khaleesi
Juvenile Dragon
- Messages
- 278
- Location
- Liverpool, UK
Save the Guatemalan Beaded Lizard!!:
(There are less than 200 left!)
2012, A Guatemalan Beaded Lizard has hatched at Zoo Atlanta, the second zoo in the world (San Diego Zoo has successfully hatched six beaded lizards), to successfully hatch this critically endangered species in captivity. Zoo Atlanta is the only zoo in the United States that houses a zoological collection of Guatemalan beaded lizards. The hatchling lizard is an important component in the zoo's captive breeding program because its mother is a wild-caught specimen, ensuring the hatchling has diverse genes not yet in the program. The mother was collected in Guatemala in the early 1980s by a herpetologist who used her to describe the species to science. She was sent to Zoo Atlanta in 2000.
It is estimated that there are less than 200 Guatemalan beaded lizards in the wild. It is only found in the Motagua Valley in Guatemala. The lizard has suffered from the effects of habitat loss, illegal trade, and local Guatemalan myths that purport the lizard to have magical powers. The saliva and venom of the Guatemalan beaded lizard are used in a new diabetes drug called Byetta. The lizard spends up to 70 percent of its life underground and feeds on nestling birds, rabbits, and rodents, as well as reptile eggs
(There are less than 200 left!)
2012, A Guatemalan Beaded Lizard has hatched at Zoo Atlanta, the second zoo in the world (San Diego Zoo has successfully hatched six beaded lizards), to successfully hatch this critically endangered species in captivity. Zoo Atlanta is the only zoo in the United States that houses a zoological collection of Guatemalan beaded lizards. The hatchling lizard is an important component in the zoo's captive breeding program because its mother is a wild-caught specimen, ensuring the hatchling has diverse genes not yet in the program. The mother was collected in Guatemala in the early 1980s by a herpetologist who used her to describe the species to science. She was sent to Zoo Atlanta in 2000.
It is estimated that there are less than 200 Guatemalan beaded lizards in the wild. It is only found in the Motagua Valley in Guatemala. The lizard has suffered from the effects of habitat loss, illegal trade, and local Guatemalan myths that purport the lizard to have magical powers. The saliva and venom of the Guatemalan beaded lizard are used in a new diabetes drug called Byetta. The lizard spends up to 70 percent of its life underground and feeds on nestling birds, rabbits, and rodents, as well as reptile eggs