The Yoda Bat
In 2010, a tube-nosed fruit bat
with an appearance reminiscent of the Star Wars Jedi Master Yoda was
discovered in a remote rainforest. The bat, along with an orange spider
and a yellow-spotted frog, is among a host
of new species found in a region of Papua, New Guinea. More than 200
animals and plants were revealed for the first time after two months of surveying in the rugged and little-explored Nakanai and Muller mountain ranges that year.
Lesula
Scientists are claiming they have discovered a new species of monkey
living in the remote forests of the Democratic Republic of Congo -- an
animal well-known to local hunters but until now, unknown to the outside
world. In a paper published in the open-access journal Plos One, the
scientists describe the new species that they call Cercopithecus
Lomamiensis, known locally as the Lesula, whose home is deep in central
DR Congo's Lomami Forest basin. The scientists say it is only the second
discovery of a monkey species in 28 years.
In an age where so
much of the earth's surface has been photographed, digitized, and placed
on a searchable map on the web discoveries like this one by a group of
American scientists seems like a throwback to another time.
Mr. Blobby
Affectionately nicknamed "Mr. Blobby," this fathead sculpin fish was
discovered in 2003 in New Zealand during a Census of Marine Life
expedition, according to the Australian Museum in Sydney. Fathead
sculpins—named for their large, globe-like heads and floppy skin—live in
the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans at depths of between about 330
feet (100 meters) to 9,200 feet (2,800 meters).
Penis Snake
A group of engineers building a dam in the Amazon
recently discovered an Atretochoana eiseltiis, better known as a
caecilian, which some people might know as a limbless amphibian. But
let's be honest, the creature pictured above is a penis snake. The
strange creature was discovered while the Madeira River was being
drained as part of a damn building project in Brazil's Madeira River.
Biologist Julian Tupan said that six penis snakes were found at the
bottom of the river.
Pinocchio Frog
This Pinocchio-like tree frog species was discovered by fortunate
accident when it ventured into a Foja Mountains camp kitchen and perched
on a bag of rice, where herpetologist Paul Oliver of Australia's
University of Adelaide spotted it. Oliver was unable to find another of
these frogs, and suspects that they stay mostly in the treetops.
The
male frog's nose, the scientists were surprised to discover, points
upward when the animal's calling and hangs flaccid when it's not.
"Exactly what it is for, no one really knows for sure," Oliver said.
Chinchilla tree rat
The chinchilla tree rat (Cuscomys ashaninka) was discovered in 1997
during RAP expeditions that targeted Peru's Vilcabamba mountain range,
very close to the famous ruins of Machu Picchu.
It is pale grey in colour, possesses a stocky build, has large claws,
and is characterized by a white stripe along its head. It is related to
the chinchilla rats which are known to have been buried alongside the
Inca people in their tombs.
Leaf-Nosed Bat
A new species of bat has been found in Chu Mom Ray National Park.
Apparently this bat was mistaken for a known species in 2008, but has
since been proven genetically distinct.
Cyclops Shark
An extremely rare cyclops shark, recently confirmed in Mexico, is one of
the oddest life-forms found in 2011. The 22-inch-long
(56-centimeter-long) fetus has a single,
functioning eye at the front of its head, scientists announced. The eye
is a hallmark of a congenital condition called cyclopia, which occurs
in several animal species, including humans. Scientists have documented
cyclops shark embryos a few times before, said Jim Gelsleichter, a shark
biologist at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville. The fact
that none have been caught outside the womb suggests that cyclops sharks
don't survive long in the wild.
The flamingo tongue snail
This flamingo tongue snail, Cyphoma gibbosum, from the British West
Indies is one of thousands of new species uncovered as part of the first
Census of Marine Life.
(Link)
Sea-Angel
A 2005 Census of Marine Life expedition to the Arctic Ocean captured a
so-called sea angel, Clione limacina, at about 1,148 feet (350 meters)
underwater. Despite its nickname, this little angel apparently doesn't
mind showing a little skin. It's actually a naked snail without a shell,
scientists said in December 2009.
Such marine snails—most of
them the size of a lentil—are widely eaten by many species, making them
the "potato chip" of the oceans, biologist Gretchen Hofmann, of the University of California, said in a 2008 statement.
Pink Nillipede
Able to shoot cyanide, this millipede is tough enough to wear
pink. First documented in 2007, the shocking pink dragon
millipede--yes, that's its real name--is among more than a thousand new
species found in the Greater Mekong region in the last ten years, WWF
announced on December 15, 2008. Far from a fashion statement, the
animal's bright color probably warns predators of the millipede's
toxicity.
Gunnison Sage-Grouse
Restricted to Colorado, the Gunnison Sage-Grouse was only recently
realized to be a species separate from the Greater Sage-Grouse. The two
species differ in size, display ornaments, and breeding displays.
The woman who grew a new ear on her arm
Doctors at Johns Hopkins have successfully grown an ear on a woman's
arm. Sherrie Walters, 42, had an ear grown on her arm to replace one
removed after developing bassal cell carcinoma in 2008. The illness
meant that she had her ear, a piece of her skull and her ear canal
removed.
She is now the first person ever to have their ear
regrown using cartilage taken from her rib. The team of surgeons, led by
Dr. Patrick Byrne, took rib cartilage to shape a new ear, according to
Red Orbit. In an experimental procedure, it was placed under the skin
and allowed to grow for four months before being transplanted into her
head.
The former beauty queen who had her skull temporally attached to her stomach
A former beauty queen was shocked as she awoke to find a portion of her
head missing after having a quarter of her skull removed and then
stored in her stomach for six weeks after a near-fatal fishing accident.
Surgeons removed the rear quarter of Jamie Hilton's skull and placed it
in her abdomen, which enabled the bone to remain sterile and nourished
while brain swelling from a head injury subsided.
Mrs. Hilton, 36, had won Mrs. Idaho in 2009 and competed in the Mrs. America beauty contests.
Mrs Hilton's skull remained in her abdomen for 42 days until it was
re-attached in a successful operation and then, three months after her
near death experience, she returned home, and is considered a 'walking
miracle.'
The little boy who was given ‘devil's horns' implants to remove birth mark
Doctors have treated a young boy with a large birthmark
on his face… by implanting horns in his forehead. George Ashman, 5, was
born with a bright red blemish on his forehead and his mother Karen,
33, feared he would endure a lifetime of bullying. So when he was four
he underwent a surgical procedure to stretch the ‘normal' skin on his
forehead so the birthmark could be removed and covered with the new unblemished tissue.
Doctors
inserted two tissue expanders under the skin, which gradually inflated
so they looked like two perfect devil's horns. After four months the
implants were removed and the blemish was cut out, allowing the new skin
to be stitched together, leaving just a small Harry Potter-style scar on George's forehead.
During the four months he had the horns, George was subjected to cruel taunts from passers-by.
The teenage boy with cancer who had his leg detached and turned 180 degrees in order to play again
Dugan Smith, after fighting bone cancer, is able to keep up his
previously active lifestyle after doctors have managed to reattach his
right leg – backwards.
Smith, 13, was diagnosed with bone cancer in 2008 and had to undergo surgery
to amputate his knee and thigh. He chose to have “rotation-plasty,”
which means his lower leg was turned around and attached to the
remainder of his thigh, allowing his ankle
to take the place of his knee. There were a number of procedures
available, but this was the only one that would allow him to keep his
leg. The surgery cut out the middle part of his leg and rotated the
bottom half 180 degrees to move it up and reattach it to the blood
vessels. It was performed at James Cancer Hospital in Ohio. Less than three years after the amputation surgery, Smith is able to play sports such as baseball and basketball and go skiing.
The little girl who saved her hand by having it grafted to her leg
Ming Li, 9, had her hand severed
after a tractor ran over it while she was walking to school in July
2010. Doctors said it was too badly damaged to put back on her arm so
they attached it to her right leg. After three months, the hand was
reattached to her arm. Dr Hou Jianxi, from the hospital where Ming is
being treated in Zhengzhou, Henan Province, said her hand was repairing
well and that the blood was flowing normally through her hand.
She
was able to move her wrist but will need more operations over the next
two years to remove scars and improve its movement, he said.
The man who grew a fingertip on his stomach
Doctors in China saved a man's partially-severed finger - by attaching
it to his stomach. Furniture worker Wang Yongjun, 20, cut off the end of
his middle finger with an electric saw in an accident at work. Wang, of
Liaoyang, Liaoning Province, was rushed to the hospital where doctors had to think fast. Dr Huang Xuesong said the muscle and skin had been cut away from the end of his finger leaving only the bone showing.
Doctors
operated and attached Wang's finger to his stomach in the hope that new
skin and muscle would grow around it. Dr Huang said the technique was a
way of restoring blood circulation to the injured finger so that the
body could repair itself. He says the surgery was a complete success and that Wang would have a brand new fingertip - separated from his stomach - within a month.
