It seems that lately Ecuador has been giving up a lot of its secret species. The fabulous Olinguito was recently discovered roaming the tree tops of Ecuadorean cloud forests, and now a new species has popped up from the mist. The Pinocchio lizard has been suspected extinct since sightings of the little anole stopped some 50 years ago, but once it was spotted again in 2005, then recently on an expedition to Ecuador it was found that these little lizards are alive and well.
Tag Archives: ecuador
olinguito
Hiding deep in the Andean Cloud Forests of Columbia and Ecuador was the little, brown, arboreal animal that avoided detection until very recently. The olinguito is the first carnivore discovered in the Western Hemisphere in 35 years. For quite some time it was mislabeled in zoo’s and museums as an olingo, which looks fairly similar but tends to be about double the weight, but with a similar body structure. People simply believed it was just a small olingo.
tragedy at yasuni
Yasuni National Park in Ecuador has been dubbed the most diverse place in the world. The nearly 4,000 square miles are home to 150 species of amphibians, 121 species of reptiles, 382 species of fish, 596 species of birds, over 100,000 species of insects, and a number of un-contacted indigenous tribes. It comprises a mere 0.15% of the Amazon Basin but holds almost 1/3 of its amphibian and reptile species. This area is teeming with life, and yesterday, the government of Ecuador approved a plan to begin drilling for oil inside the boundaries of Yasuni National Park.
Endangered Living 