A dazzling variety of plants and animals make their home in
Tetepare's 120 square kilometers of primary lowland rainforest –
some of the last of its kind in the Melanesia. A total of 73
bird species, 24 reptile, 4 frog and 13 mammal species have been
recorded on Tetepare including several rare and endemic bird and
bat species. And scientists are still discovering new species on
Tetepare. In recent years, researchers discovered three new
species of fish, one new fish genera and one potential new fish
family in the freshwater rivers that wend through the forest,
beneath the towering canopies of Tetepare’s banyan trees. Three
years ago, scientists discovered 33 new taxa of butterflies on
Tetepare. A detailed bat survey by another researcher indicated
there are likely to be as many as 18 different bat species on
Tetepare. Other endemic species flitting through Tetepare’s
skies include the Tetepare white-eye – found nowhere else in the
world - and a population of horseshoe bats. Megapodes scratch
and dig through t