更新于：2026年3月24日 / 美国东部时间上午11:04 / CBS新闻
研究人员在柬埔寨此前未探索过的洞穴中发现了多种稀有及新物种，其中包括一种飞蛇和一种荧光青绿色蝮蛇。
这些生物是在一项多年生物多样性研究中被发现的，该研究调查了柬埔寨西部马德望省的60多个石灰岩洞穴。据牵头该研究的柬埔寨动植物保护组织（Fauna & Flora Cambodia）与该国环境部联合发布的报告称，该项目将研究人员带到了该地区10座不同的山丘，这些山丘以喀斯特地貌著称，这些地貌由布满隐秘洞穴和生态系统的石灰岩悬崖构成。
该组织表示，柬埔寨的喀斯特地貌历史上一直是此类地貌中研究最少的地区之一。它将这些喀斯特地貌描述为”小型栖息地岛屿，每个岛屿都有其独特的动植物群落”，随着人类活动在其周围兴起，这些栖息地逐渐彼此隔离。
“被一片不适宜居住的人造景观海洋所包围，这些生物中的许多实际上都被困住了，”柬埔寨动植物保护组织表示，”如今，每个这样的微型喀斯特天堂都含有世界上其他地方找不到的物种。”
2023年11月至2025年7月期间，专家团队通过石灰岩中的狭窄缝隙进入洞穴，在黑暗的隧道中穿行，这些隧道往往仅能容他们手脚并用地爬行。照片和视频显示，探险者在喀斯特深处的锯齿状裂缝中挤身而过，用手电筒引导他们在原本漆黑一片的岩石洞穴迷宫中继续前行。在一些视频中，蝙蝠就在头顶飞过。
新物种与已知物种
在这些狭窄空间的尽头，有一系列未被触及的洞穴，研究人员在其中发现了众多稀有物种，以及一些前所未见的新物种。除了蝮蛇外，他们还发现了报告中称之为”伪装巧妙的叶趾壁虎”和色彩鲜艳的千足虫，这些千足虫可能具有剧毒。
这种蝮蛇仍在被正式鉴定中，但报告称其为”壮观的新物种”，具有可识别的三角形头部，”剧毒”，并且”通过鼻孔后方的热感应窝追踪温血猎物”。
一种新发现的蝮蛇。Phyroum Chourn / 柬埔寨动植物保护组织
“每个这样的孤立喀斯特区域都像一个小型实验室——大自然在那里一遍又一遍地独立进行着同样的实验，”参与此次生物多样性研究的加州拉西拉大学（La Sierra University）生物学教授李·格里瑟姆（Lee Grismer）在一份声明中表示。格里瑟姆说，这种隔离环境的结果是形成了仅存在于这些地区的物种，有时甚至只存在于单个洞穴中。
洞穴内还记录了一系列其他物种，有些稀有，有些则较为常见。
研究人员发现了许多爬行动物，包括世界上最长的蛇——网纹蟒，以及一种亮绿色的飞蛇。这种飞蛇也被称为华丽飞蛇或金树蛇，原产于南亚和东南亚。
洞穴中发现的飞蛇。Phyroum Chourn / 柬埔寨动植物保护组织
报告称，他们还遇到了斑点腿树蛙和色彩斑斓的鬣蜥，这些物种在该地区较为常见。
保护使命
除了更多地了解喀斯特地貌神秘的生态系统外，此次生物多样性研究还旨在倡导对这些地貌的保护。柬埔寨动植物保护组织表示，这些生态系统是世界上保护最少的生态系统之一。该组织指出，喀斯特栖息地”正受到计划不周的水泥开采、无管理的旅游业、野火、伐木和狩猎的威胁”，全球仅有1%的喀斯特栖息地受到法律保护。
“每次你破坏其中一座山丘，物种就可能面临灭绝的风险，”同样参与该研究的生物多样性协调员Sothearen Thi在一份声明中表示，”许多物种可能在被发现之前就已经消失了。”
Flying snake, pit viper among rare and new species discovered in cave in Cambodia
Updated on: March 24, 2026 / 11:04 AM EDT / CBS News
Researchers have discovered multiple rare and new species in previously unexplored caves in Cambodia, including a flying snake and a florescent-turquoise pit viper.
Those creatures were found during a multi-year biodiversity study that surveyed more than 60 limestone caves in western Cambodia’s Battambang province. The project took researchers to 10 different hills across the region known for its karsts, which are limestone cliffs filled with hidden caves and ecosystems, according to a report by Fauna & Flora Cambodia, an organization that led the study alongside the country’s ministry of environment.
Cambodia’s karst formations have historically been some of the least-studied of their kind, the organization said. It described the karsts as “small islands of habitat, each with its own collection of plants and animals,” which became isolated from each other over time, as human activity sprung up around them.
“Surrounded by a sea of inhospitable, human-made landscapes, many of these creatures are, in effect, trapped,” said Fauna & Flora. “Today, each of those miniature karst havens contains species that are found nowhere else in the world.”
From November 2023 to July 2025, teams of experts ventured into the caves through narrow gaps in the limestone, weaving their way through dark tunnels that, often, were only large enough for them to crawl on hands and knees. Photos and video show the explorers squeezing through jagged crevices deep inside the karsts, using flashlights to guide them further along an otherwise pitch-black maze of rocky burrows. In some footage, bats fly just overhead.
New and familiar species
Past the web of tight spaces sat an untouched series of caves, where researchers uncovered numerous rare species in addition to others never seen before. In addition to the pit viper, they found what the report dubbed “cryptically camouflaged leaf-toed geckos” and vividly colored millipedes, which are likely quite poisonous.
The pit viper is still being formally characterized, but the report called it a “spectacular new species” with recognizable triangular heads, which are “highly venomous” and “track down their warm-blooded prey using the heat-sensitive pits behind their nostrils.”
A new species of pit viper. Phyroum Chourn / Fauna & Flora
“Each of these isolated karst areas act as their own little laboratory — where nature is performing the same experiment over and over and over independently,” said Lee Grismer, a biology professor at California’s La Sierra University who worked on the biodiversity study, in a statement. Grismer said the result of such quarantined conditions is the development of species that exist only there, at times inside of just a single cave.
A range of other species, some rare, some not, were recorded inside the caves, too.
Researchers found many reptiles, including a reticulated python, the world’s longest snake, and a bright green flying snake. Also known as the ornate flying snake or golden tree snake, it is native to South and Southeast Asia.
A flying snake found inside one of the caves. Phyroum Chourn / Fauna & Flora
They also encountered spot-legged tree frogs and technicolored agamid lizards, which are commonly seen throughout the area, according to the report.
Conservation mission
In addition to learning more about the karsts’ mysterious ecosystems, the biodiversity study aimed to advocate for their conservation. The ecosystems are among the least protected in the world, said Fauna & Flora. The organization noted that karst habitats “are threatened by poorly planned quarrying for cement, unmanaged tourism, wildfires, logging and hunting,” and just 1% are legally safeguarded globally.
“Every time you destroy one of these hills, species might be at risk of extinction,” said Sothearen Thi, a biodiversity coordinator who also worked on the study, in a statement. “Many species may vanish before they can be discovered.”
