Blossom Bat (Syconycteris sp.). Possibly a new species present in the Foja Mountains and also widespread in the mountains of New Guinea but never described before now. Discovered by Kris Helgen. Papua, Indonesia, 2008. (taken during Conservation International Rapid Assessment Program expedition)

Photographer: Tim Laman

June 10, 2023 - Bronze Parotia (Parotia berlepschi) These birds-of-paradise are found only in a tiny range in the Foja Mountains in western New Guinea. Their diet is unknown but closely related species feed on fruit and insects. Nothing specific is known about their breeding behavior, though it is likely similar to that of Carola's Parotia where males perform elaborate courtship displays on the ground for multiple females, which build the nests and care for the chicks alone.

The Bronze Parotia is a species of bird-of-paradise. Lives in the Foja Mountains of Papua,Indonesia. 

pls can you reply to this with those frogs you have on the blog heading?? or tell me where i can find it? thank you 🐸

That would be the Pinocchio Frog!

Not much information is available about these recently-documented fellas; they were first described in 2008 and only given their scientific name (Litoria pinocchio, appropriately) in 2019.

They can be found in the Foja Mountains of Indonesia, and spend much of their time waaaaay up above ground, which likely contributes to the reason so little is known about these funky critters. HOWEVER, there is one really neat fact from wikipedia:

"The male Pinocchio frog inflates its nose when calling, and the nose decreases in size when the frog is calm and quiet."

Journalism

In 2013 I contributed an article to the first issue of startup magazine Telling. The article discusses my experience being threatened with imprisonment while conducting research on political corruption in Zambia. Mzungu: how to escape a hostage situation and be an ideal Zambian guest

From 2005–2006 I was a staff writer and editorial assistant at The Christian Science Monitor. Below are a few of my articles. Why emails are so easily misunderstood. This piece on the psychology of email communication was picked up by USA Today, NPR, and a variety of websites, making it our most-read feature article of the year. An ‘island in the sky’ shelters new life. Bruce Beehler, leader of an expedition that discovered 40 new species in the Foja Mountains of New Guinea, describes the area as a natural experiment in evolution. 1,000 Days in Iraq A stats page for the Monitor’s “Backstory,” the section I was hired to help launch.

From 2002-2004 I was National Editor of the Berkeley Political Review, a non-partisan quarterly magazine. BPR was a successful startup publication with a broad reach—our work was picked up by major news outlets from CNN to the Chicago Tribune. In addition to editing, I occasionally contributed viewpoint articles. Here are two of those articles. 2004: Separating sacrament from civil right 2002: Attacking first to keep the peace?

Pinocchio Frog

A new species was unexpectedly discovered recently when an interesting looking frog landed on a bag of rice in the Foja Mountains of Indonesia during an expedition done by Paul Oliver.

The frog is similar to a tree frog, but with an elongated nose. No further studies have been conducted due to the fact that this frog was the only one found of its kind and it is suspected because it is similar to the tree frog that others of its kind live on tree tops. 

The one they found in particular was a male and they found that when calling, the nose points upward. There are no clues to why it does that.

Photo by: Tim Laman via National Geographic