The Foja Mountains (Foja Range, Foya Mountains) () are located just north of the Mamberamo river basin in Papua,

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

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

tropical rainforest Tropical rainforests are dense and warm rainforests with high rainfall typically found between 10° north and south of the Equator. They are a subset of the tropical forest biome that occurs roughly within the 28° latitudes (in the torrid zo ...

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 from clouds due to gravitational pull. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, rain and snow mixed ("sleet" in Commonwe ...

. 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 (meteorology), precipitation, dew, or fog t ...

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 idenburgensis'', ''

Agathis labillardierei ''Agathis labillardierei'', also known as New Guinea kauri, is a species of conifer in the family Araucariaceae. It is native to the island of New Guinea, where it is found in both Papua New Guinea and Western New Guinea. This is a long-lived tr ...

'', ''

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 ''Calophyll ...

'', 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.

Ecological discovery

2005

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

flora Flora (: floras or florae) is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous (ecology), indigenous) native plant, native plants. The corresponding term for animals is ''fauna'', and for f ...

and

fauna Fauna (: faunae or faunas) is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding terms for plants and fungi are ''flora'' and '' funga'', respectively. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively ...

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

Bruce Beehler Bruce McPherson 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 Conse ...

and Stephen Richards and included scientists from the

Indonesian Institute of Sciences The Indonesian Institute of Sciences (, or LIPI) was the governmental authority for science and research in Indonesia. It consisted of 47 research centers in the fields ranging from social to natural sciences. With the enactment of Presidential D ...

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, ...

, the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

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

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, Meliphagidae, of small to medium-sized birds. The family includes the Australian chats, myzomelas, friarbirds, wattlebirds, miners and melidectes. They are most common in Australia and New Gui ...

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 Beak, bill. The most distinctive feature is arguably the extensive reddish-orange facial skin and pendulous ...

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

rhododendron ''Rhododendron'' (; : ''rhododendra'') is a very large genus of about 1,024 species of woody plants in the Ericaceae, heath family (Ericaceae). They can be either evergreen or deciduous. Most species are native to eastern Asia and the Himalayan ...

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 that is endemic to the Foja Mountains in New Guinea. The male is rufous brown with an elongated golden crest extending fro ...

, 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 taxon, extant echidnas and one of three species of ''Zaglossus'' that occurs in New Guinea. Originally described as ''Tachyglossus bruijnii'', this is the type spe ...

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 language, Greek μαλλός, ''mallos'', wool, and μῦς, ''mus'', mouse/rat. These very large rats weigh between and are native to highl ...

'' 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 and Norwegian rat, is a widespread species of common rat. One of the largest Muroidea, muroids, it is a brown or grey ...

, 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 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 ...

. 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, vestibule, vagina and ...

nose, a large woolly rat, an imperial-pigeon 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. They range from . Geckos are unique among lizards ...

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 ''Dorcopsis'' is a genus of marsupial in the family Macropodidae Macropodidae is a Family (biology), family of marsupials that includes kangaroos, Wallaby, wallabies, tree-kangaroos, wallaroos, pademelons, quokkas, and several other groups. ...

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)