Deep within the heart of the African nation of Mozambique there stands a mountain. Unknown to scientists and mostly undisturbed by humans since, well, since perhaps the dawn of our species, this mysterious mountain, clothed in dense green virgin rainforest, rises up from a golden ocean of savannah. In addition to the ecological isolation by the surrounding savannah, the mountain is isolated due to political events; the civil war that ravaged parts of Mozambique from 1977 to 1992 also helped preserve this area, untouched.

Mount Mabu stands approximately 1,700m (5,600ft) high and is home to what is believed to be the largest medium-altitude rainforest in southern Africa.

The locals knew of this mountain, of course, but scientists had no knowledge of it before 2005. This is when scientists at Kew Royal Botanical Gardens first set eyes upon it, thanks to Google Earth's satellite maps. Google Earth collects and curates global satellite images and makes them freely searchable by the public.

It all started when Julian Bayliss, a conservation biologist for Kew Gardens and a technical adviser for the Government of Malawi, was searching Google Earth maps for potential unknown biodiversity hotspots in Africa. He was specifically looking for areas that were at least 1,600m (5,400ft) above sea level where there was a lot of rainfall since those conditions meant the place would likely be forested. Mount Mabu fulfilled all these criteria and further, due to its ecological isolation, it looked quite promising. Additionally, Mozambique's long-running civil war, the lack of accessible roads in the area and limited knowledge of the forest's existence also served to protect this region.

Further research revealed that Mount Mabu was unmapped, unexplored, unlogged and totally unrepresented in the scientific collections or literature anywhere in the world. The electronic discovery of this lost world was brimming over with intriguing possibilities.

Dr Bayliss made a number of trips to scope out the region to see if it was as good as it looked on Google Earth maps. It was: he confirmed that Mount Mabu was predominantly unexplored forest.

Planning the first follow-up expedition then fell upon the capable shoulders of Kew Gardens botanist Jonathan Timberlake. He assembled and led an international team of 28 scientists on the first expedition to Mount Mabu in October and November 2008. The team consisted of scientists and support staff from the UK, Mozambique, Malawi, Tanzania, Belgium and Switzerland, and they relied upon 70 porters to help them with their work.

The biodiversity was breathtaking.

"The phenomenal diversity is just mind-boggling: seeing how things are adapted to little niches, to me this is the incredible thing. Even today we cannot say we know all of the world's key areas for biodiversity -- there are still new ones to discover", Mr Timberlake was quoted as saying in a Kew Gardens press release.

Some of the plants they found included a rarely seen orchid, and they discovered a tropical mistletoe, Helixanthera schizocalyx, a hairless parasitic shrub that attaches to tree branches, growing up to 50 cm (1.6 ft) high. All together, the team collected and brought back more than 500 plant specimens, which are being studied in Kew's Herbarium.

In addition to thousands of tropical plants, they also saw blue duiker antelope, samango monkeys, elephant shrews, and almost 200 different types of butterflies.

"As we were going through the forest, we were just picking up specimens of plants, reptiles, butterflies, really rather opportunistically", said Dr Bayliss. "And from that we picked up some things that turned out to be new to science."

Mount Mabu is also home to a variety of birds, many rare or endangered, including a population of the vulnerable Swynnerton's robin, Swynnertonia swynnertoni, whose continued existence is threatened by habitat loss elsewhere. The Thyolo Alethe, Alethe choloensis, which is endangered elsewhere in its small range, is common throughout the Mabu forest.

"This may be the most important population of Thyolo Alethe known", said ornithologist Lincoln Fishpool, BirdLife's Global Important Bird Areas (IBA) Co-ordinator, who was also part of the expedition.

"At other sites, forest is rapidly being lost or much of the habitat is sub-optimal", Dr Fishpool added.

Six other globally threatened bird species were among the 126 species identified on the first expedition.

In addition to rare birds, the team has discovered a new pygmy chameleon, Nadzikambia baylissi, which is the second species in what was previously thought to be a monotypic genus, Nadzikambia. They also discovered a previously unknown bush viper, Atheris mabuensis, and two more species of snakes that are new to science, four new butterfly species, a crab, and five plants. Further analysis will reveal whether they also discovered even more new species as the team members suspect, including a new shrew, a pseudo-scorpion, frogs, snails, bats, catfish, and a variety of insects.

On their first expedition, the team hiked up the mountain to its peak, documenting and collecting species along the way. Since that initial expedition, scientists have returned several times, and more expeditions are in the planning stages.

Equally exciting is the proactive stance of the Mozambique government: they announced in 2009 that they would establish conservation measures to prevent commercial logging in the Mabu forest.

According to Mr Timberlake, there is still much to learn about our planet.

"We cannot say we have discovered all the biodiversity areas in the world", said Mr Timberlake in a press release.

In fact, none of Mount Mabu's natural wonders would have been documented if Dr Bayliss hadn't used Google Earth maps to first go exploring.

In view of this example, it's not difficult to imagine that using Google Earth maps may reveal additional pockets of biodiversity, especially in areas like Mozambique or, in my favourite part of the world, Papua New Guinea.

"People say there is nothing left to be discovered in this world", said Dr Bayliss. "But there are new species to be discovered. Lost worlds to be found."

"You're always asking questions. As soon as you think you have the answers ... new doors open", said Dr Bayliss.

"That's the beauty of life."

In this film, we catch a glimpse of how Dr Bayliss used Google Earth technology to explore Mount Mabu, and where this discovery led him:

[Video link]

Sources:

Kew Gardens press release (2009).

Kew Gardens press release (2011).

All images appear here by courtesy of Kew Gardens.

Thanks to Lucy Toms, who works at the advertising company, 72andSunny, for bringing this video to my attention. This video, of course, inspired me to write this piece.

.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..

GrrlScientist can also be found here: Maniraptora. She's very active on twitter @GrrlScientist and sometimes lurks on social media: facebook, G+, LinkedIn and Pinterest.