A tropical break this week led me north, across the Torres Strait to New Guinea, the world’s largest tropical island. Adjoined continentally, our sister island shares a land bridge with Australia in times of low sea level. This means the nature is familiar there but also feels like many species from Cape York got a little lost down the rabbit hole.
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When it comes to wildlife - much of what Australia does, New Guinea does better. They have not one echidna species but two. Not two tree kangaroo species but 12. If 1700 orchids sound impressive, they’ll raise you 3000 and counting. The island is teeming with diversity and the more you discover, the deeper in love you fall.
Our trip this year was admittedly a little limited in adventure. We did not venture out into our remote field sites but instead visited Papua New Guinea’s swampy capital, Port Moresby, as part of a collaboration that is developing at the Port Moresby Nature Park and supported by partner organisation Zoos Victoria.
The park is setting up a conservation initiative for some of Papua New Guinea’s unique wildlife and most relevant to our work at Macquarie University and University of New England, a frog breeding and gene storage facility.
Remarkably, New Guinea harbours 6% of the world’s frog species in less than 1% of its landmass. Yet unlike Australia, which experienced extinction and decline to a fifth of frog species from a fungal disease in the 1980s and 90s, New Guinea appears to remain free of the pathogen. After everything that scientists have learned in the last 20 years, this gives us a real shot to pre-emptively guide conservation.
Curator of the Nature Park, Brett Smith, took us out one night to survey the Nature Park grounds. To my delight, we were soon greeted by possum-like Cuscus staring down from the canopy.
Curator of the Nature Park, Brett Smith, took us out one night to survey the Nature Park grounds. To my delight, we were soon greeted by possum-like Cuscus staring down from the canopy.
Giant geckos, the length of my forearm clung to tree trunks on the side of the path and the captive residents of the park lurked in the shadows, including a newly finished exhibit on a range of birds of paradise.
Even on our short sojourn, New Guinea’s spectacular wildlife didn’t fail to amaze me. So, if you do venture to Papua New Guinea, on a cruise ship or to walk the Kokoda, make sure you stop by the park to see the wildlife up close and support the conservation of some of our world’s most spectacular nature.
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Dr Deborah Bower, Lecturer in Ecosystem Rehabilitation, School of Environmental and Rural Science