Rod Williams, an associate professor of wildlife science, helped Hamilton share his love for reptiles through one of Williams' classes called nature of service learning. Hamilton was able to go to a local elementary school and present to children a lesson on wildlife and the environment.

"In my interactions with Daniel, he had two passions. He had a passion for herpetology (study of reptiles and amphibians) and a passion for teaching people about natural resources and the environment, especially if it involved amphibians and reptiles," Williams said.

Hamilton's brother and a Purdue alumnus, John Hamilton, said his brother, even from a young age, would indulge in his love for animals, especially reptiles.

"I don't remember a time when he didn’t like dinosaurs or reptiles," John said. "He always had a way with them, it was nice to see someone so in tune with those creatures."

[...]

"He was a very fair and genuine person,” John said. “He lived life honestly."

His exuberance for life made an impression on a family friend and roommate, Christina Morse, a recent graduate from the College of Liberal Arts. She said Hamilton was always positive and he made sure a situation never got boring by cracking jokes.

"He was very much about making jokes and making people laugh,” Morse said. “He always wanted the best for people."

Hamilton died around the creatures he loved the most. Morse said he was doing what he truly loved and believed in.

"He was one of the few students that went to Purdue to do something he absolutely loved instead of doing something to get a job one day," Morse said.

As reported by authorities recently in local media, a young international volunteer with the Blue Iguana Recovery Programme passed away suddenly last Friday, 3rd June.

Daniel Hamilton was 21 years old. He was pursuing a Bachelor of Science Degree in Wildlife at Purdue University, Indiana. He spoke of a lifelong fascination with reptiles, and how when first saw Blue Iguanas at an exhibit in the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, he knew he wanted to play some part in their rescue.

Daniel’s volunteer application was outstanding – he had done fieldwork with salamanders in state forests in Indiana, had learned techniques like radio tracking, tagging and navigation, and his enthusiasm sparkled in his communications as he prepared to come to Grand Cayman.

In his short time with us, Daniel launched himself wholeheartedly into the work of the Programme, first at the captive breeding facility in the QE II Botanic Park, then in the Salina Reserve inland from the Queen’s Highway, and finally in the new Reserve in Colliers, East End. There, he and two other international volunteers were preparing for this year’s release of Blue Iguanas, scheduled to take place in July.

The staff and current volunteers with the Blue Iguana Recovery Programme, and the Council and staff of the National Trust for the Cayman Islands are deeply shocked and saddened by Daniel’s unexpected passing, and extend their heart-felt sympathy and condolences to his family and friends. Thanks and recognition are also extended to the emergency services who did everything possible to save Daniel.

The community’s expressions of sympathy are sincerely appreciated. We invite anyone who wishes to send condolences to email birpvols@gmail.com or post on the Blue Iguana Recovery Program’s Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pages/Blue-Iguana-Recovery-Programme/183865225017 , and the BIRP will arrange for these thoughts to reach Daniel’s family

Scientists have known for years that some species exist due to interspecies mating, the whiptail lizards have provided proof of that; they’ve been creating new species themselves for at least several hundred thousand years. What’s new is the process being manipulated by another species, us, Homo sapiens. Geneticists have been trying for years to create a new breed of pretty much anything by urging lab “volunteers” of differing species to mate with one another, not exactly earth shaking science when you consider a dog that tries to mate with a human leg. Efforts such as these are, not surprisingly, more often successful than not; the problem is, the offspring are usually infertile, such as mules, or too weak to survive. The trick has been to create a new species that is able to both survive and reproduce, because otherwise, it can’t really be called a new species if it only exists for the duration of one generation.

In a paper published in PNAS, lead researcher Peter Baumann of the Stowers Institute for Medical Research, describes how he and his team paired an A.inornata male with an A.exsanguis female resulting in six eggs; all of which hatched, resulting in young lizards that were more similar to the female than the male, save a bit of blue tint on the tails. Each also had four copies of their parental genes (normally there’s just two), three from their mother, the other from their father. They were also all female and all able to reproduce by cloning themselves.

Not only have the initial lizards survived and reproduced, so too have their offspring; the lizards are currently in their fourth generation, leading to the inevitable question of whether they should be given a name. Baumann is hesitant to do so as it’s likely to court controversy from the biology/genetics community as the new species hasn’t yet been given the opportunity to show that it can exist outside of a lab, though the team members certainly believe it’s capable of doing so.

I woke with a rude shock and was petrified by what was happening around me. My whole world was rushing by so fast that I hung on with all the stickiness that my toes allowed. My eyes just saw a blur and it was so disconcerting that I shut them tight.

The air stank, particles of black muck settled on me clogging the pores of my skin, it became so hot that my toes were on the verge of frying, and my eardrums just couldn't handle the noise.

Finally, when the world came to a standstill, I was so numb that I very nearly fell down from dizziness. I was just gathering my wits when she yelled: “Hey Rom, there's a tree frog here. What to do?” The man called Rom answered: “Just put him over there by the bushes.” She was mortified: “Here! At the mechanic's? He'll die.” Rom tried to reassure her: “No, no. He'll be fine.” Was he nuts? How could I survive in this hot tinderbox of a concrete jungle? She hissed: “Give me that plastic bag.” “What are you going to do?”

Just as I was about to make good my escape from their evil clutches, she caught me with the bag. She sprinkled some water from her bottle, threw some green leaves and knotted it tight. She bit a small hole in the bag and tucked me into her knapsack. That was how I came to be frognapped!

"Treefrogs are a particularly important group to study for understanding amphibian diversity, because they can make up nearly half of all amphibian species in some rainforest sites," says lead author John J. Wiens, an Associate Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolution at Stony Brook University. "Treefrogs also offer a striking example of the high local-scale biodiversity in the Amazon. At some sites in the Amazon rainforest, there are more treefrog species in a small area than there are across all of North America or Europe."

The researchers compiled data on the number of treefrog species at 123 sites around the world and analyzed the data with a new evolutionary tree (based on DNA sequence data) for 360 treefrog species. They discovered that the richness of treefrog species in the Amazon rainforest sites is not explained by wet, tropical climatic conditions alone.

"In fact, we found that many tropical rainforest sites that are outside the Amazon Basin have no more species than do some sites in temperate North America," explains Dr. Wiens.

Just before Christmas the unseasonably heavy rains near Malindi town washed a family of hippopotamuses down the Sabaki River and out to sea. The residents of the town tried in vain to urge the family back up the estuary. When the Tsunami hit Malindi, the sea turned angry, the sky clouded over and for a moment the hippos disappeared and were forgotten as all efforts went to rescuing the stranded fishermen.

The next day only one hippo could be seen. It was the baby and he was stranded on the reef. Hundreds of people came to watch the efforts to rescue the hippo. It took ropes, boats, nets and cars —though the hippo was tired he was still fast and slippery. It took a brave rugby tackle to finally capture him, and the cheering of the crowd could be heard over a kilometer away.

Lafarge Eco Systems agreed to provide a home for the baby hippo and I rushed to Malindi to collect him. Tangled in fishing ropes, angry and tired, the hippo did not seem to appreciate our rescue at all. As we left for Mombasa, the crowd unanimously agreed to name him 'Owen' in honor of the volunteer who tackled him to the ground.

Exhausted, confused and extremely frightened, Owen immediately ran to the safety of a giant tortoise when we released him in Haller Park. Mzee, our 130 year old tortoise, just happened to be nearby and he was very surprised by Owen's odd behavior cowering behind him as a baby hippo does to its mother. Mzee quickly came to terms with his new friend and even returned signs of affection. The unusual relationship between this baby hippo and the ancient tortoise amazed people the world over and has featured in most countries on television and in news papers.