Wonderful goal in favor of biodiversity: a team of researchers from Madagascar found the Camaleon Belalanda (scientific name Fucifer Belalandensis), one of the rarest reptiles in the world as in serious danger of extinction in a place where he had never been spotted before. The result was obtained thanks to the support of the Conservation Leadership Program.
Chameleons and the risk of extinction
The chameleons are famous for theirs extraordinary ability to Mimiche with the surrounding environment, but it is not the only reason why they are difficult to spot. Unfortunately, in fact, different species are falling numericand therefore often it is their rarity that makes them difficult to find, even for the most acute predators, more than their proverbial mimetic ability.
In the Madagascar southwestern, an area of great interest for chameleons, in particular, their disappearance risks becoming permanent. In fact, the ecosystem of the dry thorn forest (characterized by vegetation adapted to arid climatic conditions, with a long dry season and poor rainfall) is facing one series of existential threatsincluding the rampant deforestationthe fragmentation of thehabitaturban expansion, forest fires, mining on small scale, the unrequptible collection of forest products and climate change.
And it is obviously the species that depend on this ecosystem that are affected, including the chameleon Bealaland, Thympling example of the crisis that these creatures are facing, which takes its name from the rural municipality in which the entire world population is confined and that theInternational Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists among the species “in critical risk of extinction”the step just preceding the anger in nature.
This elusive endemic reptile has in fact one of the most restricted areas in the worldgiven that, among other things, the vast majority of his habitat natural forestry has already been destroyed. To try to survive, the species therefore clings to a small refuge consisting of non -native forests and from Few mature autochthonous trees remained.
In this context, the discovery of these chameleons a few kilometers from Bealaland represents a real impulse for survival prospects of this reptile in difficulty.
How the discovery took place
A collaborative effort is currently underway to locate and protect the remaining specimens, exploiting the local knowledge of the communities around Bealaland and to the nearby river Fiherena.
The precious discovery took place following interviews with the local community As part of the team’s efforts to collect data on the distribution and the status of the various species of chameleons in the area covered by the project.
According to the researchers, it is actually too early to make hypotheses on how many chameleons of Belalanda can still survive in nature, but there are concrete hopes to be able to estimate the density of their population by the end of the project.
The chameleon Belalanda was described for the first time in 1970 – explains Hajaniaina Rasoloarison, who led the research – since 2025, is Among the most at risk of extinction in the world Due to the serious loss of habitat, with one of the reduced distributions known among all the terrestrial vertebrates. Despite the growing concerns, in the last two decades, very limited information has been collected on his ecological needs and on his area, and it was worrying that no individual had been recorded in the natural habitat since November 2024. This discovery ignites one light of hope for the conservation of this rare and unique species
Sources: Fauna & Flora / Conservation Leadership Program / Facebook
