By Herp News
How did the turtle get its shell? It’s a question so obvious a schoolchild can ask it, but for more than a century, consensus has eluded the scientists who study the reptiles and their bony carapaces.
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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By Herp News
How did the turtle get its shell? It’s a question so obvious a schoolchild can ask it, but for more than a century, consensus has eluded the scientists who study the reptiles and their bony carapaces.
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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By Herp News
How did the turtle get its shell? It’s a question so obvious a schoolchild can ask it, but for more than a century, consensus has eluded the scientists who study the reptiles and their bony carapaces.
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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By Herp News
Through careful study of an ancient ancestor of modern turtles, researchers now have a clearer picture of how the turtles' most unusual shell came to be. The findings help to fill a 30- to 55-million-year gap in the turtle fossil record through study of an extinct South African reptile known as Eunotosaurus.
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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By Herp News
Through careful study of an ancient ancestor of modern turtles, researchers now have a clearer picture of how the turtles' most unusual shell came to be. The findings help to fill a 30- to 55-million-year gap in the turtle fossil record through study of an extinct South African reptile known as Eunotosaurus.
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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By Herp News
Mike Hopcraft says red-eared slider turtles are being released into the wild, damaging ecosystems
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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By Herp News
Mike Hopcraft says red-eared slider turtles are being released into the wild, damaging ecosystems
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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By Herp News
Unique among Earth’s creatures, turtles are the only animals to form a shell on the outside of their bodies through a fusion of modified ribs, vertebrae and shoulder girdle bones. The turtle shell is a unique modification, and how and when it originated has fascinated and confounded biologists for more than two centuries. Scientists have recently discovered that the beginnings of the turtle shell started 40 million years earlier than previously thought.
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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By Herp News
Through careful study of an ancient ancestor of modern turtles, researchers now have a clearer picture of how the turtles’ most unusual shell came to be. The findings help to fill a 30- to 55-million-year gap in the turtle fossil record through study of an extinct South African reptile known as Eunotosaurus.
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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By Herp News
A blogger claims to have spotted a lizard in a photograph of Mars. While studying a picture of the Red Planet taken by the Curiosity…
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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By Herp News
The turtle has been in no rush to give up the secret of its shell but new research led by Yale's Tyler Lyson sheds light on a structure unique in the history of life.
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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By Herp News
If you fly over the Great African Rift Valley from its northernmost point in Ethiopia, over the great national parks of Kenya and Tanzania, and follow it south to the very end, you will arrive at Gorongosa National Park in central Mozambique. Plateaus on the eastern and western sides of the park flank the lush valley in the center. Dramatic limestone cliffs, unexplored caves, wetlands, vast grasslands, rivers, lakes, and a patchwork of savanna and forest contribute to the incredible diversity of this park. What makes this place truly unique, however, is Mount Gorongosa—a towering massif that overlooks the valley below.
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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By Herp News
If you fly over the Great African Rift Valley from its northernmost point in Ethiopia, over the great national parks of Kenya and Tanzania, and follow it south to the very end, you will arrive at Gorongosa National Park in central Mozambique. Plateaus on the eastern and western sides of the park flank the lush valley in the center. Dramatic limestone cliffs, unexplored caves, wetlands, vast grasslands, rivers, lakes, and a patchwork of savanna and forest contribute to the incredible diversity of this park. What makes this place truly unique, however, is Mount Gorongosa—a towering massif that overlooks the valley below.
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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By Herp News
By Bolaji Eletta, PhD The opposition players and activists in Nigeria are campaigning for GEJ! If my permutations on the workings of the heart of the average Nigerian is right (I have not been wrong on too many occasions), I can authoritatively declare that Goodluck Jonathan will remain President of the Republic until May 2019. My theory is hinged on what I call the Tortoise hypothesis. Tortoise …
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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By Herp News
JACKSONVILLE, Fla.– A giant reptile was spotted in an Arlington neighborhood Tuesday evening. It took some collaboration to get it to shelter, but the question now is: where did it…
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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By Herp News
We got modest final Q1 GDP data (the Turtle) and weaker fresh weekly claims data (the Hare). Does this stop the Taper Sooner crowd in its tracks?
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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I derive great pleasure from feeding wild birds. The squirrel-proof hanging feeder has been in the same place in a tall crepe myrtle shrub outside my office window for years, and many common and a few uncommon birds visit it daily or occasionally.
One day, a couple of years ago, I swiveled my chair to watch the feeder, wondered why there was no bird activity, and saw that the feeder had a second watcher. Coiled in a tree crotch within easy striking distance of the feeder was a 30 inch long yellow rat snake, Pantherophis obsoletus quadrivittatus. I guess he was hoping for a bird dinner but the sharp-eyed avians had spotted the snake and temporarily boycotted the feeder.
Well, my freezer is never without a couple hundred mice, so I chose and thawed one of appropriate size, grabbed some forceps and mouse and visited the snake-shrub. Although I moved slowly, as I neared the shrub the snake began flickering its tongue and drew its head back into its coils.
Continue reading “A Striped Visitor” …read more
Read more here: King Snake
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By Herp News
Phoenix Mercury center Brittney Griner (42) celebrates after dunking the ball during the second half against the Chicago Sky at US Airways Center. / Casey Sapio, USA TODAY Sports
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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By Herp News
Phoenix Mercury center Brittney Griner (42) celebrates after dunking the ball during the second half against the Chicago Sky at US Airways Center. / Casey Sapio, USA TODAY Sports
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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By Herp News
A blogger claims to have spotted a lizard in a photograph of Mars. While studying a picture of the Red Planet taken by the Curiosity…
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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We actually found some good news about amphibians. No, really.
From the Vancouver, Canada, Globe and Mail:
Scientists at the Vancouver Aquarium have sprung into action, as part of an effort to prevent an endangered frog population from becoming extinct in eastern British Columbia.
The Rocky Mountain population of northern leopard frogs plummeted by the millions in the 1970s, and only two populations are now known to exist near Creston, in B.C.’s West Kootenay region.
The aquarium announced Thursday its scientists have, for the first time in Canada, bred the species in an aquarium setting and created an assurance — or backup — population.
Dennis Thoney, the aquarium’s director of animal operations, said officials plan to release about 2,000 tadpoles Monday in the Columbia Marshes near the east Kootenay city of Cranbrook, while maintaining a population at the aquarium.
Read more here. And try to smile.
Photo: Adult Northern leopard frogs. (Vancouver Aquarium) …read more
Read more here: King Snake
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By Herp News
A science blogger with a keen sense of vision claims to have spotted a lizard meandering around Mars.
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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By Herp News
A science blogger with a keen sense of vision claims to have spotted a lizard meandering around Mars.
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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By Herp News
PALM BEACH, Fla. — Rescue workers found a loggerhead turtle stuck in between the rocks on Palm Beach Island. The 200 pound turtle was found on the northern end at the Palm Beach Inlet at the Jetty. Palm Beach Fire Rescue was called in to free the trapped animal. …
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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By Herp News
Scientists have recently taken rare and incredible footage of a giant anteater with a camera trap in the Barba Azul Nature Reserve of Bolivia. This footage captures a giant anteater wallowing in a pit of mud. The animal lies down, rolling around and scratching itself, for a period of, what seems to be, over a minute.
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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With each passing year, as the various exporting countries close or open their seasons and/or shipping quotas the herps we see in the pet trade change. Availability of some changes from abundance to rarity, of others from rarity to abundance.
Two examples are the Colombian horned frog, Ceratophrys calcarata, and wild caught examples of the coveted red-tailed boa, Boa constrictor constrictor.
The former, once available in the thousands each breeding season, have not been available for decades and likewise for the boa, although far fewer numbers were involved.
Those among us who are keepers (yes, I am one) owe each and every animal, be their cost mere pennies or thousands of dollars, the best of conditions and care. Research each species before acquisition, and then acquire only those that you can care for adequately and with relative ease.
Continue reading “Are you a keeper?” …read more
Read more here: King Snake
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By Herp News
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The Russian Far East is one of the wildest places on Earth: where giant tigers roam snow-covered forests and the world’s biggest owls stalk frozen rivers. Bordering northern China and North Korea, the forests of Primorye are known for the diversity of habitats, including coastal forests along the Sea of Japan, vast coniferous forests in the Sikhote-Alin mountains, and even steppe. These diverse ecosystems also makes the forests a hotspot for endangered species, including Amur tigers (Panthera tigris altaica), Blakiston’s fish owls (Bubo blakistoni), and one of the world’s rarest big cats, Amur leopards (Panthera pardus orientalis), which number only 30-50 animals.
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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After treatment at Marathon’s Turtle Hospital for digestive tract impaction, a loggerhead sea turtle was returned to the ocean off of the Florida Keys on Friday.
From Nature World News:
The roughly 6-pound, foot-long animal nicknamed “Charley” was first located by a fisherman who spotted it floating in a patch of weeds 22 miles off of the Middle Keys.
Upon examination veterinarians discovered that Charley had ingested a small piece of plastic, causing its digestive system to become impacted.
Richie Maroetti, Turtle Hospital founder and director, said in a statement that turtles sometimes confuse plastic with one of their favorite food sources: jellyfish.
“It plugged up her bowel and she started to float,” Moretti said. “We gave her some antibiotics and gave her a little Metamucil and she’s just much better.”
Ultimately, however, Charley’s struggle is symptomatic of a much larger problem, Moretti warns.
“We just gotta keep plastic out of our ocean,” he said.
Read the rest of the story here.
Photo : Florida Keys & Key West News Flash …read more
Read more here: King Snake
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By Herp News
Over the past 30 years, amphibians worldwide have been infected with a lethal skin disease known as the amphibian chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis). “The disease can cause rapid mortality, with infected frogs of susceptible species dying within weeks of infection in the laboratory.” Jodi Rowley, a herpetologist with the Australian Museum told mongabay.com. “This disease has now been associated with declines and extinctions in hundreds of species of amphibians worldwide, and is a serious threat to global amphibian biodiversity.”
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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By Herp News
A new consensus statement by 520 scientists from around the world warns that global environmental harm is putting at risk the happiness and well-being of this and future generations.
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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By Herp News
A tortoise emerged triumphant from one of Oxford’s weird and wonderful traditions over the weekend.
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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By Herp News
In this installment of Zoo Spotlight, Menominee Park Zoo staff introduces us to Dash, an African Spurred Tortoise.
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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Check out this video “Corn Snake Morphs,” submitted by kingsnake.com user boa2cobras.
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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By Herp News
Tiny turtle Leroy was rescued by a fisherman in the Great Barrier Reef, suffering from floating syndrome.
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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By Herp News
Rio de Janeiro, May 27 (IANS/EFE) A pre-historic tortoise that lived in the Brazilian Amazon is the most likely ancestor of the tortoises that live in Ecuador's Galapagos archipelago today, paleontologists said.
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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By Herp News
One of our photographers was shooting video of a couch floating in the floodwaters. When he zoomed in, he spotted a lizard and some of the biggest coach roaches we’ve…
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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By Herp News
A Columbia restaurant chain has a $1,5000 penalty for employees not being paid for hours worked.
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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Thomas Cobb’s snakes: Many of us have followed the Thomas Cobb situation in Utah in which Cobb was unaware of a city ordinance requiring a permit to keep exotic animals. The language of the ordinance was ambiguous, and although some citizens wanted officials to enforce that Cobb only be allowed one pet, Cobb prevailed and was granted 29 permits for his 29 boa constrictors.
Cobb did a remarkable job representing the herp community, remaining professional and level-headed at all times. Not enough can be said about his dedication to present herp keepers in a positive light.
Thank you for being a responsible and dedicated herper, Thomas. Thank you to everyone who supported, and continues to support, Thomas, as well.
Shipping news: Legislation has been introduced to solve an interstate transport issue for exporting certain snake species. Under current ruling, if a shipment must stop anywhere in the U.S. after departure, it is considered interstate commerce even though the plane is merely stopping to refuel or add freight before leaving the country.
The proposed legislation will allow for export even when the shipment must pass through intermediate airports that are not designated ports. The ruling that listed several snake species as injurious under the Lacey Act has resulted in many headaches for anyone exporting these large constrictor snake species.
The snakes included in this bill are: Burmese python, Indian python, Northern and Southern African pythons and Yellow anaconda.
Photo of Thomas Cobb and son, Caiden Scott G Winterton, Deseret News
Continue reading “Thomas Cobb to keep his snakes” …read more
Read more here: King Snake
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Supermodel Cara Delevingne was quite the herp-loving little girl, reports heatworld.com.
Cara then:
Cara now:
Whether you grow up to strut the runway, crack genetic codes, or rule the world, just keep on herpin’, little girls! …read more
Read more here: King Snake
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By Herp News
What started out as a small reptile rescue run out of a local couple’s home has bloomed into the Great Lakes Zoological Society’s “World of Discovery” center, an indoor amphibian and reptile zoo of about 100 animals, located just west of Ann Arbor.
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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