Scientists working to protect loggerhead sea turtles know how to save them; they just can’t get stakeholders to cooperate.

From Mission Blue:

It’s been our experience that those who would spend two decades or more working closely with fishermen to understand and protect sea turtles typically have the best interests of both people and nature in mind, although sometimes they are called “turtle-huggers” or scapegoated over another competing agenda.

Back in the early 1990’s when we learned about the mass mortality of loggerhead sea turtles off the Pacific coast of Baja from geographers Serge Dedina and Emily Young, we responded immediately.

Here’s how Dr. Dedina describes what they found:

“We first started noticing the mortality of loggerheads on Magdalena Island on the trip out to Cabo San Lazaro in the Spring of 1994 when we noticed a few animals stranded on the beach. But as summer progressed we saw more and more. What was fascinating was to see the correlation between stranded loggerheads and the abundant coyote population who fed on the animals as they washed up. There were literally dozens of coyotes sitting in the dunes apparently satiated after a night of feeding.

By July 1994, on one return trip from San Lazaro, we counted more than 224 dead loggerheads, so many, that the fishermen we were with were clearly embarrassed. They all knew that the turtles were being caught in gill-nets. In fact we had been out shark fishing with fishermen in the spring and had seen the problem ourselves.”

Read the full story here.

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By Herp News

Gabon is home to some big meat-eaters including leopards, spotted hyenas, and African wild dogs, but a new study focuses on the country’s lesser-known species with an appetite for flesh. For the first time, researchers surveyed Gabon’s small carnivores, including 12 species from the honey badger (Mellivora capensis) to the marsh mongoose (Atilax paludinosus).

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By Herp News

A REPTILE food depot at Rooksbridge was badly damaged by fire in the early hours of Thursday morning (October 17). Follow the latest updates here.

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By Herp News

A fungus that is killing frogs and other amphibians around the world releases a toxic factor that disables the amphibian immune response, investigators report.

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By Herp News

(From left) Mike Deddo, Turtle Wax Inc. Senior Research Chemist; Coley Frucci Turtle Wax Inc Vice President of Strategic Development; Don Dacay, Wilstark Marketing Corp. VP for Marketing; Ara Dacay, Wilstark Marketing Corp. Senior Vice President; Mario Dacay, Wilstark Marketing Corp President; and Dermot Maconaghie, Turtle Wax Inc …

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By Herp News

The amusing video was taken by Salvelio Mayer in his back garden in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. He uploaded the footage onto YouTube and the clip has been viewed more than six million times.

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Every year kingsnake.com gets asked, “I want to hold a contest and give away a live animal, can I advertise this on your site?”

The answer is surprising to many: kingsnake.com and our other pet-related sites will not accept advertising for live animal contests.

No, it’s not because we don’t like contests.

Aside from the ethical problems raised by giving away live animals to people who may not, or cannot, care for them responsibly, many states have outlawed the practice, or limited the practice but regulate it in some manner. Some allow it with certain animals, and in certain circumstances, while others outlaw it completely.

Many of these laws have been on the books for decades, some having been written in response to specific problems. Often they were implemented in response to traveling carnivals that would offer goldfish, green iguanas, anolis lizards, turtles, or even baby alligators as inexpensive prizes in games of chance on the midway. Who hasn’t seen goldfish bowls at the carnival?

Most, if not all, of these animals died horrible deaths at the hands of owners ill-equipped to deal with them, many times unsupervised children, and over the years many states took action to make the practice illegal or to limit what could and couldn’t be offered as a prize.

Does your state have laws against animal giveaways? If so, you may be subject to criminal charges, either as the contest holder or the contest winner. What makes it even more dangerous and problematic is when the contests — and prizes — cross state lines. When that happens, a simple misdemeanor, can easily turn into a federal crime.

When a live animal contest crosses state lines, and the contest violates either the state laws of the contest holder or the prize winner, then according to the United States Fish & Wildlife Service, a violation of the federal Lacey Act statutes has occurred, regardless of the species involved. Thus a leopard gecko or ball python that may be 100 percent legal to purchase, keep, possess, and ship across state lines, is illegal as a contest prize instead of a purchase.

So, should you participate in live animal giveaway contests?

If you’re a responsible pet owner with experience in the species offered as a prize, and the contest does not violate your state or local laws, or the contest holder’s state laws, then there is nothing wrong with participating in a live animal giveaway. But do your homework first! Or that next “prize” might be more than you bargained for. …read more
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By Herp News

The Calaveras County Jumping Frog Jubilee has entered the scientific record. Experienced bullfrog “jockeys” at the event routinely get their frogs to jump much farther than researchers had ever measured in the lab. How? Decades of refined technique, uncommonly motivated humans and herps, and good old-fashioned large sample size.

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By Herp News

The first turtle tour for the season will begin on Saturday November 9, with bookings already under way and early signs looking positive.

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By Herp News

There are more than 5,000 different mammal species across the globe, but with this number being dwarfed by the 10,000 bird species, it is little wonder that bird-watching has become the most common wildlife watching hobby in the world. While there are thousands of websites dedicated to ornithology enthusiasts, with information detailing the best places to see particular species and how to find them, similar resources about mammals remain scarce.

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By Herp News

For three years, the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) has been running advertizing campaigns in Chinese cities to raise awareness on the true source of ivory: slaughtered elephants. A recent evaluation of the campaign by Rapid Asia found that 66 percent of those who saw the ads said they would “definitely” not buy ivory in the future.

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The sea turtles are here!

Every year in early fall, hundreds of olive ridley sea turtles hit the beaches on Mexico’s Pacific coast to lay their eggs.

Read all about it, and see the complete photo gallery, here.

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By Herp News

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — In a story Oct. 14 about a turtle habitat cleanup day, The Associated Press erroneously reported the day of the event. It will be held Oct. 26, which is a Saturday, not a Sunday.        

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By Herp News

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — In a story Oct. 14 about a turtle habitat cleanup day, The Associated Press erroneously reported the day of the event. It will be held Oct. 26, which is a Saturday, not a Sunday.        

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By Herp News

Spending a year on the Tambopata River in Peru’s deep Amazon, allowed 22-year-old Tristan Thompson, to record stunning video of the much the region’s little seen, and little known, wildlife. Thompson, a student at the University of the West of England, has turned his footage into a new documentary An Untamed Wilderness that not only gives viewers an inside look at the world’s greatest forests, but also records the secretive behavior of many species, including howler monkeys, aracaris, leaf-cutter ants, hoatzin, and giant river otters.

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By Herp News

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — In a story Oct. 14 about a turtle habitat cleanup day, The Associated Press erroneously reported the day of the event. It will be held Oct. 26, which is a Saturday, not a Sunday.        

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By Herp News

Beaver, bison and eagles are among the species that have made a successful comeback in Europe in the past 50 years, according to a major survey published by a coalition of conservation groups on Thursday. The report selected 37 species that have showed signs of recovery, studied changes in their numbers and range since 1960, and examined the reasons driving their comeback.

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You’ve wonder what Frankie been doing. It’s BIG! He is moving South to Mobile.

Moving is huge no matter if moving to an apartment in town, or moving a family into a house, or moving to a new state….well, you get the picture. Moving is tough.

Add Frankie to the mix.

Yeah, you got it. It’s even tougher.

Finding that perfect sulcata friendly house was not easy. There had to be a yard….a big yard. And a fence….a privacy fence. A garage….a garage is really needed in case there is a storm or it get’s too cold or any other reason that requires bringing Frankie inside.

Things happen that require bringing a 100 pound sulcata tortoise inside.

I am a bit befuddled why we bought a house with no garage and no fence.

Greg is going to build a fence.

There is no such thing as a temporary fence for a 100 pound sulcata. There is no garage to put Frankie until the fence is build. Besides, we already know what happens when Frankie is kept indoors.

Which explains why Frankie and I are still living in Birmingham. We don’t get to move South until the fence is built.

All of that pales in comparison to one more detail: moving said 100 pound sulcata. If you happen to be an owner of a large sulcata you are already gritting your teeth.

Five hours in car. Do you know what a 100 pound sulcata tortoise will do to a car’s interior during that time?

If you own a large sulcata you already know. If you don’t own a large sulcata, it’s like tossing an angry, blind folded Wolverine into a compact car.

We’re working on a strategy.

The best so far is to wait until Frankie goes to bed for the night in his “cave”, board up the front, strap the whole thing on a flat bed truck and drive to Mobile.

Really, it’s not a bad idea. We are still considering other ways.

I promise to take pictures.

Until the fateful day Frankie is enjoying Fall in Birmingham. Lots of walking, grazing, sleeping. When Frankie does make it to Mobile he can enjoy Fall all over again.

27 days and counting.

Frankie enjoying Fall in Birmingham, AL.

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Read more here: Turtle Times

By Herp News

A reptile rescue organization in suburban Cleveland is caring for nearly 100 snakes and lizards seized from a northeast Ohio home and has sent several more to a Kentucky zoo.

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Regeneration of lost organs or body parts is the stuff of science fiction, but it’s also science fact. At the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, researchers are studying the many species that can regenerate cells in their body, and hoping to find information humans can benefit from, too.

From a Las Vegas Sun interview with UNLV researcher Kelly Tseng:

Most people don’t know that tadpoles can regenerate their tails — and very quickly. It usually takes seven to 14 days. Planaria, which are flatworms, can be cut into pieces, each of which will regenerate. Zebrafish can regenerate their heart, even if on-third of it is cut away. Antlers of a moose can grow two centimeters a day, which is the fastest rate of organ regeneration. Salamanders are basically the champion of regeneration. They can grow back a limb, a tail, their retina, even part of their brain.

It’s really amazing, all these animals with abilities we would like to have.

The full story is here.

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By Herp News

WHITEWATER — Reports of a “humongous” “200-year-old” desert tortoise who was struck and killed Sunday on the I-10 freeway near Whitewater drew nationwide interest, but it turns out that the tortoise’s age and size may have been more of a guesstimate than actual fact.

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By Herp News

A large animal believed to be a desert tortoise was killed Sunday as it wandered onto Interstate 10 in an unincorporated area of Riverside County.

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My two turtles (one girl one boy) keep digging in the rocks. I’m sure if they want to find something, or probably they want to escape. I tried researching why they were digging but I got multiple answers that almost all made sense! They eat ALOT so I don’t think they are hungry, please answer! Any advice? …read more
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By Herp News

We go ears-on with Turtle Beach's pro gaming headset, but is it worth the cost?

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By Herp News

So, here I am, running in a forest at night over 2,000 miles from home. This forest—dry, stout, and thorny enough to draw blood—lies just a few miles north of a rural town in the western edge of the Dominican Republic on the border with Haiti. I’m following—or trying to keep pace with—a local hunter and guide as we search for one of the world’s most bizarre mammals. It’s an animal few people have heard of, let alone actually seen; even most Dominicans don’t readily recognize its name or picture. But I’ve been obsessed with it for six years: it’s called a “solenodon,” more accurately the Hispaniolan solenodon or its (quite appropriate) scientific name, Solenodon paradoxus.

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Check out this video “Snake Hunting Colorado,” submitted by kingsnake.com user jfarah.
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

The Western fence lizard doesn't peddle insurance like its relative, the gecko, but it provides a potentially more valuable service by shielding North Coast residents from Lyme disease.

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By Herp News

Leatherbacks are on the endangered species list but several have been rescued in recent years along the Connecticut shore after becoming tangled in fishing lines, flotsam or other debris, the assistant stranding coordinator said. Before the turtle's remains were removed from the Milford beach and buried, volunteers from the Mystic Aquarium took extensive photographs of it, Graf said, and …

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If you live in Washington state and think you could provide a good home for an abandoned python, the veterinarians at Washington State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine want to hear from you.

From KGW News:

Washington State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine captured and hospitalized the abandoned 11-foot-long reticulated python Tuesday night. The snake is believed to have been abandoned by renters in a house near Colfax according to WSU officials.

This is the second time in a month that law enforcement has asked for assistance from WSU to catch a large snake, according to College of Veterinary Medicine officials.

WSU workers said the snake was slightly undernourished but weighed 22 pounds. It suffered moderate burns before its capture according to staff at WSU. They said the cold-blooded snake curled around a heater at the rental property.

[…]

Anyone interested in donating to the snake’s care or joining a registry for selection as its potential new owner can contact the WSU Veterinary Teaching Hospital at 509-335-0711.

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By Herp News

Although a turtle’s home may be on its back, some North American turtles face an uncertain future as a warming climate threatens to reduce their suitable habitat.

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By Herp News

HOLLYWOOD, Fla., Oct. 9 (UPI) — A Florida man was bitten by a venomous rattlesnake while rescuing a turtle attempting to cross a highway, an emergency official said.

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By Herp News

Although a turtle's home may be on its back, some North American turtles face an uncertain future as a warming climate threatens to reduce their suitable habitat.

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By Herp News

A 320-lb. sea turtle named OD unpacks his bags at Mandalay Bay's 1.3 million gallon Shipwreck Exhibit

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By Herp News

Nicaragua is a nation still suffering from deep poverty, a free-flowing drug trade, and festering war-wounds after decades of internecine fighting. However, like any country that has been largely defined by its conflicts, Nicaragua possesses surprises that overturn conventional wisdom. Not the least of which is that the Central American country is still home to big, stunning species, including jaguars, giant anteaters, pumas, and the nation’s heaviest animal, the Baird’s tapir (Tapirus bairdii). Still, not surprisingly given the nation’s instability, most conservationists have avoided Nicaragua. But tapir-expert Christopher Jordan, who has worked in the country for over four years, says he wouldn’t have it any other way.

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Meet the cocoa frog, just one of dozens of new species discovered in Suriname.

From NBC News:

“Suriname is one of the last places where an opportunity still exists to conserve massive tracts of untouched forest and pristine rivers where biodiversity is thriving,” Trond Larsen, director of Conservation International’s Rapid Assessment Program, said in a news release about the trip.

The three-week survey in Suriname’s upper Palumeu River watershed, conducted last year and led by Conservation International, cataloged 1,378 species — including 60 species that are potentially new to science.

Read the article and see photos of all the new species here.

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By Herp News

A government minister in Tanzania has called for a “shoot-to-kill” policy against poachers in a radical measure to curb the mass slaughter of elephants. Khamis Kagasheki’s proposal for perpetrators of the illicit ivory trade to be executed ‘on the spot’ divided opinion, with some conservationists backing it as a necessary deterrent but others warning that it would lead to an escalation of violence.

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By Herp News

A government minister in Tanzania has called for a “shoot-to-kill” policy against poachers in a radical measure to curb the mass slaughter of elephants. Khamis Kagasheki’s proposal for perpetrators of the illicit ivory trade to be executed ‘on the spot’ divided opinion, with some conservationists backing it as a necessary deterrent but others warning that it would lead to an escalation of violence.

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By Herp News

On October 2nd, WWF released camera trap videos of Sumatran rhinos surviving in Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo. The conservation organization had already announced in April that they had evidence of at least one Sumatran rhino in the province, but the new images confirmed what is likely to be a small surviving population. While this is good news for an animal on the edge of extinction, Erik Meijaard, a researcher who has worked in Indonesia for over 20 years, says WWF has made a mistake publicizing the news around the world, noting ‘the last thing those rhinos need is publicity.’

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By Herp News

On October 2nd, WWF released camera trap videos of Sumatran rhinos surviving in Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo. The conservation organization had already announced in April that they had evidence of at least one Sumatran rhino in the province, but the new images confirmed what is likely to be a small surviving population. While this is good news for an animal on the edge of extinction, Erik Meijaard, a researcher who has worked in Indonesia for over 20 years, says WWF has made a mistake publicizing the news around the world, noting ‘the last thing those rhinos need is publicity.’

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If you ever needed proof that no good deed goes unpunished, just read this story of a Florida man bitten by a rattlesnake while helping a turtle get out of traffic.

From the Sun-Sentinel:

The 24-year-old man, whose name was not immediately released, and a friend were driving on Interstate 75 in west Broward County when they saw a turtle crossing the highway.

At a point west of the interchange, where I-75 meets Interstate 595, they pulled over. The man got out, grabbed the turtle and carried it to a grassy area on the side of the highway.

“When he reached down to put the turtle in the grass, that’s when the snake bit him,” said Capt. Jeff Fobb, of the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Venom Response Team.

Read the full story here.

Photo: Miami-Dade Fire Rescue …read more
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