Nothofagus forest, Irian Jaya, Indonesia Photograph by © WWF-Canon/John RATCLIFFE   Southeastern Asia: Extends across central New Guinea Tropical and Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests   66,400 square miles (172,000 square kilometers) -- about the size of Washington Relatively Stable/Intact

· Life Along the Spine
· Special Features
· Did You Know?
· Wild Side
· Cause for Concern
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Life Along the Spine

Look at the island of New Guinea on a map and you will see that it resembles an animal with a bony spine. The Bird’s Head Peninsula to the west forms the head, and the extension of land to the east creates the tail. The Central Mountain Range makes up the spine whose montane rain forests form this ecoregion. This relatively undisturbed landscape contains more than 100 endemic vertebrates.

Special Features

The Central Mountain Range is actually a series of mountain ranges, with this ecoregion encompassing montane forests between 3,280 and 9,840 feet (1,000-3,000 m). The ecoregion can be broken down into three broad vegetation zones: lower montane forest, upper montane forest, and high mountain forest. Lower montane forests are dominated by oaks, elaeocarps, and laurel species. Nothofagus trees stand out in the moss-covered upper montane forests. At the highest mountain reaches, primitive conifers, such as Araucaria, and Myrtacae species grow, forming a thin canopy.

	Fewer than 200 Bulmer’s fruit bats are all that remain from a once-abundant population. The bats live in a single cave in the highlands of Papua New Guinea. Despite protection from native peoples, the cave has been raided by hunters in the past, to the point that this species was once feared to be extinct.

Wild Side

More than 80 mammal species inhabit these mountains, with an incredible 44 species that are endemic or near-endemic. Four mammals are critically endangered: the Bulmer’s fruit bat, the large leptomys (a rodent), the eastern shrewmouse, and the lesser small-toothed rat. Many bird species are also endemic, including nine spectacular bird-of-paradise species. Many birds-of-paradise have greatly elongated and elaborate feathers stretching from the head, wings, or tail and are considered among the most beautiful birds in the world.

Cause for Concern

Due to low human population densities in the region, these montane rain forests are generally undisturbed. Nearly 20 percent of the ecoregion is made up of formally protected areas. Some highland valleys, however, are densely populated, which has resulted in local deforestation. In other areas, logging, hunting, road development, and mining are ongoing threats. Montane tree kangaroos are sensitive to over-hunting.

For more information on this ecoregion, go to the World Wildlife Fund Scientific Report.