Conservationists Successfully Swoop in to Save Last of Known Endangered Frog Species Just in the Nick of Time – via Herp Digest

By Good News Network - 

Aug 21, 2019

A team of conservationists and government officials in Chile are being praised for their swift and unprecedented rescue mission of a critically endangered frog species just in the nick of time.

Last month, the researchers managed to save 14 of the Loa water frog, a species that can only be found in a single stream in Chile.

Specialists say that the rescued amphibians could be the last of the entire species—and the critters were rescued just before their habitat had completely dried up, leaving the frogs malnourished and barely hanging on.

Chilean officials stumbled upon the plight of the Loa water frog after they discovered that its habitat outside the city of Calama—which is located in the middle of the Atacama desert—had dried up as a result of mining, agriculture, real estate development, and water extraction for mining purposes.

In a region where water is a scarce resource, all of the frogs had been pushed into a tiny pool of muddy water. Thankfully, the team managed to collect what they believe to be the last 14 frogs and brought them to the National Zoo of Chile to start a conservation breeding program.

As the zoo’s specialists try to nurse the critters back to health, they are reportedly talking to water frog experts from around the world in order to gather tips for calculating the best methods of breeding and care.

The battle to save the world's biggest bumblebee from extinction

In Chile the beloved native bee is venerated as carrying the spirit of the dead, but its numbers are dwindling as farmers use imported species infected with parasites to pollinate crops

Alison Benjamin

Sat 4 May 2019 10.00 BSTLast modified on Thu 9 May 2019 15.03 BST

The first time José Montalava saw the world’s largest bumblebee he was six years old and visiting his grandfather’s house in rural Chile. “It was in the tomato patch, a huge, loud, fluffy orange thing buzzing around. I remember trying to grab it, but it kept getting away, although it looked too heavy to fly,” he recalls.

During Montalava’s childhood, these giant golden bumblebees (Bombus dahlbomii) – which can measure up to 40mm and have been dubbed “flying mice” – were a common sight in the town where he grew up in central Chile. “It’s such a striking, charismatic, colourful bumblebee that used to herald spring,” says the 36-year-old entomologist. “Now it’s totally disappeared from my hometown and many other areas.”

Montalava says he first became aware the bee was in trouble after he was asked to take part in a study on the potential impact on the native species of importing a European bumblebee.

“In 2003, we would see thousands of the native bumblebees in the gardens of the university just outside the capital, Santiago, where I worked. The flowers were covered with these big, fluffy orange bees.”

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Life-threatening foot disease found in endangered in Chile

Virus could pose conservation threat to huemul populations

Date:  April 17, 2019

Source:  University of California - Davis

Scientists report the first cases of foot disease for endangered huemul deer in Chilean Patagonia in a study led by the Wildlife Conservation Society and the University of California, Davis' One Health Institute, with partnering institutions in Chile and the United States.

In the study, published April 17 in the journal PLOS ONE, researchers found foot lesions in 24 huemul deer in Chile's Bernardo O'Higgins National Park between 2005 and 2010. The park remains one of the few strongholds for the species, which lives in the rugged mountainous terrain of southern Argentina and Chile.

The foot disease causes severe pain, swelling, partial or complete loss of the hoof and in many cases, death. Affected animals become unable to move and forage, leaving them susceptible to starvation and predation.

Researchers identified parapoxvirus as the likely cause of the disease. About 40 percent of the 24 affected deer died, suggesting the virus could pose a considerable conservation threat to the already vulnerable species.

"We knew that deer were getting sick and dying from this disease for many years, but we didn't know what was causing it," said corresponding author Marcela Uhart, a wildlife veterinarian with the UC Davis One Health Institute and director of the Latin America Program within UC Davis' Karen C. Drayer Wildlife Health Center. "We're really excited that we found a potential cause for this disease. Now we need to learn from it so we can be better prepared to help this species."

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Mystery killer whales spotted by scientists off coast of Chile 'likely to be new species'

Enigmatic orcas 'could be the largest undescribed animal left on the planet', say marine researchers

Chris Baynes

A killer whale that could be a new species is to be studied by scientists for the first time after it was seen off the coast of southern Chile.

A team of international researchers have collected genetic samples from a group of orcas roaming the sub-Antarctic waters off the tip of South America.

For decades, fishermen and tourists had returned with tales and even photos of killer whales in the region that look distinctly different from others. But the enigmatic marine mammals had eluded scientists until now.

The team encountered the killer whales – known only as “Type D” – while anchored off Cape Horn for a week waiting for storms to pass in January.

Scientists collected three biopsy samples from the pod, and biologists from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) are now conducting laboratory tests that will establish if the orcas are a new species.

Watch video and read on

Flashing lights ward off livestock-hunting pumas in northern Chile

by John C. Cannon on 7 January 2019

A new paper reports that Foxlights, a brand of portable, intermittently flashing lights, kept pumas away from herds of alpacas and llamas during a recent calving season in northern Chile.

Herds without the lights nearby lost seven animals during the four-month study period.

The research used a “crossover” design, in which the herds without the lights at the beginning of the experiment had them installed halfway through, removing the possibility that the herds were protected by their locations and not the lights themselves.

Pulsating lights placed around llama and alpaca herds warded off puma attacks during a recent experiment in Chile, suggesting the method might help avert conflict between herders and dwindling populations of the predator.

“The implications are huge,” Omar Ohrens, a postdoctoral scholar in environmental studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and lead author of a study on the findings, said in an interview.

Read  on

Protected Chilean sea lions are the 'enemy' of fishermen

December 22, 2018 by Miguel Sanchez

Chilean fishermen have branded sea lions "a plague" because of the competition they provide in catching fish

Off the coast of Chile, fisherman face competition from a cunning carnivorous hunter that has decimated their industry due to its voracious appetite.

For Chile's fishermen, sea lions are a "plague."

"They're an enemy!" complained Mario Rojas to AFP. "We try to make them go away but it's impossible!"

Part of the wider seal family that was once hunted mercilessly all over the world, leaving some populations close to extinction, the South American sea lion in Chile has been protected for the last 28 years.

Hunting them for their richly prized fur is illegal.

Liberated from their most dangerous predator—they are still prey for sharks and orcas—the sea mammal's population has been on the rise, helped in no small part by the abundant fodder they manage to steal from fisherman.

They have learnt to distinguish the sound of the fishing boats' motors, allowing them to follow the vessels as they head out to sea.

"The sea lions don't hunt anymore. They hear the noise of a boat and they know that the food is there," said Rojas.

With their sharp teeth and the enormous power in bodies that can weigh around 650 pounds (300 kilograms), they manage to destroy the fishing nets and gobble up the treats inside.

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South American marsupials discovered to reach new heights

For the first time, scientists catch on camera a tiny marsupial climbing higher than previously thought in the forest canopy

Date: October 18, 2018

Source: Ecological Society of America

In the Andean forests along the border of Chile and Argentina, there have long been speculations that the mouse-sized marsupial monito del monte (Dromiciops gliroides) climbs to lofty heights in the trees. Yet, due to the lack of knowledge about the region's biodiversity in the forest canopies, no previous records exist documenting such arboreal habits for this creature.

Some tree-climbing researchers are changing that.

Javier Godoy-Güinao and colleagues set motion-sensing camera traps in the tree canopy to capture photographic evidence confirming the high-climbing theories surrounding this miniature mammal. The findings are published in a new study in the Ecological Society of America's journal Ecosphere.

Read on

Hope for threatened 'little tiger cat'

By Helen BriggsBBC News

19 January 2018

It's the smallest cat in the Americas, occupying the smallest area of land.

Listed as vulnerable to extinction, the güiña wildcat of Chile has lost much of its natural home as forests are chopped down or converted to farmland.

And, like many carnivores, it's at risk from human persecution over fears it might kill livestock.

However, new research shows the animal is able to survive near human settlements on agricultural land.

Its biggest threat is being squeezed out when land is broken up into smaller areas, say conservationists.

The guiña is known variously as the little tiger cat, little spotted cat or Chilean cat. About half the size of the domestic cat, it is one of the most threatened cat species in South America.

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One of eight new endemic polyester bees from Chile bears the name of a draconic Pokemon

Date: June 1, 2016

Source: Pensoft Publishers

Among the eight new bee species that Spencer K. Monckton has discovered as part of his Biology Master's degree at York University, there is one named after a popular draconic creature from the Japanese franchise Pokémon. Called the stem-nesting Charizard, the new insect belongs to a subgenus, whose 17 species are apparently endemic to Chile, yet occupy a huge variety of habitats.

The young scientist, who is currently a PhD student at the University of Guelph, studying sawfly systematics and phylogeography, has his work published in the open access journal ZooKeys.

Known as polyester bees, the family to which the new species belong is characterized by the curious secretions these bees produce. Once applied to the walls of their nest cells, the secretion dries into a smooth, cellophane-like lining.

The new bee species are endemic to Chile, yet they occupy a huge variety of habitats ranging from the hyper-arid Atacama Desert in the north, to moist forests of monkey puzzle trees in the south, spanning elevations from the Pacific coast to more than 3200 metres above sea level. All of them are also solitary and nest in hollow plant stems.

Although the new bee species might lack the fiery breath of the dragon-like Pokémon, much like its namesake, it is normally found around mountains. Also, like the fictional species, the new bee has a distinctively long, snout-like face and broad hind legs, with antennae in place of horns.

However, the stem-nesting Charizard bee, as well as the other new species, are tiny creatures that measure between 4 and 7 mm in length. Unlike the predominantly orange colouration of the Pokémon, both males and females are mostly dark brown to black, patterned with variable yellow markings.

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The lizard of consistency: New iguana species which sticks to its colors found in Chile

Date:January 20, 2016

Source:Pensoft Publishers

During a field trip at 3000 metres above sea level, a group of scientists, led by Jaime Troncoso-Palacios, Universidad de Chile, discovered a new endemic iguana species, in the mountains of central Chile, scientists. Noticeably different in size and scalation, compared to the rest of the local lizards, what initially grabbed the biologists' attention was its colouration. Not only was it unlike the already described ones, but also appeared surprisingly consistent within the collected individuals, even regardless of their sex. Eventually, it was this peculiar uniformity that determined the lizard's name L. uniformis. The study is published in the open-access journal ZooKeys.

The researchers found the lizards quite abundant in the area, which facilitated their observations and estimations. Apart from a thorough description of the new iguana along with its comparisons to its related species, the present paper also provides an in-depth discussion about the placement of the new taxon, which had been confused with other species in the past.

While most of the other lizards from the area and its surroundings often vary greatly in colouration and pattern between populations and sexes, such thing is not present in the new species. Both males and females from the observed collection have their bodies' upper side in brown, varying from dark on the head, through coppery on the back and light brown on the tail. The down side of the body is mainly yellowish, while the belly -- whitish. The only variables the scientists have noticed in their specimens are slight differences in the shade with two females demonstrating unusual olive hues on their snouts. These differences in morphology were also strongly supported by the molecular phylogeny through the analysis of mitochondrial DNA, which was performed by Dr. Alvaro A. Elorza, from Universidad Andres Bello.

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Huge beached blue whale saved by fishermen off Chile coast

Fishermen and beachgoers in Chile have helped rescue a whale stranded on a beach

By Claire Lomas, video source APTN

10:04AM GMT 30 Dec 2015

Local fishermen and beachgoers have helped rescue a blue whale after it became stranded on a beach in Chile.

Along with members of the police and the navy, they were able to pull the whale back into deeper water after securing it with a large net.

The large mammal measured more than 20 metres in length and was stranded on a beach in the port city of Iquique.

Video footage shows rescuers using a large net to move the whale before a boat pulls it back out to sea.

Source ...

337 whales dead in Chile in one of history's biggest beachings

Biologist reports discovery made in June during observation flight over Patagonia region, as cause of whales’ death remains unknown

Associated Press in Santiago

Tuesday 1 December 2015 23.47 GMTLast modified on Tuesday 1 December 201523.49 GMT

The coast of southern Chile has become a grave for 337 sei whales that were found beached in what scientists say is one of the biggest whale strandings ever recorded.

Biologist Vreni Haussermann told the Associated Press Tuesday that she made the discovery along with other scientists in June during an observation flight over fjords in Chile’s southern Patagonia region.

The team has been collecting samples since then. She declined to disclose the conclusions, which will be published by a scientific journal later this year.

The cause of death of the whales is unknown, although human intervention has been ruled out.

The scientific expedition counted 305 bodies and 32 skeletons of whales through aerial and satellite photography in an area between the Gulf of Penas and Puerto Natales.

Source ..

Blue whales get a boost in Chile

February 2014: Blue whale and dolphin conservation gets a boost with the decision by Chile Government to make Tic Toc, situated on Chile’s southern coast, the largest Marine Protected Area (MPA) in continental Chile. With an area of around 90,000 ha (equal to the urban area of Chile's capital), Tic-Toc is one of the most biodiverse areas of Chilean coast.

“This marine park is a gift and a great inheritance for our children,” said Dr Francisco Viddi, Marine Conservation Program coordinator at WWF Chile. “Tic-Toc will finally be protected; its rich waters, innumerable species and fragile ecosystem will be conserved and the blue whales will continue to have a home here every summer.”

The new MPA is an important feeding and nursing ground for the blue whale, the world's largest mammal. The area is also home to unique species of dolphins such as the Chilean dolphin and Peale's dolphin, as well as two endangered species of otter. 

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Chile's stunning fossil whale graveyard explained

By Jonathan Amos

Science correspondent, BBC News

It is one of the most astonishing fossil discoveries of recent years - a graveyard of whales found beside the Pan-American Highway in Chile.

And now scientists think they can explain how so many of the animals came to be preserved in one location more than five million years ago.

It was the result of not one but four separate mass strandings, they report in a Royal Society journal.

The evidence strongly suggests the whales all ingested toxic algae.

The dead and dying mammals were then washed into an estuary and on to flat sands where they became buried over time.

It was well known that this area in Chile's Atacama Desert preserved whale fossils.

Their bones could be seen sticking out of rock faces, and the spot acquired the name Cerro Ballena ("whale hill") as a result.

Read on

Rare tiny mollusc found after 72 year hiatus

A tiny mollusc called a chiton has been recorded for the first time for 72 years in Chile.

November 2013: The discovery of the tiny mollusc was made by Dr Moisés Aguilera from the Intertidal Ecology at the Centro de Estudios Avanzados en Zonas Áridas (CEAZA), during a field trip to launch The Open University’s global iSpot website in Chile.

Dr Aguilera said: “It was exciting because this is a very rare species, the only ovoviviparous chiton in the world and it seems to have a constrained distributional range which is not yet determined. The finding could be of global significance since populations of this species are expected to be very sensitive to local extinction. This finding will stimulate future scientific studies on these populations.”

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New species of fish discovered near Chile, help name it for a prize

So, do you fancy yourself a good name-giver? Even if you called your cats Barley and Hops in college (it's OK, we've been there), here's a chance to flex your creative chops and perhaps put another indelible mark on an unsuspecting creature: a new species of fish. This 4-inch beauty was discovered in February in the Desventuradas Islands off the coast of Chile, and National Geographic Society is holding a contest from July 31 to August 26 to let the public name it. The grand prize? A 10-day trip to the Galapagos. "If people can name planets, they should be able to name animals, too," said Enric Sala, the explorer who discovered the fish. Click here to submit your entry in the comment box. [Source]

http://now.msn.com/fish-discovered-near-chile-help-name-new-species-for-a-prize

Darwin's Frogs Are in Steep Decline

Some of nature's most fascinating fathers may be at risk of extinction.

Male Darwin's frogs swallow their offspring in the tadpole stage, incubate their young in their vocal sacs, and eventually spit out fully developed froglets. Along with seahorses, the frogs are thought to be the only known living vertebrates in which dads take on baby-carrying duties with special sacs that make them look pregnant.

But new research shows that these unique creatures may be vanishing as their habitats in Chile's temperate forests are destroyed.

Shrinking range

Charles Darwin first discovered the frogs while traveling in Chile in 1834. Scientists who later studied the mouth-brooding animals found that there are actually two species, naming one Rhinoderma darwinii (Darwin's frog) and the other Rhinoderma rufum (Chile Darwin's frog).

From 2008 to 2012, a team of researchers led by zoologist Claudio Soto-Azat surveyed 223 sites in the frogs' historical range, from the coastal city of Valparaíso south to an area just beyond Chiloé Island. R. rufum has not been seen in the wild since 1980, and despite the recent extensive search effort across every recorded location of the species, no individuals were seen or heard during the four-year survey, the researchers said. R. darwinii, meanwhile, was found in 36 sites, but only in fragmented and small populations, each with likely less than 100 individuals.

The findings suggest Darwin's frogs have disappeared from, or at least rapidly declined in, many locations where they were recently abundant, the researchers wrote in a paper published online June 12 in the journal PLOS ONE. Habitat loss and fragmentation may be the culprits.

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A Beautiful Species of Tree Iguana Redescribed 179 Years After Its Discovery

Apr. 23, 2013 — Tree iguanas (Liolaemus) are one of the most diverse genus of lizards in the world with 230 described species. Within these, Liolaemusnigromaculatus -- the second described species of the genus Liolaemus -- is usually mentioned in field guides, project baselines, scientific articles, reviews and even is the nominal species of the lizard group nigromaculatus... but always the same question is repeated: Which is this species and which is its type locality?

After a long and comprehensive investigation, two Chilean biologists, Jaime Troncoso-Palacios, Universidad de Chile and Carlos F. Garin, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, clear the mysteries around the species, demonstrating that the tree iguana L. nigromaculatus was in fact described with a juvenile male of the species, currently known as L. bisignatus. This specimen was collected in Chile by the doctor and naturalist Franz Julius Ferdinand Meyen on his journey around the world during 1830-1832. Although he describes in detail his journey in one of his books, peculiarly this information was never used in an attempt to clarify the provenance of the species. In fact, there is currently broad consensus that the type locality is Huasco (northern Chile), a locality never visited by Meyen!

"For first time, we have been able to identify the area in which Meyen collected L. nigromaculatus. We have established through Meyen's own writings and the study of the species of Liolaemus that inhabit in the localities that he visited that the tree iguana L. nigromaculatus was collected in the transect or surroundings between Puerto Viejo and Copiapó, in Atacama (Chile)," explains Jaime Troncoso-Palacios. 

For the characterization of the holotype of L. nigromaculatus, the authors used high resolution digital photographs provided by Mr. Frank Tillack (Museum für Naturkunde). Use of digital pictures of type specimens has proved to be a powerful and useful tool for clarifying confusing taxonomic issues. The study was published in the open access journal ZooKeys.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/04/130423102337.htm

Patagonian deer brought back from the brink

Resurgence of endangered deer in Patagonian ‘Eden' highlights conservation success

April 2013. The Huemul, a species of deer found only in Patagonia, is bouncing back from the brink of possible extinction as a result of collaboration between conservationists and the Chilean government, according to a new study.

Controlling cattle farming and poaching
By controlling cattle farming and policing to prevent poaching in the Bernardo O'Higgins National Park - a vast "natural Eden" covering 3.5 million hectares - conservation efforts have allowed the deer to return to areas of natural habitat from which it had completely disappeared.

Researchers are hailing the findings as an example of collaborations between local government and scientists leading to real conservation success, and a possible model for future efforts to maintain the extraordinary biodiversity found in this part of Chile.

99% reduction - Just 2,500 deer left
A national symbol that features on the Chilean coat-of-arms, Huemul deer are estimated to have suffered reductions of 99 per cent in size since the 19th century, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. Researchers believe 50 per cent of this decline has come in recent years, with only 2,500 deer now left in the wild.

Easy prey
The Huemul is a naturally tame and approachable animal, which led to it becoming easy prey for hunters, particularly with the arrival of European colonists in the area who would hunt Huemul for meat to feed their dogs. Recent increases by local farmers in the practice of releasing cattle indiscriminately into national parkland for retrieval later in the year has damaged the habitats of endemic wildlife such as the Huemul, and, coupled with continued hunting of the species, deer populations plummeted.

The joint efforts of conservationists and researchers with government and private initiatives created a small number of field stations in this remote natural paradise on the tip of South America - one of the least populated areas of the world, requiring a boat trip of two days along the region's stunning fjords to reach.

This created a base for monitoring endangered species and natural habitats, as well as a team of park rangers enforcing conservation laws that - although they had been in place since the late sixties - had never been policed on the ground.

The impact was almost immediate, within five short years - from 2004 to 2008 - the Huemul population in the national park not only stabilised but also began to increase, with deer coming down from the hostile mountain areas it had sought refuge in and back to the sea-level valleys where it naturally thrives.

National parks must exist on more than paper
"National parks are at the heart of modern conservation, but there has to be an investment in management and protection on the ground. You can't just have a ‘paper park', where an area is ring-fenced on a map but physically ignored," said Cristóbal Briceño, a researcher from Cambridge's Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, who co-authored the study.

"Our results suggest that synergistic conservation actions, such as cattle removal and poaching control, brought about by increased infrastructure, can lead to the recovery of species such as the threated Huemul."

Read on:  http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/patagonian-deer.html

Beached shrimp in Chile: The strangest objects washed ashore

The unusual sight of millions of dead shrimp in Chile is far from the first time bizarre objects have washed up on the world's coastlines.

The bizarre sight of millions of dead shrimp washed up on the coast of Santiago has baffled Chileans and marine experts alike.

Environmental officials are investigating after huge swathes of the tiny red sea creatures washed up on a beach in Coronel, 330 miles south of Chile's capital, Santiago.

Prosecutors say the bizarre incident could've been an environmental crime, and local fishermen say regional power firms for overheating the waters, endangering the lives of marine wildlife.

Continued:  http://uk.news.yahoo.com/shrimp-washed-up-chile--bizarre-objects-on-beaches-145003624.html#1CFK3Mq