A San Antonio TV station is questioning whether the rattlesnake in a field of bluebonnets featured in a viral Facebook photo is alive, or a taxidermied and posed dead snake.

Given that the topic “snake in bluebonnets” has its own section on hoax debunker website Snopes.com, and it wouldn’t be the first time a taxidermist has claimed to play this particular prank. it’s a valid question.

From KSAT:

The picture, submitted to a news station’s Facebook page in Austin, shows a rattlesnake coiled among bluebonnets.

The picture has many reconsidering their annual trip to take pictures in the bluebonnets, believing it may be too dangerous.

Some experts, however, are questioning the validity of the picture.

“It’s a real picture,” said Blaine Easton, a snake expert with the South Texas Herpetology Society. “I’m not sure that snake is alive. I think the snake is dead and mounted by a taxidermist.”

According to Easton, it is the snake’s neck position that causes him to question the picture. Easton said it did raise a valid concern.

“I have found in the middle of bluebonnets, on some ranches, rattlesnakes sitting there,” said Easton.

After all, Texas is home to 113 species of snakes. The moral, according to experts, is to just be cautious.

Watch their report…

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By Herp News

Tortoise Capital Advisors today announced the introduction of the Tortoise Select Opportunity Fund, an open-end mutual fund that has a dedicated focus on select opportunities acros

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The island night lizard was delisted as an endangered species in the US this week, after three decades of restoration efforts. Its recovery highlights an increased success rate in reestablishing endangered species.

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By Herp News

The island night lizard was delisted as an endangered species in the US this week, after three decades of restoration efforts. Its recovery highlights an increased success rate in reestablishing endangered species.

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Island night lizards and arroyo toads are bouncing back from peril, wildlife officials said.

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Climate change is contributing to a slew of global problems, from rising seas to desertification. Now, researchers have added another repercussion: shrinking salamanders.

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One of the world's largest crocodiles, suspected of eating six people, has been caught in Lake Victoria, Uganda. Terrified locals demanded officials hunt the reptile after it devoured its most recent victim, father-of-two Bosco Nyansi. The 1,000kg crocodile is also thought to have seriously injured other fishermen. Officials in Uganda believe the reptile is 80-years-old and weighs only 47kg less …

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Check out this video “Turtle Cam,” submitted by kingsnake.com user JoJoMang.
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

SAN DIEGO, April 3, 2014 /PRNewswire/ – Turtle Beach, the leading audio brand in the games industry, today announced that it will host two tournaments during PAX East, a major consumer video game event held in Boston from April 11 to 13. Major League Gaming (MLG), the global leader in eSports, will hold the playoffs for its Call of Duty: Ghosts league in the Turtle Beach booth. The booth will …

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Frogs aren’t well-equipped to migrate safely through the rush of automobile traffic. Last year, hundreds of protected northern red-legged frogs met their doom trying to cross an Oregon roadway. This year, things were different.

From Oregon Live:

After witnessing the N.W. Harborton Drive frog slaughter with his friend, Shawn Looney, Rob Lee started making calls and e-mailing biologists and herpetologists.

“I started trying to find the appropriate people to tell about this – that something was going on that we should be paying attention to,” he says.

He also approached Jane Hartline, a retired Oregon Zoo marketing director and conservation advocate with a knack for organizing.

No one knew whether the great frog massacre of 2013 was an anomaly or, more likely, an unwitting annual death march. They were determined to find out, to help the frogs if they could, to precisely document everything they observed and to contribute to the scant science on the Forest Park red-legged frog population.

Liz Ruther, a habitat conservation biologist with ODFW, granted Lee, Looney and Hartline a permit to handle the frogs. Without one, it’s illegal to touch or harass them, given the species’ sensitive-vulnerable status.

With help from The Forest Park Conservancy, Hartline rounded up about three dozen volunteers willing to rush to Linnton with little notice. Their task: spend hours intercepting frogs on wet, chilly nights when most Portlanders were tucked in at home, dry and cozy.

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Photo: Walter Siegmund/Wikimedia Commons/Creative Commons License …read more
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By Herp News

Outdoor Tech is no stranger to the world of crowd funding. It's used Kickstarter to get past products like the Turtle Shell speaker off the ground. Now it's back with a bigger version of the Turtle that it calls, quite simply, the BIG Turtle Shell. This speaker brings more sound to the park and beach and packs enough power to double as a portable charger. .. Continue Reading Outdoor Tech grows …

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Tortoise Capital Advisors, L.L.C. Shares Insights on the North American Energy Revolution at Wealth Management's April 3rd Live Webinar

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At a time when Africa’s elephants are facing a relentless poaching crisis, one community has managed to safeguard their elephants in the most unlikely of places: Mali. In a country that has suffered from widespread poverty, environmental degradation, and, most recently, warfare, a collaboration between conservationists and the local community has kept Mali’s elephants from extinction.

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It is often difficult to decide whether two animals belong to the same or two distinct species. This can be especially challenging for animals which externally look very similar. In a recent study, scientists use genetic data and calls analysis to test if treefrogs from West and Central Africa belong to different or the same species.

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When the tiny island night lizard (Xantusia riversiana) was first designated as threatened, kids were still putting safety pins through their ears and “God Save the Queen” was just released. But today, for the first time since 1977, it’s no longer considred to be in danger.

The lizard is found only on four ilands — or three islands and an islet — off the California coast.

From KCET:

It hasn’t hurt that all of the islands the night lizard calls home are owned by the federal government. San Clemente and San Nicolas islands are owned and managed by the U.S. Navy, while Santa Barbara Island and its tiny neighbor Sutil Island belong the the National Park Service. That’s simplified tasks such as removing introduced predators and yanking out weeds.

In 2004, the Navy petitioned USFWS to delist the lizards on San Clemente and San Nicolas islands, claiming that each island’s population was properly considered a Distinct Population Segment (equivalent to a species under the Endangered Species Act) and saying that the population of night lizards on each of the two islands had recovered.

That prompted a 2006 status review for the lizard, and in February 2013 USFWS finally got around to its response: a proposal that the lizard be delisted throughout its range. With this new ruling, scheduled for printing in the Federal Register on April 1, that delisting becomes official.

According to USFWS, estimates of the lizard’s current population range from 15,300 on San Nicolas and 17,600 on Santa Barbara/Sutil, with an astonishing 21.3 million estimated for San Clemente Island. The estimates didn’t count lizards, but merely assessed the acreage of lizard habitat on each island and used mathematical models to extrapolate estimated total populations.

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Photo: Ryan P. O’Donnell/Wikimedia Commons/Creative Commons License …read more
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Yesterday we made fun of the 49ers for banning reptiles from their new stadium. Now we feel bad, because apparently this is a thing: An Eastern brown snake turned up on an Australian rugby field the very next day.

From ABC Australia:

A one-metre brown snake on the NRL field at Robina took the ABC Grandstand commentary team by surprise, but it did not stop them from encouraging on-field reporter Zane Bojack to take a closer look, despite his professed herpetophobia.

You can read more and listen to the crowd and reporters here. …read more
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By Herp News

The Turtle Wax Label & Sticker Remover = WISEBUY, under specific circumstances.

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KOTA KINABALU : A report on the ‘turtle killing fields’ at Pulau Tiga (near Pulau Balambangan-Pulau Banggi Channel, north of Kudat) will be presented to the State Cabinet.

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In what is being hailed as an environmental victory for the U.S. Navy, the island night lizard has been taken off the list of federally endangered species.

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By Herp News

Tortoise Energy Independence Fund, Inc. today announced that as of March 31, 2014, the company’s unaudited total assets were approximately $465.0 million and its unaudi

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Tortoise MLP Fund, Inc. today announced that as of March 31, 2014, the company’s unaudited total assets were approximately $2.0 billion and its unaudited net asset valu

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Tortoise Pipeline & Energy Fund, Inc. today announced that as of March 31, 2014, the company’s unaudited total assets were approximately $422.8 million and its unau

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By Herp News

Tortoise Power and Energy Infrastructure Fund, Inc. today announced that as of March 31, 2014, the company’s unaudited total assets were approximately $238.4 million an

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Tortoise North American Energy Corp. today announced that as of March 31, 2014, the company’s unaudited total assets were approximately $295.7 million and its unaudited

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By Herp News

Tortoise Energy Infrastructure Corp. today announced that as of March 31, 2014, the company’s unaudited total assets were approximately $2.4 billion and its unaudited n

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By Herp News

Tortoise Energy Capital Corp. today announced that as of March 31, 2014, the company’s unaudited total assets were approximately $1.2 billion and its unaudited net asse

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By Herp News

This year the Hanta virus has already caused 15 deaths in Chile, according to reports in The Santiago Times. It isn’t always fatal—the 15 deaths were of a total of 36 cases over six months—but the symptoms are severe. Those affected experience flu-like symptoms, as well as nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea and trouble breathing. But now Chile is using a novel method to fight the disease: owls.

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Just over two weeks ago, conservationists in the Malaysian state of Sabah managed to finally catch a wild Sumatran rhino female after months of failed attempts. But following such hopeful events, comes bad news thousands of miles away: a young female rhino, named Suci, died over the weekend at the Cincinnati Zoo.

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A Michigan firefighter went into a burning building to save a pet 6-foot python trapped in his terrarium.

From WXYZ:

Muskegon firefighter Scott Hemmelsbach told The Muskegon Chronicle that he reluctantly agreed to enter the two-story, smoke-filled house Sunday night to retrieve the snake. He says he cradled the “weighty” snake before carrying it to safety.

“It was trying to crawl up the side of his terrarium and get out,” Hemmelsbach said. “His face was pushed up on the screen and trying to get out. There was a lot of smoke and he was trapped.”

The firefighter said he learned how to handle snakes while he was at Grand Haven High School, where he helped showcase them.

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By Herp News

Wildlife officials say a tiny lizard found only on Southern California's Channel Islands has been removed from the federal list of threatened species after 37 years.

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This notice provides stockholders of Tortoise Power and Energy Infrastructure Fund, Inc. with information regarding the distribution paid on March 31, 2014 and cumulati

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This notice provides stockholders of Tortoise Power and Energy Infrastructure Fund, Inc. with information regarding the distribution paid on March 31, 2014 and cumulati

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You may love them, but your reptiles aren’t welcome at 49ers football games. Read more…

Herpetologist Natalia Rossi talks about crocodiles in southeastern Cuba as part of a celebration of the contributions of women to the practice of conservation. Read more…

The New York Times takes a look at rattlesnake “round-ups” and gassing… probably more favorably than most herpers would. Read more…

Biscuits, a very important loggerhead, is back where she belongs. Watch the video below:

Photo: Natalia Rossi/WCS

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By Herp News

Vietnam saved 431,000 kWh of electricity during last weekend's Earth Hour campaign, Vietnam News Agency (VNA) reported. For one hour from 8.30pm to 9.30pm on March 29, Vietnamese from cities and provinces across the country joined the rest of the world in switching off non-essential lights as a symbol for their commitment to the planet….

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By Herp News

Posted March 30, 2014, at 5:27 p.m. Kate Anderson of Concord, New Hampshire, laughs as Bruce, a ball python, slithers around her ball cap at the start of the Northeast Reptile Expo on Sunday at the Cross Insurance Center. Kate and her husband, Josh, own WTF Reptiles in New Hampshire.

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By Herp News

Kenneth Cornelius Coleman of Riviera Beach, who is 52 years old, has pleaded guilty to egg poaching after sea turtle nests were found to be disturbed in Juno Beach.

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By Herp News

A turtle which only lives in freshwater in America has been discovered on a beach in Hampshire.

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The home to a number of slithering serpents and all kinds of creepy crawlies currently holds the world record for the most reptile species under one roof.

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Frankie has a new best friend. I am not the new best friend because I moved him to Mobile. Up to this point Frankie is not happy about being in Mobile. It is going to get better. Yesterday it got a bit better. I’m back in Frankie’s Top Five Friend List as I did introduce him to his new best friend.

The day before he got to meet our down-hill next door neighbor. I know our uphill neighbor pretty well and see her a lot. The lower-on-the-hill neighbor works a lot of hours so five months later I still hadn’t met her.

Frankie and I were walking to a house two doors down the street where Frankie has permission to graze. It’s difficult getting to that house because Frankie has to walk past our down-hill next door neighbor’s spectacularly beautiful lawn loaded with tall, bright green, fresh, winter rye grass.

Frankie wants that grass so much that every time we walk past the green garden of delight house I have a 30 foot scrimmage to keep him out of his desired yard. I have a very strict rule that Frankie does not graze a yard without permission.

This means that since October of last year Frankie has been disallowed access to the sea of green he so longingly wishes to graze.

Until yesterday.

The day before we were our way back home, I was struggling to keep Frankie on the sidewalk and out of our down-hill neighbor’s grass when our neighbor pulls up into her drive way. I was a bit embarrassed that she witnessed his nibbling on the very edges of her lawn and me desperately trying to drag him back into our pitiful grass-lacking yard.

She waved at us as she got out of her car with purse, jacket and bag in hand and walked over to say hello.

“So, this is the Frankie I’ve heard all about. Wow, he is so BIG.”

Commence the Frankie questions: how much does he weigh, what species is he, where does he sleep, how long have you had him, were did you get him, what does he eat, and so on.

After the question and answer session (all the while struggling to keep Frankie away from her yard) I apologize to her mentioning that Frankie tries to be be respectful and I work to keep him off her beautiful lawn but he has nibbled some off the sides.

To this she exclaims that most certainly Frankie can graze on her grass, she doesn’t mind at all. Graze away! Less to mow on the weekends.

The invitation sounds too good to be true so I double check and ask if she is sure he can graze on her lawn. We get the please, do let Frankie graze!

So the next day, yesterday, I walked the hungry Frankie directly to the green yard of bountiful grass.

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