New species found...Calumma lefona
- Thread starter kinyonga
- Start date
Motherlode Chameleon
Chameleon Enthusiast
Linda
Thanks for posting. The article is another good one. I think I am going to look for the complete description's of all three newly described species. I shall post when I have a link.
Best Regards
Jeremy A. Rich
Thanks for posting. The article is another good one. I think I am going to look for the complete description's of all three newly described species. I shall post when I have a link.
Best Regards
Jeremy A. Rich
Motherlode Chameleon
Chameleon Enthusiast
They come from an extremely small native range. Meaning they are most probably going to be listed by the IUCN Red List as Critically Endangered and I would not expect to see these guys in captivity in the form of CITES quotas. You may have to just satisfy your self in regards to this species with pictures, video, eco tourism and written material about this newly described Calumma species.
Best Regards
Jeremy A. Rich
cyberlocc
Chameleon Enthusiast
Well ya, I assumed that, that's why I asked. The article was pushing for immediate protection. Was wondering the outcome.
Hopefully they at least get their protection. If that's not going to be issued, then I would hope they would push for a reserve or a captive breeding program.
The small area which they are found, may be reason to get them into the hands of bioligsists that have Intent to breed and get them as a captive population.
It would still be a long time before I see them, however it would create an Axolotl situation, if we are going to lose them in the wild, may as well try for captivity.
Such a situation, of a small footprint, restricting a captive attempt, may be the wrong option. As is seen in Axolotl, where captive breeding is the only thing keeping them from all out extinction. They are no longer present in the wild, AFAIK.
Motherlode Chameleon
Chameleon Enthusiast
The pretenses of any breeding program is to up the population breeding programs "species of concern" with the intention to eventually return some of the captive breed "species of concern" back to wild or species native habitat. This being done to eventually delist these Endangered species to a non threatened listing. Endangered species breeding programs are not being bred for people to keep these species in captivity first at the expense of these species existence.
As far as Axolotl go somebody dropped the ball and forgot to reintroduce them back into wild populations while wild populations were around or to start new wild populations founded from captive bred populations.
Best Regards
Jeremy A. Rich
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cyberlocc
Chameleon Enthusiast
No one dropped the ball, the area is was destroyed, and was a small space, that was not able to be recreated, and introduction in other areas is not possible, has not worked. They did try and breed, and returned to Xochimilco. The issue is, there is no longer the ability to sustain their life presently. The lake has changed too much, and no longer supports them.
The case is the same with the species here, the issue is not the animal, but rather the habitat. .15 KM area, is not enough to reintroduce into. It is far to easy for that area to reach destruction whether by the hand of man or that of nature.
Yes, a breeding program is often used to restock an area, however not when the area is already gone, and only a tiny fraction one that is so small, that area will soon remain no longer. Trying to raise population in such a small area, that is bound for destruction would be a fools errand that will end in complete extinction of the species.
Even if not in the hand of hobbyists and with a restriction to that of Zoos, Captivity is the only future this species will have, if they are only able to survive in a .15km area, as the articles suggest. Relocation attempts, could also prove fruitful however, they did not for Axolotl, so the only thing separating them from full out extinction is us.
A 500ft stretch of forest, is not going to last. That is what this species is confined to, there is no future in that. Their only hope, is human intervention. This is the case with many species sadly, and maybe those species were not meant to survive it. There is More Tigers, kept as captive Pets in Texas, then there is in the wild, its the same thing. Their days in the wild, are reaching an End, humans are there only hope, just like Axolotls, there is many of species in similar situations.
The premise of "Protect this 500ft forest" simply is not going to work in this case. They need to remove all of them, and work on introduction elsewhere, or establish them in captivity. Restocking 500ft of forest is not going to do anything.
If there was a large area that could be reserved, that would be a different case. A 500ft forest, that would go up in a forest fire, and be gone in under an hour.
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@Motherlode Chameleon said..."
Thanks for posting. The article is another good one. I think I am going to look for the complete description's of all three newly described species. I shall post when I have a link"...I'd love to read it if you find it.
Thanks for posting. The article is another good one. I think I am going to look for the complete description's of all three newly described species. I shall post when I have a link"...I'd love to read it if you find it.
Motherlode Chameleon
Chameleon Enthusiast
Someone dropped the ball and did not preserve existing Axolotl early enough habitat to save wild populations. I just did a fast google search about the Axolotl. The Mexican government is buying the last remaining bits of this species habitat and is restoring and preserving to become permanent Axolotl habitat.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axolotl
There are things that can be done. The Calumma lefona habitat can be restored, thus increasing the native range of this species. There are prospects of delisting species that way. There are conservation groups in Madagascar that have done restorations around the native habitat of another Critically Endangered Species Calumma tarzan.
As far as Calumma lefona you presume that the species can be kept or bred multi generationally or indefinitely in captivity. There has only been one chameleon species that appears to be capable of being bred indefinitely in captivity the Veiled Chameleon (Chamaeleo calyptratus) and this occurrence is not the norm. Most of these Eastern Madagascar forest species you are going to be fortunate to bred F1 or in rare cases F2 generations. To say you can keep a population of this species indefinitely in captivity is presumptuous and not a great survivial stratagy for this species.
Best Regards
Jeremy A. Rich
cyberlocc
Chameleon Enthusiast
I have too seen the Mexican Government, trying to create a habitat, however the researchers are saying its too late, its over. Hopefully they are able to fix the issues, and restore wild population, but I wouldn't bet on it. I would agree, they did kind of drop the ball on preserving it, had this been done 20-30 years ago, they might of had a chance.
I stated, relocation would be a noble try.
As far as captive breeding, not being a great survival strategy, its better than nothing. I feel like just like the Axolotl, it may be too late. 500ft of forest, is not much to work with. You mentioned C. tarzan, they had a 10km range, to work with. Thats a far stretch difference to .15km.
Motherlode Chameleon
Chameleon Enthusiast
The article says Axolotl's were found in the wild up until 2010. May not be much habitat left then however life on earth through science is though to have evolved from less.
As far as Calumma tarzan, they make a good protocol about saving Endangered species. Such as save and protect existing endangered species native habitat, restore and expand native habitat and species endangered range, take care of wild populations to the point that they thrive. Then theoretically these populations become self sustaining, have a large native range, and are stable enough that you can consider delisting and consider making Quotas of keeping species that were once Endangered species in captive collections. These programs are important. Especially in Madagascar these conservation programs are important as they conserve and creating habitat for more than one endangered species (Lemurs, Geckos, and other Chameleon species).
Best Regards
Jeremy A. Rich
cyberlocc
Chameleon Enthusiast
Well, I agree, I just am not sure how well trying to recreate from 500ft, is going to work. Only time will tell, I will be keeping an eye on this species and what happens. Hopefully good things!
Motherlode Chameleon
Chameleon Enthusiast
That task/program is a lot of forestry, conservation biology, biology, horticulture, botany and other disciplines. However these types of programs are good programs to be a part of.
Best Regards
Jeremy A. Rich
Motherlode Chameleon
Chameleon Enthusiast
This is another link to some more literature and link to the name of paper and authors who published the initial discovery of Calumma lefona. There is information about newly discovered Calumma uetzi and Calumma juliae as well.
http://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Calumma&species=lefona
Best Regards
Jeremy A. Rich
http://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Calumma&species=lefona
Best Regards
Jeremy A. Rich
Alexl
Avid Member
There's some more information and pictures of one of the three described species of this paper, Calumma juliae: https://www.madcham.de/en/calumma-juliae/
A very beautiful small chameleon species, but the habitat known so far is tiny and extremely threatened by deforestation. Unfortunately also quite close to a city and therefore soon surely threatened by some idiotic catching activities soon. The male of the species is not even known yet! I've been several times in its habitat during the last two years. Not an easy find. There are several similar small species living in the same area.
By the way, part of the distribution area of Calumma uetzi is relatively well protected. In Marojejy National Park, an inventory of damage, altered park boundaries etc. has just been made a few weeks ago. In contrast to other areas, the protection works quite well. Sure, the borders are often slightly altered, but Calumma uetzi occurs further up around Camp Simpona , where overall only moderate habitat disturbances are to be feared. And that despite the fact that there is currently very little income from ecotourism (if you camp in Marojejy, you may be the only traveler there for a whole year who stays for more than one day).
A very beautiful small chameleon species, but the habitat known so far is tiny and extremely threatened by deforestation. Unfortunately also quite close to a city and therefore soon surely threatened by some idiotic catching activities soon. The male of the species is not even known yet! I've been several times in its habitat during the last two years. Not an easy find. There are several similar small species living in the same area.
By the way, part of the distribution area of Calumma uetzi is relatively well protected. In Marojejy National Park, an inventory of damage, altered park boundaries etc. has just been made a few weeks ago. In contrast to other areas, the protection works quite well. Sure, the borders are often slightly altered, but Calumma uetzi occurs further up around Camp Simpona , where overall only moderate habitat disturbances are to be feared. And that despite the fact that there is currently very little income from ecotourism (if you camp in Marojejy, you may be the only traveler there for a whole year who stays for more than one day).
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