Mozambique's Mount Mabu a Treasure Chest of New Species

A scientific team in the Mozambican rainforest is discovering new reptiles, birds, butterflies, plants and more on Mount Mabu.

The dwarf chameleon pictured below is an entirely new species to science. The picture is of the first specimen ever collected, a few hours after it was found. The little chameleons were found everywhere among the foliage, where even those with an untrained eye could spot them.



Mount Mabu is an isolated mountain that rises more than a mile above sea level in Mozambique’s Zambezia Province. It is called an isolate, and isolates, like islands, breed unique species. The area has been isolated for so long that species adapt and evolve to suit that specific environment, occurring there and no place else.

Some of the finds have raised interesting questions. For instance, the new species of Forest Viper snake found on Mount Mabu suggests a link with the Congo Basin, some 870 miles away. Does that mean that at some distant point in the past the Congo forest stretched down to northern Mozambique? When did it recede? What climactic event drove it back to the north? Those are the questions these scientists are studying.

The mountain was found with the help of Google Earth, which the scientists used to locate all mountains over a certain height in the area.

That the forest is almost untouched by human presence is clear. There are no chopped stumps, few paths, and the big forest giants like the mahogany trees are only falling because of occasional rot. The trees rise like the pillars of a cathedral, and the forest floor is dark, damp and covered in leaf litter.

The sheer number of new species found in the forest is staggering. To date there are four new butterflies, at least one new chameleon, three species of snake, a new species of crab, five new species of plants, and a host of potential new species, including a shrew, snails, a pseudo-scorpion, frogs, catfish, bats and insects. It’s clear that Mount Mabu’s secrets are only beginning to be revealed, and the researchers believe there is much more awaiting discovery.

Below is a video highlighting some of the recent discoveries on Mount Mabu:



Original article here.