By Herp News

HORN sheds light on South Africa’s rhino poaching crisis from a different angle In 2011, filmmaker Dr. Reina-Marie Loader had an unforgettable, close encounter with three rhinoceros in South Africa’s Kruger National Park. Dr. Loader was acutely aware rhinoceros poaching rates were increasing in South Africa and, with her experience in documentary filmmaking and interests in conservation and human rights, decided to create a film that would explore the economic and cultural drivers behind it. The result is HORN, a lived documentary following South African actor Jeffrey Mundell as he trades his comfortable life in the suburbs for anti-poaching ranger training in the bush. His difficult and dangerous experience, combined with Dr. Loader’s interviews with local NGOs and community members, reveals how populations living within close proximity to wildlife are not only dealing with the impacts of poaching, but are also affected by serious social problems, including poverty, HIV, and unemployment. HORN will premiere in the U.S. at the upcoming Wildlife Conservation Film Festival in New York City on October 24th. An interview with Dr. Reina-Marie Loader Mongabay: What is your background? Dr. Reina-Marie Loader, Founder of Cinéma Humain and Director of HORNDr. Loader: I have been involved in raising awareness about human rights and the environment since a very young age. In South Africa, I grew up participating creatively by acting in plays about social and environmental issues. Some of the plays I specifically enjoyed being a part of included issue-based productions about ground and water pollution,…

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By Herp News

The shared patterns of gene expression in the limbs and phallus are generated in part by a common set of noncoding DNA, also called ‘elements’ or ‘enhancers,’ which act to control gene expression in both of these structures, argues a new study. These conclusions stemmed from an initial observation that many limb control elements, or limb enhancers, found in limbed animals are still present in snake genomes.

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A great shot of a live (as they should be) Pygmy Rattlesnake on concrete in the field in our herp photo of the day uploaded by kingsnake.com user JARHEAD1969 ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and you could see them featured here! …read more
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This is an adult pair of Egyptian tortoises.
It was about 35 years ago when Chris invited me to check out a few tiny tortoises that he had just received. They were, he said, Egyptian tortoises, Testudo kleinmanni. I had to do some scrambling to familiarize myself with this taxon but I was able to learn that at an adult size of only 3.5 to 5″ this was the smallest of the genus and that even in those days was considered a rarity. It had apparently once ranged from Libya to Israel but was thought to have been extirpated over much of its range.

Sadly, Florida proved an unsuitable home for these new arrived but aridland adapted arrivals. Although most survived here few actually thrived. In contrast, many of them that went to homes in the drier and less humid desert and prairie states seemed to do well and once the chelonians had been acclimated a number of hobbyists succeeded in breeding them one or more times.

But even today the availability of these little charmers is spotty at best. And although I have never maintained this taxon I have been told that the hatchlings produced from well acclimated captive adults are much hardier than those imports of long ago. I sure hope that this is the case and that future years will see this tortoise readily available to herpetoculturists.
More photos under the jump

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Photo Credit: Matthew Schlesinger, New York Natural Heritage Program
Carl Kauffeld believe there were two very different species of Leopard Frogs, but he did not have the means to prove it. Thankfully we now do! With the help of a geneticist, a team of researchers recently proved Kauffeld’s belief to be true and named the Atlantic Coast Leopard Frogs after the herper great, Rana kauffeldi.

“There might have been some jumping up and down,” recalled Dr. Matthew Schlesinger, the head of zoology at the New York Natural Heritage Program, who was part of the team. “There might have been some high fives going around.”
…
Now, with virtually nothing known about this animal, the team trying to track and learn about its range and habits. “It’s like we’re trying to write the page of the field guide that’s devoted to this species,” Schlesinger said.

Learn more at WNYC. …read more
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By Herp News

The hunters ransack the vulnerable nests of tropical birds in richly biodiverse but poorly patrolled Venezuelan rainforests. Wildlife merchants brazenly display young fledglings, monkeys and other animals, right next to main roads throughout the forest. Many captives will travel a difficult path — an exhausting, often fatal journey covering thousands of miles, cleverly hidden inside bags and luggage, passing through airports and seaports, bound for Europe and elsewhere. It is a lucrative, shadowy trade, involving at least 900,000 animals annually, earning more than 300 million dollars for the criminals plying it, from which the local rainforest hunter gleans barely a fistful of Bolivares. A[dropcap]A[/dropcap]ccording to a 2013 report Your Home Is Not Their Home, produced by the conservation organization Vitalis, the ransacking of bird nests and theft of fledglings is the main method by which tropical birds are captured in Venezuela. Biologist Esmeralda Mujica, former director of the Foundation of Zoos and Aquariums of Venezuela, a member of the Species Survival Commission of IUCN and co-author of the Vitalis paper, says that the Psittacidae — including 50 species of New World parrot, parakeet and macaw endemic to Venezuela — is the bird family most threatened by traffickers, and spring is the time of year when the most fledglings are seized. A green macaw (ara militaris), one of the most trafficked birds in Venezuela. Photo by Dick Daniels licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. “The Easter holiday coincides with the reproductive season of…

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Scientists have shown, for the first time, what happens when a frog’s tongue makes contact with a surface. They discovered similarities to conventional adhesive tape. Like sticky tape, the tongues form lots of little threads (fibrils) when being removed from a surface, which break one at a time before the contact disconnects.

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This gorgeous closeup of a Painted Turtle also shows a bit of old fashion home grown cage decor in our herp photo of the day uploaded by kingsnake.com user trachemys ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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A Pacarana (Dinomys branickii) photographed in a jungle house near Santa Maria, Peru. Photo by Benjamin Frable made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication [dropcap]L[/dropcap]ast October, a TV report from Peru’s Chanchamayo province depicted protesters swarming the streets, raising their voices in unison chanting: “Pepe Lucho is free! Pepe Lucho will not go!” The angry dissenters brandished signs professing their disgust with Peru’s National Forest and Wildlife Service (SERFOR). They even stormed the government agency’s local offices, forcing officials to bar doors and windows to protect their own safety and avoid confronting the raging crowd. Pepe Lucho, at the heart of so much resentment and controversy, is not a local political figure, celebrated soccer player or even a cherished kinsman. In fact, he is not human, but an over-sized rodent called a pacarana (Dinomys branickii) – a rare animal occurring only in the tropical forests of the western Amazon River basin that was being kept as a pet and tourist attraction. So why do all those people care so deeply? The answer lies in the many conflicting beliefs held by the Peruvian public concerning wildlife trafficking laws — with some perspectives born out of monetary gain, others from a love of wild animals long kept as pets, and a “don’t-tread-on-me” libertarian sense of entitlement regarding the nation’s wildlife. Many conservationists argue that these longstanding public attitudes toward domestic wildlife trafficking intimidate and inhibit law enforcement, thus unintentionally protecting international traffickers who…

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An wonderful shot of this Indigo Snake in the field in our herp photo of the day uploaded by kingsnake.com user ACO3124! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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Finding examples of the Scarlet Kingsnake (Lampropeltis triangulum elapsoides) in Kentucky can be quite difficult. On a scale of 1-10 I give them a solid 7.5, perhaps lower if you live in or close to a county where they occur. As for myself, I have to drive over 3 hours each way to be in the game.

The easiest way to locate this species in my area is to road cruise for them. I can run that drill, but I prefer to utilize and deploy artificial cover, and by doing so I, along with my colleague Phil Peak, was able to locate a sexed pair under metal this year. A cast shed from the male was under the metal and the female was just preparing to shed as you can see in the photo of both snakes. These snakes were found in mid to late April and we believe that they were preparing to mate or less-likely had already bred. There is always a reason or series of reasons why snakes are found when and in the way in which they are located. Interpreting this information is something I find interesting as it helps to increase the number of snakes I find in the future!

I want to welcome everyone to my first kingsnake.com blog and want to thank Jeff B and everyone else here for the opportunity. I plan to have both captive and field-oriented posts that will focus on snakes but will also include lizards, frogs, salamanders, turtles, and crocs! Because this is my first effort here, I wanted to kick things off with a kingsnake!
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Photo via Twitter user @MeghanCArnold
San Francisco is having an invasion of sorts on their public transit. It seems many owners of Green Iguanas are taking over, bringing their pets on the bus. While we wish it weren’t causing such a stir, looking at these photos, we can certainly understand why!

When transporting your reptiles, be it via train, plane or automobile, it is wise to properly secure that animal. Dogs have leash laws and many places have a law banning releasing cats, it is only wise for us to contain our reptile pets. Looking through these photos, it is clear that if the animal tried hard enough, there is no protection to keep them with their owner.

The other issue is there are people with fears of dogs and cats, but there are many more that fear reptiles. As one Muni rider tweeted:

Guy with large iguana on crowded MUNI picking dead iguana skin off his iguana

Outreach is great, sharing our pets is wonderful, but pushing limits can bring upon strict rules. Practice safety at all times when transporting your reptile pets, not only for the safety of others but also for the safety of that animal.

Read the full article at City Lab. …read more
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Meet an upset Mohave rattler.
Again came the now familiar cry — “snake!” But this time it was I who noticed the hefty serpent at road edge. Either a western diamondback or a Mohave rattler– and it proved to be a 3 1/2 foot long example of the latter.

Jake had been getting a few minutes of shuteye before we reached our chosen hunting area. We expected it to be a long night as we searched out the anurans. The torrential rains that had fallen for the last 2 hours has stopped but the desert was soaked, dry creeks were raging and playas were filled. My yell jerked Jake instantly awake and by the time I had stopped the car he was piling out.

Mohave rattlesnakes (yes, it’s now spelled with an “h” and not a “j”), Crotalus s. scutulatus, have reputations for having bad tempers and this one was certainly living up to that reputation. The hefty snake had begun striking the moment Jake had stepped from the car. Not only did the snake strike so hard that it slid forward each time on the wet and slippery road, but the striking was incessant, causing Jake to take couple of involuntary steps backward from the pavement. Of course this brought him (equally involuntarily) into an unexpected rear attack by formidably armed “monkey-get-back-bushes” (mesquite, cats claw, and beaver-tail cacti). Then and there Jake performed an impromptu rendition of that horrid old dance the we old timers refer to as the “green-apple-quickstep.” Jake proved far more agile than I had credited him to be!

But eventually Jake’s perseverance prevailed, photos of the Mohave were taken and we were on our way again.

More photos under the jump
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Photo : Sjoerd van Berge Henegouwen/Nature World News
Previously thought to be extinct, the first photographs of a live Western Serpentiform skink (Eumecia anchietae) have emerged. In true reptile fashion, it was spotted alongside the road by a tourist in Masai Mara. There is little known of the species because of their extremely reclusive nature and the fact that they were believed to be extinct.

A chance meeting will lead to publication for one lucky tourist.

At the time the photos were taken, both the ranger and tourist, Sjoerd van Berge Henegouwen, were unable to identify the species. When Henegouwen posted them on his Facebook page, Dr. Wagner identified the lizard. These photos will be published in a book Dr. Wagner is writing about reptiles in Africa.

Read more at Nature World News. …read more
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By Herp News

An ocelot (Leopardus pardalis) in Itatiba Zoo, Brazil. Photo by João Carlos Medau from Wikimedia Commons. Wild cats — from the small jaguarundi to the large jaguar — are elusive animals. They usually prowl about at night, are difficult to detect, and merge with the background landscape. Researchers often depend on indirect signs that these animals leave behind, such as footprints, to detect them in forests. But footprints may not be so reliable after all, warns a study recently published in Mongabay’s open-access journal Tropical Conservation Science. Researchers from Brazil and Portugal took measurements of front and hind footprints of several captive individuals of four wild cat species found in Brazilian rainforests — jaguarundi (Puma yagouaroundi), ocelot (Leopardus pardalis), oncilla (Leopardus guttulus), and margay (Leopardus wiedii) — and compared them to those of domestic cats. With the exception of the ocelot, the team found that size and shape of footprints of all the wild cat species as well as the domestic cats were similar. “From our data it was impossible to distinguish small felids based on footprint total size and pad size, and configuration as well,” the researchers write in the paper. “This limitation is enhanced in field studies because it is impossible to distinguish between front and hind footprints in such conditions.” Wild felid species tested in the present study and some examples of footprints printed in sand. A – Ocelot (Leopardus pardalis); B – Ocelot footprint; C – Jaguarundi (Puma yagouaroundi); D – Jaguarundi footprint; E…

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Take 5 and turn your face to the sun today, just like the Frilled Dragon in our herp photo of the day uploaded by kingsnake.com user cochran ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is initiating status reviews for 14 petitions that presented substantial information that the species may warrant listing under the Endangered Species Act . The Service will initiate a review of the status of each of the reptile and amphibian species listed below. To ensure that these reviews are comprehensive, the Service is requesting scientific and commercial data and other information for each species. Based on the status reviews, the Service will address whether the petitioned action is warranted.

To see the listing and the information request, click on a species link below.

The official notice was published in the Federal Register on September 18, 2015, and is available at https://www.federalregister.gov/public-inspection by clicking on the 2015 Notices link under Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants. Information can be submitted on species for which a status review is being initiated, using the specified docket number, beginning upon publication in the Federal Register, for 60 days until November 17, 2015.

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By Herp News

Scientists have discovered the first ever glow-in-the-dark sea turtle. National Geographic Emerging Explorer David Gruber said he made the discovery mostly by accident: He was filming biofluorescent coral off the coast of the Solomon Islands when the glowing sea turtle swam right by him. The marine biologist captured the turtle on a specially rigged video camera system designed for capturing biofluorescent sea life. The only artificial illumination the rig uses is a blue light that matches the color of the ocean, while a yellow filter on the camera allows the scientists to see fluorescing organisms. According to National Geographic, this is the first biofluorescent reptile ever discovered. You can watch a video of Gruber’s encounter with the critically endangered hawksbill sea turtle here. Biofluorescence is different from bioluminescence, which is when animals produce light themselves through a series of chemical reactions or by hosting bacteria that are capable of giving off light. Biofluorescent organisms, on the other hand, reflect blue light as a different color, most commonly green, red or orange. It is believed to be used for finding and attracting prey, for defense or for some kind of communication. Still taken from video of biofluorescing hawksbill sea turtle. Credit: National Geographic. Researchers who recently found biofluorescence in a number of bony and cartilaginous fish, including sharks, rays, small crustaceans and mantis shrimp, have speculated that the presence of yellow filters in the eyes of many biofluorescent fish, coupled with the substantive color vision capabilities of…

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Leopards occur in two forms: spotted and black — the black-coated version being the result of the presence of the dark-colored pigment melanin, a condition known as melanism and the opposite of an albino condition. Previous research determined that only melanistic black leopards likely lived in the forested regions of Southeast Asia — perhaps being the only place in the world where an entire population of animals is almost completely composed of the melanistic form. However, a new study by a team of scientists working in the peninsular region of Malaysia has shed some doubt on this hypothesis with the discovery of two spotted leopards at the under-researched Ulu Muda forest site south of the Isthmus of Kra. Map of Peninsular Malaysia and Southern Thailand showing the detection of spotted and/or melanistic leopard. Photo courtesy of Cedric Tan Kai Wei. “This unexpected discovery deepens the mystery into the spatial dynamics of melanism in the region,” write the researchers in a newly published paper in Tropical Conservation Science, mongabay.com’s open-access journal. “These findings are unexpected, because only two other studies have detected the spotted morph amongst many other melanistic leopards caught on camera traps in Peninsular Malaysia,” say the authors. Camera trap photo of possible male spotted leopard. Photo courtesy of Cedric Tan Kai Wei. The new paper notes that until now spotted leopards have only been sighted in study areas north of the Isthmus of Kra — a narrow neck of land…

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When we think of what wildness remains on our depleted planet, one place still truly speaks to the human spirit: Africa — site of the last stand of the wondrous Pleistocene megafauna that our forbears largely extinguished across the rest of the world; the final redoubt of the lions, leopards, elephants and rhinos that haunt our ancestral memory. Today Africa is enduring near total war over the fate of its natural heritage against a new breed of poacher — militarized and vicious; armed with military-grade weapons, helicopters and infrared vision; and with ties to terrorists and human traffickers. But amid grisly images of butchered elephants there lies a hidden harm, as thousands of vultures and other scavengers are poisoned by poachers to cover their bloody tracks. Hooded vultures feeding. Photo by Munir Virani courtesy of The Peregrine Fund In June, a report appeared in the science journal Conservation Letters that outlines in alarming terms the rate at which Africa’s great vultures are perishing. In “the first continent-wide estimates of decline rates in Africa’s vultures” ever made, the study’s authors, led by biologist Darcy Ogada of The Peregrine Fund, found that the eight vulture species studied had declined by an average of 62 percent in the past 30 years, with seven having dropped at a rate of eighty percent or more. Of these, says the study, at least six appear to qualify for upgrading to Critically Endangered status under the scientific criteria of the International Union for…

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Loma Linda University is working closely with researchers to determine whether the proteins can reduce bleeding and swelling during and after brain surgery. The study will last until 2019, but if successful it may impact over 800,000 people in aiding in the recovery after surgery including the reduction of loss of functions that may happen when operating on this sensitive area.

“We are tremendously excited about what the findings could mean to medicine,” Zhang said. “Our team is studying surgical brain injury and, currently, when a surgeon removes a brain tumor, the liver, or some other organ is often damaged in the process. By immunizing the patient with snake venom ahead of time, we can reduce the trauma that is associated with the surgery.”

If successful, other the venom of other animals may also be analyzed.

Read more at Adventist Review. …read more
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By Herp News

Legal ivory items for sale in an accredited shop in Beijing in May, 2009. Photo courtesy of IFAW, International Fund for Animal Welfare. On Friday, September 25, Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Barack Obama pledged to end commercial ivory sales in their countries. In a joint statement,  China and the United States announced their commitment to enact “nearly complete bans on ivory import and export, including significant and timely restrictions on the import of ivory as hunting trophies, and to take significant and timely steps to halt the domestic commercial trade of ivory.” The two presidents also announced their decision to cooperate in “joint training, technical exchanges, information sharing, and public education on combating wildlife trafficking, and enhance international law enforcement cooperation in this field.” “Two of the most powerful Heads of State want an end to all ivory trade,” Cristián Samper, President and CEO of the Wildlife Conservation Society, said in a statement. “That’s only good news for elephants, and we call upon all governments to follow suit.” Around 100 African elephants are killed every day for ivory, according to the UN. Photo by Rhett Butler. China is home to the world’s biggest market for poached ivory. In May this year, the country decided to phase out its domestic ivory markets, and Friday’s announcement marks Chinese President Xi Jinping’s first public commitment to end ivory sales in China, according to a statement released by Wildlife Aid. “Today China has…

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Hopefully this stunning shot of a Painted Mantella (Mantella baroni) in our herp photo of the day uploaded by kingsnake.com user Hoosierfrogger starts your week out right! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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Waffles, you near your third year and thus far think yourself a mere tot of a tortoise. Behold, young tortoise, this is the greatest time of your life: you are discovering who you really are. I am here to walk you through this special time as you come full into being one of the greatest of all beasts: the male sulcata.

The male sulcata, in all his glory, stands in a state of sublime glory, a marvel to behold, and a beast to revere. Beware to those who would not tremble in our glory for they will see their fences fall.

Really, when you get big you can tear down their fences.

But I digress from this awesome passing of wisdom from one sulcata male to another. Until now you have kept secret your great glory of manhood. You need no longer conceal your true self. You have brought forth that which was hidden, that which now ever forth may be seen and exalted, naught to be hidden again.

Flash! The alien is loose!

But first I must warn of a mysterious human behavior that perplex those male sulcata that have tread before you. Yay, though we celebrate a tortoise’s first issue of its glorious phallus beware of the creepy human exploitation of our sacred male symbol.

Cameras are suddenly everywhere!

Humans will exploit your sacred rites to bring forth and exercise your greatness: to slosh joyously in the clean wet water, to unabashedly explore your untested appendage. Yay, humans will stalk you as you perfect its methods and practice its sublime techniques.

You get no privacy, ever, ever again.

Your instinctive drive to hump all spherical objects and cry loudly your great conquests brings humans endless hours of shameful voyeurism. Appallingly, your human will share a parade of images on Facebook, Twitter, and other human social media, your feats of manliness.

For as long as male sulcata can remember humanoids bringing forth offerings of carrots, hay and hibiscus have we known about this exploitative human indecency. We are aware of their shame.

There seems no end of our exposure so long as we crave their carrots.

So fear not your sacred duties to breed those inanimate objects, it is our nature so never be ashamed by the humans senseless fascination of our manliness.

Go forth, young Waffles and hump.

Welcome, young sulcata male. Welcome.

P.S. Here are a few of my favorites. Feel free to check out the numerous videos of me on YouTube practicing with these beauties. Nope, mom has no shame.

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Read more here: Turtle Times

From the “don’t be an idiot” files…

Stephanie Moore (pictured right), 20, was jailed on a $2,000 bond on a felony warrant on charges of possessing, selling or molesting a marine turtle or eggs nest, according to the Melbourne Police Department’s Facebook page.

Moore was arrested after police in Melbourne, on Florida’s Atlantic coast, responded to a disturbance at a home Saturday and determined a warrant had been out for her.

Moore was allegedly one of two women sitting on sea turtles in photos that were shared online. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission took up the case as a criminal investigation asking for the public’s help in identifying the suspects.

Read more at NBC News …read more
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A retired teacher in Winter Park Florida is in an Orlando hospital after being bitten on the hand Thursday by a 20 inch Gaboon Viper (Bitis gabonica). The reptile owner, a licensed keeper, is expected to recover, and the snake has been secured, as has the rest of his small collection.

“It wasn’t as if the snake had gotten out from my understanding. I think he was bitten on the hand, but based on the evidence, it looks like a simple keeper mishap,” – Steve McDaniel, FWC investigator

Found in the rainforests and savannas of sub-Saharan Africa Gaboon Vipers have the longest fangs, up to 2 inches (5 cm), and the highest venom yield of any venomous snake.
Read more on the WESH web site. Gallery photo by dendroaspis …read more
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Check out this gorgeous Southern Pacific Rattlesnake in our herp photo of the day uploaded by kingsnake.com user lichanura ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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Vitus Pango and Albogast Mkude harvest honey from a beehive fence in Tanzania. Photo courtesy of Alex Chang’a. This is a story about elephants, bees, trees, and a drink called Amarula. Amarula Cream is a liqueur distilled from the fermented fruit of the marula tree. The trees’ fruit is beloved by humans and animals alike — elephants and other animals feast on its sweet flesh, and humans use the fruit to make beer, oil, medicine and — of course — Amarula Cream. But now, elephants and humans are butting heads over the marula tree. In protected areas in South Africa, tourists and land managers worry that the concentration of the country’s elephant population into these limited areas could wreak havoc on the ecosystem’s iconic tree species. Swaddling a tree’s trunk in wire mesh can help it withstand an elephant’s attention, but now researchers are testing out an alternative technique, one with potential for a few sweet rewards beyond protecting trees. Back in 2002, Fritz Vollrath and Iain Douglas-Hamilton from Save the Elephants (STE) realized that elephants avoid trees with beehives living in them. That observation led researcher Lucy King to develop a novel technique to prevent elephants from raiding crops: fences with beehives suspended from the wires. Elephants Alive’s Program Manager, Michelle Henley was inspired by Lucy’s work and asked Robin Cook, a student at the University of the Witwatersrand, whether he would be interested in exploring whether hives could protect trees more effectively than wire…

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A stunning shot from Ghana of this Crowned Bullfrog steals the limelight in our herp photo of the day uploaded by kingsnake.com user Slaytonp ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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Hatchling and juvenile Baird’s rat snakes have prominent saddles
“Snake!”

Jake had grimmaced as I stopped again to photograph the ever-changing and increasingly beautiful West Texas sunset. Within minutes I was back on the road and traffic was still quite light. We dipped and had started up a gentle incline when a female striped skunk with 5 trailing kits started across the road. As I slowed the female bolted leaving 5 very confused skunklets milling around. I stopped and moved the kits from the pavement into the roadside grass. Whoops. Guess I got sprayed. Jake was really grimmacing now–and holding his throat and hanging out the window. This had all the makings of a great night.

I was back up to cruising speed now and still extolling the beauty of the sunset and the skunks when Jake hollered “snake.” It was a good thing that one of us was watching the road. I stopped, backed up and there sure was a snake–and it was a silver-blue beauty–3 feet of Baird’s rat snake, Pantherophis bairdi. This beautiful constrictor may attain an adult length of 5 feet, is the westernmost representative of the Pantherophis obsoletus complex, and is certainly one of the prettiest.
Continue reading “Baird’s Rat Snake, a Serpentine Beauty” …read more
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By Herp News

Vitus Pango and Albogast Mkude harvest honey from a beehive fence in Tanzania. Photo courtesy of Alex Chang’a. This is a story about elephants, bees, trees, and a drink called Amarula. Amarula Cream is a liqueur distilled from the fermented fruit of the marula tree. The trees’ fruit is beloved by humans and animals alike — elephants and other animals feast on its sweet flesh, and humans use the fruit to make beer, oil, medicine and — of course — Amarula Cream. But now, elephants and humans are butting heads over the marula tree. In protected areas in South Africa, tourists and land managers worry that the concentration of the country’s elephant population into these limited areas could wreak havoc on the ecosystem’s iconic tree species. Swaddling a tree’s trunk in wire mesh can help it withstand an elephant’s attention, but now researchers are testing out an alternative technique, one with potential for a few sweet rewards beyond protecting trees. Back in 2002, Fritz Vollrath and Iain Douglas-Hamilton from Save the Elephants (STE) realized that elephants avoid trees with beehives living in them. That observation led researcher Lucy King to develop a novel technique to prevent elephants from raiding crops: fences with beehives suspended from the wires. Elephants Alive’s Program Manager, Michelle Henley was inspired by Lucy’s work and asked Robin Cook, a student at the University of the Witwatersrand, whether he would be interested in exploring whether hives could protect trees more effectively than wire…

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By Herp News

As if life wasn’t hard enough during the last Ice Age, a new study has found Australia’s first human inhabitants had to contend with giant killer lizards. Researchers working in Central Queensland were amazed when they unearthed the first evidence that Australia’s early human inhabitants and giant apex predator lizards had overlapped.

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Sumatran Rhinoceros photographed in Gunung Leuser National Park (inside Leuser Landscape). Photo courtesy of Leuser International Foundation and the Gunung Leuser National Park Researchers have identified what could be the last safe havens for the Critically Endangered Sumatran rhinos (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis), according to a new study published in the journal PLoS One. Only about 100 such rhinos remain in the wild, mostly on the Island of Sumatra. “Our study provides hope for the survival of the Sumatran rhino,” Wulan Pusparini, lead author from WCS-Indonesia and a doctoral student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, told Mongabay. Between 2007 and 2011, researchers from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), the Leuser International Foundation (LIF), the Sumatran Tiger Trust, and government staff members surveyed three Sumatran forests — believed to be rhino strongholds — for signs of the animals. These forests included the Leuser Landscape, Way Kambas National Park and Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park in Sumatra. On analyzing the data, the team found that Sumatran rhinos seem to occupy only about 13 percent (~382,500 hectares or 1,477 square miles) of the forests surveyed. Bina at the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary. Photo by Tiffany Roufs Within the small forest patches where these rhinos do occur, the researchers have identified and mapped five sites where conservation efforts could be prioritized. “We’ve identified the core areas (most are inside national parks), and we’ll intensify our efforts to strictly protect these areas with government and NGO partners,” Pusparini said. These priority areas can be…

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This American Alligator is peeking out and looking forward to it’s future in our herp photo of the day uploaded by kingsnake.com user mwright82 ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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Since seabirds rely on healthy oceans to feed and thrive, scientists consider them excellent indicators of the marine ecosystem’s health. But a recent study found that global seabird populations appear to be rapidly dwindling, a possible sign of overall marine ecosystem decline. Seabirds “travel far and wide to forage… and, unlike most marine species, return to terrestrial colonies where their population sizes tell us a lot about the health of the world’s oceans,” Michelle Paleczny, a zoologist at the University of British Columbia and the lead author of the new paper, told mongabay.com. The present study, published in the journal PLOS ONE, showed that marine systems are apparently becoming gradually less able to support seabirds. Researchers collected data on seabird population sizes from a variety of primary sources, including books, academic journals, and unpublished reports. They focused on populations that scientists had monitored at least five times between 1950 and 2010, which accounted for 19 percent of the world’s seabird population, encompassing 162 species. Populationof the world’s monitored seabirds between 1950 and 2010. The total population in 2010 was about 30 percent of the population in 1950, representing a loss of nearly 70 percent. (Dashed lines represent 95-percent confidence intervals.) Image by Paleczny et al. (2015). The researchers then tracked the birds’ population sizes over time by applying a modeling system to their database that extrapolated missing population data and estimated errors in the collected data. This model allowed the researchers to obtain a comprehensive look…

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Just in time for World Rhino Day comes an announcement out of South Sumatra, Indonesia. Way Kambas National Park will soon be celebrating the arrival of a new rhino calf that will be joining the other 5 rhino residents of the national park’s Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary. Ratu, whose name means, “queen,” is estimated to have been born in 1999 in Way Kambas National Park. She is the second youngest female Sumatran Rhino living in the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary. The mother is expected to give birth to her new calf in May. Her first calf, Andatu, was born at the sanctuary in 2012. Both calves were fathered by Andalas, born at the Cincinnati Zoo and was moved from the Las Angeles Zoo to Indonesia in 2007. Andatu, the first Sumatran rhino born at the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary, takes tentative first steps on his first day of life in 2012. Andatu is Ratu’s first child. Ratu is currently pregnant with her second calf — due in May 2016 — and the new calf will resemble its older brother. Photo courtesy of the International Rhino Foundation. This announcement gives special significance to World Rhino Day as this new pregnancy offers new hope for the endangered species. “One birth doesn’t save a species, but it’s one more Sumatran rhino on Earth,” said Dr. Susie Ellis, executive director of the International Rhino Foundation, in a press release. “The new calf affirms that there is expertise in Indonesia to breed Sumatran rhinos. This pregnancy comes at…

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kingsnake.com gallery photo by Eve
In the animal kingdom, just like the disco, the flashiest males often have more luck attracting a mate but when your predators hunt by sight, this makes them more of a target according to a new study published in Ecology and Evolution. Using models that replicated the coloration of male and female lizards, they found that the male lizard models were less well camouflaged and more likely to fall prey to bird attacks.

“In females, selection seems to have favoured better camouflage to avoid attack from avian predators. But in males, being bright and conspicuous also appears to be important even though this heightens the risk of being spotted by birds,” Kate Marshall, University of Cambridge

Using visual modelling, Marshall and her colleagues tested around 300 color variations to find ones that matched the male and female colors in order to make the 600 clay lizards used in the study and then placed models in ten sites on each of the two islands and checked them every 24 hours over five days to see which had been attacked by birds.

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These adorable Crested Geckos are just hanging around in our herp photo of the day uploaded by kingsnake.com user MOC_Reptiles ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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This is a pretty but pale Big Bend western diamond-back.
Where were the western diamond-backed rattlesnakes, Crotalus atrox? Jake and I began asking ourselves that question on our first night in Val Verde County, TX, and continued wondering throughout our 10 nights in West Texas. We were no closer to an answer on that 10th night than we had been on the first. We knew only that 14 months earlier (August 2014) we had seen more western diamond-backed rattlers than any other snake species. And that over the years I had found this to often be the case. We found diamond-backs from the time of night that the desert had cooled enough to allow snake movement until the wee hours of the morning when, if we looked eastward, we could see the first evidence of a new dawn. We found them crossing the roadway. We found them quietly coiled, as if basking, on the pavement. We even found them stretched fully out as they swallowed prey, often a kangaroo rat. In other words, there was no shortage of Crotalus atrox. It was other rattlers, black-tails, rock, and Mohave that we had been difficult to see.

But now, a year later, our findings were very different. It was mid-June and we were seeing very few of these big, usually feisty, rattlers. In fact during the 10 days we were in the range of the taxon we saw only 4 C. atrox . 3 were prowling and 1 was coiled in ambush position in a small cave in a low rock cut.

I do have to mention though that where we had seen western diamond-backs a year earlier, we were now encountering rock rattlers in fair numbers, many black-tails. and a few Mohaves. Although the reasons for this species shift remain unclear we actually found the tradeoff quite satisfactory. And I’m already wondering what next year’s trip will bring?

More photos under the jump

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The African clawed frog’s process for adaptive color vision is full of mysterious twists and turns, an evolutionary biologist explains in a new article about the frog’s shift from ultraviolet to violet vision.

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