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Brookesia Betschi
''Brookesia betschi'', commonly known as Blanc's leaf chameleon or the Marojejy leaf chameleon, is a species of lizard in the family Chamaeleonidae. The species is endemic to Madagascar. Taxonomy ''B. betschi'' was originally described by Édouard-Raoul Brygoo, Charles Pierre Blanc and Charles Antoine Domergue in 1974. The type specimen was collected in 1973, at in a forest in Marojejy. Etymology The specific epithet, ''betschi'', honours French biologist Jean-Marie Betsch. Geographic range and habitat ''B. betschi'' is found in forests of northern Madagascar at altitudes of . It is found in subhumid forests in the Manongarivo Reserve, the Anjanaharibe-Sud Reserve, Marojejy National Park and the Tsaratanana Reserve, as well as in forests between them, over a total area of . Conservation status The International Union for Conservation of Nature has rated the Marojejy leaf chameleon as Near Threatened due to the loss of rainforest in northern Madagascar. This species has ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anjanaharibe-Sud Reserve
Anjanaharibe-Sud Special Reserve is a wildlife reserve in the north-east of Madagascar. The reserve was designated in 1958 and contains some of the last intact primary rainforest, along with several, rare and endemic animals and plants. The area was nominated to the UNESCO Tentative List of World Heritage Sites in Madagascar in 2008, as an extension of the rainforests of the Atsinanana. Geography The special reserve of Anjanahraibe-Sud is located in the Sava Region in north-eastern Madagascar, some south-west of the village of Andapa. It has an area of and the main part of the reserve is between , with peaks up to . There is, on average, over of rain each year and there is little difference in temperatures between the warm season of November to April, , and the cool season of May to October . Two rivers cross the Anjanaharibe-Sud Reserve: the Fotsialanana River and the Marolakana River, which flow into the river of Ankaibe. The park headquarters is located in Andapa. Access i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brookesia
''Brookesia'' is a genus of chameleons, endemic to Madagascar, that range from small to very small in size, and are known collectively as leaf chameleons (though this name also commonly is used for species in the genera ''Rieppeleon'' and ''Rhampholeon''). ''Brookesia'' includes species considered to be the world's smallest chameleons, and are also among the smallest reptiles. Members of the genus ''Brookesia'' are largely brown and most are essentially terrestrial. A significant percentage of the species in the genus were only identified to science within the last three decades, and a number of species that still have not received a scientific name are known to exist. Most inhabit very small ranges in areas that are difficult to access, and due to their small size and secretive nature, they have been relatively poorly studied compared to their larger relatives. ''Brookesia'' are abundant in low-disturbance riparian zones and low-disturbance rainforests. ''Brookesia'' are scar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Miguel Vences
Professor Miguel Vences (born 24 April 1969 in Cologne) is a German herpetologist and evolutionary biologist. Much of his research is focused on the reptiles and amphibians of Madagascar. Life The son of Galician philosopher Sergio Vences Fernández (1936–2012), Vences attended the Schiller-Gymnasium Köln from 1979 to 1988, and graduated with the German Abitur. The following year he began to study Biology at the University of Cologne. There he met Frank Glaw, and as undergraduate students they undertook their first excursions to Madagascar. 496 pp. After completing the Vordiplom in 1993, Vences transferred to the University of Bonn and the Museum König, where he completed his Diplom studies. Vences continued his studies there as a PhD student under the supervision of Wolfgang Böhme until 2000. His thesis was on the evolutionary history of true frogs (Ranoidea) and related families in Madagascar. Thereafter, he worked for one year at the National Museum of Natural Histo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frank Glaw
Frank Rainer Glaw (born 22 March 1966 in Düsseldorf) is a German herpetologist working at the Zoologische Staatssammlung München. Glaw studied biology in Cologne from 1987, where he completed his diploma. Thereafter, he attended the University of Bonn, from which he graduated in 1999, after completing his Ph.D. thesis titled ''Untersuchungen zur Bioakustik, Systematik, Artenvielfalt und Biogeographie madagassischer Anuren'' about the frogs of Madagascar, supervised by Professor Wolfgang Böhme. Since 1997, he has been the curator of herpetology at the Zoologische Staatssammlung München. Glaw's focus during and after his thesis work was the herpetofauna of Madagascar. Since the end of the 1980s, he has been working closely with Miguel Vences, currently professor for evolutionary biology and zoology at the Technische Universität Braunschweig. Together, they published ''A Field Guide to the Amphibians and Reptiles of Madagascar'' in 1992, a benchmark work on the amphibians and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oviparity
Oviparous animals are animals that lay their eggs, with little or no other embryonic development within the mother. This is the reproductive method of most fish, amphibians, most reptiles, and all pterosaurs, dinosaurs (including birds), and monotremes. In traditional usage, most insects (one being ''Culex pipiens'', or the common house mosquito), molluscs, and arachnids are also described as oviparous. Modes of reproduction The traditional modes of reproduction include oviparity, taken to be the ancestral condition, traditionally where either unfertilised oocytes or fertilised eggs are spawned, and viviparity traditionally including any mechanism where young are born live, or where the development of the young is supported by either parent in or on any part of their body. However, the biologist Thierry Lodé recently divided the traditional category of oviparous reproduction into two modes that he named ovuliparity and (true) oviparity respectively. He distinguished the tw ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Camouflage
Camouflage is the use of any combination of materials, coloration, or illumination for concealment, either by making animals or objects hard to see, or by disguising them as something else. Examples include the leopard's spotted coat, the battledress of a modern soldier, and the leaf-mimic katydid's wings. A third approach, motion dazzle, confuses the observer with a conspicuous pattern, making the object visible but momentarily harder to locate, as well as making general aiming easier. The majority of camouflage methods aim for crypsis, often through a general resemblance to the background, high contrast disruptive coloration, eliminating shadow, and countershading. In the open ocean, where there is no background, the principal methods of camouflage are transparency, silvering, and countershading, while the ability to produce light is among other things used for counter-illumination on the undersides of cephalopods such as squid. Some animals, such as chameleons and o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Crypsis
In ecology, crypsis is the ability of an animal or a plant to avoid observation or detection by other animals. It may be a predation strategy or an antipredator adaptation. Methods include camouflage, nocturnality, subterranean lifestyle and mimicry. Crypsis can involve visual, olfactory (with pheromones) or auditory concealment. When it is visual, the term cryptic coloration, effectively a synonym for animal camouflage, is sometimes used, but many different methods of camouflage are employed by animals or plants. Overview There is a strong evolutionary pressure for animals to blend into their environment or conceal their shape, for prey animals to avoid predators and for predators to be able to avoid detection by prey. Exceptions include large herbivores without natural enemies, brilliantly colored birds that rely on flight to escape predators, and venomous or otherwise powerfully armed animals with warning coloration. Cryptic animals include the tawny frogmouth (feather pat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Slash And Burn
Slash-and-burn agriculture is a farming method that involves the cutting and burning of plants in a forest or woodland to create a field called a swidden. The method begins by cutting down the trees and woody plants in an area. The downed vegetation, or "slash", is then left to dry, usually right before the rainiest part of the year. Then, the biomass is burned, resulting in a nutrient-rich layer of ash which makes the soil fertile, as well as temporarily eliminating weed and pest species. After about three to five years, the plot's productivity decreases due to depletion of nutrients along with weed and pest invasion, causing the farmers to abandon the field and move to a new area. The time it takes for a swidden to recover depends on the location and can be as little as five years to more than twenty years, after which the plot can be slashed and burned again, repeating the cycle. In Bangladesh and India, the practice is known as jhum or jhoom. Slash-and-burn is a type of shif ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Near Threatened
A near-threatened species is a species which has been categorized as "Near Threatened" (NT) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as that may be vulnerable to endangerment in the near future, but it does not currently qualify for the threatened status. The IUCN notes the importance of re-evaluating near-threatened taxon at appropriate intervals. The rationale used for near-threatened taxa usually includes the criteria of vulnerable which are plausible or nearly met, such as reduction in numbers or range. Near-threatened species evaluated from 2001 onwards may also be ones which are dependent on conservation efforts to prevent their becoming threatened, whereas before this conservation-dependent species were given a separate category ("Conservation Dependent"). Additionally, the 402 conservation-dependent taxa may also be considered near-threatened. IUCN Categories and Criteria version 2.3 Before 2001, the IUCN used the version 2.3 Categories and Criteria ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
International Union For Conservation Of Nature
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. It is involved in data gathering and analysis, research, field projects, advocacy, and education. IUCN's mission is to "influence, encourage and assist societies throughout the world to conserve nature and to ensure that any use of natural resources is equitable and ecologically sustainable". Over the past decades, IUCN has widened its focus beyond conservation ecology and now incorporates issues related to sustainable development in its projects. IUCN does not itself aim to mobilize the public in support of nature conservation. It tries to influence the actions of governments, business and other stakeholders by providing information and advice and through building partnerships. The organization is best known to the wider pu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tsaratanana Reserve
''For other localities with the same name, see Tsaratanana (other)'' Tsaratanana Reserve is a nature reserve of Madagascar.Madagascar National Parks - Tsaratanana The park is located at a high altitude and is closed to the public. The reserve provides a significant amount of water to the area, and many rivers exist in the area, such as the Bemarivo River, and the or |
_Ranomafana.jpg "Click for more on -> Frank Glaw")
