DNA testing may hold the key to identifying the right antidote to use for snake bite victims.

From New Scientist:

Chappuis and his colleagues collected samples from the fang wounds of 749 people at three health centres in Nepal, amplified the DNA and sequenced it. They then looked for matches in a publicly available reference bank of DNA sequences.

They managed to identify the snake species responsible for 194 bites, 87 of which were from species whose venom is harmful to people – most commonly the spectacled cobra and the common krait.

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By Herp News

A year after a ride on a private plane to the South Carolina Aquarium in Charleston, Jersey will hop on a Delta flight to sunny California on Nov. 19.

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TAMPA — Cyliss Harrington sauntered through the Charles M. Davis Events Center on Sunday with two boa constrictors around his neck.

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Over a dozen students of a university in Talwandi Sabo fell ill due to suspected food poisoning, after having dinner on Saturday night.

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A NSW reptile park wants the public to catch deadly funnel web spiders to help make antivenom.

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California-based KBS Realty Advisors said Tuesday that it has completed its purchase of the 21-story 3811 Turtle Creek office tower in Dallas’ Oak Lawn neighborhood.

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By Herp News

SAN DIEGO, Nov. 5, 2014 /PRNewswire/ – Turtle Beach Corporation (HEAR), a leading innovator of audio products and solutions, today announced the company's HyperSound® virtual reality audio solution has been implemented in Activision's Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare retail displays. The displays have been installed in 987 Best Buy locations in North America. The installation represents the …

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The stadium at the heart of plans for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics will be dull and look like a turtle, a leading Japanese architect said Thursday, adding to the row over the controversial venue.

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The stadium at the heart of plans for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics will be dull and look like a turtle, a leading Japanese architect said on Thursday, adding to the row over the controversial venue. The centrepiece for the Games, which was designed by British-Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid, has been scaled down by a local team since it was first conceived amid complaints over its hefty price tag and …

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A NSW reptile park is calling for people to catch deadly funnel web spiders and donate them so antivenom can be made.

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FIREFIGHTERS in Bolton have been honoured — for rescuing a pet lizard.

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FIREFIGHTERS in Bolton have been honoured — for rescuing a pet lizard.

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Through the careful study of modern and early fossil tortoise, researchers now have a better understanding of how tortoises breathe and the evolutionary processes that helped shape their unique breathing apparatus and tortoise shell.

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Check out this video “Watching You,” submitted by kingsnake.com user Minuet.
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By Herp News

The total number of turtles that came ashore to nest on Boca Raton's beaches fell off this year after two record-breaking years in a row.

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Scientists in China have discovered a remarkably well-preserved fossil of a primitive ichthyosaur, a marine reptile that first appeared some 250 million years ago.

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The Big Apple is home to a small frog with a very distinctive croak.

From Wired:

The new species, which biologists are calling the Atlantic Coast leopard frog, was hiding in plain sight. Besides its croak, the new species is nearly indistinguishable from several other frog species living in the area. As detailed today in PLoS ONE, the researchers were able to make the identification after comparing the DNA, appearance, and croaking noises of hundreds of frogs.

The authors, led by Jeremy Feinberg of Rutgers University, first announced their suspicions of the new species in 2012, when they reported that familiar-looking frogs with unfamiliar croaks were hopping around the wetlands near Yankee Stadium. Although the coloration of the Atlantic Coast leopard frog is very similar to that of other leopard frogs, its distinctive croak, which sounds like a simple, repeated “chuck,” sets it apart.

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The total number of turtles that came ashore to nest on Boca Raton's beaches fell off this year after two record-breaking years in a row.

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A NSW reptile park is calling for people to catch deadly funnel web spiders and donate them so antivenom can be made.

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Starting with a simple DNA swab taken from fang marks on people bitten by snakes, an international research team correctly identified the species of the biting snake 100 percent of the time in a first-of-its-kind clinical study.

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By Herp News

For nearly 150 million years, they were apex predators of the ocean — streamlined sleek-snouted carnivores called ichthyosaurs. To the casual observer, ichthyosaurs would have looked a bit like long-nosed tuna. According to theory, their forebears were land-loving reptiles which adapted to the sea after the world was struck by a mass extinction. “It is a milestone,” said study co-author Da-yong …

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A 248-million-year-old fossil of an ancient reptile found in China is the oldest known member of a well-known group of marine reptiles, and may have lived both on land and in the sea. The specimen is a primitive type of ichthyopterygian, a group related to ichthyosaurs, which are large marine reptiles that dominated the world's oceans after the Permian-Triassic extinction. In that event, which …

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By Herp News

A 248-million-year-old fossil of an ancient reptile found in China is the oldest known member of a well-known group of marine reptiles, and may have lived both on land and in the sea. The specimen is a primitive type of ichthyopterygian, a group related to ichthyosaurs, which are large marine reptiles that dominated the world's oceans after the Permian-Triassic extinction. In that event, which …

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A prehistoric fossil has been found at the Yangtze River near Shanghai. An expert says it could be the first amphibious ichthyosaur (illustrated) reptiles that could live both in and out of the water.

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When it comes to genitalia, nature enjoys variety. Snakes and lizards have two. Birds and people have one. And while the former group’s paired structures are located somewhat at the level of the limbs, ours, and the birds’, appear a bit further down. In fact, snake and lizard genitalia are derived from tissue that gives rise to hind legs, while mammalian genitalia are derived from the tail bud. But despite such noteworthy contrasts, these structures are functionally analogous and express similar genes. Researchers have now discovered how functionally analogous genitalia can arise from divergent tissue.

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Cartorhynchus lenticarpus, a dinosaur-era sea reptile, had a body built to live in two worlds, a new study says.

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By Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Ichthyosaurs were a hugely successful group of marine reptiles that flourished in the world's oceans for more than 150 million years, with many looking much like today's dolphins and some getting even bigger than a sperm whale. But the extensive ichthyosaur fossil record had not included any of the earliest forms representing the transition from their land …

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An ancient marine reptile with seal-like flippers may have been adapted to life on the land as well as in the sea, scientists believe.

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NEW ORLEANS, Nov. 5, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — These are fertile – and historic – times at the Audubon Zoo Reptile Encounter. In recent weeks, Zoo staff has welcomed the first-ever births of critically endangered false gharials at Audubon. Gharials, a freshwater crocodilian native to Southeast Asia with a very thin and elongated snout, have been housed at Audubon Zoo since the mid-1980s. Two gharials …

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Unlike a mythical dragon, bearded dragons and fire don’t go together.

From The Daily Mail:

Crews were called to a terraced house in Bolton, Greater Manchester, just before 11am this morning when a fire began behind the fridge-freezer.

When firefighters arrived they found a woman outside with her two husky dogs, who told them her pet lizard was still inside as smoke poured from the kitchen.

They found the bearded dragon in its tank and took it out to the fire engine where medics treated it with oxygen therapy.

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Just when you thought the Discovery Channel couldn’t sink any lower. Just when you thought reality TV couldn’t get any stupider. Along comes “Eaten Alive,” wherein the Discovery Channel will dress a man in a “snake-proof suit” and lett an anaconda eat him alive.

It’s not just stupid, it’s cruel to the snake. It’s not like we don’t know what the insides of an anaconda look like, so there’s no scientific value.

In fact, the only thing they’re “discovering” is how low their audience will go.

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Over 70 years since the last gray wolf was killed in Grand Canyon National Park, the top predator may be back. Tourists have reported numerous sightings—and taken photos—of a wolf-like animal roaming federal forest land just north of the park. Agents with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service now intend to capture the animal to determine if it is indeed a wolf or perhaps a wolf-dog hybrid.

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It may be possible to estimate the number of extinctions in the past 100 years, but this photo collection shows that it is hard to truly quantify the damage done when a species disappears.

From Pixable:

Below, take a look at every animal (except insects, which are extremely difficult to catalogue but which you can find here) that went extinct in just the last 100 years. The list is based on research provided by the Sixth Extinction, a website created to “enhance free public access to information about recently extinct species,” and in order of their approximate date of extinction. We’ve included all the animals confirmed extinct by the IUCN, and added a few more declared extinct by other credible individuals and organizations.

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Brooks Hays TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES, N.H., Nov. 3 (UPI) — Paleontologists have unearthed a 90-million-year-old fossilized turtle in southern New Mexico, near the town of Truth or Consequences.

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Tortoise MLP Fund, Inc. today announced that as of Oct. 31, 2014, the company’s unaudited total assets were approximately $2.4 billion and its unaudited net asset value

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Tortoise Energy Independence Fund, Inc. today announced that as of Oct. 31, 2014, the company’s unaudited total assets were approximately $444.5 million and its unaudit

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Tortoise Pipeline & Energy Fund, Inc. today announced that as of Oct. 31, 2014, the company’s unaudited total assets were approximately $467.0 million and its unaud

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Tortoise Power and Energy Infrastructure Fund, Inc. today announced that as of Oct. 31, 2014, the company’s unaudited total assets were approximately $258.4 million and

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Tortoise Energy Infrastructure Corp. today announced that as of Oct. 31, 2014, the company’s unaudited total assets were approximately $4.5 billion and its unaudited ne

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Special to the TIMES NEWS Christina Obrecht, owner of Christina's Reptile & Sanctuary in Palmerton, holds one of her alligators as part of her speaking engagement earlier this month at Penn State University's main campus in State College.

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