Angolan reed frog, endemic to Angola

The Angolan Escarpment is the least known and studied part of the African Great Escarpment. Urgent research is required to protect and conserve Angola’s threatened biodiversity. Several observatories have been implemented throughout Angola including one in the southern escarpment in Tundavala.

A recent study states that despite this area’s stunning landscape that is home to several endemics, Tundavala “lacks official national protected status and is threatened by increasing human activities, especially logging and burning for charcoal production and the harvesting of natural resources such as medicinal plants and rocks for building purposes. Increasing numbers of villagers inhabit the region with their livestock (cows and goats) and plant crops. Other threats include man-made fires and the dumping of rubble and domestic, commercial, and even medical waste.”

As part of this study on Biodiversity and Ecology by Hamburg University, you can now download a special report titled Amphibians and reptiles of the Tundavala region of the Angolan Escarpment, by researchers Ninda Baptista, Telmo António, and William R. Branch. Click here for the PDF.

(Baptista, N., António, T. & Branch, W.R. (2018) Amphibians and reptiles of the Tundavala region of the Angolan Escarpment. In: Climate change and adaptive land management in southern Africa – assessments, changes, challenges, and solutions (ed. by Revermann, R., Krewenka, K.M., Schmiedel, U., Olwoch, J.M., Helmschrot, J. & Jürgens, N.), pp. 397-403, Biodiversity & Ecology, 6, Klaus Hess Publishers, Göttingen & Windhoek. doi:10.7809/b-e.00351). Photos taken from the article.

Ansorge’s whip snake, endemic to Angola