QUEZON CITY, Philippines—A group of Filipino and American scientists have discovered seven previously unknown mammal species in Luzon.

The seven species are forest mice belonging to the genus Apomys and live only in a small part of Luzon. The discovery increased the number of native mammals – excluding bats – in the country’s largest island from 42 to 49, or up by 17 percent.

Environment Secretary Ramon Paje said the discovery shows the diversity of species in the Philippines.

The international community has recognized that our country has among the highest rates of discovery in the world,” Paje said. “Filipinos should be aware of such discoveries, to show a collective pride and give a more positive meaning to the expression, ‘only in the Philippines’.”

The formal descriptions of the seven species were published in the May 2011 issue of Fieldiana, the peer-reviewed journal of the Field Museum of Natural History (FMNH) in Chicago. The nine co-authors of the article include biologists from the University of the Philippines, the Philippine National Museum, Conservation International-Philippines, Utah Museum of Natural History, and Florida State University.

FMNH’s Dr. Lawrence Heaney, project leader and the lead author of the Fieldiana, described the species as “wonderful little mice that live in forested regions high in the mountain… often abundant, [yet] they actively avoid humans and rarely cause any harm. They prefer to eat earthworms and seeds on the forest floor.”

Two of the species live in, or are endemic to, Mt. Tapulao in Zambales; two in Mt. Banahaw; another two in the Mingan Mountains of Aurora Province; and the remaining specie in the Sierra Madre mountain range of northeastern Luzon.

Theresa Mundita Lim, director of the DENR’s Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau (PAWB), said that the discovery highlights the need to protect mountain forest habitats. “These animals are part of the rich biological heritage of the Philippines,” she said.

Danilo Balete, the project’s field team leader, expressed the team’s excitement with the discovery.

“It is extraordinary that so many new species of mammals remain to be discovered in the Philippines. In the past 10 years, we’ve published formal descriptions of 10 other species, while other biologists have described five more. And we are nowhere close to the end of our discoveries,” Balete said.

“”The Philippines may have the greatest concentration of unique species of animals of any country in the world,” he said.

The discovery also prompted Dr. Scott Steppan, co-author and head of the laboratory at Florida State University where the DNA of the animals were studied, to consider the Philippines “even better” than the wildlife-rich Ecuadorian archipelago of the Galapagos Islands.

“The Philippines is an ideal place to study the evolution of animal diversity… These animals have been evolving in the Philippine archipelago for millions of years,” Steppan said.

Josefa Veluz, biologist of the Philippine National Museum and co-author also of the study, said the new species from the Sierra Madre and Mt. Banahaw live within protected areas, but those from the Mingan Mountains and Mt. Tapulao do not. She cautioned the public on the impact on wildlife and watersheds of logging, agricultural expansion, and illegal mining activities.

Romeo Trono, country executive director for CI-Philippines underscored the need to protect the country’s already fragile ecosystem.

“Protecting land and marine resources is key to maintaining healthy ecosystems which deliver services such as food, clean water, health, tourism and cultural benefits and a stable climate which are vital to the very survival of every Filipino. Although small in size, these little animals are part of our biodiversity which forms the basic foundation of healthy ecosystems,” said Trono.

The Philippines, although cited by various conservation organizations as among those with remarkable levels of species endemism, is also ranked as one of the world’s most threatened hotspots, where increased human activities contribute largely to habitat loss and pose as severe threats to the existence of various species of flora and fauna.