By Herp News

Biologists have discovered two new species of salamander in Tamá National Natural Park in Colombia. While the discovery should be cause for celebration, the news was dampened by the fact that both species are already infected with the deadly fungal disease, known as Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), which has wiped out amphibian populations worldwide. Both of the new salamanders belong to the genus Bolitoglossa, which are web-footed salamanders found in the tropical Americas.

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The world’s largest turtle may be extinct in as little as 20 years, conclude researchers in a study published this week.

“Sea turtles have been around about 100 million years and survived the extinction of the dinosaurs but are struggling to survive the impact of humans,” said reproductive biologist Thane Wibbels of the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), a member of a research team studying the fate of these reptiles.

The leatherback — the world’s largest turtle — can grow to six feet long and weigh as much as 2,000 pounds.

A study published this week in the Ecological Society of America’s scientific journal Ecosphere estimates that only about 500 leatherbacks now nest at their last large nesting site in the Pacific, down from thousands previously. The study tracked the turtle’s ongoing population decline since the 1980s.

“If the decline continues, leatherback turtles will become extinct in the Pacific Ocean within 20 years,” Wibbels said.

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By Herp News

Count coral in the Chagos Archipelago, save amphibians from the deadly chytrid fungus, replant trees in the Atlantic Forest, and count predators and prey in the African Savannah—a new free online game by Wildscreen, dubbed Team WILD, allows young players to learn about science and conservation while moving fast-paced through different ecosystems. Wildscreen is a conservation charity devoted to using imagery to raise awareness and protect wildlife.

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By Herp News

The majestic Pacific leatherback turtle could be extinct in two decades, scientists say.

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By Herp News

The majestic leatherback — the world's largest turtle — could be extinct in two decades, scientists say.

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By Herp News

The world’s largest sea turtle, the leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea), is vanishing from its most important nesting sites in the western Pacific, according to a new study in Ecosphere. Scientists found that leatherback turtle nests have dropped by 78 percent in less than 30 years in the Bird’s Head Peninsula on the island of New Guinea. Worryingly, these beaches account for three-fourths of the western Pacific’s distinct leatherback population; globally the leatherback is listed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN Red List, the highest rating before extinction.

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By Herp News

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (Reuters) – The giant Pacific leatherback turtle, known for its arduous 6,000-mile (10,000 km) ocean trek from the U.S. West Coast to breeding grounds in Indonesia, could go extinct within 20 years as its population continues to plummet, scientists say. “Sea turtles have been around about 100 million years and survived the extinction of the dinosaurs but are struggling to …

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By Herp News

The annual Sea Turtle Day Festival attracted 4,000 people last year, and Gumbo Limbo Nature Center is ready for its close-up on Saturday.

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By Herp News

Ridgefield — “Sit” and “sleep” sound more like commands you would bark at the family dog than at an alligator.

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Johnson County Public Library celebrates culmination with its 18th annual winter reading program with a special event at its four branches.

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By Herp News

The powerful venom of the saw-scaled viper Echis carinatus contains both anticoagulants and coagulants according to a new study. These may be a source of potent drugs to treat human disease. The saw-scaled viper family Echis, responsible for most snake attacks on humans, are recognizable by the ‘sizzling’ noise they make, produced by rubbing together special serrated scales, when threatened. Echis venom causes coagulopathy, which can result in symptoms ranging from lack of blood clotting, hemorrhage, renal failure and stroke.

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By Herp News

The promise of lemurs, lizards, and a bouquet of biodiversity brought mongabay.com founder Rhett Butler to Madagascar sixteen years ago. He was not disappointed by what he found and was inspired to return, many times to experience the wildlife, landscapes, and people of the dynamic island. In 2004, Rhett founded wildmadagascar.org, a site that highlights the spectacular cultural and biological richness of Madagascar and reports on environmental news for the Indian Ocean island nation.

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By Herp News

An international team led by the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) has documented a 78 percent decline in the number of nests of the critically endangered leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) at the turtle's last stronghold in the Pacific Ocean.

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By Herp News

International team led by UAB finds 78 percent drop in leatherback turtle nests at primary nesting site; largest marine turtle in world may vanish.

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By Herp News

An international team led by the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) has documented a 78 percent decline in the number of nests of the critically endangered leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) at the turtle’s last stronghold in the Pacific Ocean.

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By Herp News

The number of tigers being captive bred in China for consumption exceed those surviving in the wild—across 13 countries—by over a third, according to a new report by the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA). The report, Hidden in Plain Sight, alleges that while the Chinese government has been taking a tough stance on tiger conservation abroad, at home it has been secretly creating demand for the internationally-banned trade. Few animals in the world have garnered as much conservation attention at the tiger (Panthera tigirs), including an international summit in 2010 that raised hundreds of millions of dollars for the vanishing wild cats.

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Our Jeff Barringer was at the NARBC show in Arlington, Tex., last weekend — and faster than you can say, “Pics or it didn’t happen!”, he created this photo album from the show.

Our favorite? The beautiful artwork displayed by Jeff Littlejohn, like this piece:

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By Herp News

Menswear and accessories maker Turtle is set to launch hand-woven khadi garments next month. The new range – complete with shirts, trousers and jackets – will be marketed as premium casual wear and will hit stores by the first week of March.

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By Herp News

Cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) are unique among large cats. They have a highly specialized body, a mild temperament, and are the fastest living animals on land. Acinonyx jubatus venaticus, the Asiatic subspecies, is unique among cheetahs and the only member of five currently living subspecies to occur outside of Africa. Listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List—with a population of between 70 and 100 individuals—the Asiatic cheetah is one of the rarest felines on the planet. But new proposed road through one of its last habitat strongholds may threaten the cat even further.

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By Herp News

The late, great Ernie Harwell recited this “Voice of the Turtle” passage from Song of Solomon before the Detroit Tigers' exhibition opener each year during spring training.

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By Herp News

Kolkata-headquartered menswear apparel and accessories maker Turtle is set to launch khadi garments in the premium casual wear segment by the first week of March.

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How do you ship a 70-million-year-old fossilized dinosaur back to the land it was smuggled out of? Very, very carefully.

From Popular Science:

“You’d take all the bones apart, and all the bones go in individual cases,” Kenneth Lacovara, a Drexel University paleontologist, says. Researchers can easily build made-to-measure plywood cases for the bone pieces, cushioning the fossils with foam. “We use packing peanuts. We use foam that is meant for home insulation,” Lacovara says. “Sometimes we use the foam that you’ll see in, like, expensive camera cases.” What foam he and his lab members use depends on the size of the bone, he says.

[…]

A few paleontologists rely on a Chicago-based company, called Rocket Cargo, that specializes in shipping for rock bands. “They’re used to shipping big things, and they’re used to dealing with odd cargo,” Lacovara says.

The Mongolian Ministry of Culture, Sport and Tourism will be responsible for shipping the Tarbosaur, but the ministry doesn’t yet know where it’ll get funding, whether the T. bataar will go by air or by sea, or many other details, says Minister Tsedevdamba Oyungerel. “Logistical talks just started but nothing is clearly cemented yet,” she wrote in an email.

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By Herp News

After a bounteous 2012, experts are cautiously optimistic about the 2013 sea turtle nesting season that begins Friday and runs through Nov. 15.

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By Herp News

Last year, Roger Peet, an American artist, traveled to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to visit one of the world’s most remote and wild forests. Peet spent three months in a region that is largely unknown to the outside world, but where a group of conservationists, headed by Terese and John Hart, are working diligently to create a new national park, known as Lomami. Here, the printmaker met a local warlord, discovered a downed plane, and designed a tomb for a wildlife ranger killed by disease, in addition to seeing some of the region’s astounding wildlife. Notably, the burgeoning Lomami National Park is home to the world’s newest monkey species, only announced by scientists last September.

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By Herp News

WBZ-TV's Steve Burton made some new friends on Sunday night's Sports Final on WBZ-TV.

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By Herp News

TREASURE COAST — After a bounteous 2012, experts are cautiously optimistic about the 2013 sea turtle nesting season that begins Friday and runs through Nov. 15.

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By Herp News

AN IPSWICH lizard with cancer will become the first reptile in Australia to undergo specialised radiation treatment on Monday.

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LANESBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — An exotic lizard valued at $170 has gone missing from Berkshire County pet store and the owner thinks it was stolen.

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By Herp News

The largest traveling reptile conference in the country is making a stop in Arlington this weekend. Photo Credit: NBC 5 News

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If you’ll be at the NARBC show in Arlington, Tex., this weekend, keep an eye out for own Jeff Barringer! He’ll be handing out kingsnake.com bumperstickers and window decals. Be sure to grab one!

And keep an eye out for the official kingsnake.com snake hunting truck, too! …read more
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By Herp News

A colorful turtle sculpture is a gift of healing from the beachside town of Surfside to survivors of the Connecticut school shooting in December, and one of many art projects on display in Newtown

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LANESBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — An exotic lizard valued at $170 has gone missing from Berkshire County pet store and the owner thinks it was stolen.

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Venom can be deadly, but it can also cure. That’s a message getting increasing attention from the media lately.

From ABC News:

Jon-Paul Bingham, an assistant professor in the department of molecular biosciences and biological engineering at the University of Hawaii, has made a career of studying various species of the cone snail and characterizes them as “pretty horrific, pretty nasty.”

But the venom, Bingham said, causes one surprising reaction in its victims: They feel no pain.

This venom’s ability to cut off pain receptors has led to a second life as a powerful pain reliever called Prialt. The drug is 1,000 times more potent than morphine and is nonaddictive.

Prialt is just one example of the many ways venom components can be used therapeutically. Currently, six venom-derived medications have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, but new technologies and research have shown how proteins and toxins within venom can provide key blueprints for treating a wider variety of ailments, including autoimmune disease, stroke and multiple sclerosis.

Read the full — and very detailed — story here.

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By Herp News

The late, great Ernie Harwell recited this “Voice of the Turtle” passage from Song of Solomon before the Detroit Tigers' exhibition opener each year during spring training.

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By Herp News

Iain Douglas-Hamilton has dedicated his life to elephants. ‘I like elephants because of the way they treat each other,’ he says. ‘They’re very nice to each other most of the time, but not all the time … You see a lot of play…a lot of tender touching, caressing, tactile contact of one sort or another.’ The affection goes both ways. Douglas-Hamilton recalls one curious female who would always approach his vehicle. ‘Eventually I got so friendly with her that…I could walk with her and feed her the fruits of the wild gardenia tree. That was a very special elephant for me. She eventually brought her babies up to meet me.’ Douglas-Hamilton’s dedication extends to protecting the species from harm, and especially the ivory trade. He calls the current ivory trade “totally unsustainable” and recommends a total ban on the trade.

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By Herp News

LANESBOROUGH — An exotic lizard valued at $170 has been stolen from its cage at a pet store, according to the store's owner.

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By Herp News

LANESBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — An exotic lizard valued at $170 has gone missing from Berkshire County pet store and the owner thinks it was stolen.

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Sea snakes in Australia, like this Leaf-scaled sea snake, are experiencing a drastic decline in numbers for reasons that puzzle scientists.

From The Conversation, as part of its on-going series on wildlife conservation in Australia:

The reasons for the severe declines of Short-nosed and Leaf-scaled sea snakes remain a mystery. Nine other sea snake species have disappeared from Ashmore and Hibernia over the last 15 years, yet their habitats are intact, and snakes are not affected by over-fishing. This may suggest major environmental change, perhaps related to surface water temperatures, salinity and rainfall patterns, and sedimentation. In the same period seismic surveys for oil and gas have increased, using air gunning, although the impact on sea snakes is unknown.

Whatever factors are responsible, they have not only affected the snakes in shallow coral areas but also species that once occupied the reef edges, seagrass beds and deeper waters surrounding the reef.

Read the full story here.

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By Herp News

An exotic lizard valued at $170 has gone missing from Berkshire County pet store and the owner thinks it was stolen.

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You really shouldn’t “save” animals unless you’re actually going to be able to care for them. Take what’s happening to 30 pythons seized in Pakistan:

From the International Herald Tribune:

After being given temporary custody of over 30 imported non-poisonous pythons, the Karachi zoo is struggling to take care of the slithering reptiles and is unable to provide them with proper accommodation. Three days after being brought to the zoo, some of the pythons have reportedly contracted allergies, while the younger ones have become more aggressive, The Express Tribune learnt on Wednesday.

Red spots have appeared on the yellow-skinned, 10-feet-long reticulated albino python, which has been made to live in an enclosure that was previously occupied by venomous snakes. The enclosure is also littered with mites and other insects.

“The allergy is spreading, and this python would soon become weak,” said a reptile expert on the condition of anonymity. “No one at the zoo is qualified to handle these snakes. As a matter of fact, they don’t even know the names of the species.”

Snake enthusiasts in the city had imported 31 non-venomous snakes, including a boa constrictor, and ball and reticulated pythons, from Oklahoma in the United States. The reptiles had left Oklahoma around three weeks back, and landed at Jinnah airport on Sunday. However, Pakistan Customs handed them over to the Karachi Zoological Gardens, as the importers had apparently failed to provide a no-objection certificate from the National Council for Conservation of Wildlife (NCCW).

[…]

When contacted, Karachi zoo director Bashir Sadozai, told The Express Tribune that he was out of town and was therefore unable to say exactly what had happened to the pythons. “But [they probably caught] allergies due to the change in climate and water.”

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