This week, we’ll be visiting east Africa’s Lake Victoria, the largest tropical lake in the world, and a symbol of the importance of biodiversity. I’m Jim Metzner, and this is the Pulse of the Planet, presented by the American Museum of Natural History.
“Lake Victoria is a massive inland body of water. It’s a sea, really, although it’s a fresh water sea. It’s found in eastern Africa and it’s surrounded by three countries. By Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. It’s about the size of the country of Switzerland.”
Melanie Stiassny is curator of Ichthyology at the American Museum of Natural History. She tells us that Lake Victoria used to be home to an incredible variety of fish.
“There were probably about three hundred and fifty to four hundred species of fish living in Lake Victoria. And having so many different species of fish, it’s like an insurance policy. Because one type of species is eating one kind of food, another, another. And all of the different food sources available in the lake were being utilized. That is no longer the case.”
Over the past one hundred years, a combination of human factors has left Lake Victoria permanently changed.
“In fact what we see in Lake Victoria is the greatest extinction of vertebrate species anywhere on the planet throughout human history. We’ve lost in Lake Victoria probably upward of two hundred, maybe two hundred and fifty species of fish that are found nowhere else on the planet. And as you know extinction is forever. We have lost those. And the planet is diminished because of that loss.”
We’ll hear more about Lake Victoria in future programs. Pulse of the Planet is presented by the American Museum of Natural History. I’m Jim Metzner.