GUMBRECHT'S GREEN PIT VIPER, DRAGON MILLIPEDE, HUNTSMAN SPIDER: More than 1000 species discovered in Mekong Delta (PHOTOS) (VIDEO)

The World Wild Life Fund reported an early Christmas gift today with the news that more than 1,000 species have been discovered in Southeast Asia's Mekong region. AFP reports, that the animal cache includes:

"a spider as big as a dinner plate...

A rat thought to have become extinct 11 million years ago and a cyanide-laced, shocking pink millipede were among creatures found in what the group called a "biological treasure trove".

See photos and video of some of the animals below and read more from AFP:

Comments

[7777777]

THIS ARE VERY BEAUTIFUL SPECIES DISCOVERED,,,I USE DISCOVERED, BECAUSE FOR ME THAT IS SHOWING TO THE WORLD WHAT HAS BEEN HIDDEN FOR MOTHER NATURE..EVERYTHING IS ENERGY AND MATTER..BRAINS WHERE SET THERE INSIDE OUR HEADS TO TRANSFORM THEM ..(.IN OTHER WORDS TO DISCOVER NEW THINGS)...THAT IS FOR THE COMMENTS OF THOSE WHO COMPLAIN ABOUT THE WORLD DISCOVER IN THIS ARTICLE..JUST LOOK AT THIS SIMPLE EXAMPLE..GO BACK TO THE TIME WHEN CHRISTOPHER COLOMBUS DISCOVERED AMERICA IN 1492...WHEN THEY ASK YOU WHO DISCOVERED AMERICA..WHAT WOULD BE YOUR ANSWER...RIGHT CHRISTOPHER COLOMBUS...NOW TELL ME AMERICA WAS ALONE...NOOOOOOOOO THERE WERE PEOPLE ...OK DISCOVERING IS EXPOSING OUT THERE TO THE WORLD THINGS THAT WE INGONERE...THANKS

[SnapShots]

Very cool viper, indeed. 'Discovered' is a strange word, though. 'Photographed and catalogued' is probably better.

It would be a bit arrogant if we as humans thought we could ever photograph and document all terrestrial Earth species. It's impossible. Heck, I live in a dense forest and every season see new species of insects and bugs that I've never seen before, some of them creepy enough to clear a room.

[SonicGuppy]

How long before some stroke of genius plops a romantic get-away/ party place/theme park/ super mall smack dab in the middle of it?

[anney]

What's this, discovered?

A bit arrogant, isn't it? These animals are quite well known to the people who live in these areas and nobody in the Western world actually "discovered" them, as though nobody.knew of them earlier.

It's more accurate to say that these are animals not in the Western "lists", not that they've been "discovered", sort of like Columbus "discovered" America. It was always there for other explorers and the inhabitants who lived there.

It's a pretty egocentric viewpoint, isn't it?

Anyway, some fascinating animals, for sure.

[fdanconia]

Lighten up.

[Cowboylove]

Egocentric defines western, particularly British, culture ergo American Culture as well. You see until we see it or know it, it could not possibly be significant - for we are bringing culture, morality and democracy to the heathen world. We do not need to know what they may know, since we are the superior ::: Race:::.

It is how we in the British inspired west see things - in spite of any or all evidence to the contrary. bush defines ignorant arrogance better than anyone on Earth - but it exists and thrives well outside Texas. The arrogance of those who know best hold us all back eventually.

[Vieux Charles]

What's important is that "I" have never seen these creatures before, so "discovered" is quite appropriate.

[Venise Alstergren]

I'm sorry Anney, but the whole world doesn't begin and end with Americans. Arrogant? You, yes. (Not the person who wrote the article) We Aussies travel a hell of a lot more than do most Americans. I've been to Laos three or four times. It is an enchanting country, with enchanting wildlife. And the sooner people from all over the world are aware of these enchanting creatures, the sooner will these animals have a chance of surviving as a species. Laos is not a rich Western country, it is a very poor Asian country. Therefore it lacks the money to do much for conservation.
May I suggest that before you go to Laos, if you plan to go there at all, you divest yourself of your arrogant American pride and take out a course on humility. You see, Asians don't find loud-mouthed gringas at all sympatica.

[shanefish]

Um, I do believe anney's point was the arrogance of the west. I understood her point as being that we as westerners always seem to want to label everything in our own terms and disregard the rest of the world's vision. Maybe I just speak better "American" than you and could read between the lines. Thanks for Mel Gibson, by the way. Ha!

[teeuhh]

I agree with you completely they are arrogant. But then again... just because YOU travel alot and the people your around do, doesn't mean it's because your from Australia and not America. Your argument would have sounded a lot stronger if you didn't make a prejudice comment.

[Olbereilyman]

Yes world, forgive all Americans - except us - they know not what they do.

[Rynox]

The millipede freaked me out.

[anastomosis]

And in Governor Palin's favourite colour and perfume.

[vagabondstory]

that green viper is so incredibly bad@ss... I love it!
http://www.vagabondstory.com

[buckygreen]

Thought it was cheney.

[IhaveaDREAMwhitegirl]

Cheney is not that cool-looking.

[shanefish]

Definately one of the most beautiful animals I have ever seen!

[ginsushark]

If you've ever been to a local market in the mekong - theyre filled with swamp animals sold for meat.

i bet they found most of those animals for sale as food.

[jpmdevildog]

The dragon millipede has come out as the first openly gay insect in the world!

http://www.weeklyworldnews.com/headlines/dragon-millipede-comes-out-of-closet/

[stagebandman]

That was hysterical!

[jdw1981]

I thought Weekly World News had gone under. That's actually pretty funny.

[politicalgenius]

ROTFL!!!!

[phredralf]

Now that we've found them, let's do everything in our power to bring them to extinction as quickly as possible.

[jp5472]

Exactly!! First drain the wetlands around the Mekong and get planning on those luxury condos and hotels all up and down the river, making sure we clear the rain forests in the process. There's money to be made. Time's a wastin'! ...and we can sell those exotic critters on the black market until we really do extinct them. ..and here we thought new money making opportunities here on earth had dried up!

[publicmenace]

It'll boost the local economy and provide jobs to an area sorely in need of economic opportunities. The Vietnamese can't ALL be rice farmers.

[shanefish]

This is a bit off-topic, but I recently found out that the butte near my great-grandmother's old house in Woodruff, Arizona is being mined for asphalt stone. The butte is the last of the Hopi's sancturaries where they pilgrimage to for religious purposes. As a kid, we would walk on the butte and there were teepee rings 50' in diameter where you could find many arrowheads under the rocks. It is PAST time that we try to save the little bit of wilderness and history left for our children. You cannot save the world in one day, but if we all picked a charity and worked to see it through, we really can make a difference!

[barnez]

Wait, hold on, first you need to sell all of the flora and fauna that really belongs to the indigenous folks there to Merk and Eli Lilly so they can make new and exiting, and profitable, erectile dysfunction medicines. It will sell like gangbusters to the country club set who's fortunes have been recently evaporated and are having trouble getting it up.

[sansego2000]

Shows how little we really know about our own planet.

[kimleehan]

Holy macarol, you mean I was sleeping with those things. I knew that I did'nt get that rash in Sagon.

[strick9]

I'm sure that these things would have been noticed sooner If we hadn't tried to destroy everything that we didn't understand with Napalm and agent orange durring the Viet Nam war. The people had less problems dealing with these poisionous creatures than the effects of our intervention in their affairs. The people in the Middle East now must deal with cluster bombs and depleted urainum thanks to two Bushes.

[theiccemann]

Western arrogance says, that all things were created after they had discovered themselves to have found evidence of themselves being present before discovery.

History, fact, and truth, are needless confounding variables, that only provide confusion in the profuse attempt at a speedy declaration of rejection of insignificance, during the human specie's short time here on Earth.

[Johnagain]

?????

That has got to be the most incomprehensible piece of writing that I've seen in a long time.

[Ghost803]

all venomous snakes should be exterminated and replaced by rat snakes.

[LeftLeanWing]

Why can't we have cute rats that live in the urban areas or peacock colored pigeons ?