The Daily Telegraph has more on the newly discovered species of leopard gecko called the cat ba leopard gecko. It talks about the new species of gecko with leopard patterned skin and bright orange eyes.
The Close Encounter WWF report said 100 plants, 28 fish, 18 reptiles, 14 amphibians, two mammals and the Nonggang babbler bird, which was seen walking over rocks but rarely flying or in trees, were found for the first time in 2008 in this region of northern Vietnam.
Among the plant discoveries were two wild bananas, six orchids and 27 new palm trees, while the new animals included seven species of snake, a bat and a shrew.
The new discoveries add to the wealth of wildlife including the Javan rhino, Indochinese tiger and the Irrawaddy dolphin found in the region, where more than 1,000 species have been discovered in the past decade.
Scientists said there is so much wildlife that some of last year’s discoveries – such as the tiger-striped pitviper – were made entirely by accident by researchers exploring the region which spans Cambodia, Laos, Burma, Thailand, Vietnam and the south western Chinese province of Yunnan.
Dr Lee Grismer, of La Sierra University in California, said: ”We were engrossed in trying to catch a new species of gecko when my son pointed out that my hand was on a rock mere inches away from the head of a pitviper.
”We caught the snake and the gecko, and they both proved to be new species.”
Read the entire article here.
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