The Cyclops Mountains () are located to the west of

Jayapura Jayapura (formerly Hollandia (1910-1962), Kota Baru (1962-1963), Soekarnopura (1963-1968)) is the capital city, capital and List of Indonesian cities by population, largest city of the Indonesian Provinces of Indonesia, province of Papua (provi ...

and north of

Lake Sentani Lake Sentani is a tropical, shallow, and at low-altitude open lake located at the northeast extremity of the Jayapura Regency in the Indonesian province of Papua, about from the provincial capital, Jayapura City. It is located just to the sou ...

and the town of Sentani, in the Indonesian province of Papua. In

Indonesian Indonesian is anything of, from, or related to Indonesia, an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. It may refer to: * Indonesians, citizens of Indonesia ** Native Indonesians, diverse groups of local inhabitants of the archipelago ** Indonesian ...

, the range is also known as Dafonsoro or in

Sentani language Sentani or Buyaka is a Papuan language of Papua. It is spoken in about 30 scattered villages around Lake Sentani. Dialects are East, West, and Central (''Ethnologue''). Phonology Consonants Vowels Central Sentani Central Sentani phonol ...

, Dobonsolo.

Geography

The highest point is Ifar Gunung at or .

History

File:Kustgezicht met het Cycloop-gebergte - Collectie stichting Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen - TM-60009988.jpg, Cyclops Mountains image from 1903. Parts of the range have long been considered sacred by local Papuan people. The Cyclops Mountains were given this name by Louis de Bougainville, who saw them from a distance while sailing along the north coast of New Guinea. In the 1930s

Evelyn Cheesman Lucy Evelyn Cheesman (8 October 1881 – 15 April 1969) was a British entomologist and traveller. Between 1924 and 1952, Cheesman went on eight solo expeditions in the South Pacific, and collected over 70,000 specimens, which she accompanied ...

spent time in this area studying the insect fauna. In 1978, and reaffirmed in 1995, the Cyclops Mountains were designated as a nature reserve. A biodiversity assessment expedition conducted by a partnership between the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

, Indonesian NGO Yayasan Pelayanan Papua Nenda (YAPPENDA),

Cenderawasih University Cenderawasih University () 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 training and education, medical, ...

(UNCEN), Papua BBKSDA, and the

National Research and Innovation Agency The National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN, ) is a cabinet-level agency of the Indonesian government, formed in 2019. Originally a new agency attached to the Ministry of Research and Technology, which became the Ministry of Research and ...

of Indonesia (BRIN) concluded in 2023 found a number of species new to science.

Ecology

The portions of the range above 1,000 meters are part of 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 An ecoregion (ecological region) is an ecological and geographic area that exists on multiple different levels, defined by type, quality, and quantity of environmental resources. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and c ...

. The lower slopes and surrounding lowlands are in the Northern New Guinea lowland rain and freshwater swamp forests ecoregion. The mountains are rich in

biodiversity Biodiversity is the variability of life, life on Earth. It can be measured on various levels. There is for example genetic variability, species diversity, ecosystem diversity and Phylogenetics, phylogenetic diversity. Diversity is not distribut ...

, with many

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

species found there. Many remain undescribed by scientists due to the mountains' remoteness and impassable terrain. The Cyclops long-beaked echidna (''Zaglossus attenboroughi)'' is unique to the mountains. It is named after naturalist

David Attenborough Sir David Frederick Attenborough (; born 8 May 1926) is an English broadcaster, biologist, natural historian and writer. He is best known for writing and presenting, in conjunction with the BBC Studios Natural History Unit, the nine nature d ...

. A unique cave system first described in 2023 by a multinational team led by

found a number of endemic species. The mountains are also home to a tree-dwelling shrimp, which has adapted to exist outside of water due to the consistently high humidity, as well as Mayr's honeyeater, which was thought extinct since 2008. A species of lizard, '' Emoia cyclops'' (Cyclops emo skink), is named for the Cyclops Mountains. Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("Cyclops", p. 63).

References

Mountain ranges of Western New Guinea Protected areas of Western New Guinea Landforms of Papua (province) {{Papua-geo-stub Sentani basin Old-growth forests Montane forests