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    29 Sep 2010

    “Bizarre” New Tailless Whip Scorpions Found in Indonesia

    "Bizarre" New Whip Spiders

    Photograph courtesy Cahyo Rahmadi

    A member of a new species of whip spider munches on a cricket in an Indonesian cave in an undated picture.

    Found in 2004, the half-inch-long (centimeter-long) Sarax yayukae is one of four new whip spider species announced this month. All four were discovered during a series of expeditions in the Indonesian section of the island of Borneo (map), which also includes sections administered by Brunei and Malaysia.

    These arachnids, also called tailless whip scorpions, are neither spiders nor scorpions and feature front legs that have evolved into long, flexible whiplike feelers. The “bizarre” creatures also have  flat bodies and grasping appendages lined with spines, according to the study documenting the new species.

    Though whip spiders have been crawling the world’s tropics since the Devonian period, about 416 million years ago, relatively few whip spider species survive today, according to study leader Cahyo Rahmadi, a biologist at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences in Jakarta.

    The surviving whip spiders—many found only in small cave systems—may be threatened by plans for coal and limestone mining on Borneo, Rahmadi said by email. (See cave-exploration pictures.)

    —Christine Dell’Amore

    New whip spider study published September 15 in the journal Zootaxa.

    From: National Geographic

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    31 Oct 2009

    Orangutan in Tanjung Puting, Central Borneo/Kalimantan, Indonesia. Orangutans are a species under continual threat of extinction in the wild due to habitat loss as the forests of Borneo/Kalimantan and Sumatra are being converted for human use. Known for their intelligence, they live in trees and are the largest living arboreal animal. They have longer arms than other great apes, and their hair is typically reddish-brown, instead of the brown or black hair typical of other great apes. They are currently found only in rainforests on the islands of Borneo/Kalimantan and Sumatra, Indonesia. According to research psychologist Robert Deaner and his colleagues, orangutans are the world’s most intelligent animal other than humans, with higher learning and problem solving ability than chimpanzees, which were previously considered to have greater abilities. A study of orangutans by Carel van Schaik, a Dutch primatologist at Duke University, found them capable of tasks well beyond chimpanzees’ abilities — such as using leaves to make rain hats and leakproof roofs over their sleeping nests. He also found that, in some food-rich areas, the creatures had developed a complex culture in which adults would teach youngsters how to make tools and find food.

    Orangutan in Tanjung Puting, Central Borneo/Kalimantan, Indonesia.

    Orangutans are a species under continual threat of extinction in the wild due to habitat loss as the forests of Borneo/Kalimantan and Sumatra are being converted for human use. Known for their intelligence, they live in trees and are the largest living arboreal animal. They have longer arms than other great apes, and their hair is typically reddish-brown, instead of the brown or black hair typical of other great apes. They are currently found only in rainforests on the islands of Borneo/Kalimantan and Sumatra, Indonesia.

    According to research psychologist Robert Deaner and his colleagues, orangutans are the world’s most intelligent animal other than humans, with higher learning and problem solving ability than chimpanzees, which were previously considered to have greater abilities. A study of orangutans by Carel van Schaik, a Dutch primatologist at Duke University, found them capable of tasks well beyond chimpanzees’ abilities — such as using leaves to make rain hats and leakproof roofs over their sleeping nests. He also found that, in some food-rich areas, the creatures had developed a complex culture in which adults would teach youngsters how to make tools and find food.

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