115 species found in Indo-China: WWFA beautifully coloured frog found in the limestone mountains of Vietnam, two mole species found by a team of Vietnamese and Russian scientists, and the Vietnamese crocodile lizard are among 115 new species discovered by scientists in the Greater Mekong region in 2016, according to a new report released on December 21 by the World Wide Fund for Nature. It brought the number of new species of plants and animals discovered in the region between 1997 and 2016 to 2,524. A vibrantly coloured frog, Odorrana Mutschmanni, is one of five new species discovered in the same karst forest in northern Vietnam by a research team led by Dr Nguyen Truong. The illegal wildlife trade is decimating wildlife populations across the Greater Mekong, especially in the Golden Triangle where Laos, Thailand and Myanmar meet. “WWF has launched an ambitious project to disrupt the trade by closing down the biggest markets in the Greater Mekong region,” Chapman added.

Source: VietNamNet News December 22, 2017 04:30 UTC