by neufer » Sun Jan 01, 2017 7:24 pm
ta152h0 wrote:
However, there is an island in Brasil, not too far from Santos, on the Atlantic coast, choc full of really venomous slitherers. If Curiosity had landed there, the scientific community would have been buzzing. Don't remember the name of this island but probably " Ilha das Cobras " Makes a good password. Happy New Year and many discoveries
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilha_da_Queimada_Grande wrote:
<<Ilha da Queimada Grande, also known as Snake Island, is an island located approximately 33 kilometres off the coast of the state of São Paulo, Brazil (24°29′S 46°41′W). The island is the only home of the critically endangered, venomous Bothrops insularis (golden lancehead pit viper), which has a diet of birds. The snakes became trapped on the island when rising sea levels covered up the land that connected it to the mainland. This left the snakes to adapt to their environment, increase rapidly in population and render the island dangerous to public visitation.
Queimada Grande is closed to the public in order to protect this snake population. Despite a population of 41 recorded bird species on Queimada Grande, the golden lancehead relies on only two: the Troglodytes musculus (the southern house wren), which is able to avoid the golden lancehead as a predator, and the Elaenia chilensis (a species of flycatcher), which feeds on vegetation in the same area as the snake.
The island is partly covered in rainforest and partly bare rock and grassy cleared areas, a result of deforestation.
The deforestation is the origin of the island's name: the term “Queimada”, in Portuguese, means to slash and burn because when locals attempted to clear land for a banana plantation on the island, they had to clear rainforest using this technique. A lighthouse was constructed in 1909 to steer ships away from the island, operated by a single family. The family was found dead in the 1920s as a result of golden lanceheads entering the residence. The lighthouse is now automated.>>
[quote="ta152h0"]
However, there is an island in Brasil, not too far from Santos, on the Atlantic coast, choc full of really venomous slitherers. If Curiosity had landed there, the scientific community would have been buzzing. Don't remember the name of this island but probably " Ilha das Cobras " Makes a good password. Happy New Year and many discoveries[/quote][quote=" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilha_da_Queimada_Grande"]
<<Ilha da Queimada Grande, also known as Snake Island, is an island located approximately 33 kilometres off the coast of the state of São Paulo, Brazil (24°29′S 46°41′W). The island is the only home of the critically endangered, venomous Bothrops insularis (golden lancehead pit viper), which has a diet of birds. The snakes became trapped on the island when rising sea levels covered up the land that connected it to the mainland. This left the snakes to adapt to their environment, increase rapidly in population and render the island dangerous to public visitation. [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjaz0mynQvk]Queimada Grande is closed to the public[/url] in order to protect this snake population. Despite a population of 41 recorded bird species on Queimada Grande, the golden lancehead relies on only two: the Troglodytes musculus (the southern house wren), which is able to avoid the golden lancehead as a predator, and the Elaenia chilensis (a species of flycatcher), which feeds on vegetation in the same area as the snake.
The island is partly covered in rainforest and partly bare rock and grassy cleared areas, a result of deforestation. [b][color=#0000FF]The deforestation is the origin of the island's name: the term “Queimada”, in Portuguese, means to slash and burn because when locals attempted to clear land for a banana plantation on the island, they had to clear rainforest using this technique.[/color][/b] A lighthouse was constructed in 1909 to steer ships away from the island, operated by a single family. The family was found dead in the 1920s as a result of golden lanceheads entering the residence. The lighthouse is now automated.>>[/quote]