EXOTICS NEWS

Five new species of tree-dwelling snake, belonging to the genera Sibon and Dipsas, have been found in the jungles of Ecuador, Colombia and Panama and are now at risk from mining activity across the regions.

A new species of stream frog has been named after The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings author J.R.R. Tolkein. The frog, Hyloscirtus tolkieni, was discovered in the Ecuadorian Andes by researchers Juan C. Sánchez-Nivicela, José M. Falcón-Reibán and Diego F. Cisneros-Heredia and named after the fantasy author due to its other-worldly colouring. It lives in the streams of the Rio Negro-Sopladora National Park in south east Ecuador which lies at 3190 metres above sea level. The species’ measures 65mm in length and its tadpoles develop among the rocks of fast-moving rivers. Only one of the species has been found and researchers will now assess its conservation status and risk of extinction.

Paradise Wildlife Park in Broxbourne, Hertfordshire is due to open two new enclosures after a two-year delay. With the opening originally planned for 2021, Jaguar Jungle and Sun

Bear Heights will now be open to the public from 1st April. After Covid-19 restrictions forced the park to postpone the opening, it has now described the delay as a “blessing in disguise” that allowed them to create an even better experience with the extra time.

Aaron Whitnall, one of three brothers who run the zoo, said: “Even though it’s a bit behind, the delay has had its benefits. We’ve been able to take a bit more time and we now think we’ve got world class habitats.

“It was a blessing in disguise- we’ve now been able to create something amazing that we think will blow people away.”

Jaguar Jungle will be the only enclosure in the UK where people can see the big cats swim, while Sun Bear Heights will be the home to endangered sun bears, binturong and two Asian small-clawed otters.

The species were described by biologists Alejandro Artega and Abel Batista, with three being named by actor and founder of Re:wild, Leonardo DiCaprio (Sibon irmelindicaprioae) and businessman and philanthropist Brian Sheth (Sibon marleyae and Dipsas welborni) in an effort to raise awareness of the risk to the new-found species.

The snakes are under threat from increasing copper and gold mining in the regions, where illegal openpit operations reached critical levels during the Covid-19 pandemic. The neotropical snakes are arboreal and favour dense vegetation, the very habitats that are being rapidly destroyed by the spread of the mines. Their prey largely consists of snails and slugs which are in sharp decline due to the pollution of water bodies caused by nearby mining. With their diet rapidly disappearing and their habitats being reduced to rubble, the new species are at immediate risk of decimation. With unemployment levels high and the mining an illegal but lucrative practice, there is a major incentive for miners to expand their operations, and little motivation to reduce their impact on the surrounding habitats.

Fortunately, non-governmental organisations Khami, Nature and Culture International and Adopta Bosque in Ecuador and Panama have initiated the process of protecting the snakes’ habitats by requesting urgent land protection, the only route to avoid extinction for the new species.

The National Aquarium in Baltimore has successfully returned 25 juvenile sea turtles to their ocean home after rehabilitation. The 13 Kemp’s ridley and 12 green sea turtles were released in St. Augustine, Florida, after receiving treatment for cold stunning by aquarium staff since the end of 2022.

After becoming stranded off the coast of Massachusetts, they arrived at the aquarium in November, displaying ailments including pneumonia, lesions to the eyes, shells and skin, missing limbs, dehydration and blood and gastrointestinal infections. The smallest of the turtles, Dewey, weighed only 2.2lbs on arrival at the aquarium but, after making a remarkable recovery, was released with the rest of the group after gaining a further 2lbs.

This year, the third-highest number of cold stun cases were recorded, with over 850 sea turtles becoming stranded in the Greater Atlantic Region from Maine to Virginia.

In an exciting development in a breeding programme at Colchester Zoo, a Southern white rhino calf has been born.

The programme aims to conserve the species which, as a result of poaching and the ivory trade, has been listed as ‘Near Threatened’ on the IUCN Red List. With only 16-18,000 wild Southern white rhinos remaining worldwide, the new arrival is a positive step towards protecting the dwindling species.

The King and Queen Consort recently visited the Essex zoo to reveal the name of the calf, Dara, which means beautiful in Swahili, also marking the zoo’s 60th anniversary.

Dara is the seventh Southern white rhino calf to be born at the zoo and the second for mother Astrid, giving further momentum to the vital breeding programme.

A team of local and international scientists have described six new species of pygmy chameleon in Tanzania’s Eastern Arc Mountains. The 900-kilometre mountain range is incredibly biodiverse and is home to over half of the now 26 described species of pygmy chameleon.

The mountains’ forests are now under threat after large areas have been cleared by farmers for crops and livestock. Most of the six newly described species are endemic to the Eastern Arc Mountains and are at risk of extinction due to this loss of habitat.

Menegon, an ecologist and conservationist, was part of the team of researchers who described the six new species. He has seen first-hand the biodiversity of the forest and the impact of deforestation in recent years. He said:

“In 3,500 square kilometres of closed-canopy forest in the Eastern Arc Mountains, there is roughly the same number of amphibian species as the entire Democratic Republic of Congo. It’s unbelievable. We have lost some of [the chameleons] already, in the forest that’s no longer there.”

Menegon is co-director of PAMS Foundation, a conservation non-governmental organisation that has now started working with farmers in the region to replant 300,000 native trees on part of the mountains in efforts to restore part of the lost habitats, offering some hope that the biodiversity of the forest can be protected.

A second batch of southern corroboree frogs have been released in Kosciuszko National Park, New South

Wales (NSW) in attempts to increase populations after the Black Summer bushfires of 2019 and 2020. One hundred of the captive-bred frogs were released, following a similar release in March last year as part of the vital conservation programme.

The NSW Department of Planning and Environment’s Senior Threatened Species Officer, Dave Hunter, has highlighted the importance of the programme, saying without it the frogs would become extinct. With no individuals of the species known to exist outside the programme, the releases are the only chance to reintroduce them to the wild since a fatal disease caused by chytrid fungus, compounded with climate change, saw the frogs listed as critically endangered.

With last year’s batch reportedly thriving in the park, the outlook for the species is optimistic.

Written by Isabelle Thom.