Park rangers found a highly venomous pit viper (Tropidolaemus subannulatus) at the Biodiversity Assessment Monitoring System (BAMS) site of El Nido-Taytay Managed Resource Protected Area (ENTMRPA) in Barangay Maligaya, El NIdo town early this week.
ENTMRPA Protected Area Superintendent Mildred Suza told Manila Bulletin that park rangers were conducting camera trap retrieval when they found the snake in the forest.
The camera traps, Suza said, were installed in the mountainous areas of El Nido earlier in February this year to assess the population of species as indicators of conservation effectiveness.
“Nagco-conduct sila ng assessment at retrieval ng mga camera traps sa gubat na in-install noong February para malaman ang iba’t ibang wildlife na nandito sa ating kagubatan. Noong nakita nila itong pit viper na natutulog sa gubat, isa ito sa venomous na snake,” Suza said.
“Base doon sa mga published na pag-aaral ay sa northern Palawan at Balabac lang ito makikita. Kapag endemic species kasi ay may particular areas lang na nandoon sila matatagpuan. Medyo hindi kasi napa-prioritize sa mga studies ang pit viper kaya wala tayong data ng population nito,” she added.
Suza encourages other herpetologists to join them in the research in ENTMRPA.
“We encourage them to conduct research particularly the herpetologists and other researchers from the academe to study sa mga species na mayron tayo, we need them,” Suza said.
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