By Herp News
A reptile found abandoned in a supermarket toilet may be linked to the dumping of a bearded dragon in the same area two years ago.
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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Manatee, Sea Turtle Decals Celebrate ‘La Florida’ 500-Year Anniversary
By Herp News
New FWC manatee and sea turtle decals give people another chance to celebrate the 500-year anniversary of Juan Ponce de Leon’s arrival on Florida shores and support conservation of these iconic Florida species.
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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Lizard found in Edinburgh supermarket toilets
By Herp News
SSPCA sleuths are investigating the curious case of the lizard in the loo.
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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Herp Video of the Week: Garter Snake Eating Toad!
Check out this video “Garter Snake Eating Toad,” submitted by kingsnake.com user naturebreak.
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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Turtle’s mother
By Herp News
Mumbai, June 30 — The phone rings. Bleary-eyed, I look at my watch. It’s 3.30 am. Part of me wants to tell the receptionist that I’m on vacation before slamming the receiver. Instead, I tell him I’ll be down in 15 minutes. This isn’t your usual holiday. You don’t wake up late, go for brunch and stroll down to the beach (just a kilometre away) in your shorts. The beach at Ras Al Jinz (which …
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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Saving the Raja of India’s grasslands: new efforts to conserve the Critically Endangered Great Indian Bustard
By Herp News
The Great Indian Bustard, one of India’s iconic birds, once ranged across most of the Indian subcontinent. Due to a variety of factors, however, the Great Indian Bustard is also now India’s rarest bird and faces imminent extinction. The following is an interview with Ramki Sreenivasan, co-founder of Conservation India, a group that recently petitioned the Rajasthan Chief Minister to kick start “Project Bustard.”
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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nomd970's Blog – I have just put turtles in the pond and need some help
I have just put my turtles in my pond. But now I’m worried cause I don’t see them sunbave and when I give them food they don’t swim up to get it. what sould I do? …read more
Read more here: Turtle Times
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Reptile extravaganza is a family event in St. Charles
By Herp News
Watching her first crested gecko hatchling tentatively break out of its shell and peer onto the world is something that Jennifer O’Connor will never forget.The Elgin resident joined a few hundred people at the Chicagoland Repticon show Saturday at the Kane County Fairgrounds in St. Charles.
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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Dyz'n'Rocki's Blog – New Turtle Help
I recently found a dehydrated box turtle that had been hit by a car in the middle of the road. Rocki (the turtle) is fine and wasn’t injured by the car.
However, I have never owned a turtle before, and I feel the need to be cautious about how I treat her. I would hate for her to become ill due to my inexperience.
So I have been researching box turtles, their habitat needs, their normal behaviors, and eating habits. I’m very hard on money and can’t afford to get her checked out just yet. (But I’m saving)
So if anyone would have any advice on what to do, or how to setup her habitat, I’d be more than thankful. Any other similar experiences or fellow box turtle owners are more than welcome to add in. I’m very curious and willing to listen. …read more
Read more here: Turtle Times
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Sea turtle with only three flippers digs nest
By Herp News
A female green sea turtle has displayed a champion’s ability to overcome obstacles. The turtle was rescued from a crab trap line off Key West four years ago, with a left front flipper so badly damaged it had to be amputated. Released after rehabilitation, the turtle – nicknamed Margarita – was discovered by the staff of Loggerhead MarineLife Center on June 13 in northern Palm Beach County …
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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Sea turtle with only three flippers digs nest
By Herp News
A female green sea turtle has displayed a champion’s ability to overcome obstacles. The turtle was rescued from a crab trap line off Key West four years ago, with a left front flipper so badly damaged it had to be amputated. Released after rehabilitation, the turtle – nicknamed Margarita – was discovered by the staff of Loggerhead MarineLife Center on June 13 in northern Palm Beach County …
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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Rescued turtle with 3 flippers discovered nesting on Juno Beach
By Herp News
Photo courtesy of Loggerhead Marinelife Center Posted by Miranda Grossman / CBS12 News JUNO BEACH, Fla. — A female green sea turtle, once found entangled in a crab trap line, was found nesting in Tequesta, by
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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Tortoise Power and Energy Infrastructure Fund, Inc. Provides Section 19(a) Notice
By Herp News
This notice provides stockholders of Tortoise Power and Energy Infrastructure Fund, Inc. with information regarding the distribution paid on June 28, 2013 and cumulativ
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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Sumatran tiger density lower than previously thought
By Herp News
The critically endangered Sumatran tiger may be even rarer than previously thought, reports a study published in the journal Oryx.
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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Frankie Tortoise Tails – Gentlemen Start Your Engines
A long time ago, before there was a Frankie, when I was a Wanna-Be-A-Sulcata-Owner, I hung out with turtle people to learn more about sulcata tortoises. I really wanted to have a sulcata so I listened very carefully to sulcata owners for tips and advise.
One of those sulcata owners had a large 20 year old male sulcata tortoise named “Sam.” The owner told me that he had trained Sam to come to the sound of a bell by feeding Sam a strawberry every time he rang the bell. It took Sam a while to catch on but his owner thought it was worth months of training: when that bell rings Sam comes running.
I have never tried to train Frankie to come running to the sound of a bell. I never had to train Frankie to respond to the word “carrot.” He figured that word out all by himself. A key word I’ve tried to train Frankie to understand is “No!”.
Maybe Frankie doesn’t really understand the word “NO!” but he certainly responds to my loud, high pitched, panic screams of “NO! I think it’s thetonerather than the word that catches his attention.
So Frankie does recognize the word “carrot” and “treat”. Sometimes he ignores me but usually he responds with a beeline dash in my direction the minute I say, “Hey, Frankie! Wanna carrot?”
This evening I went outside to admire Frankie grazing on a freshly mowed lawn. Upon reaching the bottom stair step and stepping onto the ground I was puzzled when I spy Frankie making a fast double-time trot in my direction with enthusiasm in those dark glistening eyes.
I hadn’t said anything. I didn’t announce myself. I didn’t say, “Hello.” I didn’t wave at Frankie or show a carrot or anything. Still, Frankie was heading my way so fast I checked my clothes to see if I was wearing orange.
I prudently took a step to the side from where Frankie was coming to avoid being shin slammed. The side step gave me a needed extra moment to wonder what Frankie was up to or was expecting from me.
There was no slow down to Frankie fervent pursuit to reach me. By the time Frankie was nose to feet with me I was still side-stepping so he didn’t run me down. Frankie finely came to a screeching halt right on my heals.
“Hello, Frankie.”
Frankie immediately started grazing all the grass around my feet.
“Okay. Well, it’s nice to see you too, Frankie.” I was a bit relived.
I took a couple steps away and sat down on the grass. Not to be left two feet away from me Frankie turned around to follow and then commenced to grazing the grass all around me.
Grazing next to my hip Frankie was dangerously close to grazing my shorts.
“No, no, no! No eating the shorts. Good Frankie.” Frankie looks …read more
Read more here: Turtle Times
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Poll: People find snakes scary, want pet dinosaurs
While dogs are America’s most desired pet, and 21 percent of people rated snakes as the most terrifying of all animals, a hefty 18 percent say they want… a pet dinosaur.
From National Geographic:
Public Policy Polling interviewed 603 registered voters by telephone between June 11 and 13, asking them 36 questions relating to their views on pets, animal phobias, and other random creature preferences. The poll, which was not authorized or paid for by any campaign or political organization, had a margin of error of +/-4 percent.
[…]
1. Twenty-one percent rated snakes as the most terrifying animal, followed by alligators at 19 percent and sharks and bears at 18 and 14 percent, respectively.
2. Nine percent of those polled are vegan or vegetarian, while 91 percent are not.
3. Eighteen percent believe the Loch Ness Monster is real.
4. On preferences for an exotic pet, 26 percent said they would choose a tiger, 20 percent a giraffe, 18 percent a dinosaur, and 16 percent an elephant. (Read about exotic animals as pets.)
5. Ninety percent said they would not want a hippopotamus for Christmas—perhaps to the collective relief of hippos worldwide.
Read more here. …read more
Read more here: King Snake
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Koko, an adorable tortoise-shell kitten, is looking for her ‘forever’ home
By Herp News
Koko is a 1-year-old tortoise-shell kitten with a medium, orange and black coat.
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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Authorities nab ringleader of poachers who killed 89 elephants in Chad
By Herp News
During one night in March, horse-riding poachers slaughtered 89 elephants in Chad, including over 30 pregnant mothers. Now officials say they have caught the ringleader behind the mass-killing: Hassan Idriss, also known as Gargaf.
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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The neglected giraffe: world’s tallest animal in need of conservation assistance
By Herp News
-Julian-Fennessy_GCF.150.jpg?w=250)
Just two year’s before his assassination, Julius Caesar brought to Rome one of the world’s most astonishing living creatures: a giraffe. The animal was among Caesar’s spoils from his campaign in Egypt and according to the Roman writer, Dio, the giraffe, which was arguably the first to ever touch European soil, was paraded in the Circus for all to see. Today, over two thousand years later, the giraffe has become one of the world’s most recognizable animals: after all nothing looks quite like it with its spotted coat, tufted horns, and, most importantly, that impossibly long neck. But less commonly known is that the giraffe is in trouble with some subspecies down to just a few hundred individuals.
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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The Lizard King: David Yow on Three Decades of Music and Mayhem
By Herp News
Speaking from his current home city of Los Angeles, David Yow answers his cell with a cartoonishly protracted, “Yeeeeaaahhhello” that sounds deceptively like the start of an outgoing voice mail…
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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Australia aims to end Japan’s whaling
By Herp News
Australia is hoping to put a permanent end to Japan’s annual slaughter of hundreds of whales in the Southern Ocean, in a landmark legal challenge that begins this week. Australia, a vocal opponent of Japan’s annual “scientific” hunts in the Antarctic, says it is confident that the international court of justice (ICJ) in The Hague will outlaw the hunts at the end of a highly anticipated case that is due to start on Wednesday.
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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German snake expert bitten, killed by venomous snake during presentation
A German snake expert lost his life after being bitten by a viper during an educationl presentation in France.
From Time:
Dieter Zorn, 53, was in the middle of a presentation about reptiles when he was bitten several times by an Aspic viper. Due to a rare allergy, he suffered a heart attack and died shortly thereafter.
Zorn had been travelling to different villages across the region, delivering presentations that focused on educating the public about snakes and reptiles and helping them overcome their fears of the creatures. After he got bitten, he managed to get the snake back into a cage, preventing it from attacking anyone else present, the Local notes.
Emergency responders arrived at the scene and attempted to administer a blood thinner, but they weren’t able to save him.
Read the full story here.
Photo: Vasily Fedosenko / REUTERS …read more
Read more here: King Snake
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Two-headed turtle hatches at San Antonio zoo
By Herp News
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — A two-headed turtle has hatched at the San Antonio Zoo and officials have named her Thelma and Louise.
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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Two-headed turtle hatches at U.S. zoo
By Herp News
A two-headed turtle has hatched at the San Antonio Zoo and officials have named her Thelma and Louise.
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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Two-headed turtle hatches at San Antonio zoo
By Herp News
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — A two-headed turtle has hatched at the San Antonio Zoo and officials have named her Thelma and Louise.
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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Two-headed turtle hatches at San Antonio zoo
By Herp News
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — A two-headed turtle has hatched at the San Antonio Zoo and officials have named her Thelma and Louise.
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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Ugly animals need saving, too, say scientists
There’s a new organization in the science world, the Ugly Animal Preservation Society (UAPS), “dedicated to raising the profile of some of Mother Nature’s more aesthetically challenged children.” The organization’s president, Simon Watt, is fed up with pandas getting all the attention.
From Discovery News:
Watt, who is also an evolutionary biologist, and his team definitely did not showcase cute and furry pandas at recent UAPS events held at the Edinburgh Science Fest and Bristol’s Big Green Week. Media attention instead was paid to animals such as the appropriately named blobfish.
“Our society needs a mascot, one to rival the cute and cuddly emblems of many charities and organizations,” shares Watt.
At the end of each UAPS event, the audience votes on a mascot.
One contender is the Chinese giant salamander, with a head resembling an angry block of concrete.
Read the rest, and show some uglies the love, here.
Photo: H. Zell, Wikimedia Commons …read more
Read more here: King Snake
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New bird species discovered in Cambodia’s largest city
By Herp News
A previously unknown species of bird has been found hiding in plain sight after scientists photographed what was thought to be more abundant species at a construction site on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s capitol and largest city. Subsequent analysis revealed the species to be distinct.
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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Lizard expert receives award
By Herp News
Environmental award winner Hermann Frank of Timaru says he’s pleased to be recognised, but mostly he’s pleased with the local awareness of lizards and the way conservation of them has increased over the last four years.
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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In 1949, search for a giant turtle consumed Churubusco
By Herp News
CHURUBUSCO, Ind. – Deep beneath the murky waters of Fulk Lake, a giant turtle – a monster, they say – trolls along the muck, looking for food and avoiding humanity.
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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Lizard expert receives award
By Herp News
A Timaru man’s efforts to research and protect lizards has received national recognition. Hermann Frank is one of six people to receive Forest and Bird’s Old Blue Award for services to conservation this year.
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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Ancient, cow-sized knobby lizard discovered in Africa
By Herp News
The eccentric animal presided over a lonely desert some 260 million years ago, when Earth was home to a single continent, Pangaea.
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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Reptile with knobby head that wandered ancient Earth desert described
By Herp News
SEATTLE, June 25 (UPI) — U.S. paleontologists say a bizarre reptile with knobbly growths on its head roamed a vast, isolated desert about 260 million years ago.
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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New maps highlight global conservation priorities
By Herp News
What region of the world has the most imperiled mammals? Where are the most bird species found? And where are new amphibians being discovered? Indonesia and Malaysia is the answer to the first question; the Amazon, the second; and the Andes, the third. A new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) has used global data on 21,000 mammals, birds, and amphibians to create magnificent maps that highlight missing priorities for conservation.
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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New kind of signalling mechanism in plant cells discovered
By Herp News
Plants possess receptors which are similar to the glutamate receptors in the brain of humans and animals. Biochemists have discovered that these receptors do not, however, recognize the amino acid glutamate, but many other different amino acids.
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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Shrinking alligator penises and what they can tell us
Environmental contamination is causing some alligator populations to have difficulty reproducing.
From Living Alongside Wildlife:
When the sizes of penises were compared between lakes, alligators in Lake Apopka had on average 24% smaller penises than alligators in Lake Woodruff. When the time came for these juveniles to reproduce, this significant reduction in penis size made it difficult to mate and certainly didn’t impress the lady alligators.
This study showed that male alligators in Lake Apopka, which is contaminated with endocrine disruptors, were significantly different than alligators from a lake that had relatively little pollution. In order to help determine the physiological drivers, in other words the chemical pathways in the body that shape these physical differences, behind this reduction in penis size, Dr. Guillette also looked at plasma testosterone concentrations. Plasma testosterone is responsible for the formation and development of male external genitalia. He discovered that juvenile alligators in Lake Apopka had 70% lower concentrations of plasma testosterone than those at Lake Woodruff. Abnormal hormone levels like these are associated with decreased sperm counts and reduced fertility. This can be disastrous for maintaining healthy wildlife populations. The results of this study inspired Dr. Guillette to continue to look at the physiological effects of endocrine disruptors on reproductive systems.
Read the full story here. …read more
Read more here: King Snake
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The-Lizard-RNLI-host-moving-ceremony-for-families-remembering-the-loss-of-the-coaster-Ardgarry
By Herp News
Byline: The Lizard RNLI host moving ceremony for families remembering the loss of the coaster Ardgarry Page Content: The Lizard RNLI lifeboat station has played host to an extraordinary gathering of families who lost relatives in a shipping disaster in December 1962. Around a hundred people came together for the first time since the Ardgarry capsized off The Lizard in a ferocious gale with the …
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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Hacienda Heights children off to see the lizard
By Herp News
The Lizard Wizard visited the Hacienda Heights Library on Wedneday. The show offered a hands-on journey into the fascinating world of reptiles, amphibians and arthropods.
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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Local volunteer group on early morning turtle patrol
By Herp News
Sea turtle nesting season is in full swing here in the Lowcountry and a nest of turtle eggs is like gold at the end of the rainbow for one group of volunteers on Kiawah Island.
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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Knobbly reptile roamed vast desert
By Herp News
A bizarre reptile with knobbly growths on its head roamed a vast, isolated desert about 260 million years ago, researchers say.
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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