Indonesian New Guinea Adventure Guide. David Pickell

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      The striped possum, Dactylopsila trivirgata, is a common small marsupial in.

      Other marsupials include bandicoots, possums and cuscus or phalangers, these latter woolly, tree-dwelling creatures with prehensile tails. Unfortunately for the cuscus, its fur is much appreciated for personal adornment, and its meat for food. Some cuscus are said to be so docile that capturing one requires nothing more than finding it and picking it up.

      Huge bats, called flying foxes because of their long snouts, roam the forests on 1.5-meter wings seeking fruit, and an astonishing variety of tiny insectivorous species roam the night skies.

      Perhaps the most unusual mammals in West Papua are the spiny anteaters or echidnas which, along with the Australian duckbilled platypus, are the world's only monotremes, unique egg-laying mammals. The short-beaked echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus) is also found in Australia, but the long-beaked echidna (Zaglossus bruijni) is endemic to New Guinea. When threatened, the echidna uses its powerful front claws to dig into the ground, presenting a would-be predator with a back-full of stout spines.

      Birds of Paradise

      Long before the world knew anything of the habits and habitats of the beautiful birds of paradise, their feathers enhanced the appearance of the rich and powerful. Paradise bird plumes graced the headdresses of fierce janissaries at the 14th century Turkish court, and were de rigueur at the Nepalese court, and the courts of other colorful potentates. In the 1880s, the Paris fashion world discovered the plumes, and thousands of birds were slaughtered to adorn capes, hats and other accessories. The trade was banned in 1924, but the ban has been as full of holes as the smuggler's ocean is wide.

      Malay traders called them manuk dewata—the gods' birds. The Portuguese called them passaros de sol, "birds of the sun." A learned Dutchman, writing in Latin, coined the name, avis paradiseus, "bird of paradise."

      A great body of myth has developed around these birds, and well into the 18th century Europeans still believed that the birds came from Paradise. They had no feet, and thus remained always in the air, living on the dew of heaven and the blossoms of spice trees. The female, it was believed, even laid her eggs and incubated them on the back of the male.

      In 1598 the Dutch navigator Jan van Linschoten, wrote: "[N]o one has seen these birds alive, for they live in the air, always turning towards the sun and never lighting on the earth till they die, for they have no feet or wings." Even in 1760, Carolus Linnaeus, the famous Swedish taxonomist, christened the largest species Paradisaea apoda: "footless paradise bird."

      All these myths were simply the result of the Aru Islanders method of preserving the skins: the wings and feet were cut off, the body skinned up to the beak and the skull removed. The birds have been hunted for centuries with bow and arrow, and more recently, with mist nets.

      Paradisaeidae comprises 42 species, 36 of which inhabit New Guinea and its neighboring islands. The family is quite varied, and includes birds of paradise, riflebirds, sicklebills and manucodes. All have beautiful coloration and odd feathers—iridescent breastplates, shaggy napes, fans, and strange "wires." The most characteristic are the Paradisaea spp., crow-like birds, the males of which in the breeding season sprout beautiful nuptial plumes from their sides.

      The greater bird of paradise (Paradisaea apoda) and the lesser bird of paradise (P. minor) are relatively common inhabitants of West Papua's lowland rainforests, but seeing them can be difficult. Paradisaea are omnivorous, eating a variety of insects and being especially partial to nutmeg and mahogany fruits. Groups of males display together, often in the main food tree in the area, which makes for a spectacular sight (it also makes them very vulnerable to hunters.)

      According to observations in the Asmat region (on the coast near Otsjanep) the greater bird of paradise was in full breeding plumage and displayed from August to early September, for a few hours in the morning, beginning at 6:15 a.m., and again at 2:30-5:45 p.m.