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Researchers at the Yuma Proving Grounds are making headway tagging tortoises to study their movements.

From the Yuma Sun:

To track the tortoises and study their habits, biologists attach small VHF transmitters and GPS data loggers to the shell of each tortoise they find. They also paint a unique number on the tortoise’s shell, and file a small notch through one of the keratin scutes at the thin rear edge of the shell, which has a consistency similar to a human fingernail. All this is done after an examination of the tortoise’s health and weight.

Coaxing one of the creatures out of their shelters can be a challenge: if they feel threatened, they oftentimes wedge themselves against the rear wall and ceiling of their miniature caves, which can be yards deep.

“They’re shockingly strong,” said Hillary Hoffman, a herpetologist with the Arizona Game and Fish Department who has been coming to YPG since 2009. “If they don’t want to come out, they’re not coming out.”

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A just-published study has turned scientific concensus upside down by suggesting turtles aren't very closely related to snakes and lizards after all. Instead, their closests cousins are birds, crocodiles, and dinosaurs, a group researchers are now calling "Archelosauria," which is believed to be the largest group of vertebrates to be assigned a new scientific name.

From Phys.org:

A team of scientists, including researchers from the California Academy of Sciences, has reconstructed a detailed "tree of life" for turtles. The specifics of how turtles are related—to one another, to other reptiles, and even to dinosaurs—have been hotly debated for decades. Next generation sequencing technologies in Academy labs have generated unprecedented amounts of genetic information for a thrilling new look at turtles' evolutionary history. These high-tech lab methods revolutionize the way scientists explore species origins and evolutionary relationships, and provide a strong foundation for future looks into Earth's fossil record.

Research results, appearing in Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, describe how a new genetic sequencing technique called Ultra Conserved Elements (UCE) reveal turtles' closest relatives across the animal kingdom.

Read more here.

Photo: kingsnake.com user anuraanman

School children in Ireland spent time handling Rascal the Burmese python at the Reptile Conservation Zoo.

From the Independent:

The scary encounter was to celebrate the launch of the zoo’s search for an Irish Junior Conservation Hero.

The new initiative is to help raise awareness about the rapid rate of extinction that is wiping out unique species across the planet.

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An exotic pet hospital in Australia saved a monitor lizard that was hit by a car, and warns drivers to keep an eye out.

From the Daily Telegraph:

“If you see one hurt ... it’s best to be cautious and call an expert.

“Also, try and look out for them on the roads. They tend to move slowly across the road when they want to warm up or look for food.”

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What does the evolution of the tortoise shell have to do with breathing?

From Phys.org:

Lead author Dr Tyler Lyson of Wits University's Evolutionary Studies Institute, the Smithsonian Institution and the Denver Museum of Nature and Science said: "Tortoises have a bizarre body plan and one of the more puzzling aspects to this body plan is the fact that tortoises have locked their ribs up into the iconic tortoise shell. No other animal does this and the likely reason is that ribs play such an important role in breathing in most animals including mammals, birds, crocodilians, and lizards."

Instead tortoises have developed a unique abdominal muscular sling that wraps around their lungs and organs to help them breathe. When and how this mechanism evolved has been unknown.

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New research explains why snakes have two penises instead of one.

From the Washington Post:

In snakes and lizards, the external genitals get a little funkier. These reptiles have paired external genitals, even though they only use one at a time during mating.

But all of these genitals spring out of the same embryonic structure, called the cloaca. This structure sends out signals to the cells around it in the embryo, telling them to turn into genitals.

Scientists have wondered why these structures — which are triggered to grow by the same genetic mechanisms during embryonic development, and have the same function in adulthood — develop so differently.

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How would you like to come across a 57 pound venomous snake?

From Live Science:

Laophis crotaloides measured between 10 and 13 feet (3 and 4 meters) long and weighed a whopping 57 lbs. (26 kilograms). Today's longest venomous snakes, king cobras (Ophiophagus hannah), can grow to be about 18 feet (5.5 m) long. But at typical weights between 15 and 20 lbs. (6.8 to 9 kg), king cobras are scrawny compared to Laophis.

What makes Laophis even stranger was that it achieved this bulk not in the tropics, where most large reptiles live today, but in seasonal grasslands where winters were cool.

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Artists and activists held a satirical wake to raise awareness of Pancho, a Florida croc killed resisting capture, and other wildlife killed by humans.

From the Miami Herald:

Cortada said his goal was to have a dynamic service to honor the fallen croc, but at the same time to bring ecological awareness to community members, and teach them how to coexist with nature.

Florida International University biology students said the death of a South Florida animal is not rare. They cited the manatee, the sawfish, the Key Largo mouse and the indigo snake.

“Why are we here lamenting Pancho when we have killed so many Panchos in the last 100 years?” Cortada said, adding that humans are at fault for the reptile’s death after invading his natural habitat. “I just wanted to cry real tears and have a real conversation about our reptilian friend. We love you, Pancho.”

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Asia's high demand for turtle meat is motivating the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to request greater protections for several types of exported turtles.

From Phys.org:

Faced with growing concerns about the hunting of freshwater turtles in the United States for Asian food markets, federal officials this week proposed adding four species to an international list of plants and animals designed to manage commercial trade in the reptiles.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Thursday said that listing the common snapping turtle, Florida softshell turtle, smooth softshell turtle and spiny softshell turtle would allow it to better monitor exportation of these species, particularly to Asian nations, where turtle populations have been wiped out due to high demand for their meat.

Bringing the species under the protection of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora would require exporters to obtain a permit before shipping turtles overseas. That would help the federal agency determine the extent of legal and illegal exportation and decide whether additional conservation efforts were needed.

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The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission faces tough questions about its barbaric rules for killing reptiles and amphibians.

From the Pocono Record:

You ask, "shouldn't they be equipped with fishing poles and nets instead of intimidating weapons?" If you are after fish, then the answer is yes. However, if your desire is to legally kill a timber rattlesnake, northern copperhead, snapping turtle or any other unlucky native reptile and amphibian then, these uncharacteristic slaying instruments were recommended to me by Thomas Burrell, Waterways Conservation Office Manager of the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission.

Immediately, several questions come to mind, like:

Are you serious? Can you kill reptiles and amphibians, especially with machetes and clubs in this day and age? Can someone be guilty of cruelty to animals? Isn't the timber rattlesnake protected and is the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission's goal to ensure that it stays off of its endangered species list?

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DNA testing may hold the key to identifying the right antidote to use for snake bite victims.

From New Scientist:

Chappuis and his colleagues collected samples from the fang wounds of 749 people at three health centres in Nepal, amplified the DNA and sequenced it. They then looked for matches in a publicly available reference bank of DNA sequences.

They managed to identify the snake species responsible for 194 bites, 87 of which were from species whose venom is harmful to people – most commonly the spectacled cobra and the common krait.

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