This is a prettily marked adult Weller’s salamanderThe little bronze on black Weller’s salamander, Plethodon welleri, was named for a tragedy. In 1931, while collecting salamanders on Grandfather Mountain in western NC, herpetologist, Worth Hamilton Weller, the discoverer of this taxon, fell to his death. The current status of this little plethodontid is a bit […]

By Herp News A Maned wolf resting among the long grass of the Cerrado. Photo by Rob Young [dropcap]T[/dropcap]he Maned wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus) is by all accounts a bizarre creature. Nicknamed a “fox on stilts,” it is perhaps best known for its once-heard-never-forgotten “roar-bark.” A single look at this strange, gangly and rather scruffy creature, […]

By Herp News Bears hibernate during winters. So do some bats, squirrels, and many other mammals. But very few primates are known to hibernate. In fact, scientists have previously observed hibernation in only three species of lemurs, all found in Madagascar: the western fat-tailed lemur, Crossley’s dwarf lemur and Sibree’s dwarf lemur. Now, researchers have […]

This Rainbow Boa is quite festive in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user natsamjosh ! 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. […]

By Herp News Extremely rare and hidden in the forests of the Andes, there are still new snake species left to find. This has recently been evidenced by the colubrid serpent, described for the first time in the present article. Enwrapped with questions about their species’ origin and therefore, correct taxonomic clustering, the reptiles have […]

By Herp News What issues to be watching during the Paris climate talks [Nature] There is a little more than week left of the climate talks in Paris and tension has been building among negotiators. Here is a list of the six crucial issues that will be discussed during the second week of talks. Helping […]

By Herp News How do wind energy companies kill protected bald eagles and golden eagles via turbine strikes every year without facing legal repercussions? They have renewable permits issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) that exempt them from laws making it illegal to kill the birds. However, the U.S. District Court of […]

Happy Ratttlesnake Friday! This Crotalus tigris, found and photographed in AZ, is keeping her eye on you in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user kevinjudd ! Be sure to tell kevinjudd you liked it here! Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and you could see them featured […]

By Herp News Migratory birds are awe-inspiring. Every year, millions traverse across oceans and continents, many each racking up thousands of miles as they fly. The longest marathon migrant, the Arctic tern, covers more than 70,000 kilometers (about 44,000 miles) annually during its journey from the Arctic to the Antarctic, and back. However, very few migratory bird species […]

By Herp News [dropcap]O[/dropcap]n Christmas Eve in 1968, on their fourth orbit around the moon, the three American astronauts aboard Apollo 8 were startled to see the Earth, a pale blue orb, rising from the darkness. The astronauts hurriedly snapped a picture, the first to be taken of Earth by a person in space. “It […]

SO bright and brilliant, this Yellow Anaconda shines in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user mattf77 ! 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 […]

Having a bottom 2 1/2 x 3 feet and a height of 5″ allows one to catch all manner of herps, fish, and aquatic insects. The other day Mike and John came by and borrowed my Goin Dredge (see photo above) to try their luck finding small fish, aquatic salamanders and tadpoles in some of […]

By Herp News Heads of nations are meeting right now at the COP21 conference in Paris, where they are brainstorming ways to avert catastrophe by limiting global warming to 2 degrees Celsius over the coming years. Keeping carbon in the ground is a crucial element of this goal, and as forests are still our best bet for […]

Photo: SUMA AQUALIFE PARK Crossing a railroad track is difficult for turtles with their slow speed. They also are at risk for falling between the tracks and getting stuck, until eventually run over or caught in part of the track’s rail-switching mechanism. Not only do the turtles lose their lives, but the trains can become […]

By Herp News Market Four in Asuncion, the Paraguayan capital, sells a variety of wild animals illegally for the pet trade, for consumption, and medicinal purposes. Photo: ©Santi Carneri [dropcap]T[/dropcap]he monk parakeets were small and bright green, crowded, almost on top of each other in a cage the size of two stacked shoeboxes. It was […]

Eastern Box Turtle Terrapene carolina carolinaI took this in-situ photograph of a wild Eastern Box Turtle in May of 2015. Despite missing many scutes, this scarred specimen was out searching for food and behaving completely normally. After years seeing thousands of reptiles and amphibians in the field it has been my experience that turtles can […]

This Tegu peeking out of his transport bag in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user striggs makes you wonder if he is looking to see how far spring is away!! Be sure to tell them you liked it here! Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and you […]

It was the first really, really cold night in Mobile this season. There was no choice than to bring Frankie inside. Pretty much Frankie has torn up and outgrown his current outdoor habitat. He couldn’t turn around inside anymore so I modified his inside box so he would fit. Then he tore out the doors […]

By Herp News Tens of thousands of African elephants are poached every year for their ivory, which has had a drastic impact on population numbers. According to The Nature Conservancy, the African elephant (Loxodonta africana) population declined from 1.2 million individuals in 1980 to just 430,000 in 2014. Conservationists have long argued that, because community […]

Photo: GetSurry The most comforting thing in young Charlie Burnett’s life is his pet snake. Charlie is a high functioning autistic child and also suffers from Pathological Demand Avoidance Syndrome (PDA), which can result in emotional meltdowns when stress levels are too high. “It’s changed Charlie’s world,” she told the Woking Advertiser. “I can’t tell […]

By Herp News African grey parrots are known to be smart, talented mimics. Alex, one of the most well-known African grey parrots in the world, could mimic over 100 human words, differentiate between various shapes and numbers, and would even wish his trainer “goodnight”. Predictably, these birds are extremely popular as pets. But their popularity has taken a […]

This little White’s Tree Frog has his eye on you in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user exoreds ! 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 […]

This is a large and typically colored Yonahlossee salamander A couple of months ago Patti and I were “leaf-peeping” in western NC. We had visited Grandfather Mountain, driven along US221, and accessed the Blue Ridge Parkway, and were now sitting at Yonahlossee Overlook. This of course brought back many memories. Yonahlossee— the word is said […]

By Herp News Fresh analysis of a reptile fossil is helping scientists solve an evolutionary puzzle — how snakes lost their limbs. The findings show snakes did not lose their limbs in order to live in the sea, as was previously suggested. Go to Source …read more Read more here: herpetofauna.com No products found. Amazon […]

Photo: Photo: Sun Sentinal The Palm Beach Zoo recently noticed Hannah, one of their Komodo Dragons (Varanus komodoensis), was showing pain symptoms. After a CT scan to better pinpoint the source of her discomfort, they brought in a new treatment, acupuncture, to comfort her without the possible side effects from medications. Although acupuncture is a […]

By Herp News Future of the Chinese white dolphins — also called pink dolphins — in Hong Kong waters could be severely imperiled. Proposed expansion of the Hong Kong airport and ongoing construction of a new bridge from Hong Kong to Macau could be a “nail in the coffin” for the dolphins, conservationists say. “We […]

Here’s to hoping this IJ Jag in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user StonedReptiles makes your monday a bit brighter!! 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: […]

Happy Rattlesnake Friday! For Black Friday, we just HAD To bring you this Black-tailed Rattlesnake for our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user bigdnutz ! 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 […]

By Herp News What doesn’t kill you could cure you. A growing interest in the therapeutic value of animal venom has led data scientists to create the first catalog of known animal toxins and their physiological effects on humans. Go to Source …read more Read more here: herpetofauna.com No products found. Amazon Auto Links

By Herp News Every two years, primate experts compile a report that highlights 25 primates that are in severe crisis. These are the most endangered monkeys, apes and lemurs in the world. On Tuesday, an international coalition of 63 primate conservation experts — including the Primate Specialist Group of IUCN’s Species Survival Commission (SSC), Bristol […]

We are thankful for sausages and skinks. Skinks are kinda like sausages, right? We are thankful for this Shingleback Skink in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user albinorosy ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here! Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and you could […]

The Delta map turtle is one of the “sawbacked” types. At the time I decided I wished to photograph the Delta map turtle in the wild, it was considered a named subspecies, Graptemys nigrinoda delticola, the darker and easternmore of the 2 forms of the. black-knobbed map turtle. Even back then, the subspecific differences, hence […]

By Herp News A smuggled and confiscated crocodile ashtray, now part of the “Buyer Beware Exhibit” at Boston’s Logan International Airport. Photo by Bill Butcher courtesy of USFWS [dropcap]L[/dropcap]ast March, a four-year manhunt finally paid off when U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) investigators teamed with Mexican officials to arrest a notorious American wildlife trafficker. […]

By Herp News Genes for important skin proteins arose in a common ancestor shared by humans and turtles 310 million years ago, a genome comparison has discovered. Go to Source …read more Read more here: herpetofauna.com No products found. Amazon Auto Links

Photo: Science Friday A new snake crosses your table, although it exhibits traits of a known venomous snake, it is missing several key markers. What is it? Is it venomous? If so, just how venomous is it? The situation becomes less an exercise in academics when the unknown subject of your research bites you. That […]

A new snake crosses your table, although it exhibits traits of a known venomous snake, it is missing several key markers. What is it? Is it venomous? If so, just how venomous is it? The situation becomes less an exercise in academics when the unknown subject of your research bites you. That is the situation […]

click to see larger image Fallout from two highly publicized cobra escapes in Florida is leading to changes in Florida venomous snake regulations in 2016. According to a memo released by the Florida Fish & Wildlife Commission (see above), the state is banning the use of melamine/particle board enclosures due to their tendency to be […]

This four pack of itty bitty ATBs are keeping their eyes on you in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user micahdenton ! 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 […]

By Herp News https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEgfGlsHZWw&feature=youtu.be In a rare moment, a camera trap videoed a rare Amur tigress, trailed by her three cubs. The camera belongs to a network of camera traps set up by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) in Russia’s Sikhote-Alin Biosphere Reserve to study Amur tigers. In the video, “the cats are using an overgrown forest road as […]

Gallery Photo by user dallashawks Currently the genomes of only 9 species of reptiles (among 10 000 species) are available to the scientific community. To change this a team at the University of Geneva (UNIGE), Swit- zerland, has produced a large database including, among others, the newly-sequenced genome of the corn snake, Pantherophis guttatus, a […]