Hundreds of new species found in Greater Mekong
- Published
The conservation charity WWF (World Wildlife Foundation) has published a report showing 367 species have been found in Greater Mekong, making it one of the world's richest and diverse wildlife regions. Here is the Helen's Flying Frog which was found very close to a very busy city, it can grow as long as 10cm and can glide up to 50 feet, using its webbed feet and arms.
The new species include 290 plants, 24 fish, 21 amphibians, 28 reptiles, three mammals and one bird. The blind huntsman spider is the first eyeless huntsman spider in the world. There are more than 1,100 species of huntsman spiders but this is the first without any eyes - it lives permanently without daylight.
The Rainbow Lizard was found in a remote rainforest in Cambodia. It looks very snake like with a long tail in proportion to its tiny half-centimetre legs.
This little dark grey bird, is the only new bird species that has been found named the Cambodian tailorbird. Their name comes from the organised way of building their nests by weaving leaves together.
It is very rare to find new mammal species in the animal kingdom: this Laotian giant flying squirrel has red and white fur and is among three new mammals discovered in Greater Mekong in 2012 and 2013. The region lies in south east Asia, across the countries of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, and China.
This is a zebra-striped lizard: around 11.5 cm long, it's a kind of gecko, found on Phuket Island in south-western Thailand.