Surname? No, Suriname!

For those of you who don't know (myself being one of those people until Wednesday), Suriname is a country down in South America right by the Gulf of Mexico (see image below).

"Why is this important?" you might be asking. Here's why:

I've recently learned of a Rapid Assessment Program (RAP) by Conservation International (CI). According to these two websites here and here, there have been two RAPs. One in 2005, and the other in 2012. The first one yielded 24 species thought to be new to science including a new poison dart frog and 4 Eleutherodactylus frogs. The latter are more commonly known as 'rain frogs'.

Poison Dart Frog

Rain Frog

Oh, and also a species of Armored Catfish that was thought to have gone extinct 50 years prior, in 1955.

So yeah, 24 species is a big deal. Then they went back in 2012, and found out that they missed a few...dozen. 60 possibly new species including 11 fish, 6 frogs, a snake, and a bunch of insects were discovered this time. Among those 6 frogs - a tree-dwelling frog that was named the Cocoa Frog, and a frog so tiny that when fully grown it fits on the pad of a person's index finger

Frog the size of a finger, the Cowboy Frog

Cocoa Frog

Below, some other animals that have been recently found, both in Suriname and around the world.

Fake Coral Snake

Snail Snake (eats snails)

Planthopper

So, lots of new species, but what's the big deal? The sheer number of new species - 84 between the two trips - shows that there could be thousands of species waiting to be discovered and classified.

Other recent discoveries: Lesula, Elephant Shrew, River Shark, Blue-Eyed Spotted Cuscus, Olinguinto

This, this is a big deal. The bigger the animal (and that shark is 8 feet long), the more likely we should have found it sooner. This shows a serious lapse in our race's attention to the world around it.