New hope for endangered Canary island giant lizards

This video says about itself:

Giant lizard breeding programme halts species’ decline

It was once thought that the Hierro giant lizard had gone the way of the dodo. The reptile, which can grow to more than half a metre in length, appeared to have disappeared from the tiny Canary Island of El Hierro in the 1930s.

From Tenerife News:

Giant lizard turn-around

November 4th, 2007

There’s good news, at least on one endangered species front: for the first time the Lagartario, the giant lizard breeding and research centre in Valle Gran Rey, La Gomera, has a hundred reptiles and rising, thanks to a programme to save the almost-extinct creatures which was begun in 2001.

Last year 25 giant lizards were hatched at the Lagartario and the staff are confident they will beat that record easily this year, though counting cannot be precise because for the first time the females have been given the opportunity to lay their eggs in earth. Previously the eggs were hatched in incubators.

It is hoped the more natural method will have the effect of rebalancing the sexes: for some reason biologists at the Lagartario cannot understand on balance far more males hatch in incubator conditions than females.

Postautotomy tail activity in the Balearic lizard, Podarcis lilfordi: here.

Ari-Pekka Niskanen was on holiday on Gran Canaria in January when he spotted and photographed this unusual bird. The bird was identified by the Canary Island’s bird committee as a leucistic Canary Island Chiffchaff. Canary Island Chiffchaff have recently been confirmed as a separate species and, although not rare, this is an unusual bird: here.