34 new plants, animal species discovered annually over the past six years

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HONG KONG: Some 34 new plant and animal species have been discovered annually over the past six years in the region east of the Himalayas, making it one of the most biodiverse regions in the world, says the World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF) in a new report released this week.
The region, which spans from central Nepal in the west to Myanmar in the east and includes the kingdom of Bhutan, as well as parts of northeast India and southern Tibet, is home to 211 newly identified species including 133 plants, 39 invertebrates, 26 fish, 10 amphibians, one reptile, one bird, and one mammal.
Among the newly discovered species are a monkey that sneezes when it rains and a rodent that resembles a pig.
“I am excited that the region – home to a staggering number of species including some of the most charismatic fauna – continues to surprise the world with the nature and pace of species discovery,” said Ravi Singh, CEO of WWF-India and Chair of the WWF Living Himalayas Initiative in a statement.
In total an estimated 10,000 plant species, 300 mammal species, nearly 1,000 different species of birds and hundreds of species of reptiles, amphibians and freshwater fish inhabit the Eastern Himalayas, “one of the most ecologically fragile regions on Earth,” according to WWF.