By Herp News

Unsustainable hunting of forest elephants, gorillas, forest antelopes, and other seed-dispersers could have long-term impacts on the health and resilience of Congo Basin rainforests, warns a study published today in a special issue of the journal Philosophical Transactions of The Royal Society B. Conducting a review of more than 160 papers and reports on trends in wildlife populations, hunting, and land use in the Congo Basin, an international team of researchers conclude that unless effective management plans are put into place, hunting pressure in the region is likely to increase, with knock-on ecological effects.

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By Herp News

Found in Central America’s largest forest, the Maya Biosphere Reserve, the Guatemalan organization Arcas has rescued and rehabilitated thousands of animals since its inception in 1989. Unlike many wildlife rescue centers worldwide, Arcas focuses on rehabilitating every animal for eventually release back into the wild. This means intensive training for each species, including food gathering and predator avoidance. A new short video by Arcas highlights the group’s decades-long work.

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By Herp News

China is home to greater than 10% of the Earth’s mammals. In the Mammals of China, Andrew T. Smith, PhD and Yan Xie, PhD have produced a comprehensive easy-to-read pocket guide to this outstanding biodiversity. Mammals of China is the first time that the natural history of all the mammals of China are included in a single pocket guide book resource.

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Check out this video “Sulcata Tortoise Trouble,” submitted by kingsnake.com user rugbyman2000.
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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Check out this video “Sulcatta Tortoise Trouble,” submitted by kingsnake.com user rugbyman2000.
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

By Herp News

York, PA – At about 6:30 Wednesday evening, Bradley Ness' dog, Bella, began barking in the backyard and when Ness went to see what was disturbing her, he spotted it, crawling out from under the shed.

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By Herp News

A rehabilitated Georgia sea turtle who never seemed to want to return to the ocean is finally getting a permanent home — serving as her species' newest ambassador at Sea World.

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By Herp News

A rehabilitated Georgia sea turtle who never seemed to want to return to the ocean is finally getting a permanent home — serving as her species' newest ambassador at Sea World.

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By Herp News

CRUEL crooks snatched a pet tortoise during a burglary at a house in South Tyneside.        

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By Herp News

She's the sea turtle that didn't want to get away.

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By Herp News

She's the sea turtle that didn't want to get away.

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By Herp News

A century-old Turtle Bay town house, known as the Ellen Biddle Shipman House, with 13 rooms, 3 terraces, a roof garden and views of the East River and New York Harbor, was the most expensive residential property sale of the week.

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By Herp News

Snake enthusiasts and other reptile devotees flocked to the N.C. State Fairgrounds to be among others who have a warm spot for cold-blooded critters.

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By Herp News

The Tories' election strategist is a master of 'dog-whistle' politics, honed in his native Australia, but concerns about his lobbying business are putting the prime minister on the spot The Conservatives' election strategist, Lynton Crosby, aka the Wizard of Oz, may have a new nickname if he can slink through the controversy over whether he has influenced government policy in favour of his …

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By Herp News

Indonesia’s president spoke out against the killing of a critically endangered Sumatran elephant (Elephas maximus sumatranus) last week, using his Twitter account to urge local authorities to take action in the case. The large male elephant was found dead last Saturday morning near Rantau Sabon village in Indonesia’s Aceh province. The elephant’s face was crushed, its tusks had been removed and taken and its trunk was detached from its body. Photos of the grisly scene were quickly circulated via social media, generating over 10,000 mentions on Twitter less than 24 hours after the animal was found, prompting a response from the president and other high-level officials.

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By Herp News

Hundreds of reptile enthusiasts are heading over to Araba Shrine this weekend for a reptile and exotic animal show hosted by Repticon.

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By Herp News

A recent study conducted by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) on endangered Galapagos sea lions (Zalophus wollebaeki) has revealed that the animals are more susceptible to starvation as a result of their exposure to humans. Over a span of more than 18 months, conservationists tagged and monitored the behavior and physiology of two groups of 60 Galapagos sea lions, one in San Cristobal, which is inhabited by humans, and one in Santa Fe, where there are no humans, dogs, cats, mice, or rats.

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By Herp News

If you could hit the reset button on evolution and start over, would essentially the same species appear? Yes, according to a study of Caribbean lizards.

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It’s Friday, so let’s be happy! And all you have to do to get that way is read this good news from the Houston Zoo, where their efforts to keep Houston toad populations healthy and thriving are paying off.

From the zoo blog:

We have been very successful in raising the tadpoles and subsequent toadlets that we kept back from our releases. Of all the tadpoles that hatched from the eggs, we only lost 5! We now actually have too many toadlets (200+) to keep here at the facility! In the coming weeks, we will once again work with researchers from Texas State University and USFWS to release these little guys back out into the wild. This will mark our fourth release of the year and is the first time ever that we have released three different life stages: eggs, juveniles, and adults!

Read the rest here!

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My turtle recently had a growth of some sort on it’s neck. I thought it might have gotten scratched in it’s enclosure, but then the growth got bigger. I’ve been checking it everyday and it stopped growing. Tonight I checked on it and the growth was starting to get a little white around the base of it. About an hour later the growth had come out and the part that was in Dot’s neck area was all white, but it was still attached by a piece of skin. I left it on because I don’t know if it is causing Dot pain and if it was I didn’t want to pull it off and possibly start bleeding and result in an infection. Is Dot safe to be with the other 2 turtles I have. If Dot is sick I don’t want her near Franklin and Tundra especially since Tundra just laid eggs the day. Please, can someone explain this????? …read more
Read more here: Turtle Times

By Herp News

Scientists have described a new species of poison dart frog after discovering it during a study to determine the impact of tourism on biodiversity in a tract of rainforest known as ‘The Lost World’ in Guyana.

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It’s hot and rainly this summer, Frankie.
How are you doing and what are you up to?
I call this Frankie’s Hurt Corner

The Hurt Corner is for ramming things.
I don’t stand in the Hurt Corner when Frankie is around.

Frankie hurts the bucket.

Yesterday, Frankie distroyed the clay pot.

This is Frankie’s pool.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1X9apR3578M/UegAfpKGwxI/AAAAAAAAAv0/Oyt1-SomTcg/s1600/on+it I don’t think it’s gonna last the summer.

I am doing my best to keep Frankie cool but it’s hot and it rains almost daily.

I swear I just mowed last weekend.

I don’t care if it’s hot. Get out here and help me mow!
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By Herp News

Finding true ecotourism companies isn’t easy. While the tourism industry worldwide has latched onto the term ‘ecotourism,’ in many cases it’s more propaganda than reality. Especially in heavily-touristed areas—like the Caribbean Islands—it’s difficult to find efforts that are actually low impact, sustainable as possible, and educational. However, some companies are beginning to make headway in a region known for all-inclusive resorts and big cruises. One such company is the relatively young Explora! Ecotour in the Dominican Republic, run by passionate naturalists, Manny Jimenes and Olyenka Sang.

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By Herp News

A team on South Georgia has successfully completed the world’s largest rodent eradication in an effort to rid the British territory of millions of rats and mice. Against the backdrop of an approaching Antarctic winter between February and May, three helicopters encountered perilous flying conditions while peppering the southern Atlantic island with 183 tonnes of the poison Brodifacoum. The team of 25 baited an area of 224 sq miles (580 sq km). The area targeted dwarfed the previous largest rodent eradication, on New Zealand’s Campbell Island, by five times.

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By Herp News

Last-of-Its-Kind Tortoise Gets Royal Treatment from Taxidermists [Slide Show]

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Dozens of animals, including a number of rare lizards and a baby alligator, were stolen from the Australian Reptile Park last week.

From News.com.au:

There are concerns for the reptiles as some are sensitive and require high maintenance, and without proper care there is a significant risk of them not surviving.

Australian Reptile Park senior curator Liz Vella said they were unsure exactly which animals and how many were missing.

“We haven’t been able to get into the park to do an animal count because the police are still taking fingerprints and investigating,'” she said.

She said the animals stolen were all part of the park’s educational collection.

“These are the ones we take out to show our visitors,'” she said.

“They are very rare and specialised – they aren’t dangerous but they need our care. A lot of them are also used in our regional breeding programs with other zoos.'”

Ms Vella said the animals taken were a mix between exotic and native and included geckos, lizards and a baby alligator.

“We’re devastated. We love these animals like they are our own,'” she said.

“They all have their own personalities and we are really worried about them.”

Read more here. Additional information and a video report are here.

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By Herp News

Staff at the Australian Reptile Park fear that 23 animals stolen on Sunday night may not survive away from the specialised care of their keepers.

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By Herp News

A new species of moth (Stenoloba solaris) was discovered in the Yunnan province of China, a new addition to the nascent genus of moth, Stenoloba. The discovery was published in the open access journal ZooKeys. The moth is colloquially known as the “sun moth” because of the intricate pattern that covers its upper wings and resembles the rising sun.

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By Herp News

Ecotourism and Conservation – Can it work? In the context of a study in the forests of Central Guyana, scientists investigated this very question and by chance found a previously undiscovered species of frog that only exists in a very confined area of the so-called Iwokrama Forest.

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By Herp News

Federal officials say two members of the Kennedy family who thought they were doing a good deed by freeing an entangled sea turtle actually violated federal law.

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By Herp News

BARNSTABLE, Mass. (AP) — Federal officials say two members of the Kennedy family who thought they were doing a good deed by freeing an entangled sea turtle actually violated federal law.

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By Herp News

Lizard Monitoring showcased its affordable remote temperature monitoring technology in its IFT 2013 booth (4576).

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Never underestimate the power of a snake.

From NBC Washington:

A snake slithered its way into some equipment at a power substation, knocking out electricity to thousands in Arlington late Saturday night.

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By Herp News

FIU Coach Turtle Thomas, formerly hitting coach and recruiting coach at LSU, is the featured instructor at a pair of upcoming baseball hitting clinics scheduled for Aug. 2-4 at the Louisiana Baseball and Softball Academy located in Harahan. Thomas…

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By Herp News

A 2-meter-long leatherback turtle was released back to the sea on Sunday night after laying eggs on the shore of Barangay (village) Rawis, this city, the spokesperson for the Naval Forces for Southern Luzon (Navforsol) said on Monday.

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By Herp News

With the help of a robotic frog, biologists have discovered that two wrong mating calls can make a right for female túngara frogs. The “rather bizarre” result may provide insight into how complex traits evolve by hooking together much simpler traits.

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By Herp News

NSW police searching for 23 reptiles, including an alligator, stolen from the Somersby reptile park.

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By Herp News

An Australian bushman and naturalist claims to have captured video footage of the night parrot, a bird not seen alive for more than a century. John Young, who describes himself as a wildlife detective, showed the footage and a number of still photos of the bird to a packed room of enthusiasts and media at the Queensland Museum on Wednesday. The desert-dwelling night parrot, Pezoporus occidentalis, has never been photographed and the only evidence of its continued existence has been two dead birds found in 1990 and 2006.

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Climate change is making it easier for snakes to successfully prey on baby birds — who then fail to grow up and eat the mosquitoes that transmit West Nile Virus.

From Futurity.org:

University of Missouri biologist John Faaborg says that farmers, public health officials, and wildlife managers should be aware of complex indirect effects of climate change in addition to the more obvious influences of higher temperatures and irregular weather patterns.

“A warmer climate may be causing snakes to become more active and seek more baby birds for food,” says Faaborg.

“Although our study used 20 years of data from Missouri, similar threats to bird populations may occur around the world. Increased snake predation on birds is an example of an indirect consequence that forecasts of the effects of climate change often do not take into account.”

In the heart of Missouri’s Ozark forest, cooler temperatures usually make snakes less active than in the edge of the forest or in smaller pockets of woodland. However, during abnormally hot years, even the interior of the forest increases in temperature.

Since snakes are cold-blooded, warmer temperatures make the reptiles more active and increase their need for food. Previous studies using video cameras found that snakes are major predators of young birds.

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By Herp News

In the next few months, the beating of fragile fiery orange and black wings will transport the monarch butterfly south. But the number of monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) reaching their final destination has steadily declined, dropping to its lowest level in two decades last winter, according to a recent survey.

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