By Herp News
It's been over a full month since hacker collective 'Lizard Squad' rose to notoriety for taking down Sony's PlayStation Network, Xbox Live and other gaming servers, but above all else attracting the FBI's attention for tweeting out a bomb threat to a Sony executive's American Airlines flight, which grounded the plane and launched a nationwide hunt for the group.
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Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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Owners who purchased a property overrun with copperheads used to kill one hundred of the snakes each year, but when they learned how important snake venom is to medical research, they had a change of heart.
From Click2Houston:
“We were supposed to come out on a Friday the first time,” said Swanson. “We ended up being delayed by a day because he was burying his aunt, who had just died from breast cancer the day before. When he found out that we were out here to collect these snakes to try to use them for cancer research, it changed their whole outlook on it.”
It changed the Hubbards’ outlook so much that they plan to turn part of their property into a conservation area so people can view the creatures in their natural habitat. They’re hoping to open up the eco-tourist venture by sometime next summer.
Read more… …read more
Read more here: King Snake
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By Herp News
Byline: Children from Landewednack School at The Lizard have recently requested the help of The Lizard Lifeboat in their quest for winning new musical instruments for the school. Page Content: The children have entered a competition run by James Rhodes & The Great Instrument Amnesty and have produced a video which has been uploaded to You Tube. Other schools have also been involved in the …
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By Herp News
Byline: The Lizard Lifeboat Station has received another very generous donation from a visitor who is currently on route from Lands End to John O'Groats. Page Content: James Alty is currently undertaking a mammoth sponsored bike ride on a single speed bicycle to raise money in aid of the Buwan Kothi International Trust. This is a charity which raises funds to help families educate their children …
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By Herp News
A bright orange poison dart frog with a unique call has been discovered in Donoso, Panama. Because this new frog species appears to be found in only a very small area, habitat loss and collecting for the pet trade are major threats to its existence. The authors recommend the formulation of special conservation plans to guarantee its survival.
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By Herp News
Cute kids get into a fight, a hungry lizard eyes up his dinner and the secrets of tattooing are revealed.
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Check out this video “Caiman Lizard unboxing,” submitted by kingsnake.com user Minuet.
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
Read more here: King Snake
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By Herp News
The biggest factor determining species diversity and distribution on islands is not size and isolation, as traditional island biogeography theory states, but economics. Simply put, the more trade an island is engaged in, the more boats visit it, and with more boats comes more hitchhikers.
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In a feel-good story out of Texas, Fort Worth firefighters rescued a young girl’s pet frog from a burning home.
From the Star-Telegram:
“Firefighters conducted a search but found that the house was unoccupied at the time of the fire,” Lt. Carol Jones, a fire department spokeswoman, said in a news release issued Tuesday morning. “A family member who later arrived explained that the owners were actually out of state and then inquired about the family pet.”
Firefighters happily reunited the daughter with the family’s pet frog, who appeared unharmed, Jones said.
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How did taxidermists preserve the likeness of a now extinct species? Very carefully and with painstaking research.
From Gizmodo:
Lonsesome George was the last of the Pinta Island giant tortoises on the Galapagos. Due to human intervention in the ecosystem his entire species whittled down to just George. Since his discovery he’d been well cared for and revered by scientists across the board. Several attempts at mating George just never panned out and he died from old age. Within 24 hours of his death he was frozen with the decision to taxidermy him.
The first step of the process was to get George to the museum for evaluation. This involved huge amounts of coordination and paperwork to get him to NY through customs and into the States safely intact. They worked against the clock to minimize any types of freezer burn or damage done to George that could happen when kept frozen too long or transported poorly. After the museum assessed George, he was brought to the Wildlife Preservations taxidermy studio in Woodland Park, NJ.
George Dante, president of Wildlife Preservations and an expert in the field of taxidermy, lead the effort in bringing George’s likeness back into existence. Since there were no other animals of his species to base him off of, extensive amounts of research went into making sure the process was as accurate as possible.
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By Herp News
A small study suggests snakes may have developed courtship and male-to-male combat behavior, such as moving undulations, neck biting, and spur-poking, over time.
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By Herp News
A loggerhead sea turtle named Sapphire is getting ready for a cross-country trip on Thursday to a permanent home in Southern California after convalescing for more than a year at the Florida Keys-based Turtle Hospital.
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By Herp News
MARATHON, Fla. (AP) — A loggerhead sea turtle named Sapphire is getting ready for a cross-country trip on Thursday to a permanent home in Southern California after convalescing for more than a year at the Florida Keys-based Turtle Hospital.
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By Herp News
One-of-a-Kind “Green Roof” Designed To Save Energy Is Installed (PRWeb September 24, 2014) Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2014/09/prweb12195259.htm
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By Herp News
A loggerhead sea turtle recovering its strength from a possible boat injury is leaving its Florida Keys-based Turtle Hospital after more than a year for its new permanent home.
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Scent of a Woman: I like that movie. My favorite part isn’t the Colonel’s speech at the school. My favorite part is the restaurant scene. We’ll get back to that.
This morning’s weather was exceptional: cool air, clear sky, sunny. Just the break I needed to get some back yard chores done, a chance for the box turtles to spend time in their outside habitat, and perfect for digging up worms for turtles.
Besides my own two box turtles, I am rehabbing a two year old wild box turtle who was chewed up by a dog. Iz, the victim box turtle, is healing well but his back legs don’t yet carry weight.
Momma Turtle and Big Turtle (with me for 15+ years) were dropped into their outdoor habitat. The little rehab turtle, Iz, needs some outdoor exercise time so he gets to stay with me. Iz and I head into the yard to dig up worms for all the box turtles.
Not yet mentioned here but a force to be reckoned with is the 100 pound Frankie the sulcata tortoise: this ishisbackyard. Frankie often sleeps in late and I hoped he would be still be sleeping when I am dig up worms. Regretfully, Frankie too is enjoying the cool morning and is basking by the fence near the area I was going to dig up worms.
Oh, well. I can handle Frankie…… (Haven’t I said that before?)
I head to the fence looking for an area away from Frankie, With a small container, hand trowel, hand tiller and Iz the turtle in a box, I select an area where soil has built up by the fence, and a little distance from the basking Frankie. The worms love the deep soil and Frankie will be occupied with basking.
Iz is placed on the ground next to where I am sitting. Iz get’s busy scamping around while I dig for worms all the while keeping peripheral vision on Frankie.
Frankie’s been eyeing me, too. I am doing something in his yard so he considers that such activity must be contemplated, investigated, scrutinized, inspected, engaged, entangled, and possibly ultimately destroyed. The minute Frankie picks up his shelled-shelf and starts walking my way I grab Iz and hide him back into the box lest Frankie find him.
Frankie inspects as he approaches the area. He comes across the container full of dirt and worms.
“No, Frankie! No ramming the dirt!”
Too late. With one one step Frankie dumps my container of dirt and worms.
“Frankie! Go do something else. There is nothing for you here.”
Frankie stares at me like he doesn’t understand English. The voice tone Frankie gets because after a 30 second stare-down he turned around and headed up the hill.
Iz gets placed back on the ground next to my knees and I start picking up dirt and worms Frankie dumped. I take a gander over …read more
Read more here: Turtle Times
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George Craig rescued the world’s largest captive crocodile and has cared for him for nearly 30 years.
From the Daily Mail:
George captured Cassius in 1987 from a river in the Northern Territory, where he was notorious for his huge size – and was under threat of being hunted down and killed by the local population.
Cassisus, who is missing his front left leg and tip of his tail due to vicious fights, was deemed a massive threat to humans after attacking boats.
So George set about capturing him to save his life, and bringing him to live in his sanctuary.
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By Herp News
ROMPIN: A HOUSEWIFE fought off a huge monitor lizard in her desperate attempt to rescue her 8-month-old daughter from being mauled and dragged by the reptile out of their quarters at a resort in Pulau Tioman. In the 10am freak incident on Monday, Nor Raudhah Maisarah Abdullah repeatedly hit the reptile with a stick before using her bare hands to push the reptile while it was dragging the baby …
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By Herp News
Development of roads and other structures disturb large, continuous patches of habitat for wildlife. This habitat fragmentation is one of the biggest contributors to species extinction, as the local ecology and species interactions are altered. A new study finds that leaf-nosed bat abundances in Mexico are closely linked to how sensitive each species is to habitat fragmentation.
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By Herp News
Development of roads and other structures disturb large, continuous patches of habitat for wildlife. This habitat fragmentation is one of the biggest contributors to species extinction, as the local ecology and species interactions are altered. A new study finds that leaf-nosed bat abundances in Mexico are closely linked to how sensitive each species is to habitat fragmentation.
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Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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By Herp News
A TORTOISE owner is appealing for help to track down her missing pet.
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What does conservation really mean? And, perhaps more importantly, how do we achieve it?
Living Alongside Wildlife has a fascinating four-part story by Jon Hakim about the Bangladesh Python Project, which is an organization devoted to conserving herps in Bangladesh.
Working primarily in the Lawachara National Park, the Bangladesh Python Project tracks, monitors, and studies snakes, frogs, tortoises, and all manner of herps found in and around the park. The Project and its founder, Shahriar Caesar Rahman, also work with the over 30,000 people who live in the park.
It’s this relationship with the local villagers that brings questions about conservation into sharp relief:
If the tortoises, pythons, monkeys, pigs, and other wildlife that call the park home are to have any chance at a future, it’ll have to be one where humans and wildlife learn how to accept each other’s presence, despite the damage and take that will occur on both sides. Over the course of my nine days in Lawachara, I found that the Bangladesh Python Project had made impressive strides in moving towards coexistence, and that it had a long, long ways to go.
A python that enters a village and kills a villager’s ducks has damaged the livelihood of a person who is already living in poverty and depends on all the resources he has to survive.
Yet the pythons aren’t invaders; they were here first. How can conservationists find the right balance between protecting endangered reptiles and amphibians and understanding human concerns? How can they best forge relationships with locals and educate them about herps’ importance to the ecosystem?
Hakim’s series raises these questions and more.
Part one.
Part two.
Part three.
Part four. …read more
Read more here: King Snake
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By Herp News
A giant snapping turtle weighing 70 pounds was found wandering near the La Cañada Flintridge Country Club Thursday.
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By Herp News
A giant snapping turtle weighing 70 pounds was found wandering near the La Canada Flintridge Country Club Thursday.
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By Herp News
A giant snapping turtle weighing 70 pounds was found wandering near the La Canada Flintridge Country Club Thursday.
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By Herp News
Hacker group “Lizard Squad” has taken credit for another high-profile DDOS attack in the gaming realm, tacking credit over twitter for attacks that took down both the Destiny and Call of Duty servers over the weekend. Lizard squad recently took credit for attacks that took down the Playstation Network and World of Blizzard's Battle.net, as well as a bomb threat that caused Sony Online …
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By Herp News
Hacker group “Lizard Squad” has taken credit for another high-profile DDOS attack in the gaming realm, tacking credit over twitter for attacks that took down both the Destiny and Call of Duty servers over the weekend. Lizard squad recently took credit for attacks that took down the Playstation Network and World of Blizzard's Battle.net, as well as a bomb threat that caused Sony Online …
…read more
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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By Herp News
Many native species have vanished from tropical islands because of human impact, but scientists have discovered how fossils can be used to restore lost biodiversity. The key lies in organic materials found in fossil bones, which contain evidence for how ancient ecosystems functioned, according to a new study.
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By Herp News
Woodlark Island is a rare place on the planet today. This small island off the coast Papua New Guinea is still covered in rich tropical forest, an ecosystem shared for thousands of years between tribal peoples and a plethora of species, including at least 42 found no-where else. Yet, like many such wildernesses, Woodlark Island is now facing major changes: not the least of them is a plan to log half of the island.
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A viral origin for a fatal respiratory disease found in captive ball pythons may have been identified.
From Science Daily:
Investigators observed the virus, which they named ball python nidovirus, in eight snakes with pneumonia; virus levels were highest in the animals’ lungs and other respiratory tract tissues. The team also sequenced the genome of the virus, finding it to be the largest of any RNA virus yet described.
Ball pythons have become one of the most popular types of reptiles sold and kept as pets, the authors said, because of their relatively modest size, docile behavior and ease of care. Respiratory disease has been noted in these animals since the 1990s but until now a potential cause has not been identified, said senior study author Joseph L. DeRisi, PhD, chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at the University of California, San Francisco, in part because of the limitations of available technology.
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By Herp News
Turtle Beach released the Ear Force Z60 headset last week, a pair of headphones that the company first unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show in January. Made to handle the surround sound needs for video games, music and movies, the headphones utilize DTS Headphone:X 7.1 surround sound. Turtle Beach does this without the use of separate software or drivers, unlike many other headphones on the …
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By Herp News
What was that lizard on the side of house? Or how about that turtle in the ditch? Or that snake in the backyard? Want to find out? For more than two decades, the East Texas Herpetological Society has
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By Herp News
Brian Horne is coordinator of turtle conservation for the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). WCS manages the Bronx Zoo, the New York Aquarium and other sites, in addition to its global conservation work.
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By Herp News
With head held high outside of his enormous shell, the giant tortoise proudly looks out from his rock-strewn box at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) in New York City. The last known giant tortoise from the island of Pinta in the Galápagos archipelago, George died of old age in June 2012 after what scientists say was about 100 years on Earth. “Even getting the eye color right was an …
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Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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By Herp News
What was that lizard on the side of house? Or how about that turtle in the ditch? Or that snake in the backyard? Want to find out? For more than two decades, the East Texas Herpetological Society has
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By Herp News
SAN DIEGO, Sept. 19, 2014 /PRNewswire/ – Turtle Beach, the leading audio brand in the video games industry, today announced that the Z60 PC gaming headset is now available in stores and through online retailers. The Z60, which was unveiled at the CES trade show in January 2014, is the first PC gaming headset to feature new DTS Headphone:X 7.1 surround sound. Turtle Beach is the gaming audio …
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Check out this video “Lizard Greets Man Like a Dog,” submitted by kingsnake.com user Minuet.
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
Read more here: King Snake
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By Herp News
What was that lizard on the side of house? Or how about that turtle in the ditch? Or that snake in the backyard? Want to find out? For more than two decades, the East Texas Herpetological Society has
…read more
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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By Herp News
What was that lizard on the side of house? Or how about that turtle in the ditch? Or that snake in the backyard? Want to find out? For more than two decades, the East Texas Herpetological Society has
…read more
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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By Herp News
A Bahamanian lizard has shown the ability to adapt to higher temperatures — Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
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