Frank Glaw is no stranger to discovery. The German herpetologist has helped describe scores of new species from Madagascar, but the latest one is special: Brookesia nana is arguably the world’s tiniest chameleon and possibly the smallest reptile on Earth. Measuring just shy of 14 millimeters (0.55 inches), B. nana can perch cozily on an […]
Tag: Madagascar
Pet trade relies on ‘disposable’ wild chameleons from Madagascar
DIANA REGION, Madagascar — With the sun still low in the sky, my taxi boat pulled up to a floating wooden pontoon in the bustling port of Ankify in northwestern Madagascar. As one of the few foreigners, or vazaha, in the port that morning, I was instantly surrounded by local taxi drivers eager to take […]
A chameleon not seen in a century reappears in a Madagascar garden
Armed with headlamps and flashlights, a team of researchers in northwestern Madagascar searched through the night for an elusive chameleon, Voeltzkow’s chameleon (Furcifer voeltzkowi), which hadn’t been spotted for more than 100 years. On the sixth day of their expedition, they found it. But the species wasn’t in the forest as they expected: it was […]
A third of Madagascar’s lemur species on the brink of extinction, IUCN warns
Human actions have pushed 13 more lemur species, the iconic primates native to Madagascar, to the brink of extinction, according to an update to the list of the world’s threatened species. Those now in the critically endangered category of the IUCN Red List include the tiniest primate in the world, the Madame Berthe’s mouse lemur […]
Marijuana cultivation whittling away Madagascar’s largest connected forest
Between the cacao fields of northwest Madagascar and the vanilla of the northeast, a chain of rainforests bob along the highland interior. Tsaratanana Reserve, home to the country’s highest peak, has long been a key link in the chain, with abundant primary forest mostly undisturbed by human activity. Yet the reserve now faces threats on […]
Why you should care about the current wave of mass extinctions
The scientific imprimatur fell on us just six months ago: Yes, the extinction crisis we are witnessing is only the beginning of a wave of mass ecocide of non-human life on Earth, a process that could wipe out a million species of plants and animals from our planet in the short term (read: decades). About […]
Deforested areas bleed heat to nearby forests, drive local extinctions
Areas cleared of forests bleed heat to neighboring forests, and this fuels increases in temperatures there, new research has found. Average temperatures in forests around the world are already rising because of climate change; this leaked heat exacerbates the problem and accelerates local extinctions of forest-dwelling species. “The warming is happening from global climate change […]
POLL: Should the trophy hunting of giraffes be banned?
Tourist trophy hunters are paying thousands of pounds to go and shoot giraffes with high-powered guns and bows. The gentle giants are loved around the world for their comical appearance and gentle nature. Just like character ‘Melman’ played by Friend’s-star David Schwimmer in Disney’s Madagascar, they are a hit with kids who love their long […]