Borneo, the world's third largest island in Southeast Asia, although not a favorite of tourists, but it is no less mysterious and dangerous than the Amazon rainforest, and it also has a resounding name: "purgatory on earth", such a terrifying name naturally makes most people avoid, but the rich biological resources here have become a paradise for some experts and enthusiasts.
In 2017, a photographer was attracted by the natural resources here, and traveled thousands of miles to capture the unique natural scenery here, and when the photographer enthusiastically shared his photos on social platforms, he did not expect that an ordinary photo caused turmoil in the entire scientific community.
Among the many photos taken by the photographer is an ordinary photo of a monkey, which most people do not care about this common species, however, it has been pointed out that the monkey in this photo is not like other monkeys, and its appearance is extremely strange, which does not match all known species.
Are there any new species of monkeys in Borneo that have never been discovered? As soon as this remark came out, this originally ordinary monkey photo instantly attracted the attention of countless experts, and after in-depth research, the truth was more terrifying than the experts expected.
First, experts found that the monkey had some similarities to other local monkeys, such as it had the same round nose as the silver langur, but the adult silver langur's coat color was silver or dark gray, which did not match the monkey.
Later, experts studied the monkey again and found that its facial contour was similar to another monkey, the proboscis monkey, but apart from the similar contour, this monkey also had no other similarities to the proboscis monkey.
The exploration of the life of the little monkey was completely deadlocked, but the experts did not give up, they were still carefully studying the life habits of the little monkey, and finally, the kung fu paid off, after a long period of observation and research, the experts finally solved the mystery of the life of the little monkey, it turned out to be the hybrid offspring of the proboscis monkey and the silver langur.
The phenomenon of cross-species hybridization is not unfamiliar to ordinary people, such as the common mule, which is a cross between a mare and a male donkey, and the fact that mules do not reproduce offspring is common sense for many people, however, this hybrid monkey breaks this common sense.
Because hybrid monkeys are rare, experts did not give up observing the little monkey, and a few years later, to everyone's surprise, the hybrid monkey gave birth to offspring.
Reproductive isolation is a very common concept in the biological world, and it is widely recognized that cross-species cannot mate, and even if they mate like horses and donkeys, the mules that give birth to them have no reproductive ability.
But in fact, the wonderful thing about biology is that it always surprises people outside of common sense, for example, there have been news of mules giving birth all over the world, although for the huge number of mules in the world, the probability of giving birth is almost nothing, but this phenomenon, enough to break the reproductive isolation is still possible.
Is this little monkey on Borneo breaking reproductive isolation? The experts also conducted an in-depth investigation of the local environment.
Although Borneo is full of mysterious and dangerous primeval forests, it is a treasure to be discovered in the eyes of mankind.
Since the 19th century, many private miners have secretly mined mineral resources on the island, and later, with the addition of many countries in Southeast Asia, the island's already not very rich mineral resources were quickly exploited.
However, the doom of the island of Borneo did not end there,
From ancient times to the present, land has been one of the most important resources, and Borneo is no exception, and countless humans have cultivated land on the island, turning the originally dense primeval forest into fertile land.
The island of Borneo, which has been untouched for millions of years, has suffered great ecological damage under the invasion of humans in just a few hundred years.
Due to the drastic reduction of the island's primeval forest, the living space of the animals that originally lived here was gradually compressed, and the silver langur and proboscis monkey, two populations that have been safe on the island for millions of years, have become smaller and smaller, and eventually due to habitat overlap, cross-species hybridization occurs, due to the increasing frequency of hybridization, and donkeys and horses, and eventually the biological isolation is broken, and hybrid monkeys that give birth to offspring like baby monkeys appear.
The concern of experts is that if this phenomenon continues to be allowed to continue, as the interbreeding between species on the island becomes more frequent, will it eventually lead to the collapse of the Borneo island's ecosystem.
Any action of human beings is a fatal disaster for other creatures, such as releasing invasive species for good intentions, leading to the extinction of native species, such as many animals disappearing because of delicacy, such as polar bears and other species that are becoming more and more difficult to survive due to climate change.
At this time, it is worth all of us to ponder that when the entire biosphere becomes more and more chaotic, when the ecological environment is completely destroyed, how can humans at the top of the biosphere save themselves?