It’s our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user gerryg!
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Herp Photo of the Day: Milk Snake!
Suspects acquitted in shocking murder of sea turtle conservationist
By Herp News
Yesterday, the seven men accused of brutally murdering Jairo Mora Sandoval on a beach in Costa Rica two years ago were acquitted of the crime. Sandoval’s murder shocked the Central American country—long known for the progressive protection of its lush rainforests and sweeping beaches—but the judge who acquitted the accused cited reasonable doubt and a investigation marred by mistakes.
…read more
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The world’s oldest known snake fossils: Rolling back the clock by nearly 70 million years
By Herp News
Fossilized remains of four ancient snakes have been dated between 140 and 167 million years old — nearly 70 million years older than the previous record of ancient snake fossils — and are changing the way we think about the origins of snakes.
…read more
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Columba the rescued turtle has died
By Herp News
A loggerhead turtle that washed up on a County Donegal beach and was receiving treatment for hypothermia at an aquarium in Portaferry, County Down, has died.
…read more
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Will West Virginia turn the tide on anti-reptile legislation in 2015?
In 2014, West Virginia enacted a Dangerous Wild Animal (DWA) law that resulted in the proposal of a regulation/rule that would create an absurdly long list of DWAs. For example, the proposed DWA list initially included all turtles and salamanders (except native W. Virg. species).
Months of hard work by reptile, amphibian, and other exotic owners in the state and across the U.S. has resulted in an opportunity to overturn West Virginia’s DWA Act. On the third day of the 2015 legislation session, four senators submitted SB 247 to repeal the DWA Act. One of these senators had voted in favor of the DWA law in 2014. In a single sentence, SB 247 will remove every single word of the DWA Act as if it never existed. That will be a turning point for state legislation.
USARK and its associated chapter in W. Virg. have been coordinating efforts to fight against the state’s DWA law and proposed rule for approximately 10 months.
The opportunity to create a clear turning point in anti-reptile legislation is within reach. With their hundreds of millions of dollars, anti-pet groups like HSUS and PETA will certainly continue to campaign against your ownership of pet reptiles and amphibians. It is what they do. It is an integral part of their business model.
The repeal of the DWA law in W. Virg. would set a precedent that would be very influential in our continued battles against our extremist animal rights adversaries. This is an opportunity for the reptile nation to make a big statement. The question is whether the reptile and amphibian owners in W. Virg. and across the U.S. will capitalize on this opportunity by actively engaging in the legislative process.
How to help
If you are a W. Virg. resident, you should sign up to help repeal the DWA Act by sending your contact information to wvusarc@gmail.com. USARK will be posting action alerts for everyone to help with repealing the Act, as well as responding to proposed legislation and regulations across the country.
The first step for W. Virg. residents is to identify your senatorial district and your two senators. Please immediately call your senators and email them asking them to cosponsor SB 247. It would be helpful to add a note about how this law has upset your life.
Also, please ask at least two of your exotic animal friends in W. Virg. to do the same thing, and for them to ask two more people (and so on), so we create a pyramid and each of the state’s 34 senators is contacted multiple times by a constituent to sponsor SB 247. …read more
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Canadian boy finds 300 million year old fossil
Over a decade ago, a boy found one of the most complete reptile fossils of the Carboniferous era on his farm on Prince Edward Island.
From CTV News:
“This specimen is really rare,” said Modesto, who was the principal investigator of the project. “It’s the only specimen we know of from this particular part of the Carboniferous and it’s the only reptile from that slice of time.”
The research will be published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B on Wednesday.
Modesto said the fossil was discovered by a boy and his family on their farmland in Prince County, P.E.I., more than 14 years ago. It was taken to the Royal Ontario Museum in 2004 and about four years ago, Modesto and his team started their research.
The fossil, erpetonyx arsenaultorum, was named after the Arsenault family who made the discovery.
Read more here. …read more
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Fun as a barrel of barred monkey frogs
Where there once was a seasonally flowing stream there is now a reservoir several acres in size. In this newly formed water body there are spectacled caiman, giant arapaima, neotropical water snakes, and a vast number of giant monkey frog tadpoles.
And somewhere on the far side of the reservoir, well away from the station’s buildings, perhaps in the shallows of the reservoir itself or maybe in a remote puddle, pond, or water-filled hollow log, there are probably barred monkey frog tadpoles, Phyllomedusa tomopterna.
At least there should be, for we have found several adults of this beautiful medium-sized hylid vocalizing from perches in reservoir-side shrubs and trees on the far banks.
Phyllomedusa tomopterna attains a length of about 2 inches. At adulthood, males are the slightly smaller sex. Although variable, the dorsum is often a forest green. The throat and chest are white(ish) and the belly is orange. The sides are a richer orange than the belly and bear broad vertical bars of purple-black. Each heel bears an easily noticeable calcar (heel spur). The soft clucking notes of the males do not have much carrying power.
These frogs are always eagerly sought on our tours and the search for them invariably introduces us to numerous other rainforest denizens. In fact, as you read this Patti and I will again be looking for this hylid in the rainforest of Amazonian Peru.
Wish us luck.
Continue reading “Fun as a barrel of barred monkey frogs” …read more
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Herp Photo of the Day: Baby Crested Geckos!
It’s our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user MOC_Reptiles!
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Tourist turtle washes up in Donegal
By Herp News
A loggerhead turtle that washed up on a County Donegal beach is being treated for hypothermia at Exploris Aquarium in Portaferry, County Down.
…read more
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Myanmar’s bird species count jumps to 1114
By Herp News
Myanmar is home to at least 1,114 bird species after researchers identified 20 previously undocumented species during recent surveys.
…read more
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What Is The Lizard Squad? Malaysia Airlines Website Hacked By Xbox Hack Group
By Herp News
The official website of Malaysia Airlines was hacked Monday by a group claiming to be from the “Lizard Squad,” which has previously taken credit for past denial-of-service attacks, including the takedown of the Xbox Live and Sony Playstation Network last month.
…read more
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Malaysia Airlines denies Lizard Squad compromised data
By Herp News
UPDATE: Malaysia Airlines has had its website targeted by a group called “Lizard Squad”, which made references to the Islamic State.
…read more
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'Lizard Squad' hackers target Malaysia Airlines website
By Herp News
The Malaysia Airlines website was commandeered Monday by hackers who referenced the Islamic State jihadists and claimed to be from the “Lizard Squad”, a group known for previous denial-of-service attacks. The website's front page was replaced with an image of a tuxedo-wearing lizard, and read “Hacked by LIZARD SQUAD — OFFICIAL CYBER CALIPHATE”. The Lizard Squad is a group of hackers that has …
…read more
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Malaysia Airlines Hit by Lizard Squad Hack Attack
By Herp News
Message “404 — plane not found” was temporarily plastered on website.
…read more
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A gray rat snake by any other name…
One of the advantages of living on a farm in rural Southeast Alabama is we often find snakes right here at the house.
One such snake is the gray rat snake, currently known by taxonomists as Pantherophis obsoletus spiloides and “oak snake” or “chicken snake” by locals.
We typically see rat snakes in the rafters of our barns, in our well pump house, or, more often than not, inside our chicken coupe coiled somewhere off the ground waiting for one of the hens to lay a fresh clutch of eggs. They’re also a species regularly seen crossing roads late on a hot summer evening, and are one the most common large snakes found in our region.
Gray rat snakes range over much of Alabama, South Georgia, and North Florida, and one color phase from Northern Florida dubbed the “white oak” gray rat snake by herpers can be extraordinarily light in coloration and is quite beautiful.
Gray rat snakes are constrictors, and are also excellent climbers. They feed on a wide variety of small mammals, birds, and their eggs, and will often take refuge high above the ground in tree hollows. We sometimes see a gray rat snake sticking its head out of an old bird house in an oak tree at the back of the property, where it will usually flick its tongue out a few times in response to our presence and then draw its head inside.
We enjoy finding and seeing them here, and although we may lose an occasional chicken egg or two, we don’t mind because the service they provide by ridding us of countless rodents makes up for it! …read more
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Frogs prove ideal models for studying developmental timing
By Herp News
Thyroid hormone receptor alpha plays an important role in hind limb development in frogs, scientists have found. With new gene mutation technology, researchers were able to successfully mutate the gene in the tadpole models, discovering the value of tadpoles as ideal models for studying the role of hormones in development because of the timely metamorphosis from tadpole to juvenile frog, and because that transition is completely dependent on hormones.
…read more
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UK man finds snake in his shopping bag
One man got more than he bargained after he discovered a live snake in his grocery bag.
From the Chronicle Live:
Dean thinks the snake may have been curled up in a pair of thick socks which he had also bought on Saturday’s shopping trip.
He added: “I think it’s maybe been keeping warm in them before coming out once I arrived back.”
Wayne Mailer, who runs Dragons Den Exotic Pets in Newcastle, said: “Looking at the picture, this appears to be an Amery Corn Snake.
“I think it’s probably only a hatchling maybe only a few weeks old . At the minute it doesn’t appear to be in the best of health, probably due to the cold weather.
“More than likely, it is an escapee pet.”
Read more here. …read more
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Herp Photo of the Day: Corn Snake!
It’s our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user steveroylance1!
Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and you could see them featured here! …read more
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Malaysia Airlines attacked, big data dump threatened
By Herp News
The Malaysia Airlines website has been attacked and the Lizard Squad, one of the groups that claimed responsibility on Monday, threatened to soon “dump some loot” found on the airline’s servers. The airline said in a statement on its Facebook page that its Domain Name System (DNS) was compromised and as a result users trying to access the URL www.malaysiaairlines.com were being redirected to a …
…read more
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‘Lizard Squad’ hackers target Malaysia Airlines website
By Herp News
It also carried the headline “404 – Plane Not Found”, an apparent reference to the airlines' puzzling loss of flight MH370 last year with 239 people aboard.
…read more
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Ancient Knife-Toothed Reptile Is Crocodile Cousin
By Herp News
It's unclear where the reptile, Nundasuchus songeaensis, falls on the evolutionary tree, said Sterling Nesbitt, an assistant professor of geology at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. The researchers announced their findings yesterday (Jan. 20) in a statement.
…read more
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Warming seas decrease sea turtle basking
By Herp News
Green sea turtles may stop basking on beaches around the world within a century due to rising sea temperatures, a new study suggests. Basking helps the turtles regulate body temperature and may aid their immune system and digestion. By analyzing six years of turtle surveys and 24 years of satellite data, researchers have found the turtles bask more often when sea surface temperatures are lower. This vital behavior may cease globally by 2102 if global warming trends continue.
…read more
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Courier no longer ships reptiles in UK
International courier company TNT has announced it will no longer ship live reptiles in the UK for what it calls “health and safety reasons.”
Although the original announcement was made in October of last year, it was made so quietly hat many reptile hobbyists and businesses are only finding out about the change in policy now, when their packages are returned to them the following day by TNT drivers telling them that their depot was “no longer handling reptiles.”
I’m not sure what aspect of the reptile shipping service could be considered unhealthy or dangerous, but then I doubt if this is the real reason for the company’s change of policy. Whatever the reason, to those of us who understand reptile transportation protocols, the decision is crazy. I’ve written several magazine features about transporting and packing reptiles safely based on my experience of shipping many thousands of reptiles over several decades. To me it seems like a dumb decision, whichever way you look at it.
According to a piece in UK pet trade publication PBW News, a TNT spokesman said, “The company has made the decision not to transport any animals due to health and safety reasons. As a result, we are not taking on any new customers in this area.”
In response to queries from Pet Business World about potential health and safety issues with transporting reptiles, Judith Hackitt, chairman of the Health and Safety Executive, said, “I see this time and time again, companies using health and safety as a blanket excuse and it’s got to stop. It is misleading for members of the public to constantly read headlines blaming non-existent health and safety laws for stopping people for going about their everyday business. It detracts from the real business of health and safety.” …read more
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North Carolina reptile ban hype, not reality
An article about a supposed reptile ban has been making it’s way around social media. It has a headline designed to frighten any herper: “BREAKING NEWS: NC Reptile Ban Legislation! HSUS to Push for Dangerous Wild Animal Legislation in NC; Boas, Pythons and Venomous at Risk.” Sounds really ominous, doesn’t it?
The article was based on information posted on the website of Carolina Tiger Rescue (CTR), stating CTR will join with the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) to introduce a bill that “bans bears, non-human primates, and wild cats.” It further states this “legislation has nothing to do with farming practices. It is about bears, nonhuman primates, and wild cats. Not pigs. Not chickens. Not cows.”
Nevertheless, that hasn’t stopped speculation by voices intent on inflaming the community with messages saying things like “this legislation may cover more than big cats. The HSUS model Dangerous Wild Animal (DWA) legislation, for which they received the stamp of approval from the American Bar Association (ABA) Animal Law Committee in 2014, includes large constrictors (even boa constrictors) and venomous snakes.”
It should be noted that the above referenced model legislation has not been adopted by the ABA; but is merely a recommendation by a committee.
A simple phone call to the executive director of CTR, Pam Fulk, immediately answered the speculation as to whether the legislation included or would include reptiles or amphibians. Fulk responded that such speculation is “absolutely untrue.” She said the legislation is in its final process of review, adding, “People are already making things up.”
When a group has any association with HSUS, USARK is vigilant to verify their statements to us. USARK has mechanisms in place to identify legislation introduced in all 50 states, including amendments to existing laws that would affect the herp community. Let’s not speculate, and waste our energy and activism, when we can verify, and focus our efforts on confirmed threats.
…read more
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Sea turtle finds her way back to birth beach, but how?
By Herp News
It's a sea turtle mystery that has stumped scientists for decades: How does the female sea turtle, which travels across thousands of miles of open ocean each year, still manage to navigate back to the same beach where she hatched to lay her eggs?
…read more
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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Turtle freedom
By Herp News
A 22.5-kilo olive ridley sea turtle measuring almost 2 feet long is released in the waters of the Hundred Islands National Park in Alaminos City last Thursday by a team led by Dr. Westley Rosario of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources and joined by local and Korean members of the Lions Club. (Jojo Riñoza)
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Warming seas decrease sea turtle basking
By Herp News
Green sea turtles may stop basking on beaches around the world within a century due to rising sea temperatures, a new study suggests. Basking helps the turtles regulate body temperature and may aid their immune system and digestion. By analyzing six years of turtle surveys and 24 years of satellite data, researchers have found the turtles bask more often when sea surface temperatures are lower …
…read more
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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Rare turtle washed up on Cumbrian beach dies
By Herp News
A rare turtle found washed up on a Cumbrian beach and being cared for at a county aquarium has died.
…read more
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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Warming seas decrease sea turtle basking
By Herp News
Green sea turtles may stop basking on beaches around the world within a century due to rising sea temperatures, a new study suggests. Basking helps the turtles regulate body temperature and may aid their immune system and digestion. By analyzing six years of turtle surveys and 24 years of satellite data, researchers have found the turtles bask more often when sea surface temperatures are lower …
…read more
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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Turtle savior is on a mission
By Herp News
Dr. Paul Gibbons, managing director of the Behler Chelonian Center in California, is on a mission to save endangered turtles from extinction.
…read more
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Lizard Squad: Our DDoS Attack Service Wasn't Hacked, We Handed Out Customer Passwords
By Herp News
One of the key members of Lizard Squad tells Forbes an insider was to blame for the database leak of an attack service the crew is offering, not an outside hacker, contrary to previous reports. The group was handing out the database, he claimed, indicating customers of the Lizard Stresser service have already had their online accounts comrpromised by the Lizards.
…read more
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Lizard Squad: We Weren't Hacked, We Were Handing Out Customer Passwords
By Herp News
One of the key members of Lizard Squad tells Forbes an insider was to blame for the database leak of an attack service the crew is offering, not an outside hacker, contrary to previous reports. The group was handing out the database, he claimed, indicating customers of the Lizard Stresser service have already had their online accounts comrpromised by the Lizards.
…read more
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Tortoise Capital Advisors, L.L.C. Announces Release of 2014 Annual Reports for Closed-End Funds (NDP, NTG, TPZ, TTP …
By Herp News
Tortoise Capital Advisors, L.L.C., the adviser of NDP, NTG, TPZ, TTP and TYG announced today the release of 2014 annual stockholders’ reports for each of these funds.
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Herp Video of the Week: Giant Waxy Monkey Frog Tadpoles Hatching!
Check out this video “Giant Waxy Monkey Frog Tadpoles Hatching!” submitted by kingsnake.com user mjnovy.
Submit your own reptile & amphibian videos at http://www.kingsnake.com/video/ and you could see them featured here or check out all the videos submitted by other users! …read more
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Herp Photo of the Day: Eastern Painted Turtles!
It’s our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user nategodin!
Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and you could see them featured here! …read more
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Excessive rainfall harms tropical leaf litter frogs
While some species are suffering due to drought, leaf litter frogs are struggling with too much rainfall.
From the University of New Mexico Newsroom:
Using four different species of leaf litter frogs, they replicated and sampled 10 plots per year, using a plot survey technique of total leaf litter removal within each plot. They measured and sampled annual species diversity and community composition once a year during March, during the dry season, at the Organization of Tropical Studies Las Cruces Biological Station in southern Costa Rica.
Their findings were surprising in that strictly terrestrial frog species (i.e., they do not breed in water) can be influenced by extreme rainfall events much like their aquatic-breeding counterparts. The researchers discovered that species diversity and the community structure changed negatively in dramatic fashion from the two pre-La Niña years compared to the onset of the La Niña event in 2010.
The altered community structure due to extreme rainfall lasted for over 20 months. During that time, all four leaf litter frog species declined in number and several measures revealed marked changes in the community structure in terms of both plot diversity and occupancy.
Read more here. …read more
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Nothing comes between a man and his bush viper
Back in 1970, while scanning a pricelist from Hank Molt, the name Mt. Kenya bush viper, Atheris desaixii, caught my eye. I was familiar with several species in the genus, but A. desaixii was one that I didn’t know.
In those days there was no Google to turn to for information. Even the word computer was seldom heard and if heard it was not thought about as belonging to a magazine-sized entity that would reside in average homes, schoolrooms, backpacks, and vehicles.
But we did have telephones. And back then we dialed the number of the person we hoped to talk with. Since there was no caller ID to alert them that it was a pest calling, they almost always answered the phone. So I called Hank. Hank answered, and a few moments later he was describing a Mt. Kenya bush viper to me. It seems that the snake was primarily black, had yellow tipped scales, and its venom composition was basically unknown. Hank said it was a beautiful snake, really, really pretty.
Sounded pretty to me, so I asked Patti “Do I need a Mt. Kenya bush viper?” She looked at me like I had just stepped off a spaceship, and said “no” (and it was an emphatic no).
So I called Hank back, told him that Patti couldn’t wait to see the viper, and to ship it ASAP. Two days later I was getting acquainted with my first Mt. Kenya bush viper.
And Hank had been right. It was a beauty.
Continue reading “Nothing comes between a man and his bush viper” …read more
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Herp Photo of the Day: Leucistic Western Hognose!
It’s our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user motorhead!
Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and you could see them featured here! …read more
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Hacking Group Lizard Squad Hit With a Cyberattack on Its Own Network
By Herp News
© Dado Ruvic/Reuters People pose in front of a display showing the word “cyber” in binary code. The hacker cohort Lizard Squad, who gleefully shut down the Xbox Live and PlayStation networks over the holidays, has been hit with a cyberattack on its own network.
…read more
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Sundarbans still reeling from effects of December oil spill
By Herp News
Last month, an estimated 350,000 liters of fuel oil spilled into the Sundarbans delta on the Bay of Bengal. An oil tanker that had collided with a cargo vessel on December 9th sank into the Shela River, spilling its oil into a protected sanctuary for the rare and endangered Irrawaddy dolphins (Orcaella brevirostris) and the Ganges river dolphins (Platanista gangetica).
…read more
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