By Herp News
Aug. 15, 2013, 7:25 a.m. Australian Reptile Park keeper Nick Wilson with three baby Tasmanian devils, born at the Devil Ark four months ago. Photo: MAX MASON-HUBERS
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GALLERY: Devilishly cute babies
Five Aceh elephants die in just six weeks
By Herp News
Police in Indonesia’s Aceh province are investigating the killings of three critically endangered Sumatran elephants, as conflicts with humans led to a series of elephant deaths across the province last month. Five elephants have died in Aceh since late June, including two orphaned calves, highlighting the need to mitigate conflicts between elephants and local communities as deforestation drives the animals into villages and plantations in search of food.
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China’s growing wine industry threatening pandas and other endangered species
By Herp News
In 1985, Li Hua visited a valley in the foothills of the Tibetan plateau. The area was better known for its panda population, but the oenologist realized that its high altitude, hours of sunshine, sandy soil and low precipitation also offered ideal conditions for growing grapes.
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Reptile expo, history pub, movies: Wilsonville events
By Herp News
My list includes a reptile expo at the Holiday Inn, movies at the library and in Memorial Park, a history program at McMenamins, and activities for the 55-and-older crowd at the community center.
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Turtles love golf; here's why
It turns out well-managed golf courses are better turtle habitat than some farms and parks.
At least, that’s the word from National Geographic, not normally prone to pro-golf hysteria. (If golf can be said to inspire anything like hysteria even among its devotees.)
In “Turtles Flourishing in Golf Course Ponds,” NatGeo reports on two studies by University of Kentucky herpetologist Steven Price, published in the Journal of Herpetology:
Price and his colleagues sought to understand the fate of turtles in the Charlotte, North Carolina, metropolitan area, where galloping growth has swallowed 60 percent of the undeveloped land in some counties.
The researchers set out nets baited with tins of sardines in 20 local ponds. Some ponds were on golf courses, others in cattle pastures or neighborhood parks. The scientists checked the traps every other day, extracting any occupants by hand.
The surveys showed that two common species—the painted turtle and the slider—were just as abundant in golf course ponds as in farm ponds … while neighborhood ponds placed a distant third.
And golf course ponds boasted a richer variety of turtle species than farm and neighborhood ponds, because the area around golf course ponds tended to have better connections to other green space, the scientists report in an upcoming issue of the journal Landscape and Urban Planning.
It’s not clear why more kinds of turtles hang out near the fairways than down at the local park. Perhaps it’s because golf courses often boast multiple ponds and even lakes or streams. And the courses’ large stretches of grass and field are good for turtle nests.
Read the rest here. …read more
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Scientists map plan to save lemurs
By Herp News
Primatologists and researchers have devised a wide-ranging plan to protect Madagascar’s most endangered lemurs from extinction.
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Mystery lizard in Brooklyn
By Herp News
A photo taken by a Brooklyn resident shows a roughly three-foot lizard in the backyard. It may be a monitor lizard, but animal experts have not been able to see it in the flesh to identify it. It showed up in the backyard of a townhouse on Osborne Street.
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Rhino slaughtered for its horn in city park
By Herp News
In another sign that the rhino poaching crisis has gone out-of-control, Kenyan officials announced late last night that a pregnant rhino was poached in Nairobi National Park, which sits on the edge of Kenya’s capital. Home to lions, leopard, giraffes and hippos in addition to rhinos, the park is known for its views of iconic wildlife flanked by Nairobi’s skyline.
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Forest fragmentation leading to higher extinction rates
By Herp News
The world’s species are in worse trouble than widely-assumed, according to a new paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), which reevaluates how scientists estimate extinction rates. The new model takes into account the impact of forest fragmentation on extinction rates for the first time, filling in a gap in past estimates. Much of the world’s tropical forests, which house the bulk of the world’s species, have been whittled down to fragments: small forest islands that no longer connect to larger habitat. According to the paper, species confined to fragments have a higher likelihood of vanishing.
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Premier Business Centers to Open at Two Turtle Creek in the Highland Park / Uptown / Turtle Creek Area
By Herp News
Irvine, California based Premier Business Centers , the largest privately owned executive suite and alternative workspace operation, has entered into a Lease Agreement with the TC PROPCO II, LP to operate an executive suite in the Two Turtle Creek Village.
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Every herper's favorite cop
A Florida police officer saw some baby sea turtles in trouble, and decided to give them a hand.
From Yahoo News:
Sarasota Officer Derek Conley was on patrol at 1 a.m. Saturday when he saw sea turtle hatchlings crawling toward the front door of the Lido Beach Resort. A passerby also told Conley that several dozen other baby turtles were walking around the hotel’s parking lot.
Conley, along with some resort guests, scooped up the hatchlings in a box and released them into the water.
“I began collecting hatchlings from the street and stopped traffic several times to do so,” wrote Conley in a report.
A news release says that Conley spotted three dead turtles, and he estimates that 90-100 turtles were saved.
Conley also called two area marine rescue groups.
Read the rest, and watch video, here. …read more
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Reptile exhibit called important education
By Herp News
A regular attraction at Charlottetown's Old Home Week is the source of extra discussion this year following a tragedy that saw two boys killed by an African rock python in New Brunswick.
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Germans hunt snapping turtle after reported attack on boy
By Herp News
Authorities have drained a lake in southern Germany to search for a turtle, after an eight-year-old boy's ankle was bitten while he was swimming last week. The boy's Achilles tendon was cut through twice, and the risk of another attack has made the search urgent.
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Tortoise Energy Capital Fund's Series C Mandatory Redeemable Preferred Shares Goes Ex-Dividend Soon
By Herp News
On 8/13/13, Tortoise Energy Capital Fund's 3.95% Series C Mandatory Redeemable Preferred Shares (NYSE: TYY.PRC) will trade ex-dividend, for its monthly dividend of $0.0329, payable on 9/3/13. As a percentage of TYY.PRC's recent share price of $10.18, this dividend works out to approximately 0.32%. On an annualized basis, the current yield is approximately 3.90%, which compares to an average …
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Flying Lizard completes with podium season 6th Round at Road America
By Herp News
Flying Lizard Motorsports won today's Orion Energy Systems 245 at Road America with its No 45 Venezuela / eSilicon Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car, driven by Spencer Pumpelly and Nelson Canache Jr., with Dion von Moltke and Seth Neiman bringing the sister PR Newswire / eSilicon No 44 home in 5th place. … Keep reading
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Nutrient deficiency in Amazon rainforest linked to megafauna extinction
By Herp News
Around twelve thousand of years ago, the Amazon was home to a menagerie of giant creatures: the heavily armored glyptodons, the elephant-sized ground sloth, and the rhino-like toxodons among others. But by 10,000 B.C. these monsters were largely gone, possibly due to overhunting by humans or climatic changes. There’s no question that the rapid extinction of these megafauna changed the environment, but a new study in Nature Geoscience posits a novel theory: did the mass extinction of big mammals lead to nutrient deficiency, especially of nitrogen, in parts of the Amazon rainforest?
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How ‘teamwork’ between egg and sperm works: Little-known protein identified in vertebrate fertilization process
By Herp News
Researchers have decoded a previously unknown molecular mechanism in the fertilization process of vertebrates. The team of scientists have identified a specific protein in frog egg extracts that the male basal bodies need, but that is produced only by the reproductive cells of the female. This “teamwork” between the egg and sperm is what makes embryo development possible.
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Whole-genome sequencing uncovers the mysteries of the endangered Chinese alligator
By Herp News
Scientists have completed the genome sequencing and analysis of the endangered Chinese alligator (Alligator sinensis). This is the first published crocodilian genome, providing a good explanation of how terrestrial-style reptiles adapt to aquatic environments and temperature-dependent sex determination.
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Reality TV meets real world, 'Mountain Man' style
By Herp News
TRIPLETT, N.C. (AP) — The way Eustace Conway sees it, there's the natural world, as exemplified by his Turtle Island Preserve in the Blue Ridge Mountains. And then there's the “plastic, imitation” world that most other humans inhabit.
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Course Source: Eagle Vines, Turtle Bay
By Herp News
IN THE PUBLIC EYE: Eagle Vines Vineyards and Golf Club in American Canyon, Calif.
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Little NGO takes on goliath task: conserving the vanishing ecosystems of Paraguay
By Herp News
Landlocked in the navel of South America, the forests, wetlands and savannahs of Paraguay boast rich biodiversity and endemic species, yet the unique landscapes of Paraguay also face increasing threats, primarily from agricultural expansion. Controlled burns and clear cutting have become common practice as wildlands are converted for soy and cattle production. In some areas this land conversion is rapid: the Paraguayan Chaco, for instance, is being lost at a rate of 10% per year. One organization is working to reverse this trend. Para La Tierra (PLT) is a small NGO dedicated to the conservation of threatened habitats in Paraguay. Located on the Reserva Natural Laguna Blanca, in-between two of South America’s most threatened habitats: the Atlantic Forest and the vast topical savannah known as the cerrado, PLT is in a unique position to champion conservation.
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Germans hunt rogue turtle in lake
By Herp News
Germans have drained a lake in a determined search for a turtle blamed for an attack on a young swimmer.
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Lizard Point, Cornwall | Great British walks
By Herp News
• Click here for step by step directions • Click here for our interactive map of all the walks Distance 7 miles (11km) Classification Moderate Duration 3 hours Begins Kynance Cove OS grid reference SW6813 Walk in a nutshell A rangy circuit resembling the outline of a bat that will take you along sandy beaches and stony clifftop paths around the very end of the Lizard peninsula. Why it's special …
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Herp Video of the Week: Basic Reptile Incubator!
Check out this video “Basic Reptile Incubator,” submitted by kingsnake.com user PigZilla50317.
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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Lizard killed in Chelmsford blaze
By Herp News
By Samantha Allen sallen@lowellsun.com CHELMSFORD — Fire officials say a home on High Street was unoccupied at the time a fire started on the second floor, where five pets were rescued.
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Funnel-web spiders out in force
By Herp News
A reptile park that is the only facility in Australia to milk the funnel-web spiders for venom normally has a lull in winter. But the poisonous arachnids are coming steadily through the door.
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'It's a bit weird': funnel-webs spiders out in force
By Herp News
A reptile park that is the only facility in Australia to milk the funnel-web spiders for venom normally has a lull in winter. But the poisonous arachnids are coming steadily through the door.
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'It's a bit weird': funnel-webs spiders out in force
By Herp News
A reptile park that is the only facility in Australia to milk the funnel-web spiders for venom normally has a lull in winter. But the poisonous arachnids are coming steadily through the door.
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'It's a bit weird': funnel-web spiders out in force
By Herp News
A reptile park that is the only facility in Australia to milk the funnel-web spiders for venom normally has a lull in winter. But the poisonous arachnids are coming steadily through the door.
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'It's a bit weird': funnel-web spiders out in force
By Herp News
A reptile park that is the only facility in Australia to milk the funnel-web spiders for venom normally has a lull in winter. But the poisonous arachnids are coming steadily through the door.
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Lizard killed in Chelmsford blaze
By Herp News
By Samantha Allen sallen@lowellsun.com CHELMSFORD — Fire officials say a home on High Street was unoccupied at the time a fire started on the second floor, where five pets were rescued.
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Adventurous boys took turtle mania to new level
By Herp News
P REPARE yourselves for another onslaught of Turtle Mania. Filming is right now underway for a new movie on the four wise-cracking, pizza-eating mutants who are sworn to defeat the forces of evil from their sewer hideout in New York. The Ninja Turtles – katana-wielding Leonardo, free-spirited nunchaku master Michelangelo, technological genius Donatello and often sullen Raphael – were trained by …
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Hundreds work to save Hanoi's legendary giant turtle
By Herp News
Revered by the Vietnamese, the creature has been made ill by pollution, but Hanoians are now struggling to clean its lake Hundreds of people are working round the clock to clean up a lake in the heart of Vietnam's capital in hopes of saving a rare, ailing giant turtle that is considered sacred. Experts say pollution in Hanoi's Hoan Kiem lake is killing the giant freshwater turtle , which has a …
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Turtle, tortoise show held at Redlands Senior Center
By Herp News
REDLANDS — The California Turtle and Tortoise Club of the Inland Empire held its annual Turtle and Tortoise Show on Saturday at the Redlands Senior Center. Live exhibits, educational displays and turtle and tortoise adoptions were highlights.
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Lizard killed in Chelmsford blaze
By Herp News
By Samantha Allen sallen@lowellsun.com CHELMSFORD — Fire officials say a home on High Street was unoccupied at the time a fire started on the second floor, where five pets were rescued.
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Does size matter (for lemur smarts, that is)?
By Herp News
Does size matter? When referring to primate brain size and its relation to social intelligence, scientists at Duke University do not think the answer is a simple yes or no. In the past, scientists have correlated large brain size to large group size. However, in a new study published in PLoS ONE, scientists at Duke University provide evidence that large social networks, rather than large brains, contribute to social cognition, favoring the evolution of social intelligence.
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Python pet store yields 8 illegal, 1 endangered species
By Herp News
The African rock python that killed two boys in Campbellton on Monday was not the only banned species at Reptile Ocean, officials say.
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Climate change means tough times for Cascades frog
Snowmelt is decreasing all over the United States, putting human endeavors and wildlife survival in jeopardy. One victim of climate change is the Cascades frog, a denizen of the mountains of the Pacifc Northwest known for his distinctive “chuckle.”
From NPR:
In Washington’s Olympic Mountains things are looking dryer than normal. On a recent day, Maureen Ryan is out looking for the wet spots. She’s a researcher with the University of Washington and an expert on amphibians that live at high elevation.
These mountain trails are Ryan’s lab, so to speak. She studies tiny snow-fed potholes of water, cupped in the folds of high mountain ranges in the Northwest, a perfect habitat for Cascades frogs. But as the global climate warms, that habitat is receding.
“What’s happening to these frogs is in no way dissimilar to what’s happening to us, even if we can’t necessarily see it,” Ryan says. “These frogs are reliant on snowmelt for the water they need to live.”
People in the Pacific Northwest also rely on snowmelt to supply water for agriculture, industry, hydropower and drinking water.
Cascades frogs spend most of the year beneath dozens of feet of snow. But for a few short months in the summer, the frogs come to warm sunny ponds to feed and mate. While they’re at it, they make what some describe as a “chuckling” sound.
[…]
“Last year we had a good number of ponds … [that] dried up before the tadpoles had metamorphosed, so they didn’t survive there,” she says.
Ryan worries that with less snowpack and hotter summers, more egg sacks and tadpoles will be stranded out of water. That could ultimately decimate the population, unless they can move into deeper alpine lakes that are more resilient to the warming climate.
Read the rest, and watch video, here. …read more
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Reptiles taken from N.B. shop after boys’ deaths
By Herp News
The pet store Reptile Ocean in Campbellton, N.B., where two young boys were killed by a python snake as they slept in the apartment above. (CP)
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Cop Saves Sea Turtle Hatchlings at Florida Resort
By Herp News
Florida police officer rescues hatchling sea turtles at resort
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