5 ms·

Scientists discover two new mammals in Australia

60 points by prostoalex 6y ago

geowwy 6y ago
I'm still holding out hope that a thylacine will be discovered.
- silly-silly 6y ago
  Maybe rediscovered.
- firecall 6y ago
  That would be amazing... But yet somehow even Koalas are in danger. So I'm not optimistic.
  - taneq 6y ago
    The small fact that half the country burned down last year might have something to do with it.
    - crankyoldcrank 6y ago
      Was it actually half the country? Is that by area? Or area of wooded land? A lot of Australia is desert. Or half of the cities? Or is this just a hyperbole? Fake news?
kenjackson 6y ago
I feel like if you write a story of a discovery of new species of animal you can at least give us a lot of high resolution pictures of them.
- silly-silly 6y ago
  I imagine that they are somewhat hard to capture in high res in the dark.
oblio 6y ago
Fascinating. I wonder what's out there, especially deep in oceans.
- hulitu 6y ago
  > Fascinating. I wonder what's out there, especially deep in oceans. It does not matter. As soon as we get there, there will be nothing.
  - oblio 6y ago
    Don't be so pessimistic. There are many species that still survive and even some endangered ones that we're bringing back. On one hand more nations industrializing threatens everything, on the other, we are becoming more aware of the destruction we wreak, so we're starting to mitigate it better. It's a tough balancing act.
    - hexo 6y ago
      Some species even re-evolve again
      - ranit 6y ago
        Interesting. Could you point to some information on this topic?
    - LockAndLol 6y ago
      There's pessimism and there's realism. Look at the sources below to see what we are doing to the things we need for survival. We need IMMEDIATE action to stop extinction crisis, David Attenborough - BBC [0] How long do most species last before going extinct? [1] Accelerated modern human–induced species losses: Entering the sixth mass extinction (2015)[2] Biological annihilation via the ongoing sixth mass extinction signaled by vertebrate population losses and declines (2017) [3]. Follow up study of [2] UN report: Humans accelerating extinction of other species [4] Barring a massive change in how we fish, there won’t be any sushi left by 2048 [5]. The source of that article [6] and the related study [7] (only abstract, but you can use another source to get DOI: 10.1126/science.1132294 ) [0]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbCR0KSU52g https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbCR0KSU52g [1]: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/how-long-do-most-species-last-before-going-extinct/ar-BB1aO5Qt https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/how-long-do-most-s... [2]: https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/1/5/e1400253 https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/1/5/e1400253 [3]: https://www.pnas.org/content/114/30/E6089 https://www.pnas.org/content/114/30/E6089 [4]: https://apnews.com/article/aaf1091c5aae40b0a110daaf04950672 https://apnews.com/article/aaf1091c5aae40b0a110daaf04950672 [5]: https://qz.com/856652/barring-a-massive-change-in-how-we-fish-there-wont-be-any-sushi-left-by-2048/ https://qz.com/856652/barring-a-massive-change-in-how-we-fis... [6]: https://web.archive.org/web/20100505032504/https://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/blue_planet/problems/problems_fishing/ https://web.archive.org/web/20100505032504/https://wwf.panda... [7]: https://web.archive.org/web/20090311004650/http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/314/5800/787 https://web.archive.org/web/20090311004650/http://www.scienc...
ggm 6y ago
Scientists discover one species is three sub species. The animals were known. The sub speciation is new. I would imagine all three are now critically endangered. (I live in Brisbane and found out last month squirrel gliders live in suburban woodland close to my old house, I wish I'd known when I lived there and now I want to go back and see them in the flesh)
- wombatmobile 6y ago
  Oh? What suburb?
  - ggm 6y ago
    Green areas in Carina, Carindale and Cannon Hills. I lived in Coorparoo. Minnippi for sure, I think Seven Hills bushland reserve has signage. https://wildlife.org.au/queensland-glider-network/ https://wildlife.org.au/queensland-glider-network/ would know
- sradman 6y ago
  Greater Glider on Wikipedia [1] which links to the Nature paper Genetic evidence supports three previously described species of greater glider, Petauroides volans, P. minor, and P. armillatus [2]: > The greater glider is the common name for three species of large gliding marsupials found in Australia. Until 2020 they were considered to be one species, Petauroides volans. In 2020 morphological and genetic differences, obtained using diversity arrays technology, showed there were three species subsumed under this one name. The two new species were named Petauroides armillatus and Petauroides minor. [2] Marsupial diversity in Australia is amazing. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_glider https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_glider [2] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-76364-z https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-76364-z
theCodeStig 6y ago
I was hoping for drop bears.
atomize 6y ago
I swear I contemplated going in to wildlife biology as a kid, but decided against it because I figured there was no more cool, furry animals to discover. I also may have misguidedly thought this was the field to enter if I wanted to find Bigfoot. :-P Exciting for the biology crowd especially. Very cool. Obligatory dark realization: Any new species discovered these days must almost certainly immediately recognized as endangered. Still cool.

60 points by prostoalex 6y ago

geowwy 6y ago

I'm still holding out hope that a thylacine will be discovered.

silly-silly 6y ago
Maybe rediscovered.
firecall 6y ago
That would be amazing... But yet somehow even Koalas are in danger. So I'm not optimistic.
- taneq 6y ago
  The small fact that half the country burned down last year might have something to do with it.
  - crankyoldcrank 6y ago
    Was it actually half the country? Is that by area? Or area of wooded land? A lot of Australia is desert. Or half of the cities? Or is this just a hyperbole? Fake news?

kenjackson 6y ago

I feel like if you write a story of a discovery of new species of animal you can at least give us a lot of high resolution pictures of them.

silly-silly 6y ago
I imagine that they are somewhat hard to capture in high res in the dark.

oblio 6y ago

Fascinating. I wonder what's out there, especially deep in oceans.

hulitu 6y ago
> Fascinating. I wonder what's out there, especially deep in oceans. It does not matter. As soon as we get there, there will be nothing.
- oblio 6y ago
  Don't be so pessimistic. There are many species that still survive and even some endangered ones that we're bringing back. On one hand more nations industrializing threatens everything, on the other, we are becoming more aware of the destruction we wreak, so we're starting to mitigate it better. It's a tough balancing act.
  - hexo 6y ago
    Some species even re-evolve again
    - ranit 6y ago
      Interesting. Could you point to some information on this topic?
  - LockAndLol 6y ago
    There's pessimism and there's realism. Look at the sources below to see what we are doing to the things we need for survival. We need IMMEDIATE action to stop extinction crisis, David Attenborough - BBC [0] How long do most species last before going extinct? [1] Accelerated modern human–induced species losses: Entering the sixth mass extinction (2015)[2] Biological annihilation via the ongoing sixth mass extinction signaled by vertebrate population losses and declines (2017) [3]. Follow up study of [2] UN report: Humans accelerating extinction of other species [4] Barring a massive change in how we fish, there won’t be any sushi left by 2048 [5]. The source of that article [6] and the related study [7] (only abstract, but you can use another source to get DOI: 10.1126/science.1132294 ) [0]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbCR0KSU52g https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbCR0KSU52g [1]: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/how-long-do-most-species-last-before-going-extinct/ar-BB1aO5Qt https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/how-long-do-most-s... [2]: https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/1/5/e1400253 https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/1/5/e1400253 [3]: https://www.pnas.org/content/114/30/E6089 https://www.pnas.org/content/114/30/E6089 [4]: https://apnews.com/article/aaf1091c5aae40b0a110daaf04950672 https://apnews.com/article/aaf1091c5aae40b0a110daaf04950672 [5]: https://qz.com/856652/barring-a-massive-change-in-how-we-fish-there-wont-be-any-sushi-left-by-2048/ https://qz.com/856652/barring-a-massive-change-in-how-we-fis... [6]: https://web.archive.org/web/20100505032504/https://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/blue_planet/problems/problems_fishing/ https://web.archive.org/web/20100505032504/https://wwf.panda... [7]: https://web.archive.org/web/20090311004650/http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/314/5800/787 https://web.archive.org/web/20090311004650/http://www.scienc...

ggm 6y ago

Scientists discover one species is three sub species. The animals were known. The sub speciation is new. I would imagine all three are now critically endangered. (I live in Brisbane and found out last month squirrel gliders live in suburban woodland close to my old house, I wish I'd known when I lived there and now I want to go back and see them in the flesh)

wombatmobile 6y ago
Oh? What suburb?
- ggm 6y ago
  Green areas in Carina, Carindale and Cannon Hills. I lived in Coorparoo. Minnippi for sure, I think Seven Hills bushland reserve has signage. https://wildlife.org.au/queensland-glider-network/ https://wildlife.org.au/queensland-glider-network/ would know
sradman 6y ago
Greater Glider on Wikipedia [1] which links to the Nature paper Genetic evidence supports three previously described species of greater glider, Petauroides volans, P. minor, and P. armillatus [2]: > The greater glider is the common name for three species of large gliding marsupials found in Australia. Until 2020 they were considered to be one species, Petauroides volans. In 2020 morphological and genetic differences, obtained using diversity arrays technology, showed there were three species subsumed under this one name. The two new species were named Petauroides armillatus and Petauroides minor. [2] Marsupial diversity in Australia is amazing. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_glider https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_glider [2] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-76364-z https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-76364-z

theCodeStig 6y ago

I was hoping for drop bears.

atomize 6y ago

I swear I contemplated going in to wildlife biology as a kid, but decided against it because I figured there was no more cool, furry animals to discover. I also may have misguidedly thought this was the field to enter if I wanted to find Bigfoot. :-P Exciting for the biology crowd especially. Very cool. Obligatory dark realization: Any new species discovered these days must almost certainly immediately recognized as endangered. Still cool.