(Image: Alessandro Catenazzi, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale)
In Peru鈥檚 Man煤 National Park, hundreds of types of snakes, frogs, caimans and turtles crawl along the forest floor.
One of these is the lizard pictured, a reptile only recently recognised by scientists. This scaly member of the Potamites genus is about 6 or 7 centimetres long. Unlike many other lizards, it lives thousands of metres above sea level, where clouds hug the forest canopy, and braves the cold mountain streams.
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This tough little creature helped Man煤 nab a new record last year: it has the most diverse collection of reptiles and amphibians known in the world. With 287 distinct species identified, Man煤 edged out former champion Yasun铆 National Park in Ecuador, which has only 271.
In addition, the Peruvian park boasts an astonishing 1000 species of birds and 1200 species of butterflies.
Man煤鈥檚 biodiversity credentials became official with a published in the most recent edition of the journal Biota Neotropica. But the researchers say that knowing these animals are out there is just the first step. 鈥淚t is our responsibility to make sure this biological legacy is passed on to the next generations,鈥� says , a zoologist at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale.
