Reptile & Amphibian News Blog
Keep up with news and features of interest to the reptile and amphibian community on the kingsnake.com blog. We cover breaking stories from the mainstream and scientific media, user-submitted photos and videos, and feature articles and photos by Jeff Barringer, Richard Bartlett, and other herpetologists and herpetoculturists.
Thursday, February 28 2013
 The world's largest turtle may be extinct in as little as 20 years, conclude researchers in a study published this week.
"Sea turtles have been around about 100 million years and survived the extinction of the dinosaurs but are struggling to survive the impact of humans," said reproductive biologist Thane Wibbels of the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), a member of a research team studying the fate of these reptiles.
The leatherback — the world's largest turtle — can grow to six feet long and weigh as much as 2,000 pounds.
A study published this week in the Ecological Society of America's scientific journal Ecosphere estimates that only about 500 leatherbacks now nest at their last large nesting site in the Pacific, down from thousands previously. The study tracked the turtle's ongoing population decline since the 1980s.
"If the decline continues, leatherback turtles will become extinct in the Pacific Ocean within 20 years," Wibbels said.
Read the full story here.
This image of a tomato frog uploaded by kingsnake.com user alex_reid33, is our herp photo of the day!
Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and you could see them featured here!
Wednesday, February 27 2013
This image of an albino hognose uploaded by kingsnake.com user steveperry, is our herp photo of the day!
Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and you could see them featured here!
Tuesday, February 26 2013
Our Jeff Barringer was at the NARBC show in Arlington, Tex., last weekend -- and faster than you can say, "Pics or it didn't happen!", he created this photo album from the show.
Our favorite? The beautiful artwork displayed by Jeff Littlejohn, like this piece:
This image of a boa constrictor uploaded by kingsnake.com user biophiliacs, is our herp photo of the day!
Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and you could see them featured here!
Monday, February 25 2013
 How do you ship a 70-million-year-old fossilized dinosaur back to the land it was smuggled out of? Very, very carefully.
From Popular Science:
"You'd take all the bones apart, and all the bones go in individual cases," Kenneth Lacovara, a Drexel University paleontologist, says. Researchers can easily build made-to-measure plywood cases for the bone pieces, cushioning the fossils with foam. "We use packing peanuts. We use foam that is meant for home insulation," Lacovara says. "Sometimes we use the foam that you'll see in, like, expensive camera cases." What foam he and his lab members use depends on the size of the bone, he says.
[...]
A few paleontologists rely on a Chicago-based company, called Rocket Cargo, that specializes in shipping for rock bands. "They're used to shipping big things, and they're used to dealing with odd cargo," Lacovara says.
The Mongolian Ministry of Culture, Sport and Tourism will be responsible for shipping the Tarbosaur, but the ministry doesn't yet know where it'll get funding, whether the T. bataar will go by air or by sea, or many other details, says Minister Tsedevdamba Oyungerel. "Logistical talks just started but nothing is clearly cemented yet," she wrote in an email.
Read the whole story here.
This image of a gecko uploaded by kingsnake.com user zmarchetti, is our herp photo of the day!
Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and you could see them featured here!
Friday, February 22 2013
If you'll be at the NARBC show in Arlington, Tex., this weekend, keep an eye out for own Jeff Barringer! He'll be handing out kingsnake.com bumperstickers and window decals. Be sure to grab one!
And keep an eye out for the official kingsnake.com snake hunting truck, too!
 Venom can be deadly, but it can also cure. That's a message getting increasing attention from the media lately.
From ABC News:
Jon-Paul Bingham, an assistant professor in the department of molecular biosciences and biological engineering at the University of Hawaii, has made a career of studying various species of the cone snail and characterizes them as "pretty horrific, pretty nasty."
But the venom, Bingham said, causes one surprising reaction in its victims: They feel no pain.
This venom's ability to cut off pain receptors has led to a second life as a powerful pain reliever called Prialt. The drug is 1,000 times more potent than morphine and is nonaddictive.
Prialt is just one example of the many ways venom components can be used therapeutically. Currently, six venom-derived medications have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, but new technologies and research have shown how proteins and toxins within venom can provide key blueprints for treating a wider variety of ailments, including autoimmune disease, stroke and multiple sclerosis.
Read the full -- and very detailed -- story here.
Photo: ABC News
This image of a hatchling box turtle uploaded by kingsnake.com user norristhenut, is our herp photo of the day!
Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and you could see them featured here!
Thursday, February 21 2013
Sea snakes in Australia, like this Leaf-scaled sea snake, are experiencing a drastic decline in numbers for reasons that puzzle scientists.
From The Conversation, as part of its on-going series on wildlife conservation in Australia:
The reasons for the severe declines of Short-nosed and Leaf-scaled sea snakes remain a mystery. Nine other sea snake species have disappeared from Ashmore and Hibernia over the last 15 years, yet their habitats are intact, and snakes are not affected by over-fishing. This may suggest major environmental change, perhaps related to surface water temperatures, salinity and rainfall patterns, and sedimentation. In the same period seismic surveys for oil and gas have increased, using air gunning, although the impact on sea snakes is unknown.
Whatever factors are responsible, they have not only affected the snakes in shallow coral areas but also species that once occupied the reef edges, seagrass beds and deeper waters surrounding the reef.
Read the full story here.
Photo: The Conversation
This image of a beautiful vine snake uploaded by kingsnake.com user ptahtoo, is our herp photo of the day!
Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and you could see them featured here!
Wednesday, February 20 2013
 You really shouldn't "save" animals unless you're actually going to be able to care for them. Take what's happening to 30 pythons seized in Pakistan:
From the International Herald Tribune:
After being given temporary custody of over 30 imported non-poisonous pythons, the Karachi zoo is struggling to take care of the slithering reptiles and is unable to provide them with proper accommodation. Three days after being brought to the zoo, some of the pythons have reportedly contracted allergies, while the younger ones have become more aggressive, The Express Tribune learnt on Wednesday.
Red spots have appeared on the yellow-skinned, 10-feet-long reticulated albino python, which has been made to live in an enclosure that was previously occupied by venomous snakes. The enclosure is also littered with mites and other insects.
“The allergy is spreading, and this python would soon become weak,” said a reptile expert on the condition of anonymity. “No one at the zoo is qualified to handle these snakes. As a matter of fact, they don’t even know the names of the species.”
Snake enthusiasts in the city had imported 31 non-venomous snakes, including a boa constrictor, and ball and reticulated pythons, from Oklahoma in the United States. The reptiles had left Oklahoma around three weeks back, and landed at Jinnah airport on Sunday. However, Pakistan Customs handed them over to the Karachi Zoological Gardens, as the importers had apparently failed to provide a no-objection certificate from the National Council for Conservation of Wildlife (NCCW).
[...]
When contacted, Karachi zoo director Bashir Sadozai, told The Express Tribune that he was out of town and was therefore unable to say exactly what had happened to the pythons. “But [they probably caught] allergies due to the change in climate and water.”
Read the rest here.
Can I eat this? An image uploaded by kingsnake.com user Anewtfish.
Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and you could see them featured here!
Tuesday, February 19 2013
Our herp photo of the day is this image of a Mt Koghis Leachianus, uploaded by kingsnake.com user stingray.
Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and you could see them featured here!
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