Mozambique has agreed to protect a tract of highland forest discovered by scientists using Google Earth, reports The Guardian.
The government of the Southern African country said it would bar logging of Mount Mabu forest after a series of scientific expeditions turned up a trove of undescribed species, including new species of butterflies, a viper, and a colorful chameleon as well as rare birds and plants.
“The three messages we conveyed were that there is rich biodiversity in Mozambique, that butterflies and botany can be as important as mammals, and that conservation policy should take into consideration areas such as these mountains or the coastal forests, that do not easily fit into the usual category of national park,” Jonathan Timberlake of Kew Gardens told the The Guardian. Conservationists from Kew first identified the site using Google Earth and led the inventories of Mount Mabu.
Base Camp on Mount Mabu. Photo by Julian Bayliss
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The site was first sighted by scientists when Kew’s Julian Bayliss spotted the 7,000-hectare tract of forest on Mount Mabu using Google Earth in 2005. The forest has previously only been known to local villagers. Subsequent expeditions in October and November 2008 turned up a wealth of wildlife including pygmy chamelons, Swynnerton’s robin, butterflies (including three new species), blue duiker antelope, samango monkeys, elephant shrews, a previously undiscovered species of snake (in the Gaboon viper family) and many plants, including a rare orchid. In all the team collected more than 500 plant specimens.
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