Image by Joseph Brown
Image by Joseph Brown
Nowadays, discovering large vertebrates is a rare event. However, researchers recently described a new species of large monitor lizard from the Philippines that’s a fruit eater. More from the Christian Science Monitor:
The new species was discovered last summer on the main island of Luzon, when US researchers on a field trip purchased a unique-looking lizard carcass from a Philippine hunter for a few pesos.
“The hunter had caught it accidentally in a snare for wild pigs. We saw he had it and we were able to bargain with him for it,” says Luke Welton, one of the authors of an article published today in the peer-reviewed Royal Society journal Biology Letters announcing the finding.
Welton says he and fellow researchers from the University of Kansas and the Philippine government immediately knew this lizard was unique. It had longer nostrils, a golden coloration, and an uncommonly large size. The 22-pound, 6.5-foot-long Northern Sierra Madre Forest monitor lizard (Varanus bitatawa) feasts on fruits and snails and not meat, as do most species of monitor lizard and the close related Komodo dragon.
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My memor Chasing a Dream in the Galapagos: A Personal Evolution has recently been published. As you probably know, the islands are now a World Heritage Site in Danger due mostly to human influence: habitat destruction, introduced species, infections, illegal hunting and fishing, and climate change.
Your Website gives me hope that with enough of us out here who care about the planet, its endangered species and resources, conservation will become a high priority.