I'm a student of Animal Behaviour; from the 22nd to the 28th of November I had the opportunity to go to Tenerife with my University for a cetacean, specifically short-fin pilot whale and bottlenosed dolphin, research trip. The aim is to find out more about the 5-600 or so pilot whales which reside around Tenerife year-round; their movements, their pod sized, mother-calf interaction, behaviour, etc... This is done by observation and photographing the dorsal fin, which is unique to each animal so can be used to build up an idea of where an individual spends most of its time. The Tenerife project, like all others around the world, is volunteer-based. You can read more about this at http://www.whalenation.org/
The Canary Islands are a Spanish archipelago located 100km off the Moroccan coast. Although not geographically part of Europe, they are in the E.U. The sub tropical climate allows high temperatures even in traditionally cooler months - while there last week 26*C was not uncommon during the day. The highest point on Tenerife is Mt Teide at over 3,700m. Due to the isolation of these islands, many species of endemic fanua and flora exist. Perhaps the most noteworthy of these are the giant lizards, Gallotia sp., Tarentola geckos and Chalcides skinks. Other endemics include the blue chaffinch, laurel pigeon, canary, and over 100 plant species.
Obviously being exceptionally interested in herps I had high hopes for finding at least some of the endemics. The days were planned to be full from 8am-6pm, so that left little time for herping to be done. Tuesday and Wednesday we were out on the boats photographing whales and dolphins and recording data, Thursday was an organised walk from the village of Masca to the bay (although subsequently cancelled after finding the boat taxis were not running due to weather) so we spent the afternoon on Los Cristianos beach, and Friday the group visited Loro Parque in the north of the island.
Tenerife, the largest of te Canary Islands, is inhabited by four species of reptile - Gallotia galloti (ssp. galloti and eisentrauti), Gallotia intermedia, Tarentola delalandii and Chalcides viridanus. The Tenerife Speckled Lizard is critically endangered - restricted to small areas of cliffs in the north and south of the island. The Tenerife lizard is found all over the island in two subspecies - galloti in the south and eisentrauti in the north - the latter being more heavily patterned and generally more colourful than the former. Chalcides is found all over the island, below 2,800m. Tarentola delalandinii is commonly seen in urban areas - my own observations support this, seeing individuals hunting on walls in Los Cristianos town centre.
Now for some photos;
Now the lizards;
Tenerife is definitely worth a visit if you ever get the chance. Hopefully one day I will return to the canaries and see even more of what these islands have to offer!