New Reptile and Amphibian species found in Brazil
I thought this was pretty cool and decided to share it (aka, this is finals week and I am too busy to focus on political commentary). Hope you like it.
Yesterday, conservationists announced the discovery of 14 new species in Brazil. Among the species discovered, there were several new species of reptile including a legless lizard.
Conservationists on Tuesday announced the discovery of 14 species probably new to science — among them a legless lizard and a tiny woodpecker — in a Brazilian high plains region that they said is being converted to farms at twice the rate of the neighboring Amazon forest.
A four-week expedition by U.S.-based Conservation International and several Brazilian universities ventured into Brazil’s Cerrado, afterwards describing the species — eight fish, three reptiles, one amphibian, one mammal, and one bird — as poster children for a campaign to save the area.
“Protected areas such as the Ecological Station are home to some of the last remaining healthy ecosystems in a region increasingly threatened by urban growth and mechanized agriculture,” CI biologist and expedition leader Cristiano Nogueira said in a statement announcing the finds.
You can get pictures of some of the animals here.
Want to own a legless lizard? You can buy them here. Given, these aren’t the same specie as the ones in Brazil but they are pretty neat anyways.
