An obscure lizard reveals how zoos may indirectly play a role in animal trafficking nationalgeographic.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from nationalgeographic.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Skin in the game? Reptile leather trade embroils conservation authority
The reptile skin trade is a controversial issue, with some experts saying that harvesting programs help conserve species and provide livelihood benefits, while others say that the trade is fraught with issues and animal welfare concerns.
From a conservation standpoint, there is evidence that the reptile skin trade is sustainable for some species and in some contexts, but other research suggests that the trade could be decimating wild populations and doing more harm than good.
Exotic leather is falling out of favor in the fashion industry: Numerous companies and brands have banned products made from reptile skin as well as fur, replacing them with products made from materials such as apple, grape or mushroom leather.
Science: Meet the Newly Discovered Chameleon in Ethiopia s Bale Mountains at Tadias Magazine tadias.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from tadias.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Spiny new chameleon species described from Bale Mountains of Ethiopia
by Liz Kimbrough on 6 April 2021
Researchers have described a new chameleon species from the Bale Mountains of south-central Ethiopia and say it’s likely that more will emerge.
Wolfgang Böhme’s Ethiopian chameleon is around 15 centimeters (6 inches) long and has a distinct crest of large spiny scales along its back and tail.
It lives in bushes and small trees, often at the edges of the forest in the Bale Mountains, a biodiversity hotspot that’s also home to the endemic Ethiopian wolf as well as lions, leopards and warthogs.
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The biodiversity in Germany s agricultural landscape has declined considerably in recent years, even in nature reserves. In their joint statement Biodiversity and Management of Agricultural Landscapes - Wide-ranging action is now crucial , the German Academies of Sciences make recommendations in eight fields of action. They state the protection of biodiversity as an urgent and complex challenge. A change in society as a whole towards sustainable farming is required. It is important to also take the economic, political, legal, and social parameters of agriculture into account. Thus, the scientists recommend a systematic approach, implementing a variety of solutions at the same time. As the most important starting point, subsidies paid to the agricultural industry as part of the Common Agricultural Policy of the European Union (CAP) should be more closely tied to quantifiable ecosystem services that have actually been provided.