 | As he ventured into the forests of Chocó, a mountainous region in western Colombia, Conservation International (CI) Amphibian Conservation Officer Robin Moore wasn’t feeling very optimistic. As part of CI’s Search for the Lost Frogs, his small team of herpetologists was on the hunt for four species of amphibians that hadn’t been seen in at least a decade. But after spending the previous two days and nights sifting through leaf litter on steep mountain slopes in nearby Sonsón, not only had the researchers not seen any traces of these species – they had found almost no animal life at all. |
Scientific knowledge of this species is based entirely on the 1914 discovery of two individuals in a creek north of the western Colombian village of Mesopotamia. Like other species in its genus, it is believed to produce eggs that hatch directly into small toads (forgoing the tadpole stage). The species has not been seen since its discovery, and its original habitat is unprotected and under intense pressure from human activities. |  |
ScienceDaily (Oct. 1, 2010) — It might seem obvious that a dinosaur’s leg bone connects to the hip bone, but what came between the bones has been less obvious. Now, researchers at the University of Missouri and Ohio University have found that dinosaurs had thick layers of cartilage in their joints, which means they may have been considerably taller than previously thought. The study is being published this week in the journal PLoS ONE (Public Library of Science). «Our study of the limbs of modern-day relatives of dinosaurs shows that dinosaurs were significantly taller than original estimates,» said Casey Holliday, lead author of the study and an anatomy professor in the MU School of Medicine. «The ends of many dinosaurs’ long bones, which include leg bones such as the femur or tibia, are rounded and rough and lack major articulating structures like condyles, which are bony projections. This indicated that very thick cartilages formed these structures, and therefore the joints themselves, and would have added significant height to certain dinosaurs. This study offers new data into how and why reptiles, and mammals, such as humans, build their joints with such different amounts of bone and cartilage.» |  |
 | Loggerhead nesting season started this year, as usual, in May. Across the northeastern coast of the Gulf of Mexico, female sea turtles began plodding out of the water and up the beach, each burying a clutch of a hundred or more leathery eggs beneath the sand. The eggs incubate for about 60 days. Then a throng of tiny black loggerhead hatchlings, each only about two inches long, frantically boils out of the ground, all paddling clumsily with their outsize, winglike flippers. They scuttle down the beach en masse, capitalizing on a one-time frenzy of energy to rush into the water and push past the breakers into offshore currents. |
 | Al hablar, mezcla palabras en inglés y castellano. «No es por tontería»-dice- sino porque lleva casi 30 años fuera de España. Y es que Frank es de león, pero desde hace 11 vive en Bangkok donde estudió herpetología (experto en reptiles y anfibios). Las cosas las explica con un lenguaje coloquial en el que los tacos también están permitidos. «Los Rambos no existen. Si sigo vivo es porque hago las cosas con mucha cautela», comenta, aunque el peligro es una constante en su vida. Sin temblarle la voz recuerda cómo le han pegado un tiro por la espalda o ha estado dos veces en coma por picaduras de serpiente. En Bangkok un diario sensacionalista hace apuestas con el año de su muerte. Su gesto sólo se torna serio cuando se le pregunta por la experiencia que más le ha marcado. “Un amigo se me murió en los brazos cuando una cobra le mordió en la yugular. No llegó a los cinco minutos”. |
