By Herp News
The turtle was saved with the help of Palm Beach’s coastal coordinator and the Palm Beach Fire Rescue Photo Credit: Christine Perretta, DB Ecological Services, Inc.
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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EXCLUSIVE: 3-foot-long reptile found in Honolulu
By Herp News
An almost 3-foot-long Iguana was captured Thursday night. The iguana somehow ended up at the Dillingham Business Center.
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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3-foot-long reptile found in Honolulu
By Herp News
A rare reptile found in urban Honolulu. An almost 3-foot-long Iguana was captured Thursday night. The iguana somehow ended up at the Dillingham Business Center. A security guard on patrol said he was caught off guard when he saw what he thought was an unusual creature. It was hanging out by the stairwell before rushed it into a corner. “I was like, ‘What is this this?” This is not a local …
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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Reptile Rally
By Herp News
How you can find out all about reptiles at PetCo.
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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Hogle Zoo reptile keeper on learning to love reptiles
Not everyone starts out liking reptiles — but that can change, as this profile of Hogle Zoo reptile keeper Emily Merola demonstrates.
From the Salt Lake Tribune:
Emily Merola can relate. The Hooper native and psychologist is Hogle Zoo’s primary reptile keeper. She takes care of 52-year-old Kronk, a huge Aldabra tortoise that sometimes follows her around like a puppy during feeding time, Bill and Hillary — the crocs, not the political couple — and an assortment of snakes, lizards, turtles, tortoises and amphibians.
“You have to work with reptiles to really appreciate the grand scale of them,” she said. “They are unlike any animal that I have ever worked with before. They are kind of a challenge. You can’t read them like an ape or a giraffe. They don’t have facial expressions. They are the most laid back animals you could ever work with, and the most difficult.”
Merola began her Hogle Zoo career volunteering and then serving an internship. She became part of the staff called Eco Explorers that took live animals or exhibits around the grounds and interacted with visitors. She took a seasonal position and, two years later, earned her way into the reptile supervisor position.
Read more here.
Photo: Tom Wharton/Salt Lake Tribune …read more
Read more here: King Snake
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Reptile keeper on learning to love reptiles
Not everyone starts out liking reptiles — but that can change, as this profile of Hogle Zoo reptile keeper Emily Merola demonstrates.
From the Salt Lake Tribune:
Emily Merola can relate. The Hooper native and psychologist is Hogle Zoo’s primary reptile keeper. She takes care of 52-year-old Kronk, a huge Aldabra tortoise that sometimes follows her around like a puppy during feeding time, Bill and Hillary — the crocs, not the political couple — and an assortment of snakes, lizards, turtles, tortoises and amphibians.
“You have to work with reptiles to really appreciate the grand scale of them,” she said. “They are unlike any animal that I have ever worked with before. They are kind of a challenge. You can’t read them like an ape or a giraffe. They don’t have facial expressions. They are the most laid back animals you could ever work with, and the most difficult.”
Merola began her Hogle Zoo career volunteering and then serving an internship. She became part of the staff called Eco Explorers that took live animals or exhibits around the grounds and interacted with visitors. She took a seasonal position and, two years later, earned her way into the reptile supervisor position.
Read more here.
Photo: Tom Wharton/Salt Lake Tribune …read more
Read more here: King Snake
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Why endangered species need conservation champions
By Herp News
Without heroic conservationists many of today’s most beloved species would be extinct: think of pandas, tigers, and elephants. By single-mindly focused on saving a particular species, these conservation champions bring much-needed research, publicity, and, most importantly, targeted actions to keep an imperiled animal from the brink. Through their own exuberance, these heroes also gather others to their cause. But, many of the world’s heroic conservationists are little-known to the broader public. To address this a new book, Wildlife Heroes: 40 Leading Conservationists and the Animals They Are Committed to Saving, strives to introduce the public to some of the world’s most devoted conservationists.
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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Laser therapy for sea turtles
A donated $24,000 laser is helping the South Carolina Aquarium rehabilitate hundreds of injured sea turtles and another mammals, fish, and wildlife.
From the Herald Online:
An endangered Kemp’s ridley sea turtle was fitted with a black hood and held quietly Tuesday as it received laser therapy for a joint injury that, under normal circumstances, could keep it in the South Carolina Aquarium’s Sea Turtle Hospital for as long as two years.
The turtle, stunned by last winter’s cold, has developed a bone infection. The aquarium’s new laser will ease the creature’s pain and is expected to reduce its recovery time.
Read more here.
Photo: Bruce Smith/HeraldOnline.com …read more
Read more here: King Snake
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Pa. man finds reptile near sewer, offers gator aid
By Herp News
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A Philadelphia man has offered a little gator aid — calling animal control authorities to help rescue a juvenile alligator he found near a sewer grate on his street.
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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Belfast lizard numbers ‘devastated’
By Herp News
A newly-discovered population of lizards has been “devastated” by arsonists setting fire to Cave Hill, according to the Belfast Hills Partnership.
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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Pa. man finds reptile near sewer, offers gator aid
By Herp News
A Philadelphia man has offered a little gator aid — calling animal control authorities to help rescue a juvenile alligator he found near a sewer grate on his street.
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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Syrian bald ibis may be down to a single bird
By Herp News
The eastern population of northern bald ibises (Geronticus eremita) has likely fallen to a single breeding bird, reports conservationists monitoring the dwindling flock. The population had believed to be obliterated starting from 1989 until a small group was discovered in 2002 in Syria. However, it now appears that this last group is vanishing one-by-one despite efforts by conservation groups to sustain the distinct population.
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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Illegal wildlife trade flourishes in Sumatra
By Herp News
In a chilly rain on Sunday, in a town just a few kilometers beyond the edge of a protected Sumatran rainforest, a young orangutan sat perched on a piece of plywood and grabbed the metal wires of his tiny cage.
He has sat in that cage for six months and, like dozens of other species on display in this ‘zoo’ in the town of Kadang in Aceh, he has a price tag. This packed assembly is an acknowledged front for illegal trafficking in wildlife.
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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Flying rainbows: the scarlet macaw returns to Mexico
By Herp News
On April 21, 2013, the first flock of scarlet macaws (of many more to come) was released into the jungles of Aluxes Ecopark, nearby classified World Heritage Site Palenque National Park, as a part of a massive reintroduction project to restore the popular and culturally-significant bird to the well preserved rainforests of Palenque and the rest of its southern Mexico homeland—where the species has been extinct for close to 70 years.
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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Conserving the long-neglected freshwater fish of Borneo
By Herp News
Borneo is a vast tropical island known for orangutans, rhinos, elephants, sun bears, proboscis monkeys, hornbills, and ubiquitous leeches. Conservationists have championed all of these species (aside from the leeches) in one way or another, but like many tropical regions Borneo’s freshwater species have long been neglected, despite their rich biodiversity and importance to local people. But a new organization, the Kinabatangan River Spirit Initiative, is working to change that.
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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Ripped-off reptile reunited with relieved owner
By Herp News
Darius Dio was in town visiting when he parked to go into the Hard Rock Hotel.
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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Lizard left in car reunites with owner
By Herp News
A rare lizard left inside a car that was reported stolen has been reunited with its owner.
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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Turtles watch for, snack on gelatinous prey while swimming
By Herp News
Loggerhead turtles use visual cues to find gelatinous prey to snack on as they swim in open waters, according to new research.
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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Tigers, orangutans, rhinos: Sumatra’s big mammals on the edge of extinction
By Herp News
Karman Lubis’s body was found near where he had been working on a Sumatran rubber plantation. His head was found several days later a mile away and they still haven’t found his right hand. He had been mauled by a Sumatran tiger that has been living in Batang Gadis National Park and he was one of five people killed there by tigers in the last five years.
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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Bird extravaganza: scientists discover 15 new species of birds in the Amazon
By Herp News
From 2000-2009, scientists described on average seven new bird species worldwide every year. Discovering a new bird is one of the least common of any species group, given that birds are highly visible, mobile, and have been scrutinized for centuries by passionate ornithologists and birders. But descriptions this year already blows away the record year over the last decade (in 2001 when nine new birds were described): scientists working in the southern Amazon have recorded an incredible 15 new species of birds according to the Portuguese publication Capa Aves. In fact, this is the largest group of new birds uncovered in the Brazilian in the Amazon in 140 years.
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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Featured video: gorgeous golden takin caught on camera trap
By Herp News
The takin (Budorcas taxicolor) is a goat-antelope species that lives in the Himalayan Mountains. Takins are social bovines and are often spotted traveling in packs of 15 or more. Packs tend to be composed of female takins as the male takin is largely solitary outside of the summer rutting season. The takin is listed as a Vulnerable species by the IUCN Red List and is considered to be Endangered in China.
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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Reward offered in brutal turtle beating in Wisconsin
The Global Conservation Group is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for the fatal beating of a snapping turtle at the Delbrook Golf Course in Delavan, Wisc., on June 10 between 7:30 and 9:30 a.m.
The female turtle, looking for a place to lay her eggs, was found lying in the sand in a bunker with holes in its shell. She was also struck in the right eye, a wound which appeared to have been from a golf club. Investigators looked for her eggs but were unable to find them.
Anyone with information about this case should call the DNR hotline at 1-800-TIP-WDNR or 1-800-847-9367. Callers can remain anonymous.
If you would like to contribute to the reward fund, you can do so here.
…read more
Read more here: King Snake
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Mysterious fungus striking snakes in Tennessee
A fungus that has killed snakes in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Illinois has been identified in timber rattlesnakes in Tennessee.
From Nashville NPR:
Infected snakes have been located in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Illinois has seen multiple fatalities over the last several years in a threatened snake species – the eastern massasuaga. While the total number of deaths is small, so is the total snake population in northern states like Illinois.
“Even a few individuals can be significant,” TWRA biologist Brian Flock writes in an email.
One of the leading researchers on the topic is wildlife veterinary Matthew Allender, who says the fungus that’s being discovered is often found on captive reptiles like bearded dragons. He told the University of Illinois News Bureau that finding infections in the wild is significant.
Read more here.
Photo: smalleraperture/Flickr via Nashville NPR …read more
Read more here: King Snake
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Real-Life ‘Lizard King’ Named for Doors’ Jim Morrison
By Herp News
A lizard the size of a German shepherd once roamed Myanmar, a new fossil analysis reveals.
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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trevor t. turtle – changes for betteror worse
Hello my name is mary and I am 11 and i have a huge turtle problem. I have moved from FL to TN ans have taken along my beloved red eared slider trevor but it proves to be tricky buisness up here. Since my turtle was caught in florida by a freind he is used to warm climates and fresh food abaou twice a month, but since it is waaay colder in tennesse i can no longer keep him outside and my supply of fresh fish has gone bust.He now livesin a glass tank andeats repto mins all the time. he has grown sine but his shell is still the same size causing folds of skin and muscle to hang out the edges of his shell I have fed him cuttle fish bones but his shell still wont grow! i have also encountered another problem turtles are illegal here! iwas at petco buying supplies and the clerk said since we got him out of state he is considered legal but i am still unsure. please input your advice ![[:please]](http://i2.wp.com/www.turtletimes.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/default/icon_smile_please.gif?w=560){kind=icon}
![[:help]](http://i2.wp.com/www.turtletimes.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/default/icon_smile_help.gif?w=560){kind=icon}
…read more
Read more here: Turtle Times
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How to stop a trunk and start a tail? The leg has the key
By Herp News
A new study reveals the mechanisms behind trunk to tail transition in vertebrates.
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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Endangered hawksbill turtles returned to sea
Sharjah, one of the United Arab Emirates, celebrated World Oceans Day last weekend by releasing a group of critically endangered hawksbill turtles to the Gulf of Oman.
From The National:
The global population of hawksbills, named for their narrow head and shape of their beak, has dropped by 80 per cent in just three generations despite international conventions banning hunting and trade.
They have been threatened in recent years by human encroachment, particularly construction and coastline activity that threaten coral reefs, one of the turtles’ natural habitats.
Other threats include fishing, pollution and eggs being stolen from nesting beaches.
The turtles released at the Mangrove Natural Reserve in Khor Kalba were found by members of the public and taken to Sharjah Aquarium, which has been running a programme to protect and rehabilitate the creatures for the past three years.
Ismail Al Bloushi, a marine biologist, has led a Sharjah Aquarium team rehabilitating turtles for their release.
Read more here.
Photo: Galen Clarke/The National …read more
Read more here: King Snake
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ScooterCooter's Blog – Unusually Overactive
I have owned a Florida Cooter for nearly 10 years now and have had minor problems. Just recently he has become very overactive and has been doing things such as climbing the glass in his tank and splashing water around like crazy! I acquired scooter when I was young and didn’t have much knowledge on turtles. He lives in a 75 gallon tank that he got for his 9th birthday, so he’s lived in it for about a year now. I don’t think the size of his tank would cause him to act out in this way? His tank is in my bedroom so I’m now loosing sleep over his noisy ness and I can’t figure out what is wrong. The temp of the water is not abnormal and nothing is new to his setup or environment. I’ve never had a determination on whether “he” is a male or female so I’m kind of wondering if this is normal for either sex to be acting like this. (Mating season?) I will upload a photo but he now has a larger basking platform and filter in the tank as well. I wish I had a more recent photo. …read more
Read more here: Turtle Times
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Video: Odd-looking, exotic lizard living under man’s house
By Herp News
An invasive but scarce lizard species is spotted in a Florida neighborhood. Source: FCN
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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Turtle Beach Announces New Call Of Duty®: Ghosts Gaming Headsets
By Herp News
VALHALLA, N.Y., June 11, 2013 /PRNewswire/ – Turtle Beach , the leader in games audio, is announcing a new two-year partnership agreement with Activision Publishing, Inc. involving the blockbuster Call …
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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Turtle Beach Reveals New Headset Lineup At E3
By Herp News
LOS ANGELES, June 11, 2013 /PRNewswire/ – Turtle Beach , the leader in gaming audio, is unveiling new gaming headsets at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) featuring the latest audio technology and …
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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Tortoise Energy Capital Fund’s Series C Mandatory Redeemable Preferred Shares Ex-Dividend Reminder
By Herp News
On 6/12/13, 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 7/1/13. As a percentage of TYY.PRC’s recent share price of $10.12, this dividend works out to approximately 0.33%. On an annualized basis, the current yield is approximately 3.90%, which compares to an average …
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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Real-life lizard king named for Doors’ Jim Morrison
By Herp News
By Stephanie Pappas, LiveScienceA lizard the size of a German shepherd once roamed Myanmar, a new fossil analysis reveals.The lizard, one of the largest ever known, has been dubbed Barbaturex morrisoni in honor of The Doors’ singer Jim Morrison, who once wrote a song that included the lyrics, “I am the lizard king/I can do anything.””This is a king lizard, and he was the lizard king, so it just …
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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Man helping turtle across Wisconsin road hit by school bus
By Herp News
A turtle on Highway 59 in Eagle, Wis., made it safely across the road with the help of a local man — who, unfortunately, got hit by a school bus in the process.
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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Tortoise Energy Capital Fund's Series C Mandatory Redeemable Preferred Shares Ex-Dividend Reminder
By Herp News
On 6/12/13, 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 7/1/13. As a percentage of TYY.PRC's recent share price of $10.12, this dividend works out to approximately 0.33%. On an annualized basis, the current yield is approximately 3.90%, which compares to an average …
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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Reptile Rally to Make Snakes, Alligators Seem Not So Abhorrent After All
By Herp News
Since it's rattlesnake season and all, we'd thought we'd try to put a positive spin on reptiles, especially those who are looking for someone to love, not to eat. This coming Saturday, Petco i…
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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Reptile Rally to Make Snakes, Alligators Seem Not So Abhorrent After All
By Herp News
Since it's rattlesnake season and all, we'd thought we'd try to put a positive spin on reptiles, especially those who are looking for someone to love, not to eat. This coming Saturday, Petco i…
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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Costa Rican environmentalist pays ultimate price for his dedication to sea turtles
By Herp News
On the evening of May 30th, 26-year-old Jairo Mora Sandoval was murdered on Moin beach near Limón, Costa Rica, the very stretch of sand where he courageously monitored sea turtle nests for years even as risks from poachers rose, including threats at gunpoint. A dedicated conservationist, Sandoval was kidnapped along with four women volunteers (three Americans and one from Spain) while driving along the beach looking for nesting sea turtles. Sandoval was separated from the women—who eventually escaped their captors—but the young Costa Rican was stripped naked, viciously beaten, and finally shot in the head. Police found him the next day, face-down and handcuffed in the sand.
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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Giant 'Lizard King' shared forests with mammals
A giant lizard, named after the Doors’ Jim Morrison, who was dubbed “The Lizard King,” once lived on Southeast Asia, sharing habitat and food sources with mammals.
From Science Daily:
A team of U.S. paleontologists, led by Jason Head of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, describes fossils of the giant lizard from Myanmar this week in the scientific journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Their analysis shows that it is one of the biggest known lizards ever to have lived on land.
The creature’s scientific name is Barbaturex morrisoni — which means “Lizard King,” in honor of the aforementioned Doors singer.
At almost six feet long and weighing upwards of 60 pounds, the lizard provides new and important clues on the evolution of plant-eating reptiles and their relationship to global climate and competition with mammals.
In today’s world, plant-eating lizards like iguanas and agamids are much smaller than large mammal herbivores. The largest lizards, like the giant, carnivorous Komodo dragon, are limited to islands that are light on mammal predators. It is not known, however, if lizards are limited in size by competition with mammals, or by temperatures of modern climates, Head said.
But B. morrisoni lived in an ecosystem with a diversity of both herbivorous and carnivorous mammals during a warm age in Earth’s history — 36 to 40 million years ago — when there was no ice at the poles and atmospheric carbon dioxide levels were very high. The creature was larger than most of the mammals with which it lived, suggesting that competition or predation by mammals did not restrict its evolution into a giant.
“We think the warm climate during that period of time allowed the evolution of a large body size and the ability of plant-eating lizards to successfully compete in mammal faunas,” Head said.
Read more here.
Photo: Craig Chandler / University of Nebraska-Lincoln, University Communications …read more
Read more here: King Snake
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Herp Video of the Week: Prairie Rattlesnake
Check out this video “Prairie Rattlesnake,” submitted by kingsnake.com user smetlogik.
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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