By Herp News

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.

Read the whole story here. …read more
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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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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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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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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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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.

Photo: ABC News …read more
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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.”

Read the rest here. …read more
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Rico Walder, one of kingsnake.com’s most longstanding community members, and a good friend to all in the herp community, is struggling against Stage IV glioblastoma, the most common and aggressive form of brain cancer. Can we come together to help him win that fight?

Rico’s family and friends have established a fundraising effort to help with the staggering medical bills that come along with an illness like this. Let’s make sure that Rico can focus all his energy and thoughts on overcoming his illness instead of worrying about money.

Visit The Rico Relief Effort at giveitforward.com to donate, and don’t forget to pass it on! …read more
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The dark side of science, when it tells you things you don’t want to be true.

From NBC Science News:

Nearly one fifth of all reptiles — turtles, snakes, lizards and crocodiles — are on a slippery slope toward extinction due to loss of habitat, overharvesting and other factors, a new report says.

The study is the first of its kind to summarize the global conservation status of reptiles. More than 1,500 species were selected at random from around the world for conservation assessments in an effort to gain a representative sample.

The results highlight “conservation priorities and knowledge gaps which need to be addressed urgently to ensure the continued survival of the world’s reptiles,” more than 200 researchers led by Monika Böhm at the Zoological Society of London write today in the journal Biological Conservation.

“Nearly one in five reptilian species are threatened with extinction, with another one in five species classed as Data Deficient.”

Read the whole article, and view images, here; the study abstract can be viewed free, and the complete study be downloaded for $31.50, on the journal website.

Photo: NBC Science News …read more
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Sea turtle vs. shark doesn’t usually end too well for the turtle, but some human intervention has a sea turtle named Hu swimming again. From Mashable:

Hu, a 25-year-old female loggerhead, was discovered by fishermen in mid-2008 when they accidentally pulled her up in their fishing nets. After noticing the creature was missing large portions of its two front fins, presumably from an assailment, the fishermen turned it into the Suma Aqualife Park in Kobe, Japan.

Since Hu’s arrival, the aquarium’s researchers have experimented with 27 pairs of artificial limbs in an attempt to aid the injured animal. Finally, they say, they’ve found the right fit.

The most recent development is comprised of two rubber fins, held together by a slip-over vest to prevent Hu from breaking free. The aquarium’s staff say the fins have helped Hu swim just as easily as before the accident — a pretty remarkable feat, considering the turtle’s 32-inch long shell and 220-pound body.

Read the whole story here.

Photo: Mashable.com …read more
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A University of Colorado study published today in the journal Nature tags biodiversity — a large number of different species — in pond environments as a major factor in protecting amphibians from the parasite Ribeiroia ondatrae.

From Science News:

The richer the assortment of amphibian species living in a pond, the more protection that community of frogs, toads and salamanders has against a parasitic infection that can cause severe deformities, including the growth of extra legs, according to a new study by the University of Colorado Boulder.

The findings, published Feb. 14 in the journal Nature, support the idea that greater biodiversity in larger-scale ecosystems, such as forests or grasslands, may also provide greater protection against diseases, including those that attack humans. For example, a larger number of mammal species in an area may curb cases of Lyme disease, while a larger number of bird species may slow the spread of West Nile virus.

“How biodiversity affects the risk of infectious diseases, including those of humans and wildlife, has become an increasingly important question,” said Pieter Johnson, an assistant professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and lead author of the study. “But as it turns out, solidly testing these linkages with realistic experiments has proven very challenging in most systems.”

Read the story here. The study can also be previewed on the Nature website.

Photo: Freshwaters Illustrated; University of Colorado at Boulder …read more
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The state of Connecticut has introduced House Bill 5832, which amends the state’s exotic pets law as follows:

That section 26-40a of the general statutes be amended to provide that the sale, transfer or breeding of certain exotic animals is also prohibited and to add tigers, mole vipers, boa constrictors, burmese pythons and sea snakes to the list of prohibited animals. Further, to provide an exception to such prohibition for persons who lawfully possessed such animal prior to July 1, 2013, provided certain conditions are met and to further clarify the current exemption from the prohibition for certain educational and zoological organizations.

The current status of the bill, and a link to its complete text, can be found here.

The United States Association of Reptile Keepers (USARK) has issued an action alert on the bill, and is asking concerned citizens to use this link to contact the lawmakers. …read more
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With the tally of pythons hunted and killed in Florida’s much-hyped “Python Challenge” stalled at around 50, the retroactive lowering of the success bar is in full swing.

From the Miami Herald:

The haul from Florida’s much-ballyhooed Python Challenge, which wrapped up at midnight Sunday, may not sound impressive. After all, nearly 1,600 people signed up for a month-long hunt to win cash for catching an invasive species that has gobbled up everything from egrets to alligators in the Everglades.

In reality, the effort bagged pretty much what many scientists, reptile experts and Florida wildlife managers expected — lots of publicity, also known as public awareness, and lots of data for researchers. It also produced what may wind up ranking as a record monthly count of Burmese python skins, though the bounty hunt was never envisioned as a way to eradicate them.

[…]

“The only thing that comes close to generating the same number of pythons was a historic freeze,” [University of Florida wildlife ecologist Frank] Mazzotti said. “I think the challenge did a darn good job.”

From the New York Daily News:

The month-long 2013 Python Challenge, designed to cull the population of the non-native snakes, saw participation by more than 1,500 hunters from 38 states and one Canadian province.

Despite the sizeable turnout, the hunt, which went from Jan. 12 and to midnight Sunday, bagged only about 50 of the Burmese constrictors as of Friday.

But Carli Segelson, a spokesperson for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, says not to be fooled by the number.

“Burmese pythons are difficult to find,” Segelson told The News, “and are very-well camouflaged for that area.

“And they’re tricky to capture even if you do find one,” he added.

Science news service Phys.org took a more cynical view:

State wildlife officials are calling the invasive-snake bounty hunt a success, but for all the pomp and urgency, some hunters are not pleased.

“I don’t feel the epidemic is as bad as they’re saying,” said Mike Singleton, 39, of Tampa, who participated in the hunt the first weekend, but became disillusioned and quit.

By the numbers, it doesn’t sound good. At least 1,563 hunters registered to participate in the contest, which lasted a month. The number of Burmese pythons in the Everglades is said to be in the hundreds of thousands.

In the end, even they seemed to think the prospect of a pile of python carcasses would have been a good thing — despite the apparent post-hunt assurances that such a goal never crossed anyone’s mind. …read more
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Happy Year of the Snake from all of us at kingsnake.com!

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Turtle moms have a way to “freeze” the development of their eggs until conditions are right, according to a study published in The American Naturalist.

From LiveScience:

Pregnant turtles hit the pause button on their eggs’ development until the time is just right to lay them in a nest, researchers say. The careful moms do this by producing a gooey substance in their reproductive tracts that cuts oxygen to the embryos, a study shows.

Female turtles must be choosy about when and where they lay their delicate eggs to make sure food resources are available and environmental conditions are safe.

Read the full story here! …read more
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kingsnake.com has completely rebuilt its reptile breeders and business directory, launching it not only on the main site, but also as a standalone website called

kingsnake.com has completely rebuilt its reptile breeders and business directory, launching it not only on the main site, but also as a standalone website called ReptileBusinessGuide.com.

Businesses listed in kingsnake.com’s current business directory system will be listed there as well as being listed on the new ReptileBusinessGuide.com site for the same flat annual fee, but with a new platform that will allow us to expand the feature sets available to businesses and hobbyists. Currently, the system allows a user to have not only a link to their website, but a map link if they have a retail location, links to a their Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube pages, as well as the ability to post a description and searchable keywords.

Both ReptileBusinessGuide.com and kingsnake.com’s business directories are geographically oriented, with a click map interface, a zip/postal code search, as well as a keyword search. State-by-state listings also include links to upcoming local events, and localized classified ads.

ReptileBusinessGuide.com also uses kingsnake.com’s standard banner sizes and rotations, including the brand new, low-cost, high visibility “Banner Pool” system.

As part of our “Sweet Sixteen” celebration event, listings are on sale through Saturday, Feb. 9, at midnight Central Time for only $50 each, a $50 savings over their regular price. What’s more, now that it gets your event listed on two websites for the price of one, it’s twice the deal.

To order a reptile and amphibian business directory listing for only $50 a year, click here! …read more
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