Thanks Red Badger. Tastes like chicken.
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.
Thanks Red Badger. Tastes like chicken.
New Behavior?
I'm reminded a few years ago (before DNA testing) people were saying that Modern Humans would not have had sex with Neanderthals.
Nahhh, it just mutated it...
That is awesome! Should be bred for the pet trade.
Beautiful lizard for a bead design ping.
Heh... primates rooooool!
You haven’t lived until a lizard or a rat runs across your
face in the middle of the night.
I saw rats the size of dogs at Chu Lai.
I’ve heard third-hand that there were also carniverous monkeys that would gang up on druuk servicemen and eat ‘em.
I remember hearing about a Green Beret camp
that had a pet chimp, they would throw a chicken
in the cage and the chimp would proceed to do
unnatural things with it, of course anything a
chimp could do with a chicken would be unnatural.
No information was available as to the eventual
distribution of the chicken.
Although, I have personal memories of a group of drunk
friends in the ville, who when the waitress brought out
a chicken preparitory to cooking, thought it was just a
viet thing to eat raw chicken and proceeded to divy it up
so as not to offend anyone. The villagers thought this was
hilarious.
“That lizard just told me to go **** myself.”
:’)
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