to do with elections in Indonesia but just a couple of months ago, in mid-August 2014, the final obstacles were lifted and Dr Natawidjaja and his team moved back onto the Gunung Padang site with full approval to go ahead with their work, including permission to excavate the concealed chambers.
Archaeologists were furious and immediately began lobbying to get the work stopped – fortunately to no avail as preliminary excavations have produced results that prove beyond doubt that Gunung Padang in indeed a man-made pyramid of great antiquity as Dr Natawidjaja had long ago proposed. Even the relatively young layer so far excavated (the second artificial columnar rock-layer beneath the megalithic site visible on the surface) has yielded dates of 5200 BC (nearly 3000 years older than the orthodox dating for the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt) and there are firm indications from the original remote sensing and core drilling work of much older layers below. In short, it is now evident to all that the site is vastly older than the 2500 years that archaeologists had insisted upon for decades. Even the most hostile amongst them are therefore now reframing their assessment of the site and referring to it as “a gigantic terraced tomb, which was part of the biggest megalithic culture in the archipelago.”…
…As to the progress of the work at Gunung Padang, Dr Natawidjaja writes as follows:
“The research progress has been being great.  We have excavated three more spots right on top of the megalithic site in the past couple weeks, which give more evidence and details about the buried structures.  We have uncovered lots more stone artifacts from the excavations.  The existence of the pyramid-like structure beneath the megalithic site is now loud and clear; even for non-specialists, it is not too difficult  to understand if they come and see for themselves.    We have found some kind of open hall buried by soil 5-7 meters thick; however we have not yet got into the main chamber.  We are now drilling to the suspected location of the chamber (based on subsurface geophysic) in the middle of the megalithic site.”
Even if no Pyramid were ultimately found, terraced layers of four civilizations have been found, each older civilization more advanced than the more recent. That in itself is great news for Atlantis-Researchers because we have been saying all along that civilization has not evolved over the ages, it has declined (up until the last few hundred years).
As you`ll already have guessed, Indonesia too is rife with Atlantis- and Lemuria related legends of flying serpents, giants, dwarves, warring gods and all the usual suspects. Another amazing discovery in this regard were the remains of dwarves on the island of Flores. Indonesian “myths” are full of dwarves. And as you may have also guessed, any relation to mythology was dismissed in the press. Mainstream researchers provided the usual tired explanations about genetic illnesses that cause dwarfism, down syndrome and “deformed people”. The press publicized them as “Hobbits”, further masking the significance of the find (Google “Indonesia Dwarves” or “Indonesia Hobbit” to learn more).
A Javanese legend called “Aji Saka” (King Saka or “the Primordial King”) recounts how civilization came to the area. And that’s quite a different story than the official one according to which civilization started in the year 3oo.
Saka came from an unknown mythical land to bring civilization and order to Java. For that he first had to defeat evil Giants (denawa – giant demons) that ruled the Island. These giants were cannibalistic and destructive. The King of the Giants was called Dewata Cengkar. King Saka defeated him by pushing him into the Ocean.
The legend also tells of a giant snake that claimed to be Aki Sakas son. Aki Saka however said, that in order to become his son, he would have to fight on his side and kill a being called Bajul Putih, which appears to have been another serpentine creature. The giant snake did so and then became King Sakas son. Upon seeing that his new son greedily ate the domestic pets of his palace, he was expelled by the King and sent out into the jungle and tied to a rope. He was told that he would now only be able to eat what fell in his mouth. Other variations say that the snake was expelled into a cave.

Read More

Indonesian Pyramid Is 20,000 Years Old Claims Geologist, Discovery May Rewrite History

Is the oldest pyramid in the world in Indonesia?

Gunung Padang is a megalithic site located in Karyamukti village, Cianjur regency, West Java Province of Indonesia, 50 km south-west of the city of Cianjur or 6 kilometers from Lampegan station. It is the largest megalithic site in South-Eastern Asia. 

The existence of the site is mentioned in Rapporten van de Oudheidkundige Dienst (ROD, “Report of the Department of Antiquities”) in 1914. The Dutch historian N. J. Krom also mentioned it in 1949. Employees of National Archeology Research Centre visited the site in 1979 for a study of archaeology, history and geology.
Located at 885 metres above sea level, the site covers a hill in a series of terraces bordered by retaining walls of stone that are accessed by successive steps (about 400 andesit steps = 95 metres). It is covered with massive rectangular stones of volcanic origin. Local people consider the place as sacred and believe the site as a result of King Siliwangi attempt to build a palace in one night. The asymmetric Punden Berundak is facing up to northwest, to Mount Gede,  meaned constructed for the purpose of worship and built in a position that has been noticed geomantic and astromantic factors. Based on megalith shape the site is built in 1,500 years Before Christ.

The villages closest to the site are Cimanggu, Ciwangun and Cipanggulakan. Two routes are possible to get there:
One of many megalithic monuments on Gunung Padang  If geologist Dr Danny Hilman is correct,  buried beneath the megalithic jumble is an ancient pyramid. According to Hilman, the structure is “older than 9000 [years] and could be up to 20,000 old.
Credit: Mohammad Fadli, Wikipedia

Gunung Padang (Indonesia)  wasrediscovered in 1914 by Dutch colonialists, the megalithic ruins of almost covered hills Gunung Padang is known as the place with the most megalithic buildings in Indonesia. Currently, geologists and archaeologists are keen to test theories, according to which the hill  is supposed to be artificial in origin despite its vegetated surface and is among the oldest pyramids in the world today

 Danny Hilman from the Indonesian Centre for Geotechnical Research has a  theory that has so far at least convinced the Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.  Other archaeologists have shown interest but so far are still reluctant to accept the age.  No wonder because if his theory on age is proven then the 100 meters high pyramid predates all other early civilizations by millennia. “The Pyramid” say the researchers’  show radiocarbon dating  older than 9,000 years, and could be up to 20,000 years old.  As crazy as it sounds this is what the data shows according to Hilman’s research.
 As the “Sydney Morning Herald“ reported,  Hilman suspects that the pyramid was built in three phases over millennia by  three different cultures 
Should he be so right, this fact would rewrite the previous archaeological history.
Supported by government agencies and even by the labor and equipment from the Indonesian army, Hilman’s work was declared by that nation’s President to be an issue of national importance.  .

 Reconstruction of the alleged pyramid of Gunung Padang.

Credit:  unbek


Modern equipment has detected rooms, steps and terraces beneath the ground. To researchers and scientists that is evidence of the artificial nature of the hill and planning indicating intelligent human design.
The Indonesian pyramid stirs controversy  comparable to the controversy surrounding the alleged Bosnian pyramids in Visoko.  There is fierce resistance to Hilman’s theory and activism of the President: 34 Indonesian archaeologists and geologists have turned in a petition to Yudhoyono in which they indeed ascribe Gunung Padang, the rank of the most important megalithic site of Indonesia and probably all of South Asia, but they are no more convinced of a pyramid as assume that normal volunteers are involved in the work. Instead, the undersigned urge the observance of appropriate scientific standards and methods so as not to endanger the cultural heritage. Instead of a prehistoric pyramid some geologists believe rather that it is the remnants of a nearby volcano at Gunung Padang.
Another critic of  Hilman’s theory points out that recently found bone tools found in a close lying cave were dated to an age of 9,500 years, . The critical arguement is if people were there 7,000 BC. and were only able to make bone tools, then “how should a culture that should be up to 20,000 years old, have built such a pyramid?”
The structure beyond the Mount Padang structure is older than the upper structure. In depth of 1-4.5 meters by Beta Analytic Radiocarbon Dating (BETA) the older (below) structure is built in 4,500 BC, whether the upper structure in 500 BC. At 4.5 meter depth there are stones with specie which consist of 45 percent ferrum, 15 percent clay and the rest silica. The surveyor found a 10 centimeter steel fraction
The Independent Research Integrated Mount Padang Team, facilitated by the Special Staff of President for Social Assistance and Disaster, found man-made stone structures beneath the ancient site of Mount Padang, at Karyamukti Village, the District of Campaka, Cianjur Regency. According to the result of survey of team who did an archaeological excavation and geoelectric surveys on the eastern slopes of the hill in March 2013, the structure of colum andesite stone was found with near horizontal position elongated east-west. {fact
 “From the horizontal position of the column andesite rocks and its line direction, we can conclude with certainty that the column stones or” columnar joints “is not in a natural condition,” said Danny H. Natawidjaja, Coordinator of The Independent Research Integrated Mount Padang Team in Jakarta, Tuesday (2/4). In excavation, the archaeological team which is led by Ali Akbar from the University of Indonesia found the evidence to confirm the hypothesis of team that there are man-made structures in the basement of Mount Padang. The building structure is the same as with the structure of the stone terrace which has been revealed and become cultural sites on the hill
The excavation also found a filler material among the stones columns, also a stone column that had been shattered but styled and put together again by the filler material as ancient cement
The ancient cement has also been found on canyon railroads between the porch steps one and two, and also on drill core samples from a depth of 1 to 15 meters of drilling conducted by the team in 2012 and then on the site.
The geologist team and also the center coaches of Indonesian Association of Geologists center, Andang Bachtiar discovered previously unknown facts about the composition of the site. The cement material has a primary composition of 45% of iron mineral and 41% of mineral silica. The rest is 14% clay minerals and there is also a carbon element. “This is a good composition for strong cement adhesive, perhaps combining between the concepts of resin or modern strong adhesive made from silica materials and the use of concentration of the iron element which become as brick amplifiers,” said Danny H. Natawidjaja.
 The high content of silica indicates that the cement is not the result of weathering of column andesite rocks which is surrounded by a poor of silica. Then, the levels of iron in nature, even in the rocks at the ore mineral mining, generally the content of iron is not more than 5%, so iron levels in “Gunung Padang cement” is many times higher than natural conditions. Therefore it can be concluded that material which is lied between the columns andesite stones are man-made grout. So the technology of that time seems to have known metallurgy. One common technique to obtain a high concentration of iron is to carry out the combustion process from the broken rocks with very high temperatures. Similar to the making of bricks, which burn caolinite and illite clays to produce a high concentration of iron on the brick, explain Andang.
Indications of ancient metallurgical technology is more strengthened by the findings of a lump of metal materials sized 10 inches by the team of Ali Akbar at the depth of 1 meter on the eastern slopes of Mount Padang. The rusty metal material possessed a rough surface with a hollow-small cavity on the surface. Presumably this material is a metal dough residue (“slug”) that mixed with carbon material from the combustion of wood, coal or other. Cavities are likely to occur due to the release of CO2 when burning. The team will conduct further laboratorium analysis to investigate.
 The results of radiometric analysis of the content of the carbon element in some samples of cement in drill core from the depth of 5–15 meters which was conducted in 2012 at the prestigious Laboratory, BETALAB, Miami, USA in the mid-2012 shows its age with a range between 13,000 and 23,000 years BP. Previously, the results of carbon dating which carried out in the BATAN laboratory, the dominant quartz sand that fills the voids between the columns of andesite at the depth of 8–10 meters below the terrace of five also showed the same age range is about 13,000 years ago.
 Data from drilling conducted by Andang Bachtiar and microscopic analyzes of rocks from drill core samples were carried out by Andri Subandrio, geologist of volcanic rocks of the Petrology laboratory ITB. it can be assured that the high resistivity body rock is andesite lava rock, the same rock type as the column of the site of mount Padang.
Another thing discovered from the petrological analysis is the finding of many microscopic cracks in the thin section of andesite stone columns that are allegedly non-natural because the cracks cut its constituent mineral crystals.
Danny H. Natawidjaja stated that mount Padang has same potency with Borobudur, even it is more meaningful because it can be a breakthrough of knowledge about “the cradle of civilizations” in this century, as a proof of the great monuments of the oldest civilizations in the glorious world that destroyed because of catastrophe thousands of years ago in the pre-history of Indonesia.
“It is not impossible anymore if Indonesia as archipelago nation has civilization as advanced as the ancient Egyptian civilization, even in the much older”, said Danny H. Natawidjaja. 
The latest research found that the site consists of 4 layers, first layer age was 600 years BC, the second layer age was 4,900 years BC, and the third and the fourth layers are still being researched by Terpadu Mandiri (Indonesian Unified) Research Team


Related links
Controversy recently discovered pyramid complex in Egypt: Archaeologists have found evidence of want artificial structures 18 July 2013
Former. Egyptian chief archaeologist Zahi Hawass is convinced: “Pharaoh Cheops Pyramid harbors secret chamber and treasures” 
Bosnian pyramids? – Court allows further excavations in 2012 
Giant pyramid discovered in Indonesia? 
“From Lampegan to Mount Padang”. Pikiran-rakyat.com. Retrieved 2013-07-19.
 “Situs Megalitik Gunung Padang, Cianjur: Harmoni Bumi dan Langit”. February 22, 2011.
“Laporan Resmi: Situs Gunung Padang Punya 100 Undakan dan Luasnya 25 Hektar”. June 27, 2012.
 “Tim Terpadu Riset Mandiri: Gunung Padang Truly Extraordinary”. June 28, 2012.
  “Andi Arief Tak Kecewa Hasil Penelitian Tim Katastropik Purba Diabaikan”. November 11, 2012.
  “US Lab Validates Cianjur Ancient Structure Theory”. November 5, 2012.
 “Teknologi Bangunan Gunung Padang Lebih Maju”. April 3, 2013.
 “The Site of Mount Padang is the Evidence of Architectural Masterpieces of Ancient”. April 3, 2013.
 “Andi Arief: Dua Level Kebudayaan di Gunung Padang 100 Persen Terbukti!”. July 18, 2013.
Situs Gunung Padang di Cianjur.go.id
Artikel mengenai kemungkinan alat musik purba di situs Gunung Padang

Read More

Latest News From The Excavations At Gunung Padang, The Mysterious Ancient Pyramid In Indonesia That Is Rewriting History

Artist's impression of Gunung Padang as it would have looked in antiquity by and courtesy of architect Pon S Purajatnika. ©
Click for full size image.

The archaeological establishment is scrambling to find some reason to reject and pour scorn on the extraordinary consequences of the excavations now taking place at Gunung Padang in Indonesia.
Since its first exploration by archaeologists in 1914 the site was thought to be a natural hill with 2500 year-old megalithic structures on top of it. But in 2010 geologist Dr Danny Hilman Natawidjaja (who earned his doctorate at Cal Tech) recognized this “hill” as a possible man-made pyramid and began to explore it using ground penetrating radar, seismic tomography, resistivity survey and other remote sensing techniques, as well as some direct excavations and deep core drilling.
The results were immediately intriguing (see this article I wrote in January for background: http://www.grahamhancock.com/forum/HancockG9-Mystery-Lost-Civilization.php) producing evidence of deeply buried man-made chambers and yielding carbon dates going back as far as 26,000 years. This was the last Ice Age when our ancestors are supposed (according to the orthodox archaeological model) to be have been nothing more than primitive hunter gatherers incapable of large-scale construction and engineering feats. Was it possible that geologist Natawidjaja was unearthing the proof of a lost advanced civilization of prehistoric antiquity? Such ideas are heresy to mainstream archaeologists and sure enough the archaeological establishment in Indonesia banded together against Dr Natawidjaja and his team, lobbied the political authorities, agitated locally and succeeded in slowing down, though not completely stopping, the further exploration of Gunung Padang.
Dr Natawidjaja fought back, doing some high-level lobbying of his own, taking the matter to the President of Indonesia himself. There were further delays to do with elections in Indonesia but just a couple of months ago, in mid-August 2014, the final obstacles were lifted and Dr Natawidjaja and his team moved back onto the Gunung Padang site with full approval to go ahead with their work, including permission to excavate the concealed chambers.
Archaeologists were furious and immediately began lobbying to get the work stopped – fortunately to no avail as preliminary excavations have produced results that prove beyond doubt that Gunung Padang in indeed a man-made pyramid of great antiquity as Dr Natawidjaja had long ago proposed. Even the relatively young layer so far excavated (the second artificial columnar rock-layer beneath the megalithic site visible on the surface) has yielded dates of 5200 BC (nearly 3000 years older than the orthodox dating for the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt) and there are firm indications from the original remote sensing and core drilling work of much older layers below. In short, it is now evident to all that the site is vastly older than the 2500 years that archaeologists had insisted upon for decades. Even the most hostile amongst them are therefore now reframing their assessment of the site and referring to it as “a gigantic terraced tomb, which was part of the biggest megalithic culture in the archipelago.”
For a flavor of the sour grapes the archaeological establishment feel towards Dr Natawidjaja and his team see this recent article from the Jakarta Post: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/09/24/archaeologists-slam-excavation-gunung-padang-site.html
I asked Dr Natawidjaja for his response to the Jakarta Post article and he replied as follows:
“The article has got the story all wrong.  All excavations were supervised by archeologists from Agency for Conservation and Management of Archaeological Sites (BPCB) and University of Indonesia.  The excavation sites have also recently been inspected by the Director for Conservation of Archeological Sites (who is the boss of Miss Desril Shanti ), by the head of the BPCB, and by the Minister of Education and Culture himself.  Afterward, they gave a press conference confirming that all excavations are good and proper.  For information, the head of the National Archeological Center, which is the main office above local Archeological Centers including Bandung Archeological Center, is also a member of the National Team for Gunung Padang. The Jakarta Post article is also wrong about the funding.  The Minister of Education and Culture did indeed announce in the press conference that he would allocate about Rp 3 billion for the research but it has not begun to be disbursed yet.  So far, I and my team are still working willingly on our own funding with the help of the soldiers (TNI) who have been working alongside us.  Of course the TNI have their own funding – but not from that Endowment Fund.”
As to the progress of the work at Gunung Padang, Dr Natawidjaja writes as follows:
“The research progress has been being great.  We have excavated three more spots right on top of the megalithic site in the past couple weeks, which give more evidence and details about the buried structures.  We have uncovered lots more stone artifacts from the excavations.  The existence of the pyramid-like structure beneath the megalithic site is now loud and clear; even for non-specialists, it is not too difficult  to understand if they come and see for themselves.    We have found some kind of open hall buried by soil 5-7 meters thick; however we have not yet got into the main chamber.  We are now drilling to the suspected location of the chamber (based on subsurface geophysic) in the middle of the megalithic site.”
Stay tuned for more news from the front line!

Read More

Inikah Bukti Adanya Piramida di Perut Gunung Padang

Erik Rizki Tim peneliti Gunung Padang menemukan struktur yang diklaim sebagai bagian dari sebuah ruangan bawah tanah di situs tersebut.

Tim peneliti situs Gunung Padang menyatakan bahwa mereka baru saja menemukan struktur dinding bangunan di bawah permukaan teras 5., area tertinggi dari situs itu.

Menurut sekretaris tim riset, Erik Rizki, struktur dinding itu menerus pada lubang galian hingga kedalaman 3,3 meter.

Struktur dinding dinyatakan tersusun atas batuan andesit. Bantuan direkatkan oleh semacam semen purba.

Dalam keterangan yang diterima Kompas.com, Jumat (26/9/2014), Erika mengklaim bahwa struktur itu menjadi bukti adanya ruangan di bawah teras lima.

Struktur itu diduga buatan manusia, sebagaimana sejumlah artefak yang dinyatakan ditemukan pada kedalaman 1-2 meter di teras tersebut.

Ekskavasi Gunung padang berlangsung sejak 14 September 2014 lalu. Sejumlah artefak ditemukan, mulai koin hingga batuan serupa dolmen.

Temuan menuai sejumlah kontroversi. Soal koin misalnya. Sejumlah arkeolog meragukan koin yang ditemukan memang berasal dari masa 5.200 SM seperti yang diklaim tim riset.

Erik mengatakan, ekskavasi masih akan dilanjutkan hingga mencapai dasar dari struktur dinding yang ditemukan hari ini.

Ekskavasi Gunung Padang menggunakan dana abadi dari Kementerian Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan. Dana yang dialokasikan untuk tahap ini adalah Rp 3 miliar.

---

Ikuti perkembangan berita ini dalam topik:

• Kontroversi Riset Gunung Padang

 

 

Read More

World's only lungless frog leaves scientists gasping

The Bornean flat-headed frog lives in fast-flowing streams and is the only known lungless frog (Image: D. Bickford)

An unassuming little frog from Borneo has been found to have an exceedingly rare anatomical feature - introducing Barbourula kalimantanensis, the only known frog with no lungs.

The Bornean flat-headed frog gets all of its oxygen through its skin. Local gold-mining operations, however, are fast polluting the streams where the frog lives.

A single specimen of Barbourula was described in the 1970s, but biologists had no idea, until now, that the frog had no lungs.

"I was just going to be happy if we simply rediscovered the frogs," says David Bickford of the National University of Singapore. "Most of what we presume is the frog's original range is completely uninhabitable due to illegal gold mining and land conversion."

Rare adaptation

Lunglessness is extremely rare in amphibians because, although the animals breathe through their skin, the method delivers only a fraction of the oxygen provided by lungs. It is only practical for cold-blooded animals, which use far less energy than mammals.

One family of salamanders and one species of caecilians are the only other lungless amphibians. There are no known lungless reptiles.

Bickford and his colleagues think that air-filled lungs may have made it difficult for Barbourula's ancestors to sink to the riverbed through fast-flowing water, so it evolved towards a lungless existence.

The clear, cold, fast-flowing streams they live in made this change possible. In the same way cold carbonated drinks hold more "fizz", cold water can hold more dissolved oxygen. And the rapidly flowing streams send a plentiful supply of the oxygen-rich water over the frog's body.

Collector threat

But deforestation and illegal gold mining is making the streams warm and sluggish - hostile habitat for the Bornean flat-headed frog.

"We should do all we can to conserve this novel species," says James Collins, co-chair of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Amphibian Specialist Group. "These rare biological insights have the capacity to give us a much deeper and richer understanding of the evolution of life on Earth."

"This is an endangered frog that we know practically nothing about with an amazing ability to breathe entirely through its skin, whose future is being destroyed by illegal gold mining by people who are marginalised and have no other means of supporting themselves," says Bickford. "There are no simple answers to this problem."

Bickford's team have no idea how many frogs remain and are not revealing where the two known populations are to be found, fearing that collectors might poach them.

Journal reference: Current Biology (vol 18, p 7)

Endangered species - Learn more about the conservation battle in our comprehensive special report.

Read More

KOMODO DRAGON AN ENDANGERED SPECIES

Imagine being shipwrecked on a remote island and finding yourself face-to-face with the world’s largest living lizard — a meat-eating monster up to 12 feet (3.6 m) long, weighing 300 pounds (136 kg)! The first visitors to Komodo Island probably were terrified by these prehistoric-looking beasts.

The Komodo dragon, or komodo monitor lizard, is thought to be the source of Chinese legends of great scaly man-eating monsters, the dragons that are still featured prominently in Chinese folklore and religion.

Species Description and Range

The Komodo dragon occurs only on Komodo and its few smaller outlying islands north of Australia (see Spotlight on Island Biogeography). It probably never was more widely distributed, although maps of ancient mariners had notations of “here be dragons” dotted throughout the islands of what is now Malaysia and Indonesia. It was not until the early 1900s that scientists confirmed the existence of these incredible giant lizards.

Natural History of Komodo Dragons

Komodo dragons are carnivores (meat eaters) and will devour any animal they are capable of dismembering and gulping down. Although they are for the most part scavengers, they do capture live prey, including deer, pigs, birds, even young dragons.

The young can escape by climbing trees, because the much-heavier adults cannot climb. Komodo dragons are good swimmers and have been reported hunting in the surf for fish and birds.

Komodo dragons are formidable predators, since even one bite can be lethal. The bacteria that live in the dragon’s saliva are so virulent that wounds often will not heal. Even if the victim gets away, it usually dies from infection in a few days. The dragon’s reputation as a human eater is well deserved; it does not seem to fear humans and many attacks and deaths have been reported.

Causes of Endangerment of the Komodo Dragon

Hunting and Habitat Loss

The current population of Komodo dragons seems relatively stable at about 5,000 animals, yet scientists are concerned that only 350 of them are breeding females. This may be a normal sex ratio; little is known about the species. The dragon’s limited distribution makes them highly susceptible to natural or human-caused events, such as storms, fire, or disease.

The primary threats to the dragon’s survival include illegal hunting and loss of habitat to human settlement. As was the case with most large, spectacular animals the world over, Komodo dragons were sought as trophies by big-game hunters. They also are killed for skins and feet to make novelties. Early in this century, many Komodo dragons were trapped for sale to zoos and private collectors.

Conservation Actions to Protect the Komodo Dragon

Regulation of Trade and Habitat Protection

Trade in Komodo dragons is prohibited under CITES. Protection from poaching is made easier by the dragon’s limited distribution; there is little human habitation on the islands where it occurs, and Komodo Island, the dragon’s stronghold, has been made a national park.

Tourism

Komodo dragons now are the center of a burgeoning tourist industry and the local people increasingly are recognizing the advantage of living near this potentially dangerous animal. Because of Komodo Island’s remoteness, visitors to the island must stay in local hotels and hire local guides.

In some areas, the komodo dragons are so well fed that they simply lie around waiting for the next group of tourists to bring the next meal of goat or sheep.

Question for Thought

Do you think the rise in ecotourism is good or bad for the survival of the Komodo dragon? What negative impacts might island tourists have on the Komodo dragon and its habitat?

Read More

Brahminy Blind Snake, Flower Pot Snake

NON-VENOMOUS

 

Scientific name: Ramphotyphlops braminus (DAUDIN 1803)
* Currently accepted name
Synonym:* scientific names used through time

• Eryx braminus – DAUDIN 1803
• Tortrix russelii – MERREM 1820
• Typhlops russeli – SCHLEGEL 1839
• Typhlops braminus – DUMÉRIL & BIBRON 1844
• Argyrophis truncatus – GRAY 1845
• Onychocephalus capensis – SMITH 1846
• Argyrophis bramicus [sic] – KELAART 1854
• Ophthalmidium tenue – HALLOWELL 1861
• Typhlops (Typhlops) inconspicuus – JAN 1863
• Typhlops (Typhlops) euproctus – BOETTGER 1882
• Typhlops limbrickii – ANNANDALE 1906
• Glauconia braueri – STERNFELD 1910
• Typhlops pseudosaurus – DRYDEN & TAYLOR 1969
• Typhlina braminus – MCDOWELL 1974
• Ramphotyphlops braminus – NUSSBAUM 1980

Description: Average adult size is 2.5-6.5 inches (6.35-16.5 cm). Adults are small, thin, and shiny silver gray, charcoal gray, or purple. The head and tail-tip are indistinct, the neck is not narrow and the eyes are only small dot-like remnants under the scales. The tail is tipped with a tiny pointed spur. The head scales are small and similar to body scales. The belly is grayish to brown. The scales are smooth and shiny, there are 14 dorsal scale rows along the entire body. Juvenile coloration is similar to that of adults.

A. Top of the head
B. Side of the head
C. Underside of the head (chin and throat)
D. Tail
Range: The Brahminy Blind Snake is a non-native species from southeastern Asia. It was first reported in Florida in 1983, and has now been found from Key West in the Florida Keys, north throughout most of the peninsula, and west in Leon County in the panhandle. Outside of Florida, it has been widely introduced to many tropical localities and is considered the most widespread snake species in the world.
Habitat: Commonly found in urban and agricultural areas.

 

Comments: HARMLESS (Non-Venomous). The Brahminy Blind Snake burrows in the soil and leaflitter, and is found under rotting logs, leaves, and trash. Most often it is found in flower beds while gardening, and on sidewalks after rain. It is believed that it was introduced into Florida in the soil of imported plants. Being moved around this way in some parts of the world has earned it the name "Flower Pot Snake." The Brahminy Blind Snake often turns up in leaflitter or garden mulch. It feeds on the eggs, larvae, and pupae of ants and termites. It lays eggs or may be live-bearing. All individuals are female and reproduce unisexually, where the eggs begin cell division without sperm from a male. Up to 8 genetically identical female offspring are produced.
Comparison with other species: None, but it is frequently mistaken for earthworms. Although both are shiny, if you look carefully you will see that earthworms are segmented (i.e., they have rings around the body) and the Brahminy Blind Snake is not segmented. Neither can the Brahminy Blind Snake stretch itself out or contract like an earthworm. Also, if you look closely you can see the Brahminy Blind Snake stick out its tongue while it is being held.

 

Read More

Ular Kawat (Ramphotyphlops braminus) Ular Terkecil di Dunia

Ular Kawat atau Ramphotyphlops braminus adalah salah satu ular terkecil di dunia yang mendiami Indonesia. Saking kecilnya, panjang tubuh Ular Kawat hanya sekitar 10 cm. Karena ukurannya yang kecil, Ular Kawat atau Ramphotyphlops braminus kerap disangka sebagai jenis cacing tanah.

Nama latin hewan berukuran terkecil ini adalah Ramphotyphlops braminus (Daudin, 1803). Dalam bahasa Inggris, reptil yang menjadi salah satu jenis ular terkecil ini disebut sebagai Bootlace Snake, Brahmanen-Wurmschlange, Brahminy blindsnake, atau Flowerpot Snake. Sedangkan di Indonesia, selain disebut Ular Kawat juga kerap dinamai sebagai Ular Cacing, Ular Duwel, Ular Besi, Ular Kisi, dan Ular Pot.

Nama latinnya yang Ramphotyphlops braminus (Daudin, 1803) mempunyai beberapa nama sinonim. Nama-nama sinonim Ular Kawat ini antara lain : Argyrophis bramicus Kelaart, Argyrophis truncatus Gray, Eryx braminus Daudin, Glauconia braueri Sternfeld, Indotyphlops braminus Daudin, Onychocephalus capensis Smith, Ophthalmidium tenue Hallowell, Tortrix russelii Merrem, Typhlina braminus Mcdowell, Typhlopidae braminus Roux, Typhlops accedens Jan, Typhlops braminus Jan, Typhlops euproctus Boettger, Typhlops inconspicuus Jan, Typhlops limbrickii Annandale, Typhlops pseudosaurus Dryden And Taylor, dan Typhlops russeli Schlegel.

Diskripsi Fisik dan Perilaku Ular Kawat

Ular Kawat (Ramphotyphlops braminus)

Ular Kawat bertubuh sangat kecil dan sekilas mirip dengan cacing tanah. Panjang tubuhnya sekitar 10-15 cm, meskipun diperkirakan dapat berukuran hingga 20 cm namun sangat jarang ditemukan. Tubuhnya berwarna hitam, kehitaman, kecoklatan, atau abu-abu kebiruan. Bagian kepala hampir sulit dibedakan dengan tubuhnya, sementara bagian ekor pendek dan meruncing seperti duri di ujungnya. Jika diamati, pada tubuhnya terdapat sisik-sisik yang sangat kecil, halus, agak berkilau, dan tidak berlendir. Ular Kawat (Ramphotyphlops braminus) memiliki mata yang sangat kecil, karena itu reptil ini dinamai sebagai ‘blindsnake‘, meskipun hewan ini tidak buta.

Selain bentuk tubuhnya, perilaku reptil dari famili Typhlopidae ini pun sekilas mirip cacing tanah. Kerap bersembunyi di bawah batu, sampah, dan kayu-kayu busuk, di balik pot tanaman ataupun perabot rumah tangga. Saat merasa terusik, Ular Kawat akan menggeliat-geliat layaknya cacing.

Makanan Ular Kawat adalah telur hewan-hewan kecil seperti telur semut, telur rayap, dan telur serangga lainnya. Tidak termasuk ular yang berbisa ataupun berbahaya bagi manusia. Bahkan dengan mulutnya yang sangat kecil, Ular Kawat tidak bisa menggigit manusia.

Persebaran dan Konservasi Ular Kawat

Ular Kawat (Ramphotyphlops braminus)

Ular Kawat (Ramphotyphlops braminus) merupakan hewan asli Indonesia yang mempunyai daerah sebaran yang luas termasuk di luar Indonesia. Persebaran globalnya meliputi Afrika, Madagaskar, daerah tropis Asia, hingga ke Meksiko, Guam, dan Hawaii. Sedangkan di Indonesia tersebar hampir di seluruh wilayah Indonesia mulai dari Sumatera, Jawa, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Bali, Nusa Tenggara, Maluku, Papua, dan pulau-pulau di sekitarnya.

Populasinya tidak diketahui secara pasti, namun diduga kuat masih sangat umum ditemukan (tidak langka) di berbagai tempat. Karena itu, reptil ini tidak tercantum dalam Daftar Merah IUCN (IUCN Redlist). Pun tidak terdaftar dalam Appendix CITES. Di Indonesia pun Ular Kawat tidak termasuk hewan yang dilindungi.

Klasifikasi Ilmiah Ular Kawat : Kerajaan : Animalia. Filum : Chordata. Kelas : Reptilia. Ordo : Squamata. Famili : Typhlopidae. Genus : Ramphotyphlops. Spesies : Ramphotyphlops braminus (Daudin, 1803).

Referensi dan gambar :
www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=174341
id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ular_kawat
www.catalogueoflife.org/col/details/species/id/13209295
ecologyasia.com/verts/snakes/brahminy_blind_snake.htm
reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Indotyphlops&species=braminus
srelherp.uga.edu/jd/jdweb/Herps/species/USsnakes/Rambra.htm (gambar)

Read More

Temukan Katak Melahirkan, Djoko Jadi Pembicaraan Dunia

 
Ketika publikasi berjudul "A Novel Reproductive Mode in Frogs: A New Species of Fanged Frog with Internal Fertilization and Birth of Tadpoles" muncul di jurnal PLOS ONE pada 31 Desember 2014 lalu, dunia terkejut.
Media sains dan umum di dunia internasional ramai mengutip publikasi tersebut. Sejumlah pakar reptil dan amfibi dunia menyatakan bahwa publikasi tersebut mengagumkan sekaligus sangat berharga.
Makalah memuat penemuan spesies baru katak bertaring Sulawesi, Limnonectes larvaepartus. Bukan cuma kebaruan jenis yang membuat dunia terkejut, melainkan juga kebaruan reproduksinya. Katak itu merupakan satu-satunya katak di dunia yang melahirkan kecebong.
Dunia bertanya-tanya, bagaimana bisa katak yang tak memiliki penis melakukan pembuahan di dalam tubuh? Bagaimana caranya menyetor sperma ke betina? Lalu, bagaimana mungkin katak tak bertelur, tetapi langsung melahirkan kecebong?
Djoko Tjahjono Iskandar adalah herpetolog (pakar amfibi dan reptil) di balik penemuan katak itu. Dia adalah ilmuwan Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB) yang berkali-kali membuat geger dunia sains lewat temuan-temuannya.
Pria kelahiran Bandung, 23 Agustus 1950, tersebut memulai karier sebagai herpetolog pada tahun 1978. Pilihannya menekuni katak dan reptil sangat tidak populer. "Waktu itu belum ada ahli katak di Indonesia. Saya satu-satunya. Bisa dibilang saya pioneer," katanya.
Untuk menekuni katak-katak Indonesia, dia harus belajar dari ahli dari luar negeri. Ia berkorespondensi lewat surat, salah satunya dengan Robert Frederick Inger, ahli katak dan reptil dari Field Museum yang juga banyak mempelajari keanekaragaman hayati Indonesia.
Ketekunan Djoko membuahkan hasil. Hanya tiga tahun setelah memulai kariernya, pria yang meraih gelar doktor dari Université Montpellier 2 di Montpellier Perancis ini menemukan Barbourula kalimantanensis, katak famili Discoglossidae pertama yang ditemukan di Borneo.
Tahun 2008, ia kembali meneliti Barbourula kalimantanensis. Hasil penelitian yang dipublikasikan di jurnal Current Biology pada 6 Mei 2008 mengungkap fakta baru. Katak kepala pipih itu ternyata tidak punya paru-paru.
"Waktu itu geger juga. Jenis itu adalah satu-satunya katak di dunia yang tidak memiliki paru-paru, bernapasnya dengan kulit," ungkap Djoko yang mengaku menemukan jenis katak itu di Sungai Pinoh, bagian dari Kapuas, Kalimantan Barat.
Studi kemudian mengungkap bahwa populasi Barbourula kalimantanensis sangat minim. International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) menyatakan bahwa spesies tersebut terancam punah pada 3 Juni 2013.
Selain Barbourula kalimantanensis, penemuan spektakuler Djoko lain adalah Cyrtodactylus batik. Spesies itu adalah cicak jari bengkok yang ditemukan di Gunung Tompotika, wilayah Sulawesi Tengah.
"Coraknya memang seperti batik," kata Djoko. Ia menyebutnya sebagai spesies cicak tercantik yang pernah ditemukan. Penemuan ini dipublikasikan di jurnal Zootaxa pada 29 April 2011.
Malang melintang dalam dunia ilmu katak dan reptil, Djoko telah menjelajahi hutan di sebagian besar wilayah Indonesia. "Saya sudah ke 30 provinsi, tinggal dua yang belum, Bangka Belitung dan Maluku Utara," ujarnya.
Sepanjang kariernya, ia telah menemukan 30 spesies katak dan reptil. Beberapa spesies menggunakan namanya, seperti Luperosaurus iskandari, Fejervarya iskandari, Collocasiomya iskandari, dan Draco iskandari.
Djoko mengungkapkan, sebenarnya banyak spesimen yang belum bisa diidentifikasi. "Saya sudah temukan 30, tetapi masih ada sekitar 150 yang belum bisa saya ungkap," katanya yang pernah menerima penghargaan Habibie Awards ini.
Alasan belum bisa terungkap, kata Djoko, adalah spesimen yang belum lengkap jantan dan betinanya serta adanya spesimen yang rusak. Jika spesimen minim, pernyataan kebaruan jenis dapat dengan mudah dibantah sebagai hanya variasi.
Usia Djoko kini sudah menginjak 64 tahun. Penjelajahan ke hutan-hutan baginya tetap merupakan kegiatan paling menyenangkan, tetapi tak lagi semudah sewaktu dia masih muda dahulu.
Meski demikian, ia mengatakan bahwa menjadi tua bukan alasan untuk tidak masuk ke hutan. Tahun lalu, saat penjelajahan ke Sulawesi mengungkap spesies Limnonectes larvaepartus, ia tinggal satu bulan di hutan.
Menjelajah hutan saat usia tua, lutut Djoko sering bengkak dan butuh waktu lama untuk pulih. Secara bercanda, dia mengungkapkan, "Mungkin nanti kalau ke hutan tidak perlu satu bulan lagi, cukup satu minggu."
Dengan banyaknya spesies yang belum terungkap, baik dalam koleksi maupun di alam, Djoko berharap ada lebih banyak orang yang menaruh perhatian pada katak dan reptil. Walaupun, mempelajarinya tak akan banyak mendatangkan manfaat ekonomi segera.
Menurut dia, saat ini sudah muncul beberapa pakar katak dan repril berpotensi. Namun, ia mengatakan, perlu lebih banyak remaja yang tertarik untuk menjadi penerusnya. "Saya kan tidak mau jadi raja sendiri, perlu musuh, butuh orang yang bisa membantah saya," ucapnya.
Mempelajari keanekaragaman hayati, kata Djoko, akan membuat siapa pun sebagai warga negara merasa puas karena diakui sekaligus bangga karena telah peduli pada alam Indonesia yang mahakaya.

Read More

Katak Bisa Melahirkan Ditemukan di Sulawesi

Kodok L. Larvaepartus. REUTERS/Jim McGuire/Handout
 Djoko Tjahjono Iskandar dan Jimmy A. McGuire takjub ketika katak di dalam genggamannya melahirkan kecebong. Katak itu mereka temukan di Desa Uaemate, Kabupaten Mamuju, Provinsi Sulawesi Barat. Di lapangan, mereka menyaksikan perilaku unik satwa itu. "Kami mengamati kelahiran itu secara langsung dalam 19 kesempatan," kata Djoko, ahli herpetologi dari Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB).

Pada kesempatan lain, Djoko, Jimmy, dan Ben J. Evans menemukan kecebong hidup dalam bagian sistem reproduksi bernama oviduk serta di dalam tas plastik tempat tim mengumpulkan katak. (Lihat: Katak Kaca Costa Rica Menyamar Demi Telur)

"Katak baru ini adalah satu dari 10 atau 12 spesies yang fertilisasi internalnya berkembang, dan hanya satu-satunya yang melahirkan kecebong," kata Jimmy A. McGuire dari University of California, Berkeley. Temuan McGuire bersama Djoko dan Ben J. Evans dari McMaster University di Kanada memang mengejutkan.

Maklum, biasanya katak berkembang-biak dengan cara bertelur, bukan melahirkan. Karena itu, katak baru ini dimasukkan ke golongan hewan yang berkembang biak secara ovovivipar. Artinya, embrio tetap berkembang di telur yang berada di dalam tubuh induk, tapi keluar dari tubuh induk dalam kondisi sudah menetas. (Baca: Ditemukan, Katak Bersuara Mirip Kucing)

Ovovivipar ini berbeda dengan ovipar (bertelur) dan vivipar (melahirkan). Spesies katak baru ini dinamai Limnonectes larvaepartus, sesuai dengan sifatnya: mampu melahirkan larva atau kecebong. Temuan unik ini mereka publikasikan di jurnal PLOS ONE edisi Rabu, 31 Desember 2014.

Menurut Djoko, katak jenis ini sudah dia jumpai saat melakukan survei keragaman kodok di Sulawesi pada 1996. Namun perilaku melahirkan baru dia saksikan dalam penelitian lapangan beberapa waktu lalu. Bagaimana katak yang biasanya melakukan pembuahan eksternal (tidak ada penyatuan antara sel sperma dan sel telur di dalam tubuh) bisa melahirkan masih menjadi misteri.

Hampir semua dari 6.000 spesies katak di dunia menggunakan fertilisasi eksternal. Yaitu betina bertelur saat kawin, sedangkan katak jantan melepaskan sperma untuk membuahi telur itu. Walhasil, Limnonectes larvaepartus disebut-sebut sebagai satu-satunya jenis katak yang mampu melahirkan kecebong. (Baca: Aneh, Kodok di Cina Ini Berkumis)

Ben Tapley, koordinator herpetologi di Zoological Society of London, takjub atas temuan baru ini. Dia menyebutnya "totally out of the blue" alias benar-benar di luar dugaan. "Sebenarnya, ini katak yang hampir punah," kata Tapley. "Sangat jarang ditemui di hutan."

Memang ada 25 spesies Limnonectes di Sulawesi, tapi hanya empat yang telah diteliti, termasuk larvaepartus ini. Dua kecebong yang lahir memiliki panjang sekitar 1,5 sentimeter. Menurut Tapley, spesies ini sepertinya menemukan modus reproduksi baru. "Ada lebih dari 40 spesies pada amfibi, tapi temuan yang satu ini jelas benar-benar unik."

Dia menjelaskan, Pulau Sulawesi, tempat katak itu ditemukan, merupakan salah satu wilayah yang memiliki tingkat deforestasi tertinggi di dunia. Ancaman alih fungsi hutan di pulau itu terus meningkat, dan ini mengancam kelangsungan hidup satwa, termasuk Limnonectes larvaepartus. "Kita harus meneliti spesies ini sebelum terlambat," katanya.

Read More

New Frog Species Reproduces Like No Other

 

There’s not really a good time to bring up amphibian mating habits at the dinner table. I figured that I was probably safe given that I was surrounded by scientists, but, all the same, I tried to make sure that no one was raising a fork to their mouths when I blurted out “You guys! There are frogs that have sex!”
The inspiration for my outburst came from a PLOS One paper published just before I headed out the door for New Year’s Eve dinner. In it, biologists Djoko Iskandar, Ben Evans, and Jimmy McGuire describe a frog that reproduces unlike any other known species.
Most frogs and toads look like they’re having sex when they’re mating, but this is a superficial illusion. It’s a behavior called amplexus in which the male amphibian clasps the female around the torso, shoulders, or head and releases his sperm as she lays her eggs.
The new frog species – named Limnonectes larvaepartus – is one of the rare exceptions. Like a handful of other frogs and toads, this newly-described amphibian from Sulawesi Island is capable of internal fertilization. The way the frogs accomplish this is a mystery – the Limnonectes larvaepartus males appear to lack what science has politely called an “intromittent organ” – but what happens next is a sure sign that the fanged frogs don’t spawn like other species.
All other frogs and toad species that have sex deliver their young in one of two ways. The females either lay their internally-fertilized eggs in typical amphibian fashion or the mothers give birth to well-developed froglets. Limnonectes larvaepartus splits the difference. Females of the new species, Iskandar and colleagues report, gives live birth to tadpoles.

The researchers first discovered this unusual ability while prepping collected frogs. When they dissected some of the females, “the abdominal wall was observed to quiver, and incision resulted in living tadpoles emerging from the opening.” Live frogs later gave birth to squiggly tadpoles at the time of collection and while being held for study.

An adult Limnonectes larvaepartus with tadpoles in a pool (yellow circle) and a close-up of the tadpoles. From Iskandar et al., 2014.

While there’s a possibility that the fanged frogs may have been capable of retaining those tadpoles until they fully metamorphosed into froglets, Iskandar and coauthors consider this unlikely. All 19 pregnant females collected for the study had tadpoles inside, not froglets, and the researchers also found free-living tadpoles in streamside pools. Once released into the outside world, the developing frogs live off what little yolk they have left before starting to feed for themselves. And given that this news was received positively as dinner concluded, I can heartily recommend that you share the tale of this remarkable frog the next time you meet friends for a meal. I’m sure they’ll find it ribbiting.
Reference:
Iskandar, D., Evans, B., McGuire, J. 2014. A novel reproductive mode in frogs: A new species of fanged frog with internal fertilization and birth of tadpoles. PLOS One. 9 (12): e115884. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0115884

Read More