Identifying new species - Life, but not as we know it

THERE may be nothing new under the sun but that does not mean we are aware of everything that, like ourselves, lives under the sun.

The World Wildlife Fund yesterday reported yesterday that species unknown to the outside world are being identified in Amazonian rainforest once every three days. A massive anaconda, a catfish that eats monkeys, a blue-fanged spider and poisoned dart frogs are among the 1,220 animals or plants found in the last decade.

In a countryside so dominated by intensive farming it is truly amazing to learn that 1,000 plant species were documented in 2½ acres of lowland rainforest in Ecuador, while 3,000 were found in a 60-acre region of the Colombian section of the Amazon.

This level of bio-diversity is in stark contrast to the industrial grasslands and forestry of Europe and North America and points to what our impact on our environment really is. In time we may realise that our economic difficulties are not the greatest challenge we face.