FCM PB Medicina 2012/2

Text II

Researchers from Brazilian museum Emílio Goeldi, in the northern state of Pará, have launched an ambitious project: Making each of the thousands of animal and plant species that inhabit the Amazon forest available on the Internet. At the moment, the Center of Biodiversity has a list of some 3,000 species, from mammals to spiders, all of which are native to Pará. In the new list, researchers want to include images and sounds of each species. The Amazon forest project is intended to eventually be expanded to include other Brazilian states, as well as neighboring countries, like Peru and Colombia. Even in groups which have been broadly studied, such as mammals and birds, about 10% of Amazonian species are still unknown. ―And there are lots more if you think of reptiles and amphibians‖, says biologist Ulisses Galatti, one of the project’s coordinators. In addition to the website, the Goeldi Museum will publish a book named ―Species of the Millennium‖, which tallies the 130 new discoveries made by the museum researchers between 2000 and 2011.

(Adapted from: Folha de São Paulo, Maio/2012)