Scientists believe they have found a wholly new species of mammal deep in the heart of one of the richest, least studied and most endangered wildlife areas on earth. The discovery of an apparently new kind of fox in the dense forests of central Borneo is an extremely rare event. Only a handful of new mammals have been discovered in the whole world over the past 70 years. It comes as hopes are rising that the forests - which are expected to be cut down within the next 15 years - may be saved at the last minute. The Indonesian government has recently halted logging in an important national park and has begun preparations with the governments of Malaysia and Brunei about establishing a 220,000 kmsq conservation area.Borneo - the world's third largest island - has possibly the most diverse wildlife on the globe. By a conservative estimate, it is home to 15,000 species of plant; one 52 hectare plot alone has 1,175 different kinds of tree - a world record. Six thousand of them are found nowhere else, as are about 160 of its fish species, 30 of its birds and 25 of its mammals.Last week WWF reported that 361 entirely new species - 260 insects, 50 plants, 30 freshwater fish, seven frogs, six lizards, five crabs, two snakes and a toad - have been discovered over the past decade, a rate of three a month. But the fox, which has come to light only after the report was written, is a far bigger find.

Discoveries of mammals are extremely rare. Six were found in the 1990s in remote forests in Vietnam - a rhino, a rabbit, three deer and a primate - but they were the first since the discovery of the kouprey in the area in 1937.But all of these are herbivores, making the finding of a carnivorous fox even more extraordinary. The animal - which was caught on an automatic infra-red camera, set up in the forest of the Kayam Menterong National Park - is foxy red all over, with no white markings, and a bushy tail. It has slightly extended back legs, suggesting that it may spend part of its time up trees.

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The thing with new discoveries is that you have to know what to look for.. for example last year in New York central park, a bunch of scientists on their hands and knees found over 300 new species, frogs, moth, turtles etc... but to everyone that uses that park they have always exhisted there and they just assumed they were already discovered, it makes you think how many other plants, animals fish that we take for granted that have yet not been officially discovered?

Does any of this make sense?

Yes.

Maybe if the Human population would stop expanding and changing environments to meet their short term needs, nature will be allowed to resume natural evolutionary advancement. This will allow for the dieing out of some species and the creation of new as it has for millions of years.
Our World is changing" Again" and I fear the influence of MAN may cause an imbalance that the planet may not be able to cope with.

I agree.

Also is there a way we can see a photo of this new fox?

Well hopefully the world will unite over the cause to preserve as much of the natural environment as possible before it is far far too late!

The article states that "few new mammal species have been discovered in the last 70 years". This is a rather odd statement, since, in fact, 1000+ new species have been discovered since 1936... Since 1990, at least 353 new species have been discovered, and they're not all bats & rodents. 3 carnivores, 5 whales, and 8 artiodactyls are also new. Some others are not yet described (a new species of peccary from Amazonia, for example).

It becomes funny: every article about a new mammal says that it was the first mammal to be discovered since 10 years or so, while the following article about another new mammal appears two months later or so...

Even in 2005, we have already had one new family (Laonastidae), four new genera (Xeronycteris, Laonastes, Nilgiritragus, Arabitragus), 16 new species (too many to mention) and one new subspecies (Ailuropoda melanoleuca qinlingensis, notably of the Giant Panda). Maybe these numbers are even too low.

Ucucha