Scientists have found one of the world's rarest chameleons "clinging to survival" after fearing it had become extinct since its initial discovery in the 1990s because of massive deforestation, a new study finds.
Researchers discovered a population of Chapman's pygmy chameleons (Rhampholeon chapmanorum) surviving in small patches of rainforest in southern Malawi in southeastern Africa.
A research team from the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) and the Museums of Malawi made the discovery in 2016. They saw the first chameleon on the edge of a forest.
"When we found it we got goosebumps and just started jumping around," lead author Krystal Tolley, a herpetologist from SANBI and the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa, said in a statement. "We didn’t know if we would get any more, but once we got into the forest there were plenty, although I don’t know how long that will last.”