Gomera Giant Lizard

[Melanie]

The Canary Island archipelago situated close to the coast of Morocco, although poor in herpetofauna is rich in endemisms. Of the 17 species of reptiles and amphibians in the Canary Islands 14 are endemic, the other three being introduced species. In the last 25 years three new species have been rediscovered, two in the last 5 years including Gallotia gomerana from the island of Gomera. G. gomerana was first described in 1985 by a German mamalogist (Hutterer), also ancient documents from the 16th century mention a large lizard on Gomera. A team of biologist rediscovered a relict population of these lizards in 1999 on the cliffs of La Merica in the municipality of Valle Gran Rey. A total of six lizards, three males and three females, were captures over a period of six months. The lizards are to be the founder group for a captive breeding program run by the Department of the Environment of the Canarian Government. Captive breeding may be the only salvation for these extremely rare lizards. A provisional census has shown a wild population of only five lizards and it is calculated that a maximum population of only twenty may exist. This makes G. gomerana among the most endangered vertebrate in the world.

[Melanie]

syn. Gallotia bravoana



for our Spanish speaking readers:

www.gobiernodecanarias.org/medioambiente/lagartodelagomera/

[Peter]

And for our English speaking readers here:
www.gobiernodecanarias.org/medioambiente/lagartodelagomera/vinglesa.html.
And our German speaking readers here:
www.gobiernodecanarias.org/medioambiente/lagartodelagomera/valemana.html.

Although only for the main page, the other pages are in Spanish.

[Melanie]

Note: several hundred years ago the Lagarto was one of Europes largest lizards with a length from snout to tail of 1,50 m. More about the fossil bone founds in Spanish on the above mentionend website.

[Melanie]

Giant lizard numbers up
Tue, 03 Jan 2006 16:32

There’s a good news story to kick off the year and it concerns one of the world’s most endangered species, the giant lizards of La Gomera, which are slowly but surely clawing their way out of the extinction hole, courtesy of a local, regional and EU funded breeding programme and a lot of hard work by a dedicated team of biologists.

A census taken at the end of 2005 has shown that there are now 149 of the reptiles in the island, 85 of them in the wild in a steep and rocky zone of Valle Gran Rey, their last bastion and only known remaining wild habitat. The other 64 are in captivity in the lagartario centre specially built to try to save the species.

Galliota bravoana was only recently rediscovered by a team of scientists in 1999. Giant lizards originally arrived in the archipelago from Africa about 15 million years ago. They were first rediscovered in El Hierro a few years before subsequent discoveries in La Gomera and Tenerife.

The slow-moving, clumsy reptiles were thought to have died out centuries ago thanks in large part in latter times to imported predators like cats. But the lizards, which populated the archipelago long before the arrival of man, were doomed when the first humans – probably from North Africa - happened upon the islands many thousand of years ago and began hunting them for food.

Source: Tenerife News

[sebbe67]

This species, thought to be long extinct, was rediscovered as a living
animal in 1999, and is known only from two separate inaccessible cliffs
2 km apart, close to the Valle Gran Rey, in the west of the island of La
Gomera in the Canary Islands (Spain). The species is thought to have
once ranged throughout much of La Gomera, and the present range is
less than one hectare.

It is present in the Parque Rural de Valle Gran Rey. The species is
protected by international legislation. A captive breeding programme
has been established on La Gomera, and a species recovery plan is in
place. There is a need to control cat populations in the vicinity of the
remaining animals. Further surveys are needed on La Gomera within
other isolated areas to determine if any more remnant populations of
this species persist. The implementation of education programmes for
local people has been recommended.

The population of this species consists of only 90 wild individuals
remaining in the wild. There is a captive population of about 44 animals
(in 2004).

This species is once widespread in many habitat types on La Gomera.
It is now restricted to dry cliffs with sparse vegetation. The species is
generally diurnal and mostly herbivorous. The females lay a single
clutch annually of three to seven eggs on average.

The main threats to this species are predation by feral cats, and rock
falls within its restricted range. The species historically declined through
overgrazing, hunting, and predation by feral cats and rats.

[surroundx]

Gonzalez, Elena G. et al. (2014). Island survivors: population genetic structure and demographyof the critically endangered giant lizard of La Gomera, Gallotia bravoana. BMC Genetics 15:121 doi:10.1186/s12863-014-0121-8

[surroundx]

A happy ever after ‘tail’ of giant lizards of La Gomera

www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/lifestyle/damien-enright-a-happy-ever-after-tail-of-giant-lizards-of-la-gomera-837455.html