Living in carnivorous plants or rolling like balls to flee from predators, amphibians on these tabletop peaks evolved like no others. Can they avoid extinction as their home heats up?
The tabletop mountains in Venezuela are sheltered, otherworldly ecosystems. Standing up to 3,000 metres (10,000ft) high and cut off from the rest of the world by their steep cliffs, much of the flora and fauna on the sandstone plateaux has evolved in isolation and is found nowhere else on Earth.
“Visiting a tepui feels a lot like stepping on another planet,” says Margarita Lampo, an ecologist at the Venezuelan Institute for Scientific Research (IVIC). “It’s a really unique place, with all these strangely shaped black rocks and unique vegetation. You see all these things you’ve never seen before.”
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