The Foja Mountains (Foja Range, Foya Mountains) ( id, Pegunungan Foja) are located just north of the

Mamberamo The Mamberamo (''Indonesian: Sungai Mamberamo'') is the second longest river on the island of New Guinea, after Sepik River (1,146 km) and third largest in Oceania by discharge (5,500 m3/s) volume after Fly River (7,500 m3/s) and Sepik (7,000 m3/ ...

river basin in Papua,

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. The mountains rise to , and have 3,000 square kilometers of old growth

tropical rainforest Tropical rainforests are rainforests that occur in areas of tropical rainforest climate in which there is no dry season – all months have an average precipitation of at least 60 mm – and may also be referred to as ''lowland equatori ...

in the interior part of the range. The Foja forest tract covers 9,712 square kilometers and is the largest tropical forest without roads in the Asia Pacific region. The

Foja Range languages The Foja Range languages, or Tor–Kwerba in more limited scope, are a family of about two dozen Papuan languages. They are named after the Foja Mountains of western New Guinea. Languages All the languages had been part of Stephen Wurm's 1975 ...

are spoken within the mountain range and nearby areas.

Geography

The Foja Mountains are cooler than the lowlands below because of their elevation, but January and July temperatures still average . The rainy season is from December to March, but the area can receive rain throughout the year. In a typical year, the range receives more than of

precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravitational pull from clouds. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel and hail. ...

. Relative

humidity Humidity is the concentration of water vapor present in the air. Water vapor, the gaseous state of water, is generally invisible to the human eye. Humidity indicates the likelihood for precipitation, dew, or fog to be present. Humidity depe ...

ranges from 73 to 87%. The nearest villages include Sragafareh, Jomen, Beggensabah, Aer Mati, and Dabra.

History

The mountains have no record of visitors prior to 1979 (Stattersfield et al. 1998). Much of the area around the Foja Mountains and nearby Van Rees Mountains are too steep for conventional logging, and are considered unsafe due to their inaccessibility. Some atlases show only the Gauttier Mountains in the area, but the Foja Mountains lie at the eastern edge of that range at about 139° east longitude.

Ecology

The portion of the mountains above 1000 meters elevation is in the

Northern New Guinea montane rain forests The Northern New Guinea montane rain forests is a tropical moist forest ecoregion in northern New Guinea. The ecoregion covers several separate mountain ranges lying north of New Guinea's Central Range and south of the Pacific Ocean. Geogra ...

ecoregion. The montane forests are dominated by ''

Araucaria cunninghamii ''Araucaria cunninghamii'' is a species of ''Araucaria'' known as hoop pine. Other less commonly used names include colonial pine, Queensland pine, Dorrigo pine, Moreton Bay pine and Richmond River pine. The scientific name honours the botanist a ...

'', ''

Podocarpus neriifolius ''Podocarpus neriifolius'' is a species of conifer in the family Podocarpaceae. It grows 10–15m tall, though very occasionally taller, in tropical and subtropical wet closed forests, between 650m and 1600m altitude.Dy Phon Pauline, 2000, ''Pla ...

'', ''

Agathis labillardieri ''Agathis labillardieri'' is a species of conifer in the family Araucariaceae. It is known by the common name New Guinea kauri. It is native to the island of New Guinea, where it is found in both Papua New Guinea and the side belonging to Indones ...

'', ''

Calophyllum ''Calophyllum'' is a genus of tropical flowering plants in the family Calophyllaceae. They are mainly distributed in Asia, with some species in Africa, the Americas, Australasia, and the Pacific Islands. History Members of the genus ''Calophyllu ...

'', and ''

Palaquium ''Palaquium'' is a genus of about 120 species of trees in the family Sapotaceae. Their range is from India across Southeast Asia, Malesia, Papuasia, and Australasia, to the western Pacific Islands. Description Within their range, ''Palaquium'' s ...

'' at the 1,200 meter level. The mountains are within the

Mamberamo-Foja Wildlife Reserve Mamberamo Foja Wildlife Reserve is a large protected areas of Indonesia, protected area on New Guinea, in Indonesia's Papua Province. It covers an area of 16,610 km², and extends along the Mamberamo River and its tributaries from the foothills of t ...

Ecological discovery

2005

In December 2005, scientists from the United States, Indonesia, and Australia spent a month in the Foja Range documenting

flora Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous) native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' gut flora'' or '' skin flora''. E ...

and

fauna Fauna is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is ''flora'', and for fungi, it is '' funga''. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively referred to as '' biota''. Zoo ...

from the lower hills to near the summit of the range. The expedition team was co-led by

Bruce Beehler Bruce M. Beehler (born October 11, 1951, in Baltimore) is an ornithologist and research associate of the Bird Division of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History. Prior to this appointment, Beehler worked for Conservation ...

and Stephen Richards and included scientists from the

Indonesian Institute of Sciences The Indonesian Institute of Sciences ( id, Lembaga Ilmu Pengetahuan Indonesia, or LIPI) was the governmental authority for science and research in Indonesia. It consists of 47 research centers in the fields ranging from social to natural scienc ...

Cenderawasih University Cenderawasih University ( id, Universitas Cenderawasih) is a university in Jayapura, Papua province, Indonesia. The university is the leading educational institution in the province. The university has faculties in economics, law, teacher trai ...

, the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

Conservation International Conservation International (CI) is an American nonprofit environmental organization headquartered in Crystal City, Arlington, Virginia. CI's work focuses on science, policy and partnership with businesses, governments and communities. The organ ...

and other institutions. In February 2006, the expedition team released details of new species including: *One bird, a

honeyeater The honeyeaters are a large and diverse family (biology), family, Meliphagidae, of small to medium-sized birds. The family includes the Epthianura, Australian chats, myzomelas, friarbirds, wattlebirds, Manorina, miners and melidectes. They are ...

with scarlet wattles, officially described in 2007 as the

wattled smoky honeyeater The wattled smoky honeyeater or Foja honeyeater (''Melipotes carolae'') is a species of honeyeater with a sooty-grey plumage and a black bill. The most distinctive feature is arguably the extensive reddish-orange facial skin and pendulous wattl ...

(''Melipotes carolae''). *20 frogs *Four butterflies *Five palms *A

rhododendron ''Rhododendron'' (; from Ancient Greek ''rhódon'' "rose" and ''déndron'' "tree") is a very large genus of about 1,024 species of woody plants in the heath family (Ericaceae). They can be either evergreen or deciduous. Most species are nati ...

with a white, scented flower across the NeverPeack Mountains The scientists documented: *The first photographs of

Berlepsch's six-wired bird of paradise The bronze parotia (''Parotia berlepschi''), also known as the Foja parotia, Berlepsch's parotia or Berlepsch's six-wired bird-of-paradise, is a species of bird-of-paradise, in the family Paradisaeidae. It resembles and is often considered to be a ...

and the

golden-fronted bowerbird The golden-fronted bowerbird (''Amblyornis flavifrons'') is a medium-sized, approximately 24 cm long, brown bowerbird. The male is rufous brown with an elongated golden crest extending from its golden forehead, dark grey feet and buffish y ...

, both of which were only known from a minute number of trade skins previously. *A

golden-mantled tree-kangaroo The golden-mantled tree-kangaroo (''Dendrolagus pulcherrimus'') is a critically endangered, furry, bear-like mammal found only in mountain rain forests on the island of New Guinea (split between Indonesia and Papua New Guinea). Like other tree-ka ...

(''Dendrolagus pulcherrimus''), believed to be near-extinct. *

Western long-beaked echidna The western long-beaked echidna (''Zaglossus bruijnii'') is one of the four extant echidnas and one of three species of '' Zaglossus'' that occurs in New Guinea. Originally described as ''Tachyglossus bruijnii'', this is the type species of ''Zag ...

s that allowed scientists to pick them up, evidence that the area has had no human presence The human population of the Foja Range is 300, living in the 7,500 square kilometers of low-lying forest. The 3,000 square kilometers of mountainous jungle appear to have been untouched by humans until the 2006 scientific expedition. There are no roads in the mountains, so scientists had to travel by helicopter, landing on a boggy lakebed. Six permits were needed before the 11-member team could legally enter.

2007

In December 2007, a second scientific expedition was taken to the mountain range. The expedition led to the discovery of two new species: the first being a 1.4 kg giant rat (''

Mallomys ''Mallomys'' is a genus of rodent in the family Muridae. The name of the genus is formed from the Greek μαλλός, ''mallos'', wool, and μῦς, ''mus'', mouse/rat. These very large rats weigh between and are native to highlands in New Guin ...

'' sp.) approximately five times the size of a regular

brown rat The brown rat (''Rattus norvegicus''), also known as the common rat, street rat, sewer rat, wharf rat, Hanover rat, Norway rat, Norwegian rat and Parisian rat, is a widespread species of common rat. One of the largest muroids, it is a brown o ...

, the second a pygmy possum (''

Cercartetus The genus ''Cercartetus'' is a group of very small possums known as pygmy possums. Four species comprise this genus, which together with the genus '' Burramys'' make up the marsupial family Burramyidae. It has occasionally been presumed that ' ...

'' sp.) described by scientists as "one of the world's smallest marsupials."

2008

An expedition late in 2008, backed by the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, National Geographic Society and Smithsonian Institution, was made in order to assess the area's

biodiversity Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') l ...

. New types of animals recorded include a frog with a long

erectile Erectile tissue is tissue in the body with numerous vascular spaces, or cavernous tissue, that may become engorged with blood. However, tissue that is devoid of or otherwise lacking erectile tissue (such as the labia minora, the vestibule/vagina an ...

nose, a large woolly rat, an

imperial-pigeon ''Ducula'' is a genus of the pigeon family Columbidae, collectively known as imperial pigeons. They are large to very large pigeons with a heavy build and medium to long tails. They are arboreal, feed mainly on fruit and are closely related to th ...

with rust, grey and white plumage, a 25 cm

gecko Geckos are small, mostly carnivorous lizards that have a wide distribution, found on every continent except Antarctica. Belonging to the infraorder Gekkota, geckos are found in warm climates throughout the world. They range from . Geckos ar ...

with claws rather than pads on its toes, and a small, 30 cm high, black forest

wallaby A wallaby () is a small or middle-sized Macropodidae, macropod native to Australia and New Guinea, with introduced populations in New Zealand, Hawaii, the United Kingdom and other countries. They belong to the same Taxonomy (biology), taxon ...

(a member of the genus

Dorcopsis The dorcopsises are the marsupials of the genera '' Dorcopsis'' and ''Dorcopsulus''. They are found in the tropical forests of New Guinea and Southeast Indonesia. They are placed in the subfamily Macropodinae, along with other Australasian ma ...

References

External links

"New species found in Papua 'Eden'"
''BBC News''
"In pictures: Papua's 'lost world'"
''BBC News''

''CBC News'' (requires Flash)

''National Geographic News'' {{Mountain ranges of New Guinea Mountain ranges of Western New Guinea Landforms of Papua (province)