, in 3rd Baccalaureate a training course at the Burundian Office for Environmental Protection (OBPE). This internship was supervised by Professor NTAKIMAZI Gaspard from the University of Burundi and Msc. NZIGIDAHERA Benoît from OBPE.

 

In the current academic curriculum, an internship period is provided for finalist students of the first Baccalaureate cycle. These internships are interesting and advantageous for them because they integrate them into the professional world. It is in this logic that the University of Burundi in collaboration with the Burundian Office for Environmental Protection organized this course.

The internship started by making contact with the head of the biodiversity research department at OBPE. It was a question of defining the working methods and presenting the equipment to be used during this course. The study concerned Amphibians-Anurans of the genera Bufo and Xenopus preserved in the OBPE laboratory.

 

The work of taxonomic identification of samples began with morphospecies analysis of specimens of the genus Bufo, then those of the genus Xenopus jar by jar. These specimens were then determined using the determination keys. Morphological characters show variations that are used in classification. These variations are located in the head, mouth, limbs and skin, etc.

 

The captured samples were kept alive in order to record the shapes of the iris and to take photos. Arriving at the OBPE laboratory, the intern proceeded with the labeling and put the collected samples into jars containing alcohol (70%).

 

Before the end of this internship, the intern student filled out the amphibian description sheets made available to him by the OBPE on which he put the biometric measurements and the morphological characteristics of each specimen.

The internship went well and was very useful in that it allowed the intern to acquire more knowledge about amphibians in general, and those of the genera Bufo and Xenopus in particular and therefore to better integrate into research on these taxa.