Scientists find Madagascar chameleon last seen 100 years ago
UNDATED: Talk about good camouflage! Scientists say they have found an elusive chameleon species that was last spotted in Madagascar 100 years ago.
Researchers from Madagascar and Germany said Friday that they discovered several living specimens of Voeltzkow’s chameleon during an expedition to the northwest of the African island nation.
In a report published in the journal Salamandra, the team led by scientists from the Bavarian Natural History Collections ZSM said genetic analysis determined that the species is closely related to Labord’s chameleon. Researchers believe that both reptiles only live during the rainy season — hatching from eggs, growing rapidly, sparring with rivals, mating and then dying during a few short months.
“These animals are basically the mayflies among vertebrates,” said Frank Glaw, curator for reptiles and amphibians at the ZSM.
There is still hope against hope that earth may never see the doomsday !
Researchers said the female of the species, which had never previously been documented, displayed particularly colorful patterns during pregnancy, when encountering males and when stressed.
The scientists say that the Voeltzkow’s chameleon’s habitat is under threat from deforestation. (AP)
Space station turns into world-class laboratory in 20 years
Washington: As astronauts celebrate the 20th anniversary of continuous human presence aboard the International Space Station (ISS) on Monday, NASA has said the orbiting laboratory has turned into a world-class facility for research which has conducted thousands of investigations from over 100 different countries.
A Russia Soyuz rocket launched the Expedition One crew on October 31, 2000, and docked with the space station two days later.
When the Expedition 1 crew of Commander William Shepherd of NASA, Flight Engineer and Soyuz Commander Yuri Gidzenko of Russian space agency Roscosmos, and Flight Engineer Sergei Krikalev of Roscosmos reached the space station on November 2, 2020, it was a small orbiting complex of just three modules.
The primary pieces of the space station were delivered on 42 assembly flights: 37 on the US space shuttles and five on Russian Proton/Soyuz rockets.
Elements were constructed independent of one another around the globe and assembled for the first time in space, NASA said, adding that the space station took 11 years to fully construct.
The principal space agencies are the United States’ NASA, Russia’s Roscomos, ESA (European Space Agency), Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). (IANS)