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Scientists are giving a nod to Gunung Kinabalu's sacredness, deeming it an "evolution..
Scientists are giving a nod to Gunung Kinabalu's sacredness, deeming it an "evolutionary cradle".
Mount Kinabalu in Borneo is home to some of the world's most unique plants and animals. New DNA research reveals most of the region's unique species appeared after the mountain reached its current elevation 6 million years ago.
The authors of the paper, published in the journal Nature, now believe that Mount Kinabalu and other tropical mountains are "evolutionary cradles," where species evolve "quickly and massively." By "massively" they mean massive numbers of species, not an animal's size.
Senior author Menno Schilthuizen of the Naturalis Biodiversity Center and Leiden University told Discovery News that since Mount Kinabalu is a relatively new mountain, "no pre-adapted species were present locally, so to be able to colonize the mountain summit they have had to evolve, and they indeed have risen to the evolutionary occasion."
Speaking of speedy evolution, we humans need to do so, as well. Recent news reports also show that we've consumed a year's worth of the planet's resources in the first eight months of 2015 -- so we are now running in ecological debt.
One way to be ecologically sensitive is to move toward a more sustainable, plant-based diet. Make haste! Check out the wonderful, meat-free meals on http://KindMeal.my.
Sources: http://goo.gl/tw03wR, http://goo.gl/ab2NPX
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