Dive! devoted one of its first major topics to this extraordinary expedition in its issue 1, on Saturday, June 25, at 8:50 PM on Arte, you can delve a little deeper into the lost worlds of Lengguru thanks to the documentary by Christine Tournadre (coproduction Arte France, IRD, Mona Lisa production). Watch the trailer here.
For 1 hour and 27 minutes, this film documents this exceptional scientific odyssey, discovering one of the last unexplored sanctuaries on the planet: the Lengguru massif in Western Papua (Indonesia).
Born from the violent collision of tectonic plates, the limestone massif of Lengguru emerged eleven million years ago, giving rise to tumultuous landscapes, impenetrable caves, isolated valleys, and lakes. All of these are insurmountable barriers that explain the region’s isolation, previously unexplored until recently. This particular situation has allowed the development of endemic species found nowhere else on the planet, and much remains to be discovered about them. Among them, some primitive species, trapped in this remote territory for millions of years, are incredible remnants of a lost world.Laboratory of lifeLed by the Research Development Institute (IRD) and its Indonesian partners from the LIPI (Indonesian Institute of Sciences) and POLTEK (polytechnic school of fisheries and maritime affairs in Sorong), this expedition brought together over seventy European and Indonesian researchers. Coordinated by biologist Laurent Pouyaud (IRD), this multidisciplinary scientific team embarked on an adventure in these distant, never-before-explored lands, to uncover the secrets of evolution and adaptation of living species. From the marine depths to the mazes of underground caves, from jagged peaks to the heart of the tropical forest, director Christine Tournadre filmed this five-week journey. An amazing dive into an extraordinary ecosystem.
