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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Read more here: Turtle Times

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.

Photo: Seven Network …read more
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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.

Read the rest here. …read more
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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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By Herp News

“Gone are the tiger-filled days when Corbett, as a small boy wandering the jungles of Nepal in the 1880s, peeped over a plum bush that heaved as a tiger walked out on the far side.” Adele Conover, in the Smithsonian magazine. Even as recently as the 1930s, 40,000 tigers roamed the forests of India. By the 1970s, tiger number had plummeted to less than 2,000. Historically, the tiger ranged from the Caspian Sea to the Russian Far North to the Indonesian islands of Java and Sumatra. Now, they occupy just 7% of this historical range, with India home to over half of the tigers remaining in the wild. And what a world they inhabit.

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By Herp News

Fences are not the answer to the decline in Africa’s lions, according to a new paper in Ecology Letters. The new research directly counters an earlier controversial study that argued keeping lions fenced-in would be cheaper and more effective in saving the big cats. African lion (Panthera leo) populations across the continent have fallen dramatically: it’s estimated that the current population is around 15,000-35,000 lions, down from 100,000 just 50 years ago. The animal kings are suffering from booming human populations, habitat loss and fragmentation, prey decline, trophy hunting, and human-lion conflict.

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By Herp News

Let’s go back some 14,000 years (or up to 50,000 depending on who you talk to), since this is the first time humans encountered the meandering, seemingly endless river system of the Amazon. Certainly, the world’s first Amazonians would have been astounded by the giant beasts of the region, including ground sloths and mastodons (both now extinct), as well as giant anteaters, armadillos, and tapirs, currently the biggest land animal on the continent. But these first explorers might have been even more surprised by what dwelled in the rivers: anaconda, caiman, and the arapaima. Wait, the what?

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By Herp News

When a giant tortoise named Lonesome George died, his kind, the Pinta Island tortoises of the Galapagos, suffered the same fate as the unfortunate dodo bird: Both bird and tortoise were wiped off their island homes and into extinction.

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By Herp News

Written by Tom Stephenson and Scott Whittle, with illustrations by Catherine Hamilton, The Warbler Guide by Princeton University Press is the “go-to” guide for identifying the 56 species of warblers in the United States and Canada. Warblers are notoriously difficult to identify. These champion singers are small, hidden amongst the tree top canopy, flighty and dancing from branch to branch, with variegated coloring blending greens, yellows, reds, browns, and grays.

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Check out this video “Spring Salamander Migration,” 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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By Herp News

Keepers at a NSW reptile park are “devastated” after thieves broke in and stole 23 exotic animals, including an alligator, snakes and dragons. read more

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By Herp News

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

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By Herp News

Jake Jachna of Ocala asked what to do if a gopher tortoise is seen on the road, which raised a bigger question about other animals encountered by motorists.

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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

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

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By Herp News

Thieves have broken into a reptile park north of Sydney and stolen 23 animals, including an alligator, during a daring night raid.        

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By Herp News

The state gets lots of money to help desert tortoises in Washington County as part of an effort to conserve the species. The money will be used to purchase land in the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve, which has been damaged by wildfires.

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By Herp News

Adamanteus the golden retriever rested on the floor feet from a table of piles of venomous snakes on Saturday at Repticon, a reptile and exotic animals convention and sales show.

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By Herp News

The yellow-spotted green turtle that sparked mayhem this week on a Jersey Shore route may have left its home in the woods because of recent heavy rains or because of a strong nesting instinct.

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By Herp News

Snappy the turtle was out for a stroll when he landed a dress shirt and a free ride to the local pond. The 50-pound snapping turtle was crossing Bathurst St., near Elgin Mills Rd. W., in Richmond Hill around 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, when Samantha Butler scooped him up, put him in her trunk and gave him the shirt off her back — a pink-and-white striped Joe Fresh dress shirt, to be exact. Butler, a …

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Given the sheer tonnage of snakes Bryan Grieg Fry has seen up close and personal in his decades as a venom researcher, the accolade “coolest snake I’ve ever seen” has to impress us at kingsnake.com just as much it did as the guys at NatGeo.

From National Geographic:

The creature he’s talking is new to science, having only been described in 2006. It’s the spider-tailed viper (Pseudocerastes urarachnoides) and it is aptly named.

The tail is bizarre. If you saw a close-up photo of it, you’d struggle to believe that there was a snake at the other end. There’s a large orange or grey bulb at the tip, and the scales just before that are bizarrely long and thin. Together, these features look a bit like the legs and abdomen of a spider or their close relatives, the solpugids or ‘camel spiders’.

The resemblance is even more striking when the snake moves. It keeps the rest of the tail still, while moving the tip in a disconcertingly jerky way.

Read the rest, and watch video, here.

Photo: Omid Mozaffari/National Geographic …read more

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