By Herp News
As of this year, scientists have named and described over 10,000 reptiles, marking a new milestone in cataloging one of the most diverse vertebrate groups. Last week, the Reptile Database, an online catalog of all the world’s living reptiles, announced it had passed 10,000 species.
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By Herp News
ALL manner of scaly and spiky creatures will be on show when the North-East Reptile Show returns this weekend.
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By Herp News
Namdapha National Park is part of the Indo-Myanmar biodiversity hotspot. However, locating many species in the park is becoming increasingly difficult, the region has lost thousands of hectares of forest in the past decade, and studies project the situation may simply worsen in the coming years.
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By Herp News
A professor has succeeded in constructing a first-of-its-kind comprehensive diagram of the geographic distribution of amphibians, showing the movement of 3,309 species between 12 global ecoregions. Armed with DNA sequence data, he sought to accurately piece together the 300-million-year storyline of their journey.
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By Herp News
This sea turtle hatchling emerged July 29 during an excavation of the first nest laid this season on the beach at Emerald Isle.
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By Herp News
A photographer in Hawaii has captured the stunning moment dozens of tiny fish operating an underwater 'car wash' latch onto a sea turtle to give it a clean.
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How do you examine a snake’s heart? With lots of help.
From BBC News:
Reticulated pythons are the longest snake species in the world.
So it took a team of eight handlers to hold the snake in order that it could be examined.
The huge reptile, named JF, is thought to be one of the biggest snakes in Europe – at 7m (23 feet) long, and weighing approximately 60kgs.
As well as ensuring the snake is healthy, the check-up was part of a cardiological research study.
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By Herp News
WHO IS butchering turtles and leaving them on the beach? This is the question being asked by upset turtle conservationists as they discovered another turtle dead, the third in two weeks, at King’s Beach, Road View, St Peter, yesterday. Barbados Sea Turtle Project volunteers Caitlin Lanphear and Meghan Bend made the discovery after they received calls, to the turtle hotline, of a dead turtle …
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By Herp News
A 150-pound tortoise found wandering in Alhambra this weekend has been reunited with its family, officials announced Sunday.
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By Herp News
Sea turtles are not a species one would normally associate with the United Kingdom. But on the remote UK overseas territory of Ascension Island, one of the world’s largest green turtle populations is undergoing something of a renaissance.
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By Herp News
Ecologists may be underestimating the impact of logging in old-growth tropical forests by failing to account for subtleties in how different animal groups respond to the intensity of timber extraction, argues a paper published today in the journal Current Biology. The study, led by Zuzana Burivalova of ETH Zurich, is based on a meta-analysis of 48 studies that evaluated the impact of selective logging on mammals, birds, amphibians, and invertebrates in tropical forests.
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By Herp News
( Virginia Commonwealth University ) More than 10,000 reptile species have been recorded into the Reptile Database, a web-based catalog of all living reptile species and classification, making the reptile species among the most diverse vertebrate groups in the world, alongside bird and fish species.
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By Herp News
CONCRETE — The air might have been getting a little too hot for humans, but for cold-blooded reptiles, the rising temperatures were just right.
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By Herp News
Tortoise Pipeline & Energy Fund, Inc. today announced that as of July 31, 2014, the company’s unaudited total assets were approximately $473.0 million and its unaud
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By Herp News
Tortoise MLP Fund, Inc. today announced that as of July 31, 2014, the company’s unaudited total assets were approximately $2.3 billion and its unaudited net asset value
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By Herp News
Tortoise Energy Infrastructure Corp. today announced that as of July 31, 2014, the company’s unaudited total assets were approximately $4.3 billion and its unaudited ne
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By Herp News
Tortoise Energy Independence Fund, Inc. today announced that as of July 31, 2014, the company’s unaudited total assets were approximately $496.2 million and its unaudit
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By Herp News
Tortoise Power and Energy Infrastructure Fund, Inc. today announced that as of July 31, 2014, the company’s unaudited total assets were approximately $254.0 million and
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Once, not very far away, there was a land of modest fame where a young boy name Prince resided with his Queen Mom and his King Dad. Prince was a special boy who lived in a spectrum call Autism. The people didn’t know what this meant, nor could they understand his frequent seizures so they just said the Prince was sick and left him alone.
Prince kept to himself and never spoke to anyone. He didn’t understand that he was different he just knew his head was full up inside and he had thoughts no one understood. His seizures struck like sudden thunderstorms and his mind became chaos and darkness.
One day, a magic tortoise named Bob was walking by and saw Prince sitting very quiet in his garden. Bob walked right up to Prince and they became instant friends. Bob decided he must stay and live in the garden that belonged to Prince and his family.
The once silent Prince began speaking to Bob and Bob seemed to understand. Even though no one else could hear Bob speak, Prince would listen to Bob and understood everything Bob said. Prince knew this was because Bob was a magical tortoise.
Everyday Prince would bring flowers and clovers for Bob to eat and he would tell Bob about his day at school. Prince told Bob about the things he thought and he would tell Bob when was feeling bad. Prince told Bob the thoughts in his head got so jumbled up that it sounded like buffalo stampedes, and his seizures stormed through his head like lightning.
Bob told Prince a great secret: when you can breathe like all the winds of the world like I do, your thoughts will fall away like feathers and the thunderstorms loose their thunder. Bob taught Prince to breath in deep like the ocean, to blow slowly like a breeze, to puff strong like a tornado, to breathe warm like the desert, and even blow funny like a raspberry. Prince began to get better, he could sleep through the night, and fewer thunderstorms happened in his head.
King Dad and Queen Mom saw that their son was happier than he had ever been before and the reason they believed was Bob. Everyone could see that Bob was helping Prince. It wasn’t long before everyone believed that Bob was a magical tortoise.
Word about Bob the magic tortoise spread far and wide. A boy who lived outside the realm wanted to know what kind of magic a tortoise could have. One day he stole Bob from Prince’s garden.
The boy took Bob to a mountain top so he could see Bob’s magic for himself.The boy was very cruel and ordered …read more
Read more here: Turtle Times
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Check out this video “Snake Shedding,” submitted by kingsnake.com user PH FasDog.
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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By Herp News
A turtle on the Canada’s species at risk list has been found in Windsor-Essex with a fish hook lodged in its throat. Tom Preney says someone seeking help brought the spiny softshell turtle to Ojibway Nature Centre earlier this week. The turtle is so big, staff at Ojibway Nature Centre had no choice but to transport it in a standard recycle bin.
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By Herp News
This notice provides stockholders of Tortoise Power and Energy Infrastructure Fund, Inc. with information regarding the distribution paid on July 31, 2014 and cumulativ
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By Herp News
There is a remaining railroad sign at the tracks in Surprise near Grand Avenue and Bell Road marked Lizard Acres.
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By Herp News
Ecologists may be underestimating the impact of logging in old-growth tropical forests by failing to account for subtleties in how different animal groups respond to the intensity of timber extraction, argues a paper published today in the journal Current Biology. The study, led by Zuzana Burivalova of ETH Zurich, is based on a meta-analysis of 48 studies that evaluated the impact of selective logging on mammals, birds, amphibians, and invertebrates in tropical forests.
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By Herp News
Lynchburg, VA – UPDATE: The missing tortoise has been reunited with his family. Horatio, aka Big Boy, is now back with his owner. The seven year old animal wandered away from his home on Lakeside Drive in Lynchburg last Friday night while the family worked to enlarge his enclosure.
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By Herp News
Panaji, July 31 (IANS) Using the skin of the endangered monitor lizard for the ghumat, a traditional clay drum, during the upcoming Ganesh Chaturthi festival will attract a fine of Rs.25,000 and a possibility of up to six years in jail, the Goa government cautioned Thursday. A statement issued here said ghumat aficionados should use goat skin instead. The ghumat is a specially designed clay pot …
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By Herp News
An 18-year-old girl who was arrested earlier this month on animal abuse charges after a video appeared to show her and a younger girl torturing a tortoise, is now facing a charge of lewd and lascivious battery on a younger child. According to the Clay County Sheriff's Office arrest report, Jennifer Greene “made friends” with a younger boy and then had sexual contact with him. The incident …
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By Herp News
Eight years ago, a female jaguar cub was caught on film by a motion-triggered camera trap set in the foothills of canyons, oak forest, and scrubland that make-up the Northern Jaguar Reserve, just 125 miles south of the U.S.-Mexico border. Three years later, in 2009, the jaguar reappeared on film as an adult. They called her ‘Corazón’ for the distinctive heart-shaped spot on her left shoulder.
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Going where no gecko has gone before, Russia launched a research satellite filled with geckos who will, hopefully, mate in a zero gravity environment. The satellite briefly stopped responding to mission control’s commands, but contact was restored three days later.
From the Washington Post:
At this very moment, a Russian satellite full of geckos — (possibly) having sex — is floating around in space — and mission control has lost the ability to control it.
The Foton-M4 research satellite launched on July 19 with five geckos on board. The plan: To observe their mating activities in the zero-gravity conditions of Earth orbit. Several other earthly creatures, including plants and insects, were also placed on board for experiments.
But shortly after the satellite made its first few orbits, it stopped responding to commands from mission control. The equipment on board, however, is still sending scientific data back to earth, a spokesman for Russia’s Institute of Biomedical Problems said.
Photo: kingsnake user snake_lab …read more
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By Herp News
The ultimate goal of all species on the planet is procreation, the act of making anew. But few mothers could contend with a deep-sea octopus, known as Graneledone boreopacifica, which researchers have recently observed guarding its eggs for four-and-a-half years (53 months), before likely succumbing to starvation soon after.
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By Herp News
Winking Lizard holding 'Vedett Fest' with free samples in August, Portside Brewery is involved with two collaborations, National IPA Day is coming up, and lots more in our beer news and notes.
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Suburban homeowners in Georgia don’t like sharing their backyards with native copperheads, giving rise to a disturbing trend.
From Slate:
Some people are trying to fight snakes with snakes. People in one neighborhood nearby, Druid Hills, which backs up to the Fernbank Forest, imported and released a bunch of black rat snakes into their yards. They hope the snakes will crowd out the copperheads and compete with them for the same food sources. The other day I attended my first-ever snake release party—complete with balloons on the mailbox, a local snake expert, and a kingsnake in a box—right in my own neighborhood after a small child was bitten on the foot while chasing fireflies.
This cannot be normal, can it?
To find out, I reached out to David A. Steen, a wildlife ecologist and research fellow at the Alabama Natural Heritage Program at Auburn University. (And a blogger and occasional writer for Slate.)
“Wow—I don’t even know where to start with what’s wrong with that,” he said of the snake release efforts.
Photo:kingsnake.com user coolhl7
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By Herp News
The Lizard returns to Oz.
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Esmerelda is my wonderful aquatic turtle. We found her as a baby, covered in ants in the park, not moving. We started with a 10 gallon tank; progressed to a 35 gallon octagon, then to a 55 gallon rectangle tank; and, finally, we have an 100 gallon pond enclosure on our back porch for her. She is now 8.5 years old.
We call her Esmie for short and she is buddies with our Rhodesian Ridgeback and Fox Terrier. If we go sit on the back porch, and if she is in her pond, she will swim to the edge and hang her head over and join in the conversation. Not verbally of course, but with attention and head movement back and forth between the talkers.
It has always been a learning experience for me as I knew absolutely nada about raising a turtle. I have managed to have good filtration always which I think is the key to a happy turtle. That and respect. I thought I had run into just about everything (I still remember the first time her flukes peeled off – I thought she was dying 
). Then we came to egg laying.
Last year was our first experience. She was extremely agitated for weeks – maybe 4 or 5. Then she was “swimming” on the back patio. Finally we researched a bit and learned that females lay unfertilized eggs. Wow!!! Now what.
We let her into the yard for several evenings, as the sand in her pen was not to her liking. Once she laid her eggs I understood why. They must be deep. After several hours of searching for the right spot, then digging and covering the task was done. She started walking “back” but kept stopping. I decided she was exhausted, so I picked her up and returned her to her pen. She was tired for several days, then was her normal self again. Almost forgot, she was ravenous during this time to. I was feeding her at least twice her normal ration.
This year, we didn’t realize she was “ready” for egg laying and our back porch door, as usual, was open during the day for the dogs to go in and out. To make a long story short, Esmie climbed out of her pen and while she had always stayed on the porch, this time she went out. We have 7 acres of property and I swear my husband and I searched all 7 acres and beyond. No Esmie. Again I searched and located a few stories of aquatic turtles leaving and returning within three days. I waited – tried to be patient. I was thrilled to walk out onto the porch the third evening to find Esmie back in her pond awaiting dinner.
Since then I believe she has decided that 3 days away is way too long. She would leave her pen and walk about …read more
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By Herp News
Scientists have added 361 new bird species to the IUCN Red List following a major taxonomic review of non-passerine birds, i.e. non-perching or non-songbirds. Worryingly, 87 of these new birds are threatened with extinction, a percentage nearly double the overall threatened percentage for all birds, which currently sits at 13 percent.
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By Herp News
The world’s worst Ebola outbreak was likely begun by a hunter shooting a fruit bat for their dinner or the market, according to the UN. The outbreak has killed over 660 people in six months to date, and recently spread via plane to Nigeria. The disease is particularly deadly with a mortality rate of around 90 percent.
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As the organism that causes chytridiomycosis in amphibians threatens their existence worldwide, a study published in the journal Nature suggests that turning up the heat and the frogs’ own immune defenses may hold the key to beating the fungus.
From the New York Times:
To find out, the scientists swabbed Bd onto the bellies of Cuban tree frogs. After the frogs became infected, the scientists cured them by taking advantage of a weakness of the fungus: it can’t survive for very long at high temperatures.
[University of South Florida chytrid expert Dr. Jason R.] Rohr and his colleagues kept their frog chambers heated to 86 degrees for 10 days, after which the fungi disappeared. The scientists then repeated this procedure three more times.
Frogs that had already been exposed to Bd produced a much stronger immune response to a new infection, the scientists found. They produced more immune cells, and the fungus produced fewer spores.
The exposed frogs were also much more likely to survive an infection than a frog exposed for the first time. What’s more, these effects became stronger after each exposure.
Dr. Rohr and his colleagues also found that amphibians can learn to avoid the fungus. In another experiment, they put oak toads in a chamber. One side of the chamber was contaminated with fungal spores, while the other was fungus-free. They found that toads that had never been exposed to the fungus would explore both sides of the chamber, becoming infected along the way.
But toads that had previous been exposed (and cured with heat) tended to avoid the side of the chamber with the fungus. If they were exposed more than once, they were even less likely to go to there. Dr. Rohr and his colleagues are investigating how the toads learn to avoid exposure to Bd. It’s possible that the toads can detect a chemical made by the fungus.
Photo: kingsnake.com user Lachesis1 …read more
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By Herp News
One of the world’s most bizarre animal groups is now at risk of complete eradication, according to an update of the IUCN Red List. Pangolins, which look and behave similarly to (scaly) anteaters yet are unrelated, are being illegally consumed out of existence due to a thriving trade in East Asia.
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By Herp News
STONINGTON, Conn. (AP) — Authorities say a Connecticut man shot to death his girlfriend's pet turtle.
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By Herp News
A Turtle Creek man died after being struck in the head while trying to break up a domestic fight between his neighbors this weekend.
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