Our trip had been replete with rattlesnakes. The roadways and rockcuts in the Big Bend area had offered up a western diamond-back or two, a few Mohave rattlers, many black-tailed rattlers and a sufficient number of mottled rock rattlers to keep things really interesting. We had found rock rattlers having pearl gray ground colors on some cuts, those having a bluish-gray ground color on other cuts. and Kenny had found and shown us one from a more westerly cut that resembled a banded rock rattler as much, or perhaps even more, than it did the mottled subspecies.

But the ones that most caught my attention had an olive-fawn ground color with faint pinkish overtones and warm brown irregular barring. In color they looked far more like the rock rattlers from the rather distant Davis Mountains than the populations nearest to the snakes at hand. And their colors camouflaged them more effectively than those of any of the other populations we visited.

Judge for yourselves how inconspicuous the warm overtones rendered these rattlers when they were lying quietly amidst the rocks and soils of their natural habitat.

For us the question quickly became how many had we overlooked rather than how many we actually saw.

More photos under the jump
Continue reading “Mottled Rocks Amidst the Rocks” …read more
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An wonderful field find in Mexico of this Lyre Snake brightens the middle of the week in our herp photo of the day uploaded by kingsnake.com user Chuck_Ch ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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If you are a regular reader of my blog posts then you might find this title a bit familiar as it is somewhat a sequel of one of my previous blog posts ‘Vine Snake: The hidden predator’.

Vine snakes, or whip snakes, are one of the most beautiful snakes on earth and luckily in India you can find 5-6 species of vine snakes. Today I want to talk about the “brown phase” of the the green vine snake. As I said in the title disguised in brown, these snakes are a sub-species of Green Vine Snake, named Ahaetulla nasuta isabellinus and it is usually known as brown morph of the green vine snake.

The size and structure of this snake is similar to green vine snake Ahaetulla nasuta,the only difference is these snakes are brown. These snakes look amazing and its brown appearance helps camouflage it from both predators and prey.

When I saw the brown morph of the green vine snake for the first time, I was mistaken thinking it was a Brown Vine Snake Ahaetulla pulverulenta, another species of vine snake, but with the help of few experts I came to know that it is a green vine snake in brown costume.

I am very thankful to my friend Saleel Gharpure for allowing me to share these amazing pictures of this magnificent reptile.
Photo by: Saleel Gharpure
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By Herp News

The Sira Currasow is a critically endangered bird that lives only in the high altitude tropical forests of the Cerros del Sira mountain range in central Peru. It’s proven nearly as elusive as it is rare: Scientists first described the species in the 1970s, but wouldn’t observe the bird again for another three decades. But now an expedition to the Cerros del Sira has captured the first ever footage of the Sira Currasow (Pauxi koepckeae). “We were shocked by the incredible results we found,” Andrew Whitworth, a researcher from The University of Glasgow who was part of the expedition, told mongabay. “One of the coolest things is that crowdfunding supported a third of the expedition funding, along with the Royal Geographic Societies Neville Schulman Challenge award.” Whitworth and team say there could be as few as 250 mature adult Sira Currasows alive right now, and their population is in decline due to habitat destruction and being hunted for meat. Prior to this footage, there has only ever been one photograph of the bird. Map by Exploration Sira. The expedition, led by biologists from the University of Glasgow as well as the University of Exeter, used 22 camera traps to capture the footage, and the Sira Currasow wasn’t their only big find. The team also captured the first hard evidence that Andean spectacled bears live in the Sira Communal Reserve, established in 2001 to protect the unique biodiversity of the isolated Cerros del Sira range. The Andean spectacled…

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A local herpetologist is moving his reptiles to comply with a city zoning ordinance that bars him from running a rescue and rehabilitation center at his house. Chad Griffin, the owner of CCSB Reptile Rescue & Rehabilitation Center, said he is looking for a site and will move the reptiles

Because Griffin is cooperating with the city, officials are working with him to find a new site and to move the animals, said Chris Murphy, the deputy director of planning and development services.

“Our end objective is compliance with the ordinance” Chris Murphy – Deputy Director Winston-Salem, N.C.

Griffin has about 10 days to remove the outdoor enclosures that house the alligators, 30 days for venomous snakes and up to 60 days to stop operating the business in his home, Murphy said. He will be able to keep some reptiles in his house, including nonvenomous snakes, that are considered pets.

kingsnake.com would like to remind everyone that keeps herps to make sure you your not violating any local or state laws or ordinances so you don’t find yourself in similar circumstances. Read more at the Winston-Salem Journal
Image by David Rolfe …read more
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While we sat in Study Butte eating the evening meal, the sky darkened. For the last hour or so lightning had been flashing east of us and we had heard a very occasional rumble of thunder. Suddenly the wind picked up and the outside was obliterated by a dust storm. Driven by the lusty gusts a self-opening tent scooted by. It was followed closely by a young lady attempting to recorral the errant canvas. Then quiet. The wind dropped, the tent was caught by the chaser, and a bolt of cloud to ground lightning followed immediately by a deafening clap of thunder–the desert storm was upon and around us. And as every herper knows, a desert storm of any significance (and even many of lesser impact) means amphibians. Amphibians emerge from nooks, crannies, and burrows to set up very temporary housekeeping in the newly formed, very ephemeral, desert pools.

While monitoring nearby rainfalls on his iPhone, Jake determined that the strongest storms had been about 50 miles away. So off we went, reaching the area a few minutes before sunset. It took just a few minutes to learn that almost every swale was in flash-flood stage and only a few more minutes to determine that huge pools now sat atop desert flats that had until only a few hours earlier been long parched. We knew then that our choice had been a good one.

By nightfall a few tentative anuran vocalizations were heard. Among the first to call were the Couch’s spadefoots, Scaphiopus couchii. Shortly thereafter red-spotted toad, Bufo punctatus, had joined the spadefoots in chorus. By full darkness the voices of western green toads, Bufo debilis insidior, and Texas toads, B. speciosus, had been added and the roadway was fairly seething with all 4 anuran species.

It was a night that we would long remember.

More photos under the jump

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There is no denying the extreme cute factor of this Xenopus laevis in our herp photo of the day uploaded by kingsnake.com user Krallenfrosch ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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By Herp News

More than half the world’s sea turtles have ingested plastic or other human rubbish, an international study has revealed. The study found the east coasts of Australia and North America, Southeast Asia, southern Africa, and Hawaii were particularly dangerous for turtles due to a combination of debris loads and high species diversity.

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Scientists discovered a new species of snake in the Kimberley region of north-western Australia belonging to Acanthophis (Australian death adders), a genus of highly venomous snakes found in Australia and New Guinea and parts of Indonesia.

The Kimberley death adder, Acanthophis cryptamydros, described in a paper published August 28 in the journal Zootaxa, is an ambush predator, staying camouflaged until it can surprise it’s prey. The snake is roughly 24 inches (60 cm) long and has a diamond-shaped head.

“It’s not clear how many Kimberley death adders there are in the wild, but they’re probably quite rare,” – Simon Maddock University College London

The species’ range extends from Wotjulum in the west, 45 km north-north-east of Halls Creek in the south, and Kununurra in the east and is also known to occur on some offshore islands including Koolan, Bigge, Boongaree, Wulalam, and an unnamed island in Talbot Bay.

To read more check out the PDF article on Zootaxa – Image by Ryan J. Ellis. …read more
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The Indian Smooth Snake Coronella brachyura is a rare and endemic snake species found in India. I am not sure if there are any species of smooth snakes around the world, but you can find them in India.

I was very eager to touch this snake and wanted to feel it in my hands, not because it is rare or looks beautiful but because I wanted to know why it is known as the Smooth Snake. There are many other Indian snakes with smooth scales but the day I handled it I realized that this snake is something different.

The Indian smooth snake can be identified by its elongated head, greyish-brown dorsal body sometimes bearing darker stripes on side dorsal and shorter tail. The body is slender with shiny smooth scales of same size with brown color. The average length of this snake is 50cm and maximum length is 77cm and it feeds geckos, skinks and small rodents.

This snake is very simple and doesn’t have a beautiful color pattern, but once you touch this snake or handle it you will realize where the beauty of this snake lies.
Photo by: Saleel Gharpure
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The protective instinct for a nest is visible here in our herp photo of the day uploaded by kingsnake.com user CDB_reptiles ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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By Herp News

Sadly, it is not a magician’s illusion, but a genuine plummeting in giraffe numbers across Africa. After a two-year effort spearheaded by the Giraffe Conservation Foundation, members of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature [IUCN] Giraffe and Okapi Specialist Group met in advance of the 3rd International Giraffe Indaba to assess the conservation status of giraffes and okapis. Both meetings were held at the Southern African Wildlife College, just outside Kruger National Park. Forty-five delegates attended the meetings, representing about a dozen countries. The IUCN maintains a Red List that categorizes species according to a set of criteria that indicate the threat of extinction. Threatened species are labeled according their risk of extinction as Vulnerable, Endangered, or Critically Endangered. The okapi lives only in the dense, tropical forests of Central Africa and has recently been classified as “Vulnerable” by the IUCN. The closest living relative of the okapi is the giraffe, a species that lives outside the Congo Basin, in a variety of habitats ranging from desert to woodland/savanna. Although resident across Africa, giraffes live in mostly disconnected pockets that are home to specific subspecies. Nine subspecies of giraffes are currently recognized. While two subspecies of giraffes are considered to be “Vulnerable”, the species Giraffa camelopardalis is classified as “Least Concern” by the IUCN. However, the current situation, as discussed at the recent meeting, questions this classification, because giraffes are threatened with extinction. Giraffes at sunset. Photo by Francois Deacon. The number of giraffes…

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By Herp News

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]hrough years of effort, scientists have assessed the conservation status of some 77,000 species of plants and animals via the IUCN’s Red List of Threatened Species. Scientific records on the distribution and abundance of species over time allow them to evaluate how close each one is to extinction. But scientists still lack the data needed to assess the rest of the 1.5 million or so species known to exist, let alone a potential 7 million that haven’t even been described yet. Without its risk of extinction being classified, a species can miss out on conservation funding and attention. But without funding, the information needed to assess extinction risk can’t be collected. To overcome this Catch 22 some conservationists have recently been tapping in to a resource that costs nothing and has actually been there all along: volunteers. Within the bustling crowds at Lorengau market on Manus Island, Papua New Guinea, there is knowledge — data — that would take months and thousands of dollars to accumulate if it were to be acquired by a research team on an expedition into the jungle. Nathan Whitmore, population biologist with the New-York based conservation organization the Wildlife Conservation Society, spent time with these local people in order to learn from what is sometimes called “the wisdom of crowds” and build a detailed picture of the abundance and distribution of the Manus green tree snail (Papustyla pulcherrima). His results were recently published in the journal Oryx. This snail, remarkable though it is with its…

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Good news for tigers came last week with government approval of an extension for Parsa Wildlife Reserve in Nepal. The addition will add a further 2,500 square kilometers of prime habitat for the big cats, which conservationists hope will increase the protected region’s tiger capacity to more than 40 adults. Worldwide, tiger numbers have declined 95 percent over the past century due largely to habitat loss, overhunting of tiger prey species, and hunting of tigers themselves. Latest estimates peg Nepal’s Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) population between 163 and 235, the majority of which live in Chitwan National Park. However, conservationists say Chitwan is reaching its maximum tiger capacity, and more protected habitat is vital for their recovery. Parsa Widlife Refuge shares its western edge with Chitwan National Park and supports 10 adult tigers. Conservationists with Zoological Society of London (ZSL) say this is because of habitat differences and Para’s lower prey densities. With this new expansion, they hope to increase the refuge’s tiger population by a further 30 or 40 adults. A Bengal tiger camera-trapped in Parsa Wildlife Refuge. Photo courtesy of ZSL. In 2013, Nepal’s government announced its tiger population had rebounded 63 percent since the last survey in 2009. Photo courtesy of ZSL. The new addition, called Bara Forest, was previously operating under a medium level of protection, which ZSL contends was not enough to protect tigers from the illegal cattle grazing, poaching, and other human disturbances that were happening in…

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Happy Rattlesnake Friday from this beautiful neotropical Guarico Rattlesnake in our herp photo of the day uploaded by kingsnake.com user robnimmo ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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Nothing is more pitiful than a bored sulcata. Nothing is more scary than Frankie looking for something to ram.

There are things I don’t want Frankie to ram. I am top of that list. The young Frankie would occasionally bump into me. Bumping is a very close behavior and ramming is just a few pounds and a much bigger bruise away.

Frankie amuses himself by a lot of walking but he just gets it into his head to do something more. Last night, before tucking himself in for the night, he thought it would be fun to push his dogloo into a tree.

Dogloo wasn’t doing anything at all, not calling attention to itself, and it certainly didn’t cause Frankie to stub his toe or any such indignity. It just existed in Frankie yard and thus a potential for his special kind of suclata attention.

Last week, Annette, a local tortoise friend who owns a one-pound Frankie-wanna be beast, came to pick up some supplies for “Foots” and got to meet Frankie for the first time. I forget that possibly I should warn people that Frankie can get enthusiastic about visitors.

At this first meeting, Annette saw a very big, large, hundred pound boulder moving at a very crisp pace directly at her, heads up, and very animated.

Frankie saw a potential carrot giver.

Brave Annette did not want to back down because after all this is just a tortoise. What could a tortoise possibly do? Right? Bruise the shins? Break her legs? Knock her down and trample her like a shoe box?

I told Annette to stand her ground that Frankie was just happy to see her. She chose to move closer to me and let me handle the we-move-much-faster-than-anyone-expects beast.

He just wanted a carrot.

So, no, Frankie is not allowed to ram people and so far he has not hurt anyone…besides me. I remain an ever vigilant observer of Sulcata Behavior.

Give Frankie toys. Objects to ram. Dogloo will do. Buckets are perfect.

Bucket provides hours of amusement for Frankie. Even when the bucket gets the upper hand.

Lesson: Sulcata tortoises move faster than you think.

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Read more here: Turtle Times

By Herp News

Farmers and herders across the globe try numerous methods to protect their crops and livestock from predation. They make noise and sleep in their fields, and they use technologies ranging from scarecrows to pesticides to car horns to shotguns. Many prefer passive, non-lethal techniques – those that allow them to stay inside their homes at night and dissuade, rather than kill, the potential predator. Some of these predators are endangered large mammals, so reducing conflict between farmers and wildlife is a critical conservation issue. Photo credit: George Powell Photo credit: USAID Afganistan, Wikimedia Photo credit: Suzanne Palminteri In Australia, a major culprit is the (non-endangered) European Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes), an invasive carnivore that has wreaked havoc on Australian domestic and wild fauna since its introduction there in the mid-1800s as a recreational hunting target. In addition to decimating native bird and small mammal populations, foxes aggravate farmers by preying on newborn lambs. In an effort to combat this problem, Australian farmer Ian Whalan developed the Foxlight, a device that produces light at random intervals to emulate a moving person carrying a flashlight (torch). Foxlight’s commercial photo. Photo credit: Foxlights.com Each Foxlight contains 9 LED bulbs and a computer chip. The lights flash in varying blue and white sequences at 360 degrees and can be seen for about a mile (1.5 km). Light sensors turn the light on automatically at dusk and off at dawn so that they do…

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By Herp News

Researchers examine the response of a variety of insects, reptiles, amphibians and mammals to a natural selection pressure in the form of cardiac glycosides — toxins produced by certain plants and toads for defense against predators.

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By Herp News

Estrogen in suburban yards is changing the ratio of male and female green frogs at nearby ponds, a new study shows. Higher levels of estrogen in areas where there are shrubs, vegetable gardens, and manicured lawns are disrupting frogs’ endocrine systems, according to the study.

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Well, it will be a Gray Treefrog when it grows up! A very cool view of a metamorph Hyla versicolor gets its shot in the spotlight in our herp photo of the day uploaded by kingsnake.com user anuraanman ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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Another year of lyre snake failure for me!
So, what else is new?

After 50 years of unsuccessfully looking for this little opisthoglyph in Texas’ Big Bend region if I had found one I would probably have keeled over from shock. Other searchers though — mostly the participants of the “Sanderson Snake Days” event, were successful in finding a Chihuahuan lyre snake, Trimorphodon vilkinsonii, and at least one person found 2! In other words these little snakes were found on all sides of Jake and me, but we were never in quite the right position at the right time. For example:

Jake and I had slowly and repeatedly driven an area at which dozens of lyres had been found over the years. Then tiring of that routine we added an extra few miles to one cruise. When we returned, about 20 minutes later, we learned that not one but two of the snakes had been found in the 20 minutes we were gone. A day or two later, on that same trip we were again cruising and hoping. A friend from California was also cruising the road, he in search of gray-banded kingsnakes. He found no kings but watched a Chihuahuan lyre snake cross the road and disappear into the rocky abyss on the south side. We were about 10 minutes behind him and we found neither king nor lyre. You get the idea. We were totally ineffectual.

Well, at least Sky (who had a research permit for the taxon) let me photograph her find, and next year (2016), all things being equal, I’ll give it another try. What the heck–even an old herper needs a goal.

More photos under the jump. >

Continue reading “Lyre Snakes – An Exercise in Frustration” …read more
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In the United States getting bit by a rattlesnake is a very expensive business. With anti-venin prices at the hospital running $2300.00 a vial, and with severe envenomations often requiring 10 or more vials, its not uncommon for a course of treatment to run close to, or more than $100,000.00.

Meanwhile, in Mexico, that same treatment, using the exact same anti-venins, usually costs a tenth, or less, and achieves the same results. Why the cost disparity?

That’s exactly the question researcher Dr. Leslie Boyer at the University of Arizona wanted to find out. The founding director of the VIPER Institute, a research group studying ways to improve the medical treatment of venom injuries, used the numbers to build a pricing model for a typical arachnid anti-venin sold in the U.S. and the disparity is breathtaking. According to the model, a single vial of anti-venin that would cost over $14,000 in the United States would cost one or two hundred dollars in Mexico.

“The U.S. needs to re-think how we manage these things, because we have reached the point where the developing world is getting more timely access to better drugs (at least in this field) than we are.” – Dr. Leslie Boyer

According to Boyer, in Mexico authorities determined some time ago that treating venomous snake and spider bites was a public health issue, but to try to implement something similar here would require an act of Congress.

To read more check out the article at the Washington Post. Gallery photo by JeffB. …read more
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By Herp News

The world’s oldest fossil sea turtle known to date has been found by scientists. The fossilized reptile is at least 120 million years old — which makes it about 25 million years older than the previously known oldest specimen. The almost completely preserved skeleton from the Cretaceous, with a length of nearly 2 meters, shows all of the characteristic traits of modern marine turtles.

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By Herp News

[dropcap]U[/dropcap]nderstanding whether conservation programs really work is hard to do, but it is becoming increasingly important for organizations wanting to raise funds and justify their work preserving species and habitats. A recent study published in the journal Biological Conservation demonstrates a new way to evaluate a conservation organization’s work in preventing extinctions by using the IUCN Red List Index (RLI) as a performance indicator. The study was led by Richard Young, head of conservation science at Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, and it examined Durrell’s own work as a case study. Durrell is a U.K.-based international non-profit organization that conducts long-term conservation programs to save species from extinction. The RLI is calculated from data in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, widely considered the most authoritative and objective database on the status of species. In the Red List of Threatened Species, species are assessed against criteria for geographic range and population size, structure, and trends. They are then assigned to categories of extinction risk: Least Concern, Near Threatened, Vulnerable, Endangered, Critically Endangered, Extinct in the Wild, and Extinct. From these assessments, scientists can calculate an RLI for any set of species. The RLI indicates the proportion of species that move through the IUCN Red List categories between periodic assessments, either away from or towards extinction. In their study, Young and his co-authors examined the fate of 17 species — one amphibian, seven mammals, and nine birds — that Durrell has worked to conserve in five countries. Durrell’s conservation interventions included…

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ADORABLE! There is no other way to describe the squee of cuteness that this hatchling Peach Throat Monitor has in our herp photo of the day uploaded by kingsnake.com user MikesMonitors ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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“Sachin! Checkout this bamboo pit viper, doesn’t look somewhat different?” After observing the pit viper carefully “nooooo brother, it’s a Large-scaled pit viper”. One of the best mornings of my life, just imagine being a hardcore snake lover and you wake up with a beautiful and new snake in front of you in your friends hand; do I really need to describe that feeling?

In July, I had visited a place known as Kodaikanal in the southern part of India and finding the Large-scaled pit viper Trimeresurus macrolepis was the best memory given to me by this place. Large scaled pit vipers look somewhat similar to bamboo pit vipers and few other green tree pit vipers but the scales of these pit vipers are much larger than others and this is the reason these snakes are named as large scaled pit vipers. There hasn’t been much research done on this beautiful reptile and that is the reason there is less information available about this snake including the factors like distribution and habitat.

I had visited this place with my very close herp friend Prithvi Shetty, with whom i have been working together since 3-4 years and he is always a perfect companion on herpings. It was because of his hard work and dedicated herping that I was able to see this beauty. It was early morning and prithvi came to me and tried to wake me up saying that we had to go herping as it was decided, but I would say that I missed a chance of encountering this serpentine beauty in the wild because I didn’t wake up as I wanted to sleep and told him to go alone. After 2 hours he returned with this beautiful gift, so happy I was. And that day I learnt “the one who sleeps a lot, later on weeps a lot”.
Photo by: Prithvi Shetty
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A Mexican national is being held in prison in Guayaquil Ecuador after trying to smuggle out specimens of both species of endangered iguana only found in the Galapagos Islands. The smuggler was trying to transport nine marine iguanas and two land iguanas, all endemic to the islands’ fragile ecosystem, intending to send the reptiles to Uganda

9 Marine neonate (Amblyrhymchus cristatus), and 2 juvenile ground iguanas (Conolophus suscristatus) were found in a suitcase where they had been packed so they could not move. The iguanas are being evaluated and fed before they will be reintegrated into their habitat in the Galapagos National Park.

Authorities said the man had previously committed similar crimes in New Zealand, and are investigating his possible involvement in a global network of traffickers in protected species.

To read more, check out the original press release by the Ecuadoran Environment Ministry.

Gallery photo by Ivory Tortoise …read more
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This hatching Albino Pied Ball Python in our herp photo of the day should help kick your work week off right, uploaded by kingsnake.com user Bigfoots ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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Hatchling Reeve’s turtles Chinemys reevesi usually have a yellow facial pattern
When I was a kid there used to be 5 and 10 cent stores–real ones where you could but things for 5 or 10 cents or more. Some of the stores were small, some were huge, and all were places of wonderment to a youngster. And among the wonders offered were the little “Japanese coin turtles” in the pet departments. These little dark-colored turtles would show up only periodically, usually after the supplies of “green turtles” (red eared sliders) and “gray turtles” (Mississippi map turtles) had been exhausted. I’m not sure how long it was before , or even how, I learned that the proper name for the coin turtle was Reeve’s turtle, or that its scientific name was then Chinemys reevesi (today it is known as the Chinese pond turtle or the Chinese three-keeled pond turtle and has been reclassified as Mauremys reevesi) but learn it I did. But I do know that it didn’t take me long to learn that these little 49c turtles seemed even easier to keep than the American species that they seasonally replaced.

I hadn’t thought of a Reeve’s turtle for several decades but for reasons unknown I began thinking of them a few weeks ago. It took a while to find a breeder of this species but thanks to the aquatic turtle classifieds on Kingsnake.com I succeeded and, yes, they had a few hatchlings (but sadly they were more than 49c each). But with that said, guess what the FedEx driver delivered to me this morning.

Now all I need is a tiny plastic turtle tank bedecked with a proportionately tiny plastic palm tree. Reliving childhood– but just kidding about that old-timey turtle tank!

More pictures under the jump!
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From June of next year, Sanofi Pasteur’s stock of anti-venin Fav-Afrique will be exhausted and no more will be produced by the company. The technology used to create the anti-venin will be used in rabies treatments, according to manufacturer Sanofi Pasteur.

“Fav-Afrique is no longer being manufactured so vulnerable farmers will lose their lives or limbs.” – Abdulrazaq Habib Bayero University

Treating bites from snakes like mambas, vipers and cobras just does not add up any more, Sanofi Pasteur said. But tens of thousands may die, unnecessarily, according to Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) as it demanded action over the withdrawal of Fav-Afrique. MSF says there will be no alternatives to replace the Sanofi Pasteur treatment for at least two years and that five million people are bitten by snakes each year, 100,000 die and 400,000 are disabled or disfigured.

Read more at The Independant Gallery photo by Drjones
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By Herp News

The world’s oldest fossil sea turtle known to date has been found by scientists. The fossilized reptile is at least 120 million years old — which makes it about 25 million years older than the previously known oldest specimen. The almost completely preserved skeleton from the Cretaceous, with a length of nearly 2 meters, shows all of the characteristic traits of modern marine turtles.

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Read more here: herpetofauna.com

The Dog-Faced Water Snake Cereberus rynchops is one of a number of snakes named after a mammal, like others such as cat snake, wolf snakes, rat snake etc. but totally different in appearance and habitat. This mildly- venomous reptilian dog is that it is found on paddy fields of both marine and fresh water, so you can encounter this snake in mangroves as well as in coastal areas.

In India this species is found in all coasts on the mainland, and also found in both the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Coasts of Gujarat are its western most limits. These snakes can be identified by their brownish dorsal surface marked with darker bands or blotches and the scales of these snakes are very rough and keeled. The maximum length of these snakes is 100cm and it is viviparous by nature, the female giving live birth to 6-30 young ones.

The dog-faced water snake usually feeds on fish and frogs but interestingly eels are one of its favorite meals. I have been lucky to find this snake a couple of times, but I am eagerly waiting to witness this snake hunting and feeding on an eel in its natural habitat.

Photo: Saleel Gharpure
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From his toothy grin, even this Nile Crocodile knows today is a holiday in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user CDieter ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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A new model for snow-fed mountain wetlands projects that this year’s dry conditions could be common by the 2070s, affecting the Cascades frog and other mountain species.

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Scientists have determined that Eunotosaurus africanus is the earliest known branch of the turtle tree of life.

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Scientists have determined that Eunotosaurus africanus is the earliest known branch of the turtle tree of life.

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Kick off your weekend with this gorgeous Prairie Rattlesnake in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user akcoldbliss ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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Asia’s Endangered fishing cat (Prionailurus viverrinus) went missing in 2003, and was thought to be extinct in that nation. That’s why researchers were so delighted when the fishing cat showed up recently in candid shots snapped by their camera traps in two Cambodian preserves. The sightings were made in a recent camera trap survey conducted by Cambodia’s Centre for Biodiversity Conservation (CBC) in partnership with Fauna & Flora International (FFI), and the Royal University of Phnom Penh (RUPP). Fishing cat photographed by a camera trap in Peam Krasop Wildlife Sanctuary. Photo courtesy of Fauna & Flora International/Royal University of Phnom Penh. FFI project leader Ret Thaung said that the fishing cat’s preference for wetland habitat — and the degradation of that habitat by agriculture and other development — had led to severe population declines throughout much of its range. “Asian wetland habitats are rapidly disappearing or being modified by human activity, so fishing cat numbers have declined dramatically over the last decade and the remaining population is thought to be small,” she said. Interviews with local Cambodian villagers led the researchers to believe that the fishing cat might still be found in southwest Cambodia. So they set out 32 cameras at five locations and waited. Sifting through the gathered images, the scientists were thrilled to find pictures of the fishing cat snapped in the Peam Krosaop Wildlife Sanctuary in Koh Knong Province, and in Ream National Park in Sihanoukville Province. “This is a remarkable discovery,” said…

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Asia’s Endangered fishing cat (Prionailurus viverrinus) went missing in 2003, and was thought to be extinct in that nation. That’s why researchers were so delighted when the fishing cat showed up recently in candid shots snapped by their camera traps in two Cambodian preserves. The sightings were made in a recent camera trap survey conducted by Cambodia’s Centre for Biodiversity Conservation (CBC) in partnership with Fauna & Flora International (FFI), and the Royal University of Phnom Penh (RUPP). Fishing cat photographed by a camera trap in Peam Krasop Wildlife Sanctuary. Photo courtesy of Fauna & Flora International/Royal University of Phnom Penh. FFI project leader Ret Thaung said that the fishing cat’s preference for wetland habitat — and the degradation of that habitat by agriculture and other development — had led to severe population declines throughout much of its range. “Asian wetland habitats are rapidly disappearing or being modified by human activity, so fishing cat numbers have declined dramatically over the last decade and the remaining population is thought to be small,” she said. Interviews with local Cambodian villagers led the researchers to believe that the fishing cat might still be found in southwest Cambodia. So they set out 32 cameras at five locations and waited. Sifting through the gathered images, the scientists were thrilled to find pictures of the fishing cat snapped in the Peam Krosaop Wildlife Sanctuary in Koh Knong Province, and in Ream National Park in Sihanoukville Province. “This is a remarkable discovery,” said…

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It’s well known that climate change is significantly affecting the world’s oceans as sea level rise and water acidifies. But forests are also experiencing big impacts. Shifting precipitation patterns are bringing droughts to the Amazon rainforest, and warmer winter temperatures are allowing tree-killing beetles to spread farther north in boreal regions. Now, new research finds that climate change may be making tropical forests “move.” A study published recently in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that over the last decade, tropical forests in north-western Colombia have been shrinking and changing directionally with time as a likely response to climate change. Areas in the northern Andean montane forests and adjacent lowlands of Colombia are experiencing a phenomenon called “thermophilization,” the study says, meaning that the abundance of cold-tolerating highland species is decreasing while only heat-loving, lowland tree species are being left behind. These patterns are consistent with the expectations of upwards species migrations due to climate change, the authors write. The study found strong links between tree species composition and temperature changes. On the surface, the changes to these forests seem deceptively small, Kenneth Feeley, co-author of the PNAS study and Assistant Professor of Biology at Florida International University, told mongabay.com. “If you were to go to the forest every year and look around, you would see lots of green, healthy vegetation,” he said. “It is only with precise measurements of which species are there, how many of each species is there, and how big each tree is, that…

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