March 2014 Blog Posts (5)

Look Who's Helping Olive Ridley

verybody loves a butterfly and perhaps Sri Lankans more than most: four years after the Sri Lanka Birdwing was declared the national butterfly each of the nine provinces are to get their own butterfly.

The nine are considered flagship species due to their attractive colour patterns and have been selected because they are endemic to Sri Lanka, charismatic and readily seen. None of the butterflies are a pest at any stage of its life cycle nor a vectoring agent of…

This week, an enigmatic whale first described studying a specimen found in Sri Lanka has been reclassified as a new marine mammal species. The whale species – member of a family known as beaked whales for their elongated beak-like snouts – bears an interesting history.On 26 January 1963 a specimen of a dying 4.5m-long, blue-grey female beaked whale was washed ashore at Ratmalana. After…

A gecko has become the first creature in 2014 to join the impressive list of endemic species of Sri Lanka. The new species, discovered in Rammalakanda forest, has been named Rammale day gecko (Rammale diva huna), classified scientifically as Cnemaspis rammalensis.

New species: Active during the day

Unlike the common house gecko that is found hunting insects near lamps in most households at night, the new species is mostly active during the day.

Sri…