Project Update from Dr. Chaves - Caudata.org Research Grant 2009

[John]

Dr. Chaves has kindly sent an update on the project's progress. Enjoy!

[Eva]

Am I wrong or does it sound like the general local (human) conditions for the project are great? Local populace interested and willing to participate - wow. Either the team has had good luck or they are doing a wonderful job.

Thanks for the update.

-Eva

[biochaves]

Hi, everybody. I´m Giovanni Chaves leader of this project. I think that we have a combination of good luck and the responsability to do the work very well. The local community in our study area did not know the Pandi Mushroom-tongue Salamander, which allowed to increase their interest for this "rare lizard" (as they said to this wonderful animal), mainly among children and young people. To explain to them that this species is endemic, they have appropriated it and have shown the intention to protect this salamander, which is a good start to achieve this goal.

My teamwork and I appreciate the support of caudata.org and amphibian ark to our project and I hope soon to tell more on the progress of this.

Sincerely

Giovanni Chaves-Portilla
Fundación Ecodiversidad Colombia

[taherman]

Thanks for the update Giovanni! It sounds like you and your team have made excellent progress on the project. Keep up the great work.

Also thanks to John, Kevin, and everybody on caudata.org for the great job in putting together and executing the first caudata.org grant.

-Tim

[John]

Thank you very much for posting your message here Giovanni and the best of luck to you :).

Tim: there will be another "Grant Drive" this year, either in December like last year or in January.

The person who deserves the most thanks for the Caudata.org Grant is Kevin Zippel of Amphibian Ark. He/they came up with the idea in the first place and made it happen. I'm very grateful.