By Herp News Need an antidote to all the gloomy and frustrating environmental news? The new book No More Endlings: Saving Species One Story at a Time may prove just the thing. No More Endlings (an endling refers to the last individual of a doomed species) details 47 endangered species success stories. Told in the […]

He may look relaxed here, but the Cuvier’s Dwarf Caiman in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user JeffP is forever alert and ready to pounce! Be sure to tell them you liked it here! Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and you could see them featured here! […]

A portrait of the Trans-Danubian Sand Viper Like the herpetofauna of the USA, the nomenclature of the Old World herpetofauna is in great disarray. However, it seems that at the moment, at least, the beautiful Trans-Danubian sand viper (all of the several subspecies are often referred to as “nose-horned vipers” by American herpetoculturists) continues to […]

Photo : Florida Atlantic University Loggerhead sea turtles have been around for 60 million years and have survived through many changing environments, however, a new study has revealed the turtles survival is being threatened by climate change. Researchers from Florida Atlantic University (FAU) discovered that warming temperatures during incubation yield more females, while more males […]

Hopefully the gorgeous blues of this Dendrobates auratus uploaded by kingsnake.com user amazonreptile will brighten your Monday. Be sure to tell them you liked it here! Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and you could see them featured here! …read more Read more here: King Snake No products found. Amazon Auto […]

While the IUCN lists The Panamanian golden frog Atelopus zeteki as critically endangered, it may in fact have been extinct in the wild since 2007, but thanks to efforts like the captive breeding project at the Maryland Zoo, they may have a better chance. For 15 years the program has been running with the tiny […]

By Herp News Obama administration rejects Keystone XL pipeline [USA Today] After more than six years of review, President Obama announced on Friday that his administration has rejected the Keystone XL pipeline. He said the pipeline was neither a “silver bullet for the economy” nor “the express lane to climate disaster.” Checking food labels is good […]

The effects of a global economic slowdown are finally trickling down to all of us lowly snake hunters. The prices paid for commodities are in steep decline, and this includes all metals, including the scrap tin loved so much by reptile collectors. I have been getting anecdotal reports about local metal scrappers being offered less […]

By Herp News Despite widespread protests by conservation groups and citizens, Mauritius will start culling its native Mauritius fruit bats (Pteropus niger) tomorrow. These bats are listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. According to a press statement released by Mauritius’s Ministry of Agro Industry and Food Security today, culling of 18,000 bats […]

Happy Rattlesnake Friday! Here’s lookin’ at you kid! Check out this gorgeous albino Southern Pacific Rattlesnake in our herp photo of the day uploaded by kingsnake.com user lichanura . Be sure to tell them you liked it here! Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and you could see them featured here! […]

By Herp News The Endangered great hammerhead shark (Sphyrna mokarran) is restricted to continental shelves and highly valued for its fins. It only reproduces once every two years. Photo by Jake Mohan licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license [dropcap]O[/dropcap]n July 19, 2011, officers from the Galapagos National Park Service and the Ecuadorian […]

Photo: AUREAPTERUS/ISTOCKPHOTO A new study shows that the prehistoric amphibians were not all that different from their modern day relatives. Limb regeneration was found in animals estimated to be 290 million years old. The findings suggest that some salamander ancestors had the ability to regenerate body parts nearly 80 million years before the first salamander […]

By Herp News Several new species of amphibians and a reptile that lived in what’s now Brazil from 278 million years ago have just been discovered and described by a team of scientists from around the world, including Chicago’s Field Museum. Their paper helps fill in gaps in our knowledge about fauna in the southern […]

By Herp News On Tuesday, an overwhelming majority of Washington voters — around 71 percent — passed an anti-wildlife trafficking initiative called Initiative 1401 (I-1401) that bans trade in wildlife parts and products. Initiative 1401, backed by Microsoft co-founder and billionaire Paul Allen, makes it a crime to sell, purchase, trade, or distribute parts and […]

This Wood Frog in our herp photo of the day brings back memories of summertime herping. Uploaded by kingsnake.com user casichelydia . Be sure to tell them you liked it here! Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and you could see them featured here! …read more Read more here: King Snake […]

This is a normally colored and patterned dusky pygmy rattler. Dusky pygmy rattlers, Sistrurus miliarius barbouri, are among the most abundant snakes, including both nonvenomous and venomous—in Florida. I can remember finding these in such numbers beneath the Australian pines that lined the old Tamiami Canal west of Dade County that it was far easier […]

By Herp News The Endangered Lear’s Macaw (Anodorhynchus leari). Birds, loved for their plumage and their songs, are among the most trafficked of all animal species in Latin America. Photo by Joao Quental licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license. [dropcap]W[/dropcap]ith its spectacularly diverse ecosystems, rare and endemic species, remote terrain, often loophole-riddled […]

Photo: Cuba HeadlinesScientists have announced the discovery of a new species of small frog only about 14 mm long, near Guantanamo, Cuba. First found in 2014, scientists have now officially named the newly discovered amphibian Eleutherodactylus beguei. “This vertebrate has close to brown coloration. Its natural habitat is the soil moist, hence its survival in […]

This Nuu Ana Leachianus seems so very curious in our herp photo of the day uploaded by kingsnake.com user MikeRusso . Be sure to tell them you liked it here! Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and you could see them featured here! …read more Read more here: King Snake No […]

By Herp News Scientists have for the first time determined the ratio of males to females in a wild foraging group of green turtles in the Eastern Pacific, which suggests that sea turtles may be vulnerable to feminization from the temperature rises expected with climate change. Go to Source …read more Read more here: herpetofauna.com […]

Photo by Dan England @greeleytribune.com He doesn’t even have a name, but over the years a Bullsnake (Pituophis catenifer sayi) in a Greeley Colorado nature center has helped thousands of kids and adults overcome their apprehension and fear of snakes. The snake was given a permanent home at the center four years ago after repeatedly […]

How gorgeous is this Coastal Carpet Python in our herp photo of the day uploaded by kingsnake.com user AJ01 ? Be sure to tell them you liked it here! Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and you could see them featured here! …read more Read more here: King Snake No products […]

By Herp News The U.S. government has stepped up its fight against wildlife trafficking. On Monday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Global Anti-Poaching Act, which aims to “support global anti-poaching efforts, strengthen the capacity of partner countries to counter wildlife trafficking, and designate major wildlife trafficking countries.” The anti-poaching bill was co-sponsored by 43 […]

It took a few tries but Lady Luck was finally with us: Brazos water snake. It has been many years now since Kenny and I decided to look for, and actually did find, the two Texas water snakes that were then considered subspecies of the Harter’s water snake. These, then, were the Brazos water snake, […]

By Herp News [dropcap]I[/dropcap]n the waters off Madagascar, scientists have at last encountered living members of a species of whale known only from old, dead specimens. Shaped like a sleek torpedo, with unusual asymmetrical markings, the elusive Omura’s whale has for the first time been documented in photos, videos, and audio recordings. In the 1970s, […]

“I don’t know much about art, but I know what I like.” Bill Flowers, an Australian artist based in Tasmania, knows what we like too. Thankfully he has taken it upon himself to edit some of the worlds greatest masterpieces and add the snakes that really should have been a part of the original work. […]

By Herp News An up-close look at the baited remove underwater video (BRUV) camera. Copyright Global FinPrint. Out of the 100 million sharks caught each year, scientists estimate that up to 73 million have their fins sliced off (often while still alive) to make shark fin soup — a Chinese delicacy eaten as a luxury […]

By Herp News A Black-faced Spoonbill spreads its wings. Photo courtesy of the BFSA [dropcap]A[/dropcap]s autumn descends on the Korean Peninsula, Black-faced Spoonbills depart from nesting sites sheltered within one of the world’s most heavily armed borders. The Demilitarized Zone separating North and South Korea is off-limits to human incursion — and has been since […]

By Herp News Rainforests are full of bats, and with over 1,300 known species around the world bats really do come in all shapes and sizes. Each species has its own range of what ecologists call “functional traits,” which are an animal’s unique biochemical, physiological, or behavioral characteristics. Yet, like other rainforest-dwelling animals, bats are […]

This Sulawesi Forest Turtle looks as thrilled as we all are with a Monday morning in our herp photo of the day uploaded by kingsnake.com user andystorts reminds us of the variety in the most basic of “morphs”, the normal! Be sure to tell them you liked it here! Upload your own reptile and amphibian […]

By Herp News Laurie Marker’s passion for cheetahs was kindled far from the grasslands of Africa. In 1974, she got a job working for a new wildlife park in Oregon, and as she worked with the park’s captive cheetahs, her interest grew to their wild cousins back in Namibia. When Marker reached out to biologists […]

By Herp News A fishy ghost story in time for Halloween [Nature] Ghost fishing, as it’s known, is when marine life is drawn into nets and traps by the dead and decomposing bodies of marine animals already caught in these fishing devices. This problem goes largely unnoticed yet the ‘dead’ gear is often responsible for […]

By Herp News [dropcap]M[/dropcap]urilo Reis was guiding a group of tourists on his private nature reserve in a remote part of northeastern Peru two months ago when he came across more than a dozen people who were digging up turtle nests on the riverbank to steal the eggs. When they refused to leave, he called […]

By Herp News Reptiles are becoming increasingly popular as pets. The number of reptile pets, such as lizards, turtles and snakes, has doubled in the past ten years. Researchers recently showed that grasshoppers used as reptile food can be a source of allergies. Go to Source …read more Read more here: herpetofauna.com No products found. […]

By Herp News Money brings many things. It can bring great happiness and it can cause great suffering. It depends on how it is used. Ethics are important. New prosperity following Vietnam’s accession to the World Trade Organization in 2007 has improved life for many in the country, but unfortunately Vietnam’s new wealth has brought […]

Happy Rattlesnake Friday! We caught a tiger by it’s tail with this (Crotalus tigris) in our herp photo of the day uploaded by kingsnake.com user kevinjudd ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here! Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and you could see them featured here! …read more […]

By Herp News Onya Tega, a proud member of the Waorani culture, maintains many age-old hunting traditions in the face of innumerable modern pressures. Oil companies in Ecuador often provide “gifts” to indigenous people, including high powered hunting rifles and ammo that dramatically increases pressure on wildlife. Photo courtesy of Kelly Swing [dropcap]E[/dropcap]cuador’s troubled relationship […]

By Herp News ‘Warm-bloodedness’, a characteristic of mammals, is a trait encompassing a suite of physiological processes that helps to maintain a relatively high, constant body temperature. A new study shows that this character may have shown up in the ancestors of modern mammals far earlier than was previously thought. Go to Source …read more […]

In the end it was probably the sign. There is a right way to run a reptile education program, and then there are other ways. The first thing any reptile educator needs to do is check to make sure they are not violating either state and local laws, unless they want to get a rather […]

By Herp News Clouded leopards are being increasingly traded for commercial purposes, and their skins and other body parts are flooding illegal wildlife markets, according to a recent study published in Biodiversity and Conservation. In fact, in some illegal wildlife markets in southeast Asia, clouded leopards are more commonly traded than tigers, researchers have found. Fewer […]