The Fifa World Cup host, Brazil, has been criticised for failing to make environmental policy changes it promised ahead of the championships. Even the Fifa mascot, Fuleco the armadillo, is under fire. The furry mascot, whose name combines the Portuguese words for football and ecology, is failing to promote the conservation of the latter. In this piece in the … [Read more…]
Some of my PhD fieldwork has been recently featured in a online interview by James Borrell (jamesborrell.com). In it I give some details on what I have been up to and some tips on carrying out fieldwork in this part of the globe. Read it all here! Many thanks to James for the opportunity!
The “Projeto Ararinha na Natureza” led by SAVE Brasil, launched the first annual report of the conservation outreach activities it is undertaking with the aim of preparing a future reintroduction of the iconic Spix’s Macaw. The species is currently “extinct in the wild” although a number of institutions have been collaboration to return this species to its natural habitat. It has been a great pleasure to … [Read more…]
In another natural history short note me and a few colleagues document the finding of an adult specimen of Bothrops taeniatus Wagler, 1824 in the Municipality of Assis Brasil, in the Rio Acre Ecological Station, Acre, Brazil. This is the first record of this species for the state of Acre, extending the species distribution globally by approximately 164 Km west. Find … [Read more…]
A few days ago I co-author a short note that presents the first record of the Bicoloured-spined Porcupine for Brazil. Its not often that a mammal of this size is first recorded for a country, even one as large and biodiverse as Brazil! Checkout the short note here.
The snake Bothrops muriciensis is a little known Brazilian viper that until recently was only known from the couple of records that were used to describe it. I paper I co-authored in the open-access North-Western Journal of Zoology presents six more records and looks at applying the IUCN Red List criteria to the species until now classified as Data Deficient. … [Read more…]
The latest issue of the Herpetological Bulletin has a natural history note reporting on the predation of a slender anole (Anolis fuscoauratus) by a northern woodland racer (Drymoluber dichrous) in North-eastern Brazil. This short note was co-authored with Gonçalo Rosa and Marco António Freitas. See the Pdf here
Two short notes on the distribution of two Brazilian lizards have recently been published by the journal Herpetological Notes. Both can be access for free at the journals website or in the links below: Freitas, M.A., D. Veríssimo, S. Albuquerque and T.O. Lima. Distribution extension for the lizard Enyalius lechii (Boulenger,1885) (Squamata:Leiosauridae): Third record for the state of Rondônia, Brazil. Herpetology … [Read more…]