14 killer whales spotted in the Canaries
June 24th, 2009
14 killer whales were observed yesterday for almost eight hours by scientists in the Canaries off Tenerife.
El Pais
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Articles in ‘Canaries’
New biosphere reserves for Spain
May 26th, 2009
Spain has been awarded with two new Biosphere Reserves: the island of Fuerteventura and its surrounding waters and Gerês-Xures, a natural area straddling Portugal and Orense, Spain. Spain now has 40 such reserves. In the photo, Dunas de Corrajeo, in northern Fuerteventura.
Turtles hatch in Fuerteventura
November 8th, 2008
The first loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta) from eggs brought from Cabo Verde have hatched in Fuerteventura, in the Playa de Cofete in the Parque Natural de Jandía. More are expected to hatch from a total of 781 eggs. The project is planned to last ten years as it will take at least a decade to be able to begin to measure its success when hopefully some of those turtles hatched will return to the same beach as adults.
Loggerhead turtle eggs to be buried in Fuerteventura
September 3rd, 2008
800 Loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta – tortuga boba) eggs are to be buried today in La Playa de Cofete de Fuerteventura in an attempt to reintroduce the species in the Canary Islands. The eggs have been brought from the Cape Verde. 200 more are to be sent to the Centro de Recuperación de Especies in Taliarte, in Gran Canaria, and 400 to the Estación Biológica in Doñana, Andalucia. Loggerhead turtles disappeared from the Canary Islands some 300 years ago. It wil take at least 15 years to be able to begin to measure the success of the project when hopefully some of those turtles hatched will return to the same beach as adults. Terra
More on loggerhead turtles (Wikipedia – above photo) which notes that the genus name “Caretta” is a latinization of the French “caret”, meaning turtle, tortoise, or sea turtle. Small populations of loggerhead turtle in the Mediterranean exist in the Turkey and Greece.
See also: Loggerhead turtles hatch in Almeria (October 21st, 2007)
Fire threatens Garajonay National Park on Gomera
April 27th, 2008
29/04/2008 Latest news: fire appears to be moving away and is under control.
A fire is threatening the laurel forest of Garajonay National Park on Gomera, one of the last remaining Tertiary habitats to survive in Europe. The humid subtropical forest of Laurisilva covered almost all of Europe during the Tertiary, but disappeared due to climate changes . More soon. El Pais
New species of reptile identified on La Gomera – Chalcides coeruleopunctatus
March 24th, 2008 
Our understanding of the reptile world is in a constant state of flux as advances in DNA techniques continue. The latest is the promotion of a species of skink on La Gomera to full species. The joint study by researchers from France, UK and Spain is published in the latest issue of Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. They have baptised the new reptile Chalcides coeruleopunctatus, Lisa de Salvador in Spanish (Salvador’s or the Gomeran Skink in English), in honour of Alfredo Salvador, researcher at the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales de Madrid, who described it for the first time in 1975 El Mundo.
La Palma Giant Lizard rediscovered
December 19th, 2007
The La Palma Giant Lizard (Gallotia auaritae) has remarkably been rediscovered on the Island of La Palma. The photo of a male was taken by Canarian reptile expert José Antonio Mateo, who notes that it is probably an animal in dispersion, from a population some 500-1000m away. The task is now to find it. El Mundo
Wikipedia notes (written prior to this news) “Its decline started 2000 years ago with the arrival of humans on La Palma. It appears to have become extinct in the last 500 years. The main causes of extinction appear to have been introduced cats, consumption by people, and habitat destruction for agriculture. Although the species is believed to be extinct, there is a small chance that it could be rediscovered in a remote or inaccessible location. This happened with other giant lizards of the Canary Islands, like the El Hierro and La Gomera Giant Lizards (rediscovered 1974 and 1999, respectively); the somewhat smaller Tenerife Speckled Lizard was only discovered for the first time in 1996. ”
More here on the species from Wikipedia (English)
Whale deaths in the Canary Islands
September 27th, 2007One in three deaths of whales, dolphins and porpoises in the Canaries Islands are caused by human activities (El Mundo). This is the findings of a study on 233 Cetaceans beached in archipelago between 1999 and 2005. 14% died from interactions with fishing, 9.4% associated with military maneuvers and 4.5% due to resulting pathologies The remaining 62% died from natural diseases or 4.3% for unknown reasons”. Antonio Fernández, the researcher in charge of the study noted that many deaths from natural causes may also result from a weakening of their immunodeficiency due to pollution, and suspects that the proven 4.5% could be the tip of the iceberg. The same team gained international recognition with their study published in nature on whale strandings due to military sonar in the Canary Islands. This cause of death appears to have fallen with the prohibition of sonar use within 50 miles of the Canaries.
Photo of beached Fin whale (rorcual común – Balaenoptera physalus) in Las Palmas
Goods news for El Hierro Giant Lizard
September 1st, 2007After are a disastrous 2007, there’s some goods news for the critically endangered El Hierro Giant Lizard (lagarto gigante de El Hierro – Gallotia symonyi). ABC reports that three baby lizards have been born in captivity at the recovery centre in Valle del Golfo. Only 78 breeding lizards remain after storms of January 2007 killed some 182 lizards. Picked up on secret tenerife
More on Wikipedia El_Hierro_Giant_Lizard
Original story: 30/01/2007: Worst storms in El Hierro’s history with 500mm in 36 hours decimates population of highly endangered El Hierro Giant Lizard. Only 102 survive of world pop. of 282 have survived (El Pais) 31/1 WWF classify disaster as internationally important (WWF)
Gran Canaria and Tenerife fires controlled
August 2nd, 2007It appears the Gran Canaria and Tenerife fires are now control, and much less surface area has been burnt than originally claimed. The latest figures talk of 8.000 ha burnt on Gran Canaria and 3,000 on Tenerife (El Pais). One of the worst affected areas is the Reserva Natural de Inagua on Gran Canaria.
Tenerife president Ricardo Melchior noted “Hemos tenido suerte dentro de la catástrofe porque no ha afectado a la zona de flora endémica y esperamos tenerlo recuperado en breve”
Icod de Los Vinos, Tenerife, August 2007. El Pais
Blue chaffinch threatened by Gran Canary fire
August 2nd, 2007The pine forest habitat of the sub-species of the blue chaffinch (Fringilla teydea polatzeki), found only on Gran Canaria has been decimated by this week’s fire. Until several days ago just 250 of these birds survived on the island. 95% of these birds lived in the Pinewoods of Inagua, Ojeda y Pajonales, precisely where the blaze first broke out. In fact the first people to evacuated were the researchers studying the bird. These researchers have stressed the importance of rebuilding drinking holes. The healthier population of the blue chaffinch on Tenerife seems to be less affected. SEO and follow sub links.
Blue chaffinch photo from SEO
Tellingly, the EU Action plan for the Blue chaffinch warned several years that “Forest fires have in the past played an important role in the destruction of Gran Canaria’s pinewoods. At present, a fire in one of the critical Blue Chaffinch areas could have catastrophic results due to the small areas and population involved.”
They also note “The Blue Chaffinch Fringilla teydea is endemic to the Canary Islands and comprises two subspecies, one found on Tenerife (F. t. teydea) and the other on Gran Canaria (F. t. polatzeki). Its habitat is Canary pine Pinus canariensis woodland which is listed in Annex I of the EU Habitats Directive. Although there has not been a census of the Tenerife population, its situation is thought to be stable, while the estimated population on Gran Canaria is 185–260 birds (Moreno 1991), which means that the latter subspecies is classified as Endangered both nationally and internationally.”
Canaries fire 2 Nasa satellite image
July 31st, 2007Image from Nasa of the fire on Tenerife and Gran Canaria. Somewhere between a third and a half of Gran Canary’s forest has been burnt.
Nasa satellite Canary Islands Fire
Canaries fire
July 30th, 2007The scourge of Spanish summer fires are upon us again with this fire in La Alsandara, Tejeda on Gran Canaria, which has so far burnt more than 20,000 hectares of pine forest. A forest fire guard whose contract was about to run out, and who originally raised the alarm, has confessed to starting the fire and has been arrested. Forest guards are frequently accused of starting fires to guarantee work for themselves. A second fire is also raging on Tenerife. 13,000 people have been evacuated.(El Pais here)
“The fires have burnt at least 24,000 hectares (59,000 acres) of land on the islands of Gran Canaria and Tenerife.
Spain’s Environment Minister Cristina Narbona called a state of “maximum alert” and ordered more water-bombing planes to help douse the fires. Hundreds of firefighters are working with planes to quell the blaze. On Saturday, police arrested a forest ranger who admitted to starting one of the fires. The 37-year-old man told police his job contract was about to expire and he wanted to keep working, according to the AP news agency.
Local officials said that 5,200 people had been taken to safety on Gran Canaria and at least 5,700 people were evacuated from homes in Tenerife as the four-day blaze continued to burn.
Hazards Previously, dozens of people had been evacuated from seven areas since Friday. Paulino Rivero, head of the regional government said: “The rugged landscape of these islands makes firefighting very complicated, except from the air. “But while there is a lot of wind and very high temperatures, helicopters generally cannot operate.” A spokesman for Gran Canaria’s authorities said fires were burning on four fronts but attention was being focused on two in the central Fataga area. He added that only two helicopters were able to drop water there because of the “terrible” wind. The fire has damaged 65% of the Palmitos bird sanctuary park. There are fears that toucans and other exotic birds may have been killed. A spokeswoman from Tenerife’s island authorities said some 300 members of fire and other emergency services were fighting the blazes, with the support of 34 lorries, four helicopters and a water-bomber airplane.
Meanwhile, officials in southern Portugal said a major forest fire that broke out on Monday had now been brought under control.” (BBC)
Darwin’s frustrated visit to Tenerife
June 5th, 2007This month’s Quercus has an interesting article on Charles Darwin’s abortive visit Tenerife. Darwin had been inspired to visit El Teide after reading Alexander von Humboldt’s acoount of his ascent of El Teide. This helped fire Charles Darwin with a desire to travel leading him eventually to accept the invitation in 1831 to sail as expedition naturalist aboard the Beagle. The first stage of the Beagle’s voyage was to be stopover for several days at the Canary Islands. Unfortunately, just as they dropped anchor, a boat from the island’s authorities rowed out and informed Captain FitzRoy that they were prevented from going ashore due to a cholera outbreak in England. They were told they would have to wait 12 days in quarantine To Darwin’s dismay Captain FitzRoy gave orders to set sail for the Cape Verde Islands. ” Oh misery, misery we were just preparing to drop our anchor within a mile of Santa Cruz when a boat came alongside bringing with it our death-warrant…..And we have left perhaps one of the most interesting places in the world, just at the moment when we were near enough for every object to create, without satisfying, our utmost curiosity” Darwin’s full description here
 
| “View of the Peak of Teide”. Histoire naturelle des a les Canaries. Les Miscellanes Canariennes. Planches. Webb, P. Barker et Berthelot, Sabin. 1839 |
The rainfall records for Spain keep tumbling. According to the latest provisional figures 
I’ve just come across 
Three Iberian lynxes of the captive breeding programme have died in recent weeks from a renal disease. Lynxes in the wild are thought not to suffer from this disease.