By Herp News

BACK TO THE WILD: Ben Nadler from Australian Seabird Rescue releases Shelayne the green sea turtle at Flat Rock. Cathy Adams

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Ssonoma, Calif.– K-PAX Racing, the only team campaigning McLaren sports cars in North America, is partnering with Flying Lizard Motorsports to manage its racecar program for the 2015 Pirelli World Challenge season. K-PAX will draw upon Flying Lizard’s diverse, international racing and logistics expertise throughout the upcoming season. K-PAX and Flying Lizard will compete under the … Keep …

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A 7-foot-long, fossilized skeleton of an extinct marine reptile has been discovered in the U.K. Jonathan Bow, a 34-year-old computer programmer, found what's believed to be an ichthyosaur fossil as he walked along Penarth Beach in South Wales with his brother, Wales Online reported Friday . “Something this large and complete is a once in a lifetime find,” Bow, an amateur fossil hunter, said of …

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By Herp News

Seemingly every year scientists set a new record with the number of species they describe. 2014 will be no exception. Below are some of the ‘new species’ highlights from the past year. The list includes species whose descriptions were first published in 2014. Some of the ‘discoveries’ occurred in years prior.

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By Herp News

One turtle previously unable to move was able to roll around with the help of a LEGO wheelchair.

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By Herp News

2K and Turtle Rock Studios announced today that the Open Beta test for the much anticipated 4v1 shooter, Evolve™, is coming exclusively to Xbox One, the all-in-one games and entertainment system from Microsoft, January 15 – 19, 2015.

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By Herp News

Fitch Ratings assigns 'AAA' ratings to the following senior unsecured notes issued by Tortoise Energy Infrastructure Corp :

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In March 2014, West Virginia enacted the Dangerous Wild Animal (DWA) law, which was lobbied for heavily by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and its affiliated WV organizations.

Similar bills had previously failed in WV, dying in legislative committee and once progressing far enough to be vetoed by WV’s Governor. Although the state’s Governor vetoed a similar DWA bill in 2012, which veto occurred after the Zanesville animal release in 2011, he signed the 2014 DWA bill.

The Zanesville Connection

WV’s 2014 DWA Bill (HB 4393) is frequently justified by the 2011 release of 50 animals in Zanesville, Ohio (consisting of lions, tigers, bears and wolves). As covered in Esquire, the released animals had been accumulated via purchase and “rescue” by Terry Thompson and were housed in outdoor cages on his 73-acre farm.

Forty-nine of the released animals were killed by law enforcement on or near the farm on the evening of the release, and the remaining tiger was killed on the farm the next morning. It has been reported that officers closed the doors of several cages in which a few large cats had remained, only to discover that every cage had been cut open in addition to having its door left open. Thompson’s partially eaten body was discovered on the farm with bolt cutters and a pistol lying nearby.

The police theorized that before shooting himself in the head, Thompson cut open the sides of all the cages, as well as, opening all the cage doors. In Thompson’s house, however, two monkeys, three leopards and a small bear remained alive in cages.

Continue reading “What’s going on with West Virginia’s Dangerous Wild Animal law?” …read more
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Check out this video “Do Tortoises Eat Toes?” submitted by kingsnake.com user rugbyman2000.
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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It’s our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user corrinna!

Alligator Lizard, uploaded by kingsnake.com user corrinna” />

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By Herp News

A 7ft skeleton of a carnivorous marine reptile is found on a beach in south Wales

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By Herp News

SAN DIEGO, Dec. 18, 2014 /PRNewswire/ – Turtle Beach Corporation (NASDAQ: HEAR) today announced that the Chief Executive Officer, Juergen Stark and Chief Financial Officer, John Hanson will be presenting …

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By Herp News

A viral YouTube video showing a tortoise pushing another back on its feet may be a case of aggressive courtship, expert says.

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By Herp News

By comparing camera trapping findings with genetic samples taken from feces, biologists have determined that the density of ocelots on Barro Colorado Island in Panama is the highest yet recorded. There are over three ocelots per every two square kilometers (0.77 square miles) on the island.

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By Herp News

Can you sing The Twelve Days of Christmas without two turtle doves? Well, that just might be the future of the holiday classic. Populations of the iconic birds have plummeted in the past few decades, falling 77 percent in Europe since 1980 and 96 percent in the United Kingdom since 1970.

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By Herp News

A strange marine reptile from the age of dinosaurs that was recently unearthed in China may shed light on how life recovered after the greatest mass extinction in Earth's history, researchers say. The creatures were odd-looking predators that grew to about 6 feet (2 meters) in size, and have so far only been found in the province of Hubei in central China. “Hupehsuchia is a group of bizarre …

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The peeps were deafening. We were standing on the edge of a rain-filled drainage ditch that paralleled a busy North Central Florida highway.

The rain, a deluge a few minutes earlier continued to fall in a fine but steady sprinkle. Rather than frightening and silencing the singers, the sounds of the streaming traffic, rubber on the wet roadway, seemed to stimulate the peeping chorus.

Jake and I, headlamps aglow, moved stealthily to the water’s edge. There were so many chorusers that we found it was almost impossible to home in on one set of peeps and follow it to the source. In fact, we soon found that it was much easier and more productive to simply scan the emergent grasses.

By doing that one after the other, we found the callers – each a tiny, one inch long toad sitting with forequarters propped above water by forefeet firmly planted on a blade or two of grass. Periodically a chorusing male would balloon a proportionately immense sausage-shaped vocal sac and voice a series of loud chick-like peeps. Between peeps, the vocal sacs would deflate a bit then re-balloon as another peep was produced.

Because of lingering drought conditions, it had been years since we had happened upon a population of oak toads, Bufo quercicus, this large. This tiny toad is North America’s smallest toad species and the only one that has an easy to identify shrill peeping voice.

The question now was, could we get photos without the still-falling rain shorting the cameras out? Before electronics, never had these potential problems ruled the world!
Continue reading “The oak toad chorus “ …read more
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A newly identified poison dart frog is already threatened.

From mongabay.com:

“Many scientists are surprised about this discovery. People thought that it was difficult to find a new species of poison frog in this region of the country,” stated Abel Batista. “In Panama almost all areas are well investigated, and finding a such bright colored frog, gives us the impression that in Panama still a lot of research is needed, principally to investigate those remote areas, that nobody is going to do research.”

“Much of the western slope of the Panamanian Caribbean has been poorly studied and is difficult to access,” Jaramillo further explained, “also, these frogs are very small, making them difficult to observe.”

The scientists celebrated the new species by naming it, Andinobates geminisae, after Marco Ponce’s wife, Geminis Vargas, due to her unwavering support of his studies in Panamanian herpetology. However, celebration surrounding the discovery of this new species was short-lived as attention immediately shifted toward determining a special conservation plan to ensure the species’ survival.

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By Herp News

Beijing, Dec 18 (IANS) A new species of short-necked marine reptile called Hupehsuchia from the Triassic period has been discovered in China.

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It’s our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user Gregg_M_Madden!

Bush Viper, uploaded by kingsnake.com user Gregg_M_Madden” />

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By Herp News

A new species of short-necked marine reptile from the Triassic period has been discovered in China.

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By Herp News

( PLOS ) A new species of short-necked marine reptile from the Triassic period has been discovered in China.

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A group of women is fighting to protect the habitat of Blanding’s turtles from development.

From keysnet.com:

“We started out with as six little old ladies,” laughs Cheryl Anderson. “Now we’ve got eight little old ladies.”

But, she adds quickly, they’ve managed to rally support from across the county — and the country — to chip in with donations toward the estimated $220,000 legal cost of the case.

They’re trying to protect the point — a former military exercise area that for decades has been left to the birds, bees, bats, butterflies and reptiles.

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It’s our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user Hwal!

Anaconda, uploaded by kingsnake.com user Hwal” />

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By Herp News

Marking the first pilot order from network president Kevin Reilly

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The Florida panhandle is one of our favorite places. Even in months like December when much of the rest of the country is feeling the icy grip of winter, the panhandle experiences much milder conditions and on warmer days we’re even able to see a few snakes and other reptiles.

So there we were, December 23, two days before Christmas hiking through palmetto and thick scrub when a glossy,red, black and yellow snake crawls into full view right in front of us.

North Florida has three tricolored snakes, the scarlet kingsnake (Lampropeltis elapsoides) , the northern scarlet snake (Cemophora coccinea cope) and the venomous eastern coral snake (Micrurus fulvius) . This particular snake was a coral snake.

The eastern coral snake is a primarily fossorial elapid that uses its powerful neurotoxic venom and small fangs to subdue its’ prey which consists chiefly of smaller snakes, skinks and glass lizards.

The warm,humid weather must have brought this eighteen inch long female to the surface to poke around for a meal.

By the end of the afternoon we had also uncovered (quite literally) the other two species of tricolors found in the region, both under artificial cover. …read more
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The Florida panhandle is one of our favorite places. Even in months like December when much of the rest of the country is feeling the icy grip of winter, the panhandle experiences much milder conditions and on warmer days we’re even able to see a few snakes and other reptiles.

So there we were, December 23, two days before Christmas hiking through palmetto and thick scrub when a glossy,red, black and yellow snake crawls into full view right in front of us.

North Florida has three tricolored snakes, the scarlet kingsnake (Lampropeltis elapsoides) , the northern scarlet snake (Cemophora coccinea cope) and the venomous eastern coral snake (Micrurus fulvius) . This particular snake was a coral snake.

The eastern coral snake is a primarily fossorial elapid that uses its powerful neurotoxic venom and small fangs to subdue its’ prey which consists chiefly of smaller snakes, skinks and glass lizards.

The warm,humid weather must have brought this eighteen inch long female to the surface to poke around for a meal.

By the end of the afternoon we had also uncovered (quite literally) the other two species of tricolors found in the region, both under artificial cover. …read more
Read more here: King Snake

The Florida panhandle is one of our favorite places. Even in months like December when much of the rest of the country is feeling the icy grip of winter, the panhandle experiences much milder conditions and on warmer days we’re even able to see a few snakes and other reptiles.

So there we were, December 23, two days before Christmas hiking through palmetto and thick scrub when a glossy,red, black and yellow snake crawls into full view right in front of us.

North Florida has three tricolored snakes, the scarlet kingsnake (Lampropeltis elapsoides) , the northern scarlet snake (Cemophora coccinea cope) and the venomous eastern coral snake (Micrurus fulvius) . This particular snake was a coral snake.

The eastern coral snake is a primarily fossorial elapid that uses its powerful neurotoxic venom and small fangs to subdue its’ prey which consists chiefly of smaller snakes, skinks and glass lizards.

The warm,humid weather must have brought this eighteen inch long female to the surface to poke around for a meal.

By the end of the afternoon we had also uncovered (quite literally) the other two species of tricolors found in the region, both under artificial cover. …read more
Read more here: King Snake

By Herp News

At the start of December, a notorious hacker gang named “Lizard Squad” issued a threat: it would take down over Christmas the PlayStation and Xbox Live networks, the online services that some video games need in order run from a home console. Despite most hackers being “in it for the lulz” — a hacker term meaning “doing it for fun” — some did not take kindly to threats of disruption to their …

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By Herp News

Universal PicturesA hacker group known as Lizard Squad almost ruined Christmas for video game players. At the start of December, a notorious hacker gang named “Lizard Squad” issued a threat: it would take down over Christmas the PlayStation and Xbox Live networks, the online services that some video games need in order run from a home console.  Despite most hackers being “in it for the lulz” — a …

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By Herp News

Persistence is the key factor in the two most common human stressors on tropical wildlife. In Malaysian Borneo, hunting continually diminishes wildlife populations, whereas the negative impacts from selective logging are more transient, according to a recent study in Conservation Biology.

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By Herp News

Turtle power has been on display up the Queensland coast as shelled reptiles young and old entered or re-entered the Great Barrier Reef ecosystem.

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By Herp News

CHICAGO, Dec. 16, 2014 /PRNewswire/ – While most of America was snapping “selfies” this summer, car enthusiasts from coast-to-coast were all about the Turtle Wax #Reflectie – a photograph or self-portrait that's taken in the shine of a freshly waxed car.  Nearly 6,000 people submitted their Reflecties for a chance to win a 2015 Ford Mustang, but it was Michael McKinnon from Snohomish, Wash …

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The population of Lower Keys crocodiles in Florida has rebounded enough for the animals to start to return to their native terrain.

From keysnet.com:

Reports of a Lower Keys crocodile, a species not long ago virtually unseen outside of North Key Largo, did not surprise Nancy Finley, manager of the Florida Keys National Wildlife Refuges Complex.

“We have crocs documented in various places. The lowest location in the Lower Keys right now probably is in the Boca Chica area,” she said Friday. “But we have documented sightings from the Cudjoe and Saddlebuch areas, as well.”

State and federal wildlife experts estimate the American crocodile population has grown from a near-extinction level in the mid-1970s of around 300 adults (most then in North Key Largo) to more than 2,000 adults today.

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Jim and I had been bouncing along a seldom used forest road, our destination still miles ahead. We were heading for a once flooded meadow from which, until the lengthy drought, carpenter frogs had been known to call. But our drive had been intercepted by loud toooonks coming from a woodland pond that we were passing.

Herpers, like birders, learn and respond to the sounds of nature, and there was no mistaking these sounds. The calls – toooonk, toooonk, toooonk, a pause and then another series of toooonks – were those of our largest native east coast hylid, the barking treefrog, Hyla gratiosa.

I should mention that at times barking treefrogs actually do produce a sound that could be likened to a grating bark. The barks are often produced when the frogs are high above ground and are celebrating a period of high humidity or, especially, are welcoming the approach of a summer storm.

But on a night like this – a glorious, breezeless, warm, late spring night, devoid of moonlight and replete with hordes of very thirsty mosquitoes – the toooonks indicated that the frogs were all in the breeding pond. We parked, listened, and determined there were several dozen barkers in the chorus. Although loudest, they were outnumbered by pine woods and green treefrogs, as well as by cricket frogs. Cameras were readied and we edged through the brambles towards the pond…

But what about the carpenter frogs?

We’ll be making another trip. Maybe we won’t be diverted the next time.

Continue reading “Barkers in the Puddles” …read more
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It’s our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user RamblinRose!

Argentine Black & White Tegu, uploaded by kingsnake.com user RamblinRose” />

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By Herp News

Tortoise Capital Advisors, L.L.C., the adviser of NDP, NTG, TPZ, TTP, and TYG announced today it will host a year-end conference call on Dec. 17, 2014 at 3:30 p.m. Central, to discuss current energy industry market conditions and Tortoise closed-end funds’ 2014 year-end results.

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By Herp News

Tortoise Capital Advisors, L.L.C., the adviser of NDP, NTG, TPZ, TTP, and TYG announced today it will host a year-end conference call on Dec. 17, 2014 at 3:30 p.m. Central, to discuss current energy industry market conditions and Tortoise closed-end funds’ 2014 year-end results.

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By Herp News

Danielle Haynes TOWNSVILLE, Australia, Dec. 15 (UPI) — A turtle notable for the fact that it breathes through its rear-end is now considered critically endangered by the Australian government.

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By Herp News

As if news for rhinos couldn’t get any worse: this weekend, Angalifu, died a the San Diego Zoo. Forty four-year-old Angalifu was a male northern white rhino and his death means only five of this subspecies remains on the planet. Angalifu’s death, which keepers suspect was simply from old age, follows soon after the death of another northern white rhino, Suni, in October.

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