This chunker African Bullfrog in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user Ravenousas is waiting for snacks! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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What a stunning boa in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user BoaZilla! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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While scientists were researching the tops of the Talamanca Mountain Range searching for salamanders they stumbled across a new species! The research lasted from 2013 through 2019 and while they collected dozens of species, there were 19 species that were the same, but were a totally new species.
Those 19 specimens turned out to be a new species Bolitoglossa bolanosi, or the Bolaños’ web-footed salamander, researchers said. The species marks the fourth type of salamander known exclusively from the Isthmian Central America’s subalpine rain páramo — a “vulnerable” ecosystem that is especially “isolated” to highlands in the Talamanca mountains.
To read more about this new species of salamander, click here …read more
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Our thoughts are with the family. Rest well Brian.
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After saving over 700 eggs from poachers, the Costa Rica National Guard released 446 Sea Turtle babies recently!
Costa Rica, one of the most biodiverse countries in the world, is home to five of the seven sea turtle species. They are natural-born fighters, as only one in every 1,000 sea turtle eggs will become an adult. Hatchlings are prey to almost everything up until that point.
Once they reach adulthood, which can take up to 30 years, their list of enemies decreases significantly. The biggest predators they face are humans.
To read the full story and see the release video, click here. …read more
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Happy Rattlesnake Friday! Check out the stripe on this male South American Rattlesnake (Crotalus durissus collilineatus) uploaded by kingsnake.com user Solenogliph! Be sure to tell them you liked it here! As always on Friday, we celebrate all of our venomous reptiles for their contribution to the world.
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A beautiful in situ Scarlet Snake (Cemophora coccinea)seen in the Ouachitas graces our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user AndrewBrinker! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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I wonder what this pair of Blue Tree Monitors are doing here in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user roadspawnis judging you! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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Chelonia mydas, a newly hatched baby green sea turtle. Photo: Shutterstock
In Taiwan, saving the Green Sea Turtle on its preferred nesting island was the goal, but drastically impacting the native lizards species was the unintended result. Since 2001, on Badai Beach the only remaining suitable nesting spot on Orchard Island, researchers have protected every Green Sea Turtle Nest with a fine mesh netting. This netting prevented any ground dwelling predators from dining on the babies cooking inside. Orchard Island is also the home of the kukri snakes and the stink ratsnakes, both of which gladly dine on eggs. With the instant loss of their normal food source, they turned elsewhere.
The scientists estimated kukri snakes consumed around 120 sea turtle eggs each year before 2001, which would be equivalent to between 5,000 and 18,000 lizard eggs from the five soft-shelled lizard species on the island.
The team found that while populations of kukri snakes and stink ratsnakes were estimated to have declined by 12 per cent and 8 per cent per year between 1997 and 2020, lizard species saw drops of 11 to 25 per cent every year.
Now conservation efforts need to alter their program to protect not only the Green Sea Turtles, but also the existing native species, especially the lizards. This shows how science works best. As you learn how things are working, you adjust to make things work better.
To read more of how these efforts are changing, click here. …read more
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Credit: Francisco Farriols Sarabia via Wikimedia Commons
While studying lizard skulls at the National Dinosaur Monument in North Dakota, Dalton Meyer discovered a new species of fossilized Gecko. While inspecting a pair of skulls of previously labeled as European skink ancestors, the use of 3D imaging proved one to be exactly that, however the other emerged to be a gecko type of animal closely resembling the banded gecko common to the US.
What caught my attention the most about the story other than the fact that it was basically about dinosaur geckos (and please click through to the story at the end to read everything) was this part!
In naming the new species, Meyer chose “helioscopus,” which roughly translates into “sun watcher,” and “dickersonae,” which honors his grandmother, Helen Dickerson, his great aunt, Shirley Dickerson, and Mary Cynthia Dickerson (no relation), who was the first curator of herpetology at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.
“Both my grandmother and great aunt were extremely important people in my life, and my great aunt passed away while I was in the early stages of working on this fossil,” Meyer says. “I was truly honored to have a chance to get to use their family name in this new species, in part as a memorial that will now persist long after I am gone.”
If you remember my first presentation to the International Herpetological Symposium, you know why! To read the full story, and I strongly suggest you do, click here to visit futurity.org. …read more
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This horned lizard in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user reptoman is judging you! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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Photo of Gideon, a Grand Cayman hybrid bred by Ty Parks in FL, but living his best life safe in WIsconsin – Cindy Steinle
Recently, the State of Florida deemed all Green Iguanas (Iguana Iguana) as a restricted species and created quite a stir, confiscating animals from even private zoos and killing the animals rather than allowing them to be rehomed or allowed to remain on display at the zoo. Now in a move to destroy the reptile industry further, Florida Fish and Wildlife is making the move to change the language from Iguana (Iguana Iguana) to simply Iguana. This would thus include all species including Cyclura and Ctenosaura most definitely but potentially all species under the family Iguanidae which would also include Amblyrhynchus, Brachylophus, Cachryx, Conolophus, Dipsosaurus, and Sauromalus as well.
This is not only bad for pet owners and breeders, but seriously detrimental to worldwide conservation efforts as many assurance populations of a variety of both Cyclura and Ctenosaura species are maintained safely in Florida.
Read the update after the jump or click here to be taken to USARKFL’s notice! There is also a link to the bill after the jump. Continue reading “ACTION ALERT FLORIDA: Florida moves to include all species of Iguanas as restricted species” …read more
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Happy Rattlesnake Friday! What an amazing close up of this Massasauga uploaded by kingsnake.com user venombill! Be sure to tell them you liked it here! As always on Friday, we celebrate all of our venomous reptiles for their contribution to the world.
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This ball python is ready for it’s close up in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user tsquier! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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This close up of a Rainbow Boa shows off their fantastic beauty so well our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user mjmullis ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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Here is to hoping this hatchling albino Siamese Crocodile our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user crocodilepaul helps you survive today!! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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Being dubbed “The world’s bravest golfer”, in reality, he is just an Australian playing golf. While teeing off, a golfer had some visitors at the tee pad.
The serpents have been identified as coastal carpet pythons, which don’t have fangs or venom, but are known for their “100 small, sharp teeth which have the ability to cause substantial needle-like lacerations.” No matter what, they use constriction to kill their prey, so perhaps stay away. Just in case
Now we know that it is two males in combat and the Golfer was never in danger. To see the whole story with video, visit Golf Digest here. …read more
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Happy Rattlesnake Friday! How stunning is the red on this Speckled Rattlesnake (Crotalus mitchellii pyrrhus), uploaded by kingsnake.com user lichanura ! This Speck was found in Arizona. Be sure to tell them you liked it here! As always on Friday, we celebrate all of our venomous reptiles for their contribution to the world.
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This little Gargoyle is helping hang the lights in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user chrisvanaken! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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Santa Kismet is checking on the Reindeer Greyhounds in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user Really ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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These lil beardies are ready to have fun sledding in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user ginag! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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The snake that was found in a bag carried by one of the guests at Immigration offices in Kampala recently. PHOTO/KARIM MUYOBO
When a man recently showed up at the immigration offices looking for services in Naguru, Kampala, security was stunned to find a large black snake in his bag. They were even more shocked to learn this large black snake was in fact a Cobra.
Mr Simon Peter Mundeyi, the spokesperson of the Internal Affairs ministry, said when the strange man was asked why he had carried such a dangerous reptile (a cobra), he said it is his “brother” and that he moves around with it wherever he goes
Remember, leave you snake at home when visiting government offices! To read the rest of the story, click here! …read more
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An Hispaniolan Bark Anole on the ascent in A Florida Hammock.
In some cases this variable species might be referred to as “that other Florida anole.”
It seems that no one is 100% certain how this Hispaniolan/Bahaman species reached Florida in 1946, but reach it, it did, perhaps as a whim of Mother Nature, but more likely the result of multiple whims by humans.
The species history of the Bark Anole, Anolis distichus, might be termed as “active.” At one point in time the Bark Anole was overloaded with 18 subspecies. But people seemed unable to decide if several of these were truly subspecies or were actually full species. Today nothing is definitive (so who is surprised?).
There are probably 2 subspecies of the Bark Anole in Florida. Except for overall color a single description fits both equally well.
There is the always some- shade- of- dark- banded- brown- or- gray A. d. floridana , and the often some- shade- of -green A. d. dominicensis.The throat fan of the males may vary individually from pale yellow to light orange. In all, the dark banding is straight and most prominent across the head from eyelid to eyelid and on the tail. Dorsal banding is in the form of narrow, often difficult to see, chevrons.
Both anole subspecies are arboreal, predominantly tree trunk/low limb, species.
Bark Anoles are one of the smaller species attaining an adult size of 4 to 5 inches of which a little more than half is tail length.
In Florida these little anoles are often found in colonies, are wary, and can be difficult to approach.
Ants and other small crawling insects seem to be the favored prey of this species.
Continue reading “Bark Anoles” …read more
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Garter snakes come together in communities led by older females, new research shows.ALL CANADA PHOTOS/ALAMY
The general belief is that snakes are solitary animals, but as more research into these animals happens we are learning that many have very developed social communities. In a first of it’s kind study of thousands of wild snakes, we learn that Garter snakes have a very complex community with social structures and a female based hierarchy.
Ecologists had long assumed snakes are antisocial loners that hang out together only for core functions such as mating and hibernation. However, in 2020, Morgan Skinner, a behavioral ecologist at Wilfrid Laurier University, and collaborators showed in laboratory experiments that captive garter snakes have “friends”—specific snakes whose company they prefer over others. Still, studies of wild snakes were lacking “because they’re so secretive and difficult to find,” Skinner says.
Then he learned that the Ontario Ministry of Transportation had funded an unprecedented long-term study of a huge population of Butler’s garter snakes (Thamnophis butleri) in Windsor, Canada. Ecologists began to monitor the flute-size slitherers in 2009 to keep them safe from nearby road construction. They regularly captured snakes in the 250-hectare study area, using identifying markings to track more than 3000 individuals over a 12-year span—about the lifetime of a garter snake.
The study goes into much more detail and deserves a look! To read more on this incredibly interesting study, visit Science.org here. …read more
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Santa Mango wants to know if you have been naughty or nice in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user rileysquared ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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Happy Rattlesnake Friday! How stunning is the red on this Speckled Rattlesnake (Crotalus mitchellii pyrrhus), uploaded by kingsnake.com user lichanura ! This Speck was found in Arizona. Be sure to tell them you liked it here! As always on Friday, we celebrate all of our venomous reptiles for their contribution to the world.
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In the hottest and wryest region of Vietnam, deep in the dry lowland forest of Nui Chua National Park, researchers discovered a new species of blind skink. Searching around the leaf litter around the yellow-bellied termite mounds that these skinks preferred to dine on, the found 7 specimens. When they looked closer, they realized they had a new species, the Ninh Thuận blind skink ()
Ninh Thuan blind skinks have a “worm-like” body that can reach about 4.6 inches in length, the study said. Their eyes are “rudimentary” and “completely covered by scales.” They are also “limbless” with only males having “rudimentary” hind limbs that form “flap-like structures” near their tails.
To read more about this cool discovery click here. …read more
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This Rainbow Boa is helping us celebrate Hanukkah in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user natsamjosh ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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This little Crestie is ready for the slopes in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user wendhend . Ok they really don’t ski and we all know that, but how about this festive lil gecko! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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How cute is this baby Fox snake in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user TJ. ? Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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Garter Snakes hold a special spot for most herpers and our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user TomDickinson shows their awesome variety!! This proves they are anything but boring!
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photo courtesy – Missouri Department of Conservation The male hellbender found in the Gasconade River
An Eastern Hellbender, reared in the St. Louis Zoo and then re-released as an adult in the wild was found to have been the first zoo reared animal to have reproduced in the wild having fathered 86 “well-developed” eggs in the Gasconade River.
Justin Elden, curator of herpetology and aquatics at the Zoo, said hellbenders are cryptic, secretive creatures. Numbers might be rising faster than known.
“If there’s one there’s likely many more,” said Elden. “It’s exciting stuff, and my hope and thought is that this is the first of many that we will find.”
This means awesome things for the future of hellbenders! Go check out the full story here! …read more
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This little Chameleon is doing his best to look like an ornament in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user 1Sun! Is your tree decked out this cool?
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A Nanorana laojunshanensis, or Laojunshan slow frog, seen from the top and underside. Photo from Tang, Liu and Yu (2023)
Read more at: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/article282426903.html#storylink=cpy
While studying the mountain range of Yunnan in China, biologists ran across 6 different frog species, and one of them turned out to be a brand new one!
Laojunshan slow frogs are considered “small,” reaching about 1.4 inches in size, researchers said. They have “robust” limbs, “oval” tongues and “rough” skin. Photos show the multicolored Laojunshan slow frog. The frog’s back is chestnut brown with dark brown-black splotches. Underneath, its belly is creamy white with “yolk-yellow” groin and armpits, the study said.
To read more visit here. …read more
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Aquatic Anole, A. vermiculatusLet’s take a look at the anoles in general.
The Anoles are a huge grouping of small (Carolina Anole, Anolis carolinensis, 5 to 8 inches overall) to relatively large (Knight Anole sp., Anolis equestris 14-19 inches overall) sized New World lizards. Number-wise there are more than 275 (probably closer to 400) species.
Males are larger than females; males have dewlaps (throat fans), and both sexes have expanded toe pads. Most species are primarily arboreal, some dwell in canopy locations, others on lower twigs, many are at home on tree trunks, while a few are at least partially aquatic (A. aquaticus & A. vermiculatus are examples of this latter).
Most are insectivorous, some add fruit to the daily diet. Cannibalism by large taxa on smaller is well documented. Color-changing ability of some have led to the vernacular of “American Chameleon.” In some cases the color changes from green to brown or yellowish, gray, or brown may be accomplished in only seconds. Many other taxa can only alter the intensity of their normal coloration, let’s say from light brown or tan to deep chocolate brown being the norm.
Of the huge species number (most reside in the West Indies, Central and South America) we have in the USA only one taxon, the green or Carolina Anole, that qualifies as a confirmed native. Some folks consider a second, a subspecies of the Bark Anole, A. distichus floridanus, as a second native form, but this remains questionable.
But given suitably warm temperatures, such as those normal in central and southern Florida, several exotic species (I list these below) have been introduced and become established. To date, the most successful of these exotics has been the Brown (often called the Cuban or Cuban Brown) Anole,
Anolis sagrei. This species is now seen, at least sparingly, from the Carolinas to Texas. Established in southern Florida:
Anolis allisoni, Cuban Blue-fronted Anole,
Anolis.callainus, Dominican Green Anole (hold on – there are two more species with this common name)
Anolis cristatellus,. Puerto Rican Crested Anole
Anolis coelestinus, commonly known as the Hispaniolan Green Anole
Anolis cybotes, Large-headed Anole (Hispaniola)
Anolis distichus, Bark Anoles (originally 3 subspecies)
Anolis equestris, Cuban Giant or Knight Anole
Anolis garmani Jamaican Giant Anole (FL population now greatly reduced in numbers by unusual dips in winter temperatures.
Anolis peynadoi, Dominican Green Anole (1 of 3 species also known as as “Hispaniolan Green Anole)
Anolis porcatus, Cuban Green Anole
Anolis sagrei, Cuban Brown Anole
Continue reading “Anoles” …read more
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The Snapping turtle in the aquarium at the scene, photo by author
When I saw the message pop up from the director of the shelter, I figured she wanted to let me know I might have a few animals to prepare for. My local news was filled with the story of a large confiscation of dogs in my city. I was not expecting what came next.
“Cindy, are you available to help us tomorrow? We aren’t done. Today was just the dogs and there are a lot of exotics and we need you to look at things. There are alligators.”
I was still under some restrictions from my shoulder surgery and they knew I was limited in what I could do, but they needed my eyes and knowledge more than my arm. I said the only thing I could. “What time and where do you need me”
Continue reading “Rescuer Struggles as Animal Abuser Gets off with Slap on the Wrist” …read more
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Happy Rattlesnake Friday! All venomous snakes need our support, and this stunning Olmec Pit Viper (Atropoides olmec) in our herp photo of the day uploaded by kingsnake.com user PeteSnakeCharmer is no exception! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
We celebrate #RattlesnakeFriday to celebrate the wonderful venomous species that contribute to making our world greater and also use it as a way to support conservation efforts to protect these species worldwide!
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Nile Crocodiles may be cool like this one in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user cdieter, but take note of that enclosure around this animal! Don’t even think of buying a baby if you can not handle this enclosure set up NOW!
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Sea turtle tracks coming up the beach and zig-zagging through the sand. Photo by CHNS.
A Green Sea Turtle nest found December 3 on Hatteras Island, NC is a record for the latest nest ever laid! The previous record was October 31! This year also marked the return of the Leatherbacks for the first time in 11 years!
The new nest also means that 2023 now boasts the second-highest number of turtle nests reported on Ocracoke, Hatteras, and Bodie Islands since data collection began.
The top three years for sea turtle nesting activity within CHNS have all occurred within the past five years, and are as follows:
2019 – 473 nests
2023 – 380 nests
2022 – 379 nests
Of these 380 nests in 2023, 324 were Loggerhead sea turtles, 52 were Green sea turtles, 3 were Kemp’s Ridley sea turtles, and one was a Leatherback sea turtle.
To read more about the track at Cape Hatteras National Seashore click here. …read more
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So precious! We love hatchling photos, like this awakening Gecko in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user SA! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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