WWF Travel Blog

• The International Institute for Species Exploration at Arizona State University announced its list of the top 10 newly discovered species of 2010. It includes a monitor lizard found in the Philippines, a spider in Madagascar and a pollinating cricket on the Indian Ocean island of Réunion.
   
• Compared with all other beasts on the planet, primates, whales and all other mammals possess the largest brains relative to body size. How did that come to be? Wired Science has the lowdown.
   
• Watch this curious lioness as she steals photographer Roger de la Harpe’s video camera in South Africa. He was on location researching a book on lions at the time. We especially appreciate that he didn’t overlay the video with sappy or goofy music – hearing the lioness breathing and crunching through the bush makes the video even more charming.
   
• In the case of Gadling’s video of the day, however, the surreal music narrating a swim through Jellyfish Lake in Palau is befitting.  (Wish the snorkeler wasn’t wearing his fins, though – those jellyfish are fragile!)

ECOSYSTEMS

• Good news and bad news this week for the world’s forests. Indonesia’s president signed a decree banning logging of 64 million hectares of primary forests and peatlands and won’t dole out new clearing permits for two years, the WWF-International blog reports. Meanwhile, data published by the National Institute for Space Studies shows a 540 percent increase in deforestation in parts of Brazil.
   
• Marine debris has become “one of the most pervasive pollution problems facing the world’s oceans and waterways,” according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. We’ve seen the problem firsthand during our snorkeling tours. The New York Times Green Blog runs down a solution.

WISE TRAVELS

• Wisebread offers some excellent tips on using credit cards and debit cards while traveling. We especially like the breeze-to-read chart outlining the best credit cards for travelers.
   
• We preach incessantly about packing light. Lifehacker’s article on five multi-use items to reduce baggage while traveling quiets our harping. For now.
   
• Globetrotter and blogger Carlos Alcos runs down 80 – yes, 80! – things he wish he wish he knew before he started traveling on the website Matador. Some of his top tips: don’t use travelers checks, carry a dummy wallet with fake or expired bank cards and accept you will never have time to do everything you want to do.

MISCELLANY

• WWF trips are indeed big journeys. GOOD takes a look at 23 of the most famous and interesting journeys in history with a cool interactive map.

–Elissa Poma