Reptoman

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   Jul 30

Meet Thor’s shrew: scientist discover new mammal with a superior spine

By Herp News

In 1917, Joel Asaph Allen examined an innocuous species of shrew from the Congo Basin and made a remarkable discovery: the shrew’s spine was unlike any seen before. Interlocking lumbar vertebrae made the species’ spine four times strong than any other vertebrate on Earth adjusted for its size. The small mammal had been discovered only seven years before and was dubbed the hero shrew (Scutisorex somereni), after the name give to it by the local Mangbetu people, who had long known of the shrew’s remarkable abilities.

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   Jul 30

Lizard in mid-day meal, 78 students hospitalized

By Herp News

Bhilwara, July 30 — A lizard in the mid-day meal led to 78 students of an upper primary school in Rajasthan's Bhilwara district being hospitalized on Tuesday. The students complained of stomach ache, cramps and vomiting after consuming the meal.The incident happened less than two weeks after 23 students died after being served lunch laced with a deadly pesticide in a school in Bihar.Officials …

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   Jul 30

Lizard in mid-day meal in Jaipur, 76 children fall ill

By Herp News

76 students of a government school in Rajasthan’s Bhilwara district on Tuesday fell ill after consuming their mid-day meal in which a dead lizard was found. The children of the higher prima…

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   Jul 30

Lizard in mid-day meal in Jaipur, 79 children fall ill

By Herp News

79 children fell ill after a lizard was found in their mid-day meal at a government school in Bhilwara district, about 250 km from here, on Tuesday. 187 children of the upper primary gove…

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   Jul 30

Lizard in midday meal in Rajasthan, 76 children fall ill

By Herp News

At least 76 students of a government school in Rajasthan's Bhilwara district today fell ill after consuming their midday meal in which a dead lizard was found.        

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   Jul 30

Dead lizard in mid-day meal; 76 children fall ill

By Herp News

The Headmaster of the school and mid-day meal in-charge were immediately suspended.

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   Jul 30

Poisonous vs venomous: Dr. Michael Hutchens sets the record straight

In a new interview with National Geographic, Dr. Michael Hutchens discusses the hazards of working in areas where there are dangerous species of invertebrates and vertebrates, both on land and water — and how to protect yourself. During the interview, he tackles a topic that comes up constantly on kingsnake.com: the misuse of the terms “poisonous” and “venomous” when discussing snakes.

From the interview:

First let me address an issue that is a pet peeve of many biologists, and that is the difference between the terms “venomous” and “poisonous.” Many lay people use the terms interchangeably, when, if fact, they are very different. A poison is typically ingested, whereas venom is injected or actively introduced into the victim’s body. An example of the former is the cane toad (Bufo marinus)—potential predators of the toad are poisoned by toxic secretions produced by glands on the skin when they try to ingest the animal. An example of the latter is the king cobra (Ophiophagus hannah), a large predatory snake that literally injects venom through its syringe-like fangs that are connected to venom glands. Some venomous species, such as rear-fanged snakes and gila monsters (Heloderma suspectum, one of the world’s few venomous lizards) must chew in order to introduce the venom, since they have no efficient way of injecting it. In addition, some poisons can be introduced through means other than ingestion, as for example, when someone with a cut on their hand picks up a poison dart frog, and the poison enters the blood stream through a skin abrasion.

Hitchens and NatGeo go on to discuss other herpetofauna as well as sea life and birds. It’s well worth a read. …read more
Read more here: King Snake

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   Jul 30

Pet store under fire for treatment of reptiles

By Herp News

Reptile owners, handlers and some former PetSmart employees say they are shocked by how the animals are treated at large pet stores, saying the animals appear to be poorly cared for and malnourished.

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   Jul 30

Population of newly discovered lemur in Madagascar down to last 50 individuals (photo)

By Herp News

Researchers have discovered a new — and critically endangered — species of lemur on the island of Madagascar. The primate is formally described in the journal Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution.

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   Jul 29

Tortoise Capital Advisors, L.L.C. Announces Release of Second Quarter 2013 Reports for Closed-End Funds (NDP, NTG, TPZ …

By Herp News

Tortoise Capital Advisors, L.L.C., the adviser of NDP, NTG, TPZ, TTP, TYG, TYN and TYY announced today the release of second quarter 2013 reports for each of these funds. The reports are available online at www.tortoiseadvisors.com.

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   Jul 29

Early exposure to insecticides gives amphibians higher tolerance later

By Herp News

Amphibians exposed to insecticides early in life — even those not yet hatched — have a higher tolerance to those same insecticides later in life, according to a recent study.

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   Jul 29

It's turtle-nesting season in Florida

By Herp News

MIAMI (AP) — It's turtle-nesting season in Florida, when sea turtles lay their eggs and hatchlings head for the water.

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   Jul 29

Herp Video of the Week: Soft Shelled Turtle!

Check out this video “Soft Shelled Turtle,” submitted by kingsnake.com user freymann.
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
Read more here: King Snake

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   Jul 28

2-headed turtle at San Antonio Zoo so popular the critter gets her own Facebook page

By Herp News

A two-headed turtle born last month at the San Antonio Zoo has become so popular that she has her own Facebook page.

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   Jul 28

2-headed turtle at Texas zoo gets Facebook page

By Herp News

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — A two-headed turtle born last month at the San Antonio Zoo has become so popular that she has her own Facebook page.

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   Jul 28

Saskatchewan scientists work to protect rarely seen blood-spurting lizard

By Herp News

REGINA – Here's something you don't see every day — a lizard that shoots blood out of its eyes.

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   Jul 26

Pesticides contaminate frogs from Californian national parks

By Herp News

Pesticides commonly used in California’s Central Valley, one of the world’s most productive agricultural regions, have been found in remote frog species miles from farmland. Researchers have demonstrated the contamination of Pacific Tree Fogs in remote mountain areas, including national parks; supporting past research on the potential transport of pesticides by the elements.

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   Jul 26

Dog saves New Hampshire from being eaten by python

So, a python apparently capable of eating a T. rex got out of its cage at a Dartmouth frat house this week, and to hear the national media tell it, we’re just lucky Western civilization survived.

Oh, wait. Rather read the real story? Try this from the Hanover, NH, Valley News:

A small dog known to wear pink collars and matching sweaters made national headlines Wednesday after she discovered a ball python that had escaped on Dartmouth College’s campus last week.

Daisy, a 4-year-old Jack Russell/Dachshund mix, found the 3-foot-long snake while walking with her owner outside Tabard House, a coed Dartmouth fraternity, around 8 p.m. Tuesday night.

The snake’s disappearance had been picked up by the national news media when it went missing from its tank at the fraternity last week. Tabard President Connie Gong, a Dartmouth student who is watching the snake this summer, first noticed it was gone on Thursday.

The story erupted online again Wednesday, as the Associated Press picked up the scent. Other news outlets produced their own articles, including the Atlantic Wire, which dubbed the pooch “Hero Dog.”

[…]

[W]hile Hanover Police sought the public’s help in locating the snake, advising people to use caution if they came across it, [veterinarian Christine] Pinello said humans and animals alike were in little danger. Adult pythons can grow up to 5 feet, and they’re not poisonous. A python like the one that escaped Tabard would only eat small animals like mice, Pinello said.

“A 3-foot python really isn’t big,” Pinello said. “The python is probably scared.”

Hanover Police Captain Frank Moran said his department was aware that the snake had been found and the snake is now a “non-issue.”

He offered a joke, too: “The only thing that’s concerning is that now it’s 9 feet long.”

The Dartmouth reported Tuesday night that Gong said the python — named Lyude, and presumably still only 3 feet long — has been returned to its cage.

Read the full story here.

Photo: James M. Patterson/Valley News …read more
Read more here: King Snake

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   Jul 26

Reptile moves from N.M. to Colorado reserve

By Herp News

An alligator-like reptile found roaming a New Mexico neighborhood has been sent to a reserve in southern Colorado.

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   Jul 25

Reptile found in Santa Fe sent to Colorado reserve

By Herp News

SANTA FE, N.M.—An alligator-like scaly reptile found roaming a Santa Fe neighborhood has been sent to a reserve in southern Colorado.

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   Jul 25

Saskatchewan scientists work to protect rare, blood-squirting lizard

By Herp News

Here's something you don't see every day — a lizard that shoots blood out of its eyes.

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   Jul 25

Efforts renewed to protect lizard that shoots blood from eyes

By Herp News

Parks Canada is renewing their efforts to protect the greater short-horned lizard, a small toad-looking animal that is capable of shooting blood from it's eyes.

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   Jul 25

How YouTube has put the world’s only poisonous primates at risk

By Herp News

It all started with a video: in 2009 a Russian man uploaded a video of himself tickling his exotic pet (a pygmy slow loris) from Vietnam onto the hugely popular site YouTube. Since then the video has been viewed over half a million times. But a new study in the open source journal in PLoS ONE, finds that such YouTube videos have helped fuel a cruel, illegal trade that is putting some of the world’s least-known primates at risk of extinction. Lorises are small, shy, and nocturnal primates that inhabit the forests of tropical Asia, but the existence of all eight species is currently imperiled by a booming illegal pet trade that has been aided by videos of lorises being tickled, holding tiny umbrellas, or doing other seemingly cute (but wholly unnatural) things.

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   Jul 25

Cheetah don’t overheat during hunts

By Herp News

A new study published in Biology Letters finds that contrary to popular opinion, cheetah don’t overheat during hunts. But their body temperature rises after successful hunts due to stress than another predator may seize their prey.

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   Jul 25

Three Students Receive Tortoise Young Entrepreneurs Scholarships

By Herp News

Lars Hanson of Olathe, Kan., Kaitlin Long of Manhattan, Kan. and Clara Porter of Warsaw, Mo. are the recipients of the inaugural Tortoise Young Entrepreneurs Scholarships. The scho

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   Jul 25

Rescued Florida sea turtle headed for Las Vegas casino "retirement"

By Herp News

MIAMI (Reuters) – An ailing 320-pound, green sea turtle, believed to be about 50 years old, was packed in a customized FedEx crate to be shipped to Las Vegas on Thursday to give it a better home at a luxury casino. The turtle, named OD, after a dive charter boat that rescued it in 2008, has been cared for at the Florida Keys-based Turtle Hospital for almost five years. It cannot be released due …

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   Jul 25

Booming cashmere trade eating up habitat for snow leopards, saiga, and wild yak

By Herp News

Snow leopards, wild yaks and other iconic wildlife on the world’s highest mountains and great steppes are becoming “fashion victims” of the surging global trade in cashmere, new research has revealed. Scientists found wildlife being driven to the margins of survival by the “striking but unintended consequences” of huge increases in the numbers of the goats producing the luxurious lightweight wool.

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   Jul 25

Scientists work to save lizard

From Yahoo News Canada:

A group of biologists working in Saskatchewan’s Grasslands National Park are trying to save one of Canada’s rarest and perhaps strangest creatures — the greater short-horned lizard.

This lizard, which can be found anywhere between New Mexico and southwestern Alberta, has a rather unique and strange defense mechanism. It shoots its own blood from its eyes to ward off an attacker.
The lizard has been considered endangered on Canada’s Species At Risk list since 2007, mainly due to habitat loss from “ongoing oil and gas development, proliferation of roads, proposed mineral development, and an increased human presence.”

Read the story here, and watch video of this lizard’s bloody defenses under the jump.
Continue reading “Scientists work to save lizard” …read more
Read more here: King Snake

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   Jul 25

Scientists work to save

From Yahoo News Canada:

A group of biologists working in Saskatchewan’s Grasslands National Park are trying to save one of Canada’s rarest and perhaps strangest creatures — the greater short-horned lizard.

This lizard, which can be found anywhere between New Mexico and southwestern Alberta, has a rather unique and strange defense mechanism. It shoots its own blood from its eyes to ward off an attacker.
The lizard has been considered endangered on Canada’s Species At Risk list since 2007, mainly due to habitat loss from “ongoing oil and gas development, proliferation of roads, proposed mineral development, and an increased human presence.”

Read the story here, and watch video of this lizard’s bloody defenses under the jump.
Continue reading “Scientists work to save “ …read more
Read more here: King Snake

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   Jul 24

The Evolution of The Turtle Launches KOHLER Original Recipe Chocolates Signature Terrapin

By Herp News

KOHLER, Wis., July 24, 2013 /PRNewswire/ — The  KOHLER Original Recipe Chocolate  story begins with turtles. And not just any run-of-the-mill turtle – a complex blend of chocolate; smoky, burnt caramel …

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   Jul 24

Frankie Tortoise Tails – The Mythical Ram

Frankie’sYear of The Ramcontinues.

I see a lot of discussion about sulcata ramming.

Both male and female sulcata ram. When they want to. Seen it.

Keepers with younger sulcata from hatchlings to a few years old really don’t notice ramming. When a sulcata is young ramming looks like hiding and sounds like hissing.

As a sulcata get’s older thingshappenand a sulcata owner will wonder, “Did that sulcata just ram me?” or “Did the sulcata just give me a love-tap?” For the medium sized sulcata a ram is more like a bump or a forward jump. Owners think, “Oh, I just scared him.”

When a sulcata gets big….well there is no mistaking when a big sulcata rams.

Never stand in front of a big sulcata when it rams. Just don’t.

There are signs. Indicators. Big White Flags. Don’t ignore them.

And never, NEVER, take the bucket away.

…read more
Read more here: Turtle Times

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   Jul 24

Zoos call on governments to take urgent action against illegal wildlife trade (photos)

By Herp News

In a single night in March, a band of heavily-armed, horse-riding poachers slaughtered 89 elephants in southern Chad, thirty of which were pregnant females. The carnage was the worst poaching incident of the year, but even this slaughter paled in comparison to the 300 elephants killed in a Cameroon park in 2012. Elephant poaching is hitting new records as experts say some 30,000 elephants are being killed every year for their ivory tusks. But the illegal wildlife trade—estimated at $19 billion—is not just decimating elephants, but also rhinos, big cats, great apes, and thousands of lesser-known species like pangolins and slow lorises. This growing carnage recently led to representatives of over 40 zoos and dozens of wildlife programs to call on governments around the world to take immediate action on long-neglected wildlife crime.

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   Jul 24

Australian logger: finding dead koalas ‘a daily thing’

By Herp News

Revelations of koalas suffering graphic injuries and death in Victorian timber plantations are evidence of a long-standing failure to properly protect the iconic Australian marsupials, according to a leading conservation organization. Footage on Monday night’s 7.30 report showed koalas, including babies, lying dead on the floor of a cleared forest. One koala was missing an arm while another injured animal relocated to a new area of bush was shown to be in visible distress.

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   Jul 24

Alligator bites handler, breaks arm in two places

An alligator handler in Florida had his arm broken in two places when a thousand-pound gator bit him during a demonstration at a party.

From the Sun-Sentinel:

Will Nace, a volunteer handler, was bitten by the alligator Lunge while performing during a private party at Native Village on Saturday, said park co-owner Ian Tyson.

The alligator grabbed Nace’s arm and dragged him into a pond where the two spun around. Another trainer jumped into the gated pit and manage to set Nace’s arm free.

Surge Achille, a party-planner at the park, said the frightening incident took less than a few minutes.

“It was surrreal. It was like your mind couldn’t catch up with what was happening,” Achille said. “I kept thinking it wasn’t real, but it was.”

Nace will require multiple surgeries and skin grafts. Read the full story here.

Photo: Sun-Sentinel …read more
Read more here: King Snake

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   Jul 24

Star tortoise seized, three arrested

By Herp News

The Forest Department on Sunday seized an Indian star tortoise from the baggage of a passenger, who had arrived from Coimbatore on Amritha Express, at Thiruvananthapuram Central railway station.

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   Jul 24

Saskatchewan scientists work to protect rarely seen blood-spurting lizard

By Herp News

REGINA – Here's something you don't see every day — a lizard that shoots blood out of its eyes.

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Read more here: herpetofauna.com

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   Jul 23

Fairy armadillo, Count Branickii’s terrible mouse, among 116 mammals documented in Bolivia

By Herp News

The Count Branickii’s terrible mouse, the Chacoan fairy armadillo, and the more familiar jaguar are among 116 species of medium to large mammals whose distribution in Bolivia is documented in a new database put together by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS).

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   Jul 23

Snake bites penis

It’s not often the Daily Mail and Gawker both pick up a story about a snake, but this one — from the “you can’t make this stuff up” category — took the prize.

As reported in the Times of Israel:

According to a Channel 10 report, the man, a resident of central Israel, paid his parents a visit in the northern town of Nofit. While sitting on the john, he was rudely and painfully interrupted when a snake appeared and bit his penis. The victim “ran from the room in horror” and went to Haifa’s Rambam Medical Center for treatment, according to the report.

A blood test found that the snake was not venomous. The man was in good condition, but doctors decided to keep him under medical supervision.

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Read more here: King Snake

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   Jul 23

First ever pangolin conference concludes all eight species in trouble

By Herp News

Demand for scales, meat, and even fetuses of pangolins have pushed all eight species of this unique mammalian order—Pholidota—toward extinction, according to the world’s first ever pangolin conference with the International Union for Conservation of Nature – Species Survival Commission (IUCN-SSC) Pangolin Specialist Group. Meeting in Singapore earlier this month, 40 conservationists from 14 countries discussed the plight of these little-known scaly mammals and how to turn around their global decline.

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