Crocodile Lizard
Posted on 12/21/2017 8:48:04 AM PST by Red Badger
BANGKOK: A Vietnamese ‘crocodile lizard’ and a Thai turtle found on sale in a local market are among more than 100 new species discovered in the ecologically diverse but threatened Mekong region last year, researchers said.
The Southeast Asian countries flanking the Mekong river, which snakes down from the Tibetan plateau to the South China Sea, are among the most biodiverse in the world.
Each year scientists announce scores of new species discovered in the region, which includes Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.
But there are fears that many more species could die out before they are found in the region whose jungle and river ecosystems are increasingly threatened by roads, dams and a thriving illegal wildlife trade.
In total, scientists confirmed 115 new species in 2016 after a lengthy vetting process, according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
They include 11 amphibians, two fish, 11 reptiles, 88 plants and three mammals.
“While the global trends are worrisome, and the threats against species and their habitats here in the Greater Mekong are massive, these new species discoveries give us enormous hope,” said WWF’s Lee Poston.
“But we have to do more to protect their habitat and prevent them from entering the illegal wildlife trade,” he added.
The new finds include a bat with a horseshoe-shaped face and a snail-eating turtle discovered by scientists in a local market in northeastern Thailand.
The Crocodile Lizard, a scaly reptile that hails from northern Vietnam’s evergreen forests, was also among the new species announced on Tuesday.
Although the reptile was first discovered in 2003, it has taken years to confirm its status as a separate subspecies.
Coal mining and pet trade poachers have gravely endangered the lizard, whose numbers are estimated to be fewer than 200, scientists said.
Two new mole species were also found in Vietnam, with researchers noting that their underground dwellings have helped protect them.
Over the past 20 years more than 2,500 new species, amounting to around two per week have been discovered in the Greater Mekong, WWF said.
Crocodile Lizard
Wait a minute...I thought that our Agent Orange and bombing killed everything in that God-forsaken swamp.
Overdevelopment of this beautiful river would be a mistake.
Well, we ended the war in that region in 1975.
No more napalm.
No more dioxin.
No more disruption and violence.
Is that not enough? They seemed to have survived all of that, so perhaps the danger is not all that great.
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If there are more than 100 new species, the region would hardly seem to be ‘threatened’. More at ‘thriving’.
They have luxury cruises on the Mekong now.
I tried to book a cabin but they didn’t provide an M-60 with the cabin, so I cancelled.
I mean, really, how can they call it a luxury cruise if a complimentary M-60 isn’t provided?
How gauche.
100 new species discovered
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“New” as in “always been there, but nobody paid them any attention before”.
Well, now that people aren’t shooting at each other and bombing the living daylights out of the country all the ‘new’ species can come out of hiding!..................
They make up for it by providing free complementary sapper satchels...................
Oh.
OK then.
But I still want a veranda and one of those fancy coffee makers.
And a good buffet. And I’m not talking about some buffet with 30 kinds of macaroni salad. I want shrimp and carved beef.
And a chocolate fountain.
How about ‘Rat-On-A-Stick’ and some Pho?......................
I don’t know what they eat in Pho. My guess is that it’s that South Western cuisine that’s big in the rest of Arizona.
“Rat-On-A-Stick”?
Is that Hillary when she’s riding her broom?
Killed all the plants for a while.
That’s a very interesting looking lizard. Beautiful, and definitely looks like a tiny crocodile (the back through to the tail).
You ain't seen nothing yet. That's the well known Fuc*-You Lizard and is considered a delicacy among the Vietnamese Montagnards. There may be more out there, but those were the only two-penised lizards I ever saw.
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