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>> Here’s a crazy stat: 18,000 new species were discovered/identified in 2013.
Here’s a crazier thought associated with that stat: species are crapping out and going
extinct at a faster rate than they are being discovered.
That sucks.
The International Institute for Species Exploration agrees that that sucks and in an effort to
raise a little “hey look at our amazing, diverse world, please don’t take it for
granted awareness”, they’ve released a Top Ten New Species Discovered By Scientists
Last Year list.
So, lets gently part the thick foliage and explore this list…together.
In no particular order, we’ll start with the Domed Land Snail.
We covered this transparent shelled little guy back in September, RIP Elliott Morgan,
and it thrives deep in the Lukina Jama-Trojama caves of western Croatia, kicking it in complete
darkness.
That’s why it has no eyes.
Ghost snail.
>> Next up, the Kaweesak’s Dragon Tree.
This 40 foot tall beauty with sword shaped leaves and striking crème colored flowers
can be find in the limestone mountains of Thailand and Burma.
It’s already endangered as there are only 2,500 believed to be in existence.
Speaking of existence, scientists were baffled as to how the ANDRILL Anemone exists in the
harsh conditions that are the underside of a glacier in Antarctica.
This is the first anemone discovered that actually lives in ice.
They drill their tiny bodies into the underside of frigid glaciers and then dangle their adorable
little tentacles into the icy waters.
So cool.
Get it?
Cool.
Shut up, Joe.
>> Let’s get freaky and check out these tiny monstrosities that look like nightmares
when magnified.
This new Skeleton Shrimp (Liropus minusculus)Discovered in a cave in Santa Catalina, off the coast
of Southern California, rocks a transparent body and looks like a boss from Xexyz.
That’s a really obscure Nintendo reference.
And that there, is the Tinkerbell Fariyfly, which we covered back in April of 2013.
RIP Elliott Morgan, may your heavenly path be paved with Corgis.
The Tinkerbell Fairyfly is tiny.
And gross.
And tiny.
And found in Costa Rica.
And gross.
And tiny.
And attacks other insects eggs.
And is tiny.
And gross.
Cute name though.
>> Speaking of cute, here’s a new bacteria
(Tersicoccus phoenicis).
These “clean room microbes” are concerning to scientists because they were found in two
different, super sterilized rooms separated by 2,500 miles.
These rooms are where spacecraft are assembled and these rooms are supposed to be free of
contaminants so as to not pollute space or other planets with Earth stuff.
They weren’t, cause these little guys were there, withstanding an extreme lack of moisture,
high and low pH levels, hydrogen peroxide and UV light.
Out of this world?
Hopefully not.
>> Speaking of this world, here’s other
stuff discovered on it.
The Orange Penicillium.
That’s a fungus discovered in Tunisia named after the Royal Dutch Highness the Prince
of Orange.
That’s a carnivorous, single-celled Amoeboid from the Mediterranean Sea that gathers sponge
fragments, creating a shell around its tiny body that traps miniscule, unfortunate invertebrates
for num nums.
And that’s a Leaf-Tailed gecko doing gecko things in the Melville Range of northeastern
Australia.
It looks like a leaf so as to survive the terrifying circle of life.
>> And finally, the most popular new species
identified in 2013 is the first carnivorous mammal discovered in the Western Hemisphere
in the last 35 years.
Olinguito is its name and being nocturnal, meat-eating, balls of fur and cute is its
game.
It plays that game in the cloud forests of the Andes mountains and deforestation threatens
its very existence.
Go humans.
Click here to watch Lee Newton melt into herself when we covered the Olinguito last year.
These ten wonders are only a tiny sliver of the 18,000 discovered every year, and their
identification is important not just because of um…AWESOME, but because human effects
on this earth are exponentially increasing the extinction rate.
Which is umm… bad.
>> Guys, which new creature fascinates you the most?
Anosublikeascribatate after you’re done letting me know in the comments down below
and help spread the word by sharing this video.
My names Joe Bereta and in the words of the great Olinguito…
I am so frickin’ adorable.
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