Invasive species and urban development are critically endangering the salamander

From Aljazeera America:

A recent study from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) shows in 1998 there were 6,000 axolotls per square kilometer in Xochimilco. By 2008 that figure had plummeted to 100. And in 2014 researchers found less than one per square kilometer.

There are at least three major causes for its decline: urbanization, water pollution and the massive invasion of exotic predator fish like carp and tilapia, introduced by the Mexican government in the 1980s to help feed local communities. From the first few thousands they introduced, there are now an estimated 900 tons of fish in these canals.

“It’s an amazing amount. About 98 percent of the biomass in the water is made up of just these two fish, and they destroy everything,” said professor Luis Zambrano, an ecologist at UNAM who studies Mexican salamanders and the deterioration of their environment. “The government didn’t know what they were doing. They’ve altered the food chain and the whole ecosystem.”

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One of the turtle species that Ron and I encountered on the Colima trip was a semi-aquatic creature of primarily terrestrial habits. Known as the Mexican spotted wood turtle, the subspecies we happened across was Rhinoclemmys rubida perixantha, the more northerly of the 2 known forms.

We encountered 3 of this (as we later learned) uncommon little chelonian. All of these little brown turtles seen were active at night in a flooded field just east of the city of Colima.

The most conspicuous things about these turtles were the intricate and busy head patterns of broad, dark edged, yellow bars and spots. Although the yellow head patterns precluded R. rubida being mistaken for R. pulcherrima, at 6 to 8 inches in length the former were also of smaller size.

Very little is yet known about the diet of the Mexican spotted wood turtle. It is thought that like others in the genus the species eats a good amount of vegetable matter and is an opportunist feeder on invertebrates. It is known that captives relish worms, caterpillars, and land dwelling molluscs.

Hopefully, as the Behler Center works with their group we will learn more about this beautiful and delightful turtle.
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Big Mama! Protecting her eggs, this Kankakee County bull snake shows off her natural instict to protect her eggs in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user pitparade!

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A TORTOISE that was suffering from an agonizing disease that caused its shell to wear away has been custom-made a 3D printed shell to protect her own.

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Nearly two-thirds of tropical forests in Southeast Asia have been degraded by logging, agriculture and other human uses, and their fauna have been decimated by hunting and the bushmeat trade. But if those degraded tropical forests are to recover naturally, they will need to rely on their remaining large wild animals to disperse large tree seeds, according to a new study.

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Nearly two-thirds of tropical forests in Southeast Asia have been degraded by logging, agriculture and other human uses, and their fauna have been decimated by hunting and the bushmeat trade. But if those degraded tropical forests are to recover naturally, they will need to rely on their remaining large wild animals to disperse large tree seeds, according to a new study.

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The saw-scaled viper, Echis carinatus, is a venomous snake found in India and the smallest member of the Indian “Big Four” deadly snakes of India.

This pygmy snake is one of the fastest-striking snakes in the world, and definitely the fastest striking one in India. The thing I like best about this tiny creature is that when the saw-scaled viper is disturbed, it coils and rubs its saw-like scales together to make a noise like a wood-saw.

They are hemotoxic by nature as they are from viper family.

Another species of saw-scaled viper found in India is the Sochurek’s saw-scaled viper, Echis carinatus Sochureki, which is found in some western and central parts of India.

The saw-scaled viper’s body is pale brown with a white-bordered zig zag pattern. The body is white underneath with tiny brown spots. Small scales are present on head, and a white or pale brown spear mark on top.

The eyes are large golden with vertical black pupils, and the body is rounded and has scales with saw-like keels. The tail is short.

Saw-scaled vipers are commonly seen in coastal areas and they are found under boulders and thorny bushes. Though nocturnal, they may be seen basking in the morning. They feed on scorpions, centipedes, and geckos. Viviparous by nature, they give birth to 4-8 young ones.

Usually there are few saw-scaled vipers in my area, but whenever I find one while herping, I am eager to hear the wood-saw noise. I find these tiny creatures very beautiful and attractive, but I always avoid bare-hand handling them. …read more
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Sexually dimorphic species are less likely to go extinct, according to new research.

From the Costa Rica Star:

By examining research on global patterns of amphibian diversification over hundreds of millions of years, De Lisle and Rowe discovered that “sexually dimorphic” species – those in which males and females differ in size, for example – are at lower risk of extinction and better able to adapt to diverse environments.

Their work suggests the ability of males and females in sexually dimorphic amphibian species to independently evolve different traits – such as size – helps them survive extinction threats that kill off others, says De Lisle.

He says classic ecological theory would not have predicted that about amphibians, a class of vertebrates that includes frogs, toads, salamanders, newts and caecilians.

The conventional school of thought believes different-sized sexes of the same species take up more resources and are less able to adapt and diversify than species where ecologically relevant traits like size are basically the same between males and females.

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This hatchling pink pastel hognose shares our feelings about Mondays in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user JoeTaffis!

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Reptile vendors and breeders were in Savannah to showcase hundreds of different reptiles, amphibians, invertebrates, spiders, and small exotic animals to area enthusiasts on Sunday.

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A man from North Carolina is launching Reptile Munchies, a startup that will deliver live roaches to the doors of reptile owners so they can keep their pets fed without any hassle. The subscription service costs $29 per month for a month's worth of reptile food—about 100 roaches.

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To better understand the variety of salmonella species harbored by captive reptiles, Staten Island Zoo has teamed up with microbiologists.

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Cleopatra the leopard tortoise has been given a 3D printed prosthetic shell to protect her from injury

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Reptile vendors and breeders will be in Savannah to showcase hundreds of different reptiles, amphibians, invertebrates, spiders, and small exotic animals to area enthusiasts on Sunday.

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Help your turtle by jumping from one platform to the next and destroy your friends records!And remember you are a ninja, nothing is…

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Ninja Turtle Jumper is a fun and simple action game perfect for all age group! This game is free!! Try to beat your own high score…

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Her name is Cleopatra, and she looks fierce.

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Searching the globe for undiscovered species takes biologists to far and remote locations, trekking through exotic locales that may yield a new discovery. However, exploring the black market can also produce results. And this is just the case for Rafe Brown, curator of the University Of Kansas (KU) Biodiversity Institute, during a recent visit to the Philippines. In a black market in Manila, Brown and his colleagues discovered two new species of water monitor lizard for sale.

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Just let this panther chameleon clean that spot on your screen for ya in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user 1Sun!

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Broken Lizard has already reached its $2 million crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo thanks to a passionate fanbase that could help the budget get even higher than the stoners in the original film. It took less than 48 hours for Broken Lizard to hit its goal, as 21, 647 backers have donated $2,257,241 as of 7:33 p.m. PDT .

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Researchers aren’t just looking at snake venom to develop potentially life saving medicine; lizard venom is also being mapped.

From phys.org:

Venom research is a large field, especially due to the pharmaceutical potential of the venom proteins. The idea here is that venom proteins are capable of affecting the body’s cells. Excessive amounts can be harmful and even lethal in some circumstances, but if the right dose is used, the venom proteins can be used to treat certain diseases. Snake proteins that normally cause prey to bleed can be used in small doses to treat blood clots, for example.

In the same way, work is currently being done to develop spider venom proteins to provide pain relief. The Aarhus researchers focused on gila lizards, and these are currently being used in pharmaceutical contexts. Gila lizards produce exendin-4, a small venom protein used in the treatment of diabetes and obesity, which is a competitor to Victoza – produced by Novo Nordisk.

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In his little Austin Healey Sprite, Ron and I zipped across the border in Brownsville, Texas heading into Mexico’s interior. We had no idea where we were going or where we would stop. We were young, had enough time and hoped we had sufficient dinero to get us to wherever and back home again. We did. Barely.

As it turned out we encountered torrential rains in the Pacific Coast state of Colima, and with the rains there were herps–herps of kinds we had never seen before in the wild, and many that neither of us had seen anywhere.

The rain flooded low lying fields and now treefrogs of a half dozen species were vocalizing. Mexican wood turtles walked the wet roadsides and swam across larger flooded areas. Lyre snakes, parrot snakes, and our hands down favorite – brown vine snakes – were crossing or sitting quietly on the highway. We were surprised that the latter were active as they are considered diurnal species with poor night vision but it seemed probable that the heavy rains prompted divergence from the norm.

Although Ron and I were known for unplanned trips, this one was by far the longest yet (a longer trip, it too, unplanned, to southern Chiapas was to come later). This multi-thousand mile trip for 2 adults in a 2-seat Sprite from Tampa to coastal southern Colima was more than just a bit crowded. But now, 50 years later, I still look back on with fond memories.
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Join the Electric Company with this Lygodactylus williamsi and be blinded by beauty in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user jamesmatthews!

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A camera trap photo of a young buck touching noses with a fawn is among the finalists in a picture contest organized by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). The image was snapped in a camera trap set up in Apopka, Florida.

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Cleopatra doesn't seem impressed with her new coat. But the red plastic shell probably will save the teenage leopard tortoise's life.

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Ecopassages may be less effective reptile road mortality mitigation tools when fences fail to keep reptiles from accessing the road.

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The rate of forest loss in Indonesia’s Leuser Ecosystem — the only place on Earth where rhinos, orangutans, tigers, and elephants live in the same habitat — has more than doubled due to logging, encroachment, and conversion to industrial plantations, warn conservationists. In a statement issued Tuesday, the Sumatran Orangutan Society reported that 80,316 hectares of forest were lost between 2008 and 2013, a sharp increase from the 30,830 hectares cleared between 2002 and 2008.

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( PLOS ) Ecopassages may be less effective reptile road mortality mitigation tools when fences fail to keep reptiles from accessing the road.

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The common krait, Bungarus caeruleus, is a venomous snake found in India — one of the four deadliest snakes of India known as “The Indian Big Four.”

The krait is also included in the top five deadliest of the world, in part because of its silent killing ability. When a person is bitten by a krait, he or she won’t feel pain because of the small-sized fangs; the bite pain is like a mosquito bite.

The common krait is a nocturnal snake; the kraits I rescued have all been rescued after 8 PM. It’s difficult to find a snake during daytime rescue calls.

India is home to six or seven species of krait, and they’re and also common in Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and many other Asian countries. The bite rate for the common krait is lower in India as compared to cobras and Russells vipers because kraits are very shy by nature and usually do not bite. That is the reason I love them.

Kraits have smooth bodies and glossy scales; they are blue or black in color and sometimes dark brown. There are single or paired thin white bands on the shiny black body, which makes them more beautiful and is the reason I use the ‘Black Beauty’ to describe a common krait.

The ventral part is white and sometimes yellowish. They feed on snakes mostly and sometimes even other kraits. Occasionally they eat mice, frogs, and lizards. The average length of krait is 100-120 cms and the maximum length is 175 cms.

There are many controversies related to krait bite deaths in India. Often when people are bitten by a krait, it’s night time and they don’t realize it. And the symptoms of krait bite are not at all predictable. The symptoms might take 6 hours or even 48 hours to start. The symptoms have seven or eight stages leading up to death. The deadliest symptom is paralysis; the bite victim is not even able to move his or her fingertips. There have been cases where the victims were declared dead by doctors in the paralyzed condition.

Keeping the deadly part apart, I always loved kraits because they attacked me very rarely on rescue calls and always make my rescuing task easy.

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Rainforest frog populations rely on feral pigs to create wallows, but with pig populations dwindling researchers have recreated the wallows using simple plastic bowls.

From Digital Journal:

To study the impact of these depressions on the reproductive success of the frogs, scientists based at the University of Vienna installed a series of plastic bowls to collect rainwater at regular intervals in a patch of rainforest in French Guiana and monitored frog populations in their test and control plots.

It was found that the frog populations expanded rapidly in both the areas with the bowls and nearby plots, from 148 frogs the season before the bowls were installed to 246 frogs two years later, while no increase was seen in plots far away from the man-made peccary wallows.

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This close up on the eye of a Correlophus ciliatus is an amazing shot. This Crestie is keeping her eye on you in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user LizardWizard!

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An injured green sea turtle was found on Mustang Island. The turtle had been hit by a boat propeller. It is currently at the Animal Rehabilitation Keep out in Port Aransas.

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Broken Lizard is turning to fans to help fund a follow-up to the 2001 cult hit.

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Reptile roundup: Delaware arrest warrant leads to seizure of guns, drugs and lizards

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Australia natives King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard get impressively close to peak '70s psychedelia with their nostalgic sound…

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DRUG addict Lee Pemberton stole a £300 tortoise from a pet shop before selling it on to fund his habit.The 37-year-old was caught on Fenton-based Glovers Fish and Water's CCTV cameras taking the reptile from a vivarium.North Staffordshire Justice Centre heard a customer warned the shop assistant there was a man in the store who smelt of alcohol. Steve Knowles, prosecuting, said: “The assistant …

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Herbert the tortoise proved the proverb still rings true when it shrugged off the distractions of a rabbit named Sven and beat it in a race at the Paws and Claws Pet Store in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania.

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A previously undiscovered species of crocodile-like amphibian that lived during the rise of dinosaurs was among Earth’s top predators more than 200 million years ago, a study shows. Palaeontologists identified the prehistoric species — which looked like giant salamanders — after excavating bones buried on the site of an ancient lake in southern Portugal.

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The family of the late Steve Irwin has come under criticism for their work with crocodiles and other animals.

From Smithsonian Magazine:

“It’s an honor and a privilege to work with the largest living reptile and largest terrestrial predator on the planet,” Robert tells me in the singsong tone of his television-ready family. “An awesome animal that roamed the primeval landscape for millions and millions of years.”

Daisy’s sawtooth tail whips the prone boy to the left. “The jaw pressure of the crocodile is incredible—3,000 pounds per square inch!”

Daisy’s tail whips him to the right. “I so admire the crocodile’s ability to kill with just its teeth. It’s quite amazing!”

Robert’s 16-year-old sister, Bindi, looks on solicitously. An actor, singer, game show host and, last year, a People cover girl, she’s confirming Daisy’s gender by inserting a finger into its cloaca and feeling around for genitalia. “It’s a girl!” she says. Her smile conveys a disarming buoyancy. “Here’s an animal that many people think is just a stupid, evil, ugly monster which kills people. That’s so not true!”

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The family of the late Steve Irwin has come under criticism for their work with crocodiles and other animals.

From Smithsonian Magazine:

“It’s an honor and a privilege to work with the largest living reptile and largest terrestrial predator on the planet,” Robert tells me in the singsong tone of his television-ready family. “An awesome animal that roamed the primeval landscape for millions and millions of years.”

Daisy’s sawtooth tail whips the prone boy to the left. “The jaw pressure of the crocodile is incredible—3,000 pounds per square inch!”

Daisy’s tail whips him to the right. “I so admire the crocodile’s ability to kill with just its teeth. It’s quite amazing!”

Robert’s 16-year-old sister, Bindi, looks on solicitously. An actor, singer, game show host and, last year, a People cover girl, she’s confirming Daisy’s gender by inserting a finger into its cloaca and feeling around for genitalia. “It’s a girl!” she says. Her smile conveys a disarming buoyancy. “Here’s an animal that many people think is just a stupid, evil, ugly monster which kills people. That’s so not true!”

Read more here. …read more
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