By Herp News
A man who swallowed a frog and a lizard for the Neknominate online drinking game, is ordered to carry out community service.
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Neknominate man ate live lizard
Virginia Museum of Natural History to host 'Reptile Day'
By Herp News
This Saturday, you can slither you way into a whole new environment at the Virginia Museum of Natural History.
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Petco Celebrates Halloween with a Reptile Rally
By Herp News
SAN DIEGO, Oct. 7, 2014 /PRNewswire/ – Just in time for the Halloween season, Petco is educating families on a number of creepy crawly pets with another Reptile Rally event at all stores nationwide. This free, family-friendly event takes place at all Petco stores on October 11, 2014, from 1-3 p.m. During the event, current and prospective pet parents can learn more about unique cold-blooded …
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Rare frogs fly back to Caribbean home
Years after their parents were airlifted out of the Caribbean, endangered mountain chicken frogs were released in their natural habitat.
From the Guardian:
A total of 51 Leptodactylus fallax, known as mountain chicken frogs because they reportedly taste like chicken and make a clucking-like noise, were released on the Jersey-sized island of Montserrat, a British Overseas Territory.
In 2009, conservationists rescued a population of the critically endangered frogs from the island to avoid them being wiped out by a chytrid fungus which has devastated amphibian numbers worldwide. The mountain chicken frog population has also dwindled due to people eating them – the species is the national dish in nearby Dominica.
Following a breeding programme with the rescued frogs by London Zoo and Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, which produced 76 frogs from just two females, 51 frogs in July were put in custom-built shipping containers, flown to Antigua and then by a smaller plane to Montserrat. On arrival at their remote forest home on the volcanically active island, they were kept in tents for several days to avoid being stressed by their new environment, before being released into the wild.
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Use of mammals still prevalent in Brazil’s Conservation Units
By Herp News
For as long as humans and animals have co-existed, people have utilized them as resources. Animals, and their parts, have been used for a variety of purposes, ranging from basic food to more esoteric practices such as in magical ceremonies or religion. A new study has found that the undocumented use of animals, particularly mammals, continues to occur in Brazil’s protected areas known as Conservation Units.
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Photos: Czech Republic publicly burns confiscated rhino horns
By Herp News
Late last month, armed guards escorted officials marching 60 kilograms (132 pounds) of rhino horns to a pyre for burning. The event, at the Dvůr Králové Zoo in the Czech Republic, was the first public burning of rhino horns in Europe. The Czech Republic burned the horns, which came from a government stockpile as well as from past rhinos held at the zoo, in a bid to help conserve rhinos.
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Early man worshipped pythons
Really like pythons? You’re not alone. Pythons were at the center of mankind’s earliest rituals.
From Science Daily:
The python is one of the San’s most important animals. According to their creation myth, mankind descended from the python and the ancient, arid streambeds around the hills are said to have been created by the python as it circled the hills in its ceaseless search for water.
Sheila Coulson’s find shows that people from the area had a specific ritual location associated with the python. The ritual was held in a little cave on the northern side of the Tsodilo Hills. The cave itself is so secluded and access to it is so difficult that it was not even discovered by archaeologists until the 1990s.
When Coulson entered the cave this summer with her three master’s students, it struck them that the mysterious rock resembled the head of a huge python. On the six meter long by two meter tall rock, they found three-to-four hundred indentations that could only have been man-made.
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Tortoise folklore as metaphor of national leadership
By Herp News
Regrettably, the virtue of selflessness which largely characterised public service at the dawn of Nigerian’s Independence in 1960, has since been replaced by the ignoble culture of greed and every man for himself. This sad transformation is aptly captured in an earlier article, published in November 2012, with the above title; this month as we… [Read More…]
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Lizard's fate in middle of Texas oil boom
By Herp News
A petition seeking to protect a little-known lizard that makes its home in large portions of an area leading the way in the new Texas oil boom remains in limbo.
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Lizard's fate in middle of Texas oil boom
By Herp News
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — A petition to list as a federally protected species a little-known lizard that makes its home in large portions of an area leading the way in the new Texas oil boom remains in limbo. The San Antonio Express-News reports (http://bit.ly/1vEhf8o ) an environmental group has asked U.S. Fish and Wildlife to list the spot-tailed earless lizard as an endangered or threatened species.
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In wake of drought and fires, turtle habitat becomes death trap
By Herp News
Biologists strode along the cracked, dry mud surrounding this evaporating north Los Angeles County lake last week, pausing periodically to pick up an emaciated turtle and wash alkaline dust off its head and carapace.
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In wake of drought and fires, turtle habitat becomes death trap
By Herp News
Biologists strode along the cracked, dry mud surrounding this evaporating north Los Angeles County lake last week, pausing periodically to pick up an emaciated turtle and wash alkaline dust off its head and carapace.
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Judge dismisses lawsuit over rare lizard in W. Texas
By Herp News
A federal judge has ruled that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service acted properly in 2012 when the agency declined to protect a rare tiny lizard in the West Texas oil patch as an endangered species.
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Herp Video of the Week: Weekend Herping!
Check out this video “Weekend Herping,” submitted by kingsnake.com user smetlogik.
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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Reptile Man prepares for big show
By Herp News
Reptile show continues to grow and widen its appeal.
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What makes the jaguar the ultimate survivor? New books highlights mega-predator’s remarkable past and precarious future
By Herp News
For thousands of years the jaguar was a God, then it was vermin to be destroyed, and today it is the inspiration for arguably the most ambitious conservation effort on the planet. A new book by renowned big cat conservationist, Alan Rabinowitz, tells this remarkable story from the jaguar’s evolutionary origins in Asia to its re-emergence today as a cultural and ecological symbol.
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Climate change brings unusual turtle to Golden Gate
Fishermen outside Golden Gate caught and released the first green sea turtle seen in the area.
From the SF Gate:
Green sea turtles normally live in the Pacific’s warmer latitudes. Their numbers are dwindling because of development along the beaches they use to nest, and because they sometimes become snared in industrial fishing nets and drown.
Climate change has also affected the ancient reptiles. Because temperature determines their gender when they hatch, females vastly outnumber males these days. And the warmer ocean currents tend to take the turtles places they’re not accustomed to going, such as San Francisco Bay.
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Pollution linked to lethal sea turtle tumors
By Herp News
Polluted urban and farm runoff in Hawaii has been linked to lethal tumors in endangered sea turtles. A new study finds that excess nitrogen in the runoff accumulates in algae that the turtles eat and can cause the disease Fibropapillomatosis which is the leading known cause of death in endangered green sea turtles. The disease causes the formation of tumors on the animals’ eyes, flippers, and internal organs.
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Tortoise Energy Independence Fund, Inc. Provides Unaudited Balance Sheet Information and Asset Coverage Ratio Update …
By Herp News
Tortoise Energy Independence Fund, Inc. today announced that as of Sept. 30, 2014, the company’s unaudited total assets were approximately $483.3 million and its unaudi
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Tortoise MLP Fund, Inc. Provides Unaudited Balance Sheet Information and Asset Coverage Ratio Update as of Sept. 30 …
By Herp News
Tortoise MLP Fund, Inc. today announced that as of Sept. 30, 2014, the company’s unaudited total assets were approximately $2.4 billion and its unaudited net asset valu
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Tortoise MLP Fund, Inc. Provides Unaudited Balance Sheet Information and Asset Coverage Ratio Update as of Sept. 30 …
By Herp News
Tortoise MLP Fund, Inc. today announced that as of Sept. 30, 2014, the company’s unaudited total assets were approximately $2.4 billion and its unaudited net asset valu
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Tortoise Power and Energy Infrastructure Fund, Inc. Provides Unaudited Balance Sheet Information and Asset Coverage …
By Herp News
Tortoise Power and Energy Infrastructure Fund, Inc. today announced that as of Sept. 30, 2014, the company’s unaudited total assets were approximately $266.6 million an
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Tortoise Power and Energy Infrastructure Fund, Inc. Provides Unaudited Balance Sheet Information and Asset Coverage …
By Herp News
Tortoise Power and Energy Infrastructure Fund, Inc. today announced that as of Sept. 30, 2014, the company’s unaudited total assets were approximately $266.6 million an
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Tortoise Pipeline & Energy Fund, Inc. Provides Unaudited Balance Sheet Information and Asset Coverage Ratio Update as …
By Herp News
Tortoise Pipeline & Energy Fund, Inc. today announced that as of September 30, 2014, the company’s unaudited total assets were approximately $482.9 million and its
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Tortoise Energy Infrastructure Corp. Provides Unaudited Balance Sheet Information and Asset Coverage Ratio Update as …
By Herp News
Tortoise Energy Infrastructure Corp. today announced that as of Sept. 30, 2014, the company’s unaudited total assets were approximately $4.6 billion and its unaudited n
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Mirror turtle ants thrive by going undercover
By Herp News
Brooks Hays WASHINGTON, Oct. 1 (UPI) — A newly discovered species of ant, called mirror turtle ants, locates food sources by assuming the identity of its neighbors and following them to their spoils.
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Officials bust one of the biggest players in illegal Indonesian manta ray trade
By Herp News
Writing this from a hotel room in Indonesia’s second-largest city, Surabaya, I realize that I am filled with trepidation as I wait for the phone next to me to ring. When it does, the voice on the other end will tell me it’s go time; the culmination of many years of work towards ending the global trade in manta ray gills.
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Leatherback turtle freed from lobster trap in Shediac Bay
By Herp News
A sailor on the Shediac Bay freed a 300-kilogram leatherback sea turtle from lobster trap lines last week as sightings of these large reptiles entangled in nets are growing in southeastern New Brunswick. Mark Daggett was enjoying an afternoon on his sail boat in Shediac Bay last week, when he came across a leatherback turtle that was trapped in the ropes attached to buoys. “We knew she didn't …
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Zoo breeds rare lizards to aid species
Lizards thought to be extinct in the wild have been reintroduced into Welsh sand dunes after breeding and care from experts.
From the Daily Post:
Herpetology keeper Ruth Smith said: “Sand lizards are the UK’s rarest lizard and populations in some areas are so low that we can’t just rely on protecting the site, we have to help breed them to boost their numbers.
“Surveys have shown that sand lizard numbers have significantly improved in the locations where they have been released before and it’s proven that those bred in the likes of zoos have a higher chance of survival than those that hatch in the wild.
“That’s because we’re able to give them plenty of food and intensive care in their vital early days and build them up for around four to six weeks, giving them a great head start.
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Tortoise Power and Energy Infrastructure Fund, Inc. Provides Section 19(a) Notice
By Herp News
This notice provides stockholders of Tortoise Power and Energy Infrastructure Fund, Inc. with information regarding the distribution paid on Sept. 30, 2014 and cumulati
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Studying common birds could help save rare species in Vietnam
By Herp News
Studies in conservation biology often focus on rare, threatened species faced with impending extinction, but what about common animals of least concern? Could they too help conservationists fine-tune their approach? Doctoral researcher Laurel Yohe not only claims that they can, but demonstrates how in a new study. She and five other researchers compared ranges of five babblers with development across Vietnam.
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Armed conflict decimates tigers, rhinos, and swamp deer in Indian park
By Herp News
The human cost of war is horrendous. However, while most attention is focused on the suffering caused to people—and rightly so—an understudied element is the impact on wildlife conservation. This is worrying given that many of the world’s conflict zones are situated in biodiversity hotspots.
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First evidence that reptiles can learn through imitation
By Herp News
New research has for the first time provided evidence that reptiles could be capable of social learning through imitation. The ability to acquire new skills through the ‘true imitation’ of others’ behavior is thought to be unique to humans and advanced primates, such as chimpanzees.
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Stunning crocodile close-ups
Photographer Mike Korostelev spent some one-on-one time with a crocodile, resulting in remarkable underwater photos.
From the Daily Mail:
But far from being scared, Mr Korostelev was delighted with his deadly encounter.
He said: ‘It was not an accidental meeting, the main purpose of my trip was to capture an American crocodile in its natural environment.
‘I met this crocodile underwater face to face. When it swam close to me, the only thought I had was about how great it was that I could take great pictures.
‘It nuzzled into the camera several times and sometimes it touched me with its tail.’
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Tooth of Giant 220-million-year-old Reptile Proves Predators Fought Across Land and Sea
By Herp News
The tooth of a 220-million-year-old semi-aquatic phytosaur has been found embedded in the thigh bone of a terrestrial rauisuchid. Both are giant prehistoric reptiles distantly related to the modern crocodile.
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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles behind pet turtle boom, expert says
By Herp News
A turtle expert in Windsor, Ont., says because it's illegal to import turtles without a permit into Canada the high demand for the shelled reptiles may be pushing smugglers to bring them into the country. A Windsor man was charged in both Canada and the United States last week, after he was found with 51 turtles strapped to his body trying to enter through the Detroit-Windsor tunnel in early …
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Did the world’s only venomous primate evolve to mimic the cobra?
By Herp News
The bite of a slow loris can be painful, and sometimes even lethal. After all, this cute-looking YouTube sensation is the only known ‘venomous’ primate in the world—a trait that might have strangely evolved to mimic spectacled cobras, according to a recent paper. Mimicry in mammals is rare. But anecdotal evidence and studies in the past have noted the uncanny cobra-like defensive postures, sounds, and gait in slow lorises.
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Climate change appears a mixed bag for common frog
By Herp News
After warmer winters, wood frogs breed earlier and produce fewer eggs, a researcher has found. The same study also found that frogs produce more eggs during winters with more rain and snow.
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Turtle Beach Launches Xbox One Gaming Headsets in China
By Herp News
SAN DIEGO and SHANGHAI, Sept. 29, 2014 /PRNewswire/ – Turtle Beach, the leading audio brand in the video games industry, today announced the XO Four and XO Seven officially-licensed Xbox One gaming headsets are now on sale in China. Turtle Beach is the gaming audio brand of Turtle Beach Corporation (HEAR). The Turtle Beach XO Four and XO Seven gaming headsets are being sold individually and in …
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Hacker Group Lizard Squad Takes Down Destiny, Call of Duty, FIFA And More
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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