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  • >> Here’s a crazy stat: 18,000 new species were discovered/identified in 2013. Here’s

  • a crazier thought associated with that stat: species are crapping out and going extinct

  • at a faster rate than they are being discovered. That sucks. The International Institute for

  • Species Exploration agrees that that sucks and in an effort to raise a littlehey

  • look at our amazing, diverse world, please don’t take it for granted awareness”,

  • theyve released a Top Ten New Species Discovered By Scientists Last Year list. So, lets gently

  • part the thick foliage and explore this listtogether. In no particular order, well start with

  • the Domed Land Snail. We covered this transparent shelled little guy back in September, RIP

  • Elliott Morgan, and it thrives deep in the Lukina Jama-Trojama caves of western Croatia,

  • kicking it in complete darkness. That’s why it has no eyes. Ghost snail.

  • >> Next up, the Kaweesak’s Dragon Tree. This 40 foot tall beauty with sword shaped

  • leaves and striking crème colored flowers can be find in the limestone mountains of

  • Thailand and Burma. It’s already endangered as there are only 2,500 believed to be in

  • existence. Speaking of existence, scientists were baffled

  • as to how the ANDRILL Anemone exists in the harsh conditions that are the underside of

  • a glacier in Antarctica. This is the first anemone discovered that actually lives in

  • ice. They drill their tiny bodies into the underside of frigid glaciers and then dangle

  • their adorable little tentacles into the icy waters. So cool. Get it? Cool. Shut up, Joe.

  • >> Let’s get freaky and check out these tiny monstrosities that look like nightmares

  • when magnified. This new Skeleton Shrimp (Liropus minusculus)Discovered in a cave in Santa Catalina,

  • off the coast of Southern California, rocks a transparent body and looks like a boss from

  • Xexyz. That’s a really obscure Nintendo reference. And that there, is the Tinkerbell

  • Fariyfly, which we covered back in April of 2013. RIP Elliott Morgan, may your heavenly

  • path be paved with Corgis. The Tinkerbell Fairyfly is tiny. And gross. And tiny. And

  • found in Costa Rica. And gross. And tiny. And attacks other insects eggs. And is tiny.

  • And gross. Cute name though.  

  • >> Speaking of cute, here’s a new bacteria (Tersicoccus phoenicis). Theseclean room

  • microbesare concerning to scientists because they were found in two different, super sterilized

  • rooms separated by 2,500 miles. These rooms are where spacecraft are assembled and these

  • rooms are supposed to be free of contaminants so as to not pollute space or other planets

  • with Earth stuff. They weren’t, cause these little guys were there, withstanding an extreme

  • lack of moisture, high and low pH levels, hydrogen peroxide and UV light. Out of this

  • world? Hopefully not.  

  • >> Speaking of this world, here’s other stuff discovered on it. The Orange Penicillium.

  • That’s a fungus discovered in Tunisia named after the Royal Dutch Highness the Prince

  • of Orange. That’s a carnivorous, single-celled Amoeboid from the Mediterranean Sea that gathers

  • sponge fragments, creating a shell around its tiny body that traps miniscule, unfortunate

  • invertebrates for num nums. And that’s a Leaf-Tailed gecko doing gecko things in the

  • Melville Range of northeastern Australia. It looks like a leaf so as to survive the

  • terrifying circle of life.  

  • >> And finally, the most popular new species identified in 2013 is the first carnivorous

  • mammal discovered in the Western Hemisphere in the last 35 years. Olinguito is its name

  • and being nocturnal, meat-eating, balls of fur and cute is its game. It plays that game

  • in the cloud forests of the Andes mountains and deforestation threatens its very existence.

  • Go humans. Click here to watch Lee Newton melt into herself when we covered the Olinguito

  • last year. These ten wonders are only a tiny sliver of

  • the 18,000 discovered every year, and their identification is important not just because

  • of umAWESOME, but because human effects on this earth are exponentially increasing

  • the extinction rate. Which is ummbad.

  • >> Guys, which new creature fascinates you the most? Anosublikeascribatate after youre

  • done letting me know in the comments down below and help spread the word by sharing

  • this video. My names Joe Bereta and in the words of the great Olinguito… I am so frickin

  • adorable.

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