In this study, corn snakes (Elaphe guttata guttata) successfully learned to navigate mazes and consistently found the correct route to reach shelter or prey. They also avoided areas where they had previously encountered stress, demonstrating their ability to store and recall experiences. This memory is not emotional or social, as seen in mammals, but functional; it allows snakes to adapt their behaviour to avoid threats, locate resources, and navigate their environment efficiently. Such findings challenge outdated assumptions about reptile cognition and highlight their evolutionary intelligence.

10 Cutest Snake Species That Have Us Squeeing

“Our partners have allowed us to trial these things that may sound a little crazy,” says Robert McCleery, a wildlife ecologist at the University of Florida who’s leading the rabbit project, to the Palm Beach Post. “Working in the Everglades for ten years, you get tired of documenting the problem. You want to address it.”
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In the past, researchers have experimented with placing live rabbits in pens in a bid to attract the invasive serpents in Everglades National Park. The live rabbits were indeed effective at luring the snakes, drawing in about one per week, but caring for and managing the small mammals was labor-intensive. Researchers wondered if robotic rabbits might do the job just as well.

The DOH advised consumers to check if they purchased the recalled products based on the UPC marking on the label and lot code printed on the bottom at the plastic container. The product is packaged in a plastic 1.56-ounce container with a green label and a Universal Product Code number 0 46798 78626 9 and a lot code of 951790. No other lots or product lines via Spectrum Brands are affected and may continue to be used.
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Hawaii residents may have purchased the recalled products at Walmart stores in the state or online via Chewy and Amazon. The DOH is notifying local stores to ensure that the recalled products are no longer available for sale, according to a news release.

The truth about rattlesnakes, I learned, is that these are normally docile animals that just want to be left alone. But they get feisty when disturbed and manhandled.

Joshua M. Kapfer has lived most of his life in Wisconsin. He earned his BS and MS degrees from the University of Wisconsin–La Crosse in Biology and Aquatic Science. His Master’s research focused on the survival of amphibian larvae in agricultural ponds. Josh went on to earn a PhD from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee in Ecology and Evolution. His doctoral research investigated numerous aspects of gophersnake ecology and conservation in Sauk County. After earning his doctoral degree, Josh worked for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, NRC Environmental Consulting (now Stantec), and Elon University in North Carolina. Since 2011, Josh has been with the biology department at the University of Wisconsin–Whitewater as a professor and wildlife biologist, where he teaches various lecture- and field-based ecology courses and conducts research with undergraduate students. He is broadly interested in vertebrate ecology and conservation, with more than 35 peer-reviewed publications. He is also a co-editor and author on the book Amphibians and Reptiles of Wisconsin. He currently lives in Walworth County with his family.

Our ranking system indicated that 96% (26% low risk, 48% moderate risk, 22% high risk) of the recorded human–alligator incidents reviewed were caused by some level of human inattention in the form of risky behaviors, often while participating in recreational water activities. These results highlight the need for increased and targeted public education concerning safe and responsible human activities in areas inhabited by alligators. By making a conscious effort to implement proactive and preventative safety measures, human injury and death as well as the needless destruction of alligators can be reduced.

This bill, which should be identical to last session’s introduction, adds reptiles, amphibians, fish, and cephalopods as “animals” under the Animal Welfare Act (AWA), meaning the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) must develop new regulations. Basically, the USDA would now be required to license and inspect facilities and breeders with these animals. Businesses would need to comply with the new USDA regulations. The USDA began inspecting and licensing aviculturists (bird breeders) in 2024 (for new licensees). The bill has been assigned to the House Agriculture Committee. We will post more information when available.

The project has tracked snakes that have been caught in homes and backyards in Canberra and then relocated into reserves, as well as snakes which already call those reserves home.

This approach allows the team to compare differences in movement activity and survivorship, and changes in body condition over time between individuals in the two groups.

The initial findings show the translocated snakes move in more erratic and unpredictable ways, and are exposed to a much higher burden of risk as a result of being moved out of their home ranges where they possess an acute awareness of the location of key resources.

This bill is scheduled to be heard by the Wildlife Subcommittee on Wednesday, March 19th at 12:30 PM. The location is: Blatt Building Room 409, 1105 Pendleton St, Columbia, SC 29201. Written testimony should be emailed to EllieHayes@schouse.gov. You can also email to register to speak. Send another comment even if you have already done so, and any stakeholders should attend the hearing to oppose in person. Read the agenda at https://www.scstatehouse.gov/agendas/126h15107.pdf

Venomous reptiles banned, including hybrids: families Elapidae, Crotalidae, Viperidae, and Hydrophiidae; all reptiles in the genus Heloderma; all reptiles in the family Colubridae belonging to the genera: Rhabdophis, Balanophis, Macropisthodon, Boiga, Dispholidus, Thelotornis, and Thrasops, and all reptiles in the family Atractaspididae.

Because ball pythons lay eggs and don’t have live births and have no need to hibernate, they seemed like the perfect study candidate. In 2020, Dr. Skinner and his colleague Tamara Kumpan placed a mixed-sex group of six pythons for 10 days in a large enclosure — one with enough plastic shelters for each snake — and left a camera running.

To Dr. Skinner’s shock, all six snakes quickly squeezed together in the same shelter and spent over 60 percent of their time together. Assuming that all of the snakes had simply liked something about that specific shelter, the team removed it. But after some initial confusion, the snakes eventually chose another home base in which to curl up together.

The interim rule applies to all species in these 16 genera: Ambystoma, Andrias, Aneides, Aquiloeurycea, Calotriton, Chiropterotriton, Cryptobranchus, Desmognathus, Ensatina, Eurycea, Laotriton, Ommatotriton, Pachytriton, Proteus, Pseudobranchus, and Pseudotriton.
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Comments on the interim rule regarding newly added species can be made after January 10, 2025, for 60 days (deadline March 11) at https://www.federalregister.gov/public-inspection/2024-31203/injurious-wildlife-species-listing-salamanders-due-to-risk-of-salamander-chytrid-fungus.

Find the original Salamander Rule species list (201 species in 20 genera) at https://www.fws.gov/page/list-of-salamanders-designated-as-injurious.

Oregon Department of Agriculture State Veterinarian Dr. Ryan Scholz said in a press release on Tuesday that his organization is "confident" the pet cat contracted the bird flu by eating Northwest Naturals raw and frozen pet food.
"This cat was strictly an indoor cat; it was not exposed to the virus in its environment, and results from the genome sequencing confirmed that the virus recovered from the raw pet food and infected cat were exact matches to each other," Scholz said.

At a time when populations of animal species globally have declined by an average of nearly 70 percent, wanton disregard for life—in the absence of imminent threat to humans—bothers Texas A&M University herpetologist Lee Fitzgerald. “The roundups do send a twisted message,” he says. “They’re not helping the way we think about biodiversity. We care about polar bears, but these snakes are worthless?”
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“I’m blue in the face from teaching people that snakes aren’t out to get you,” Matt Goode said as we hummed through Stone Canyon. “But I don’t know how much progress we’ve made.” Throughout much of the South and Southwest, it’s legal to kill many rattlesnake species. And some people kill a whole lot.

Crocodilians twelve (12) inches or larger;
Large, dangerous, or potentially invasive constricting snakes including reticulated pythons, python reticulatus;
urmese/Indian rock pythons, python molurus; rock pythons, python sebae, and anacondas, eunectes murinus (green anacondas);
Venomous/poisonous reptiles, amphibians, or serpents;

The researchers who described the fossil in Nature today estimate it to be between 161 to 168 million years old, beating the previous record holder by around 30 million years. The find provides solid evidence frogs have had a tadpole stage for at least that long. “It’s a beautiful confirmation of what many experts had suspected,” says herpetologist Alexander Haas of the Leibniz Institute in Bonn, Germany. Reconstructing tadpole evolution based on their diversity today, Haas and others previously predicted that tadpoles would have existed this early on.

The authors note: “While collecting eggs for incubation in May 2022, we were able to identify a unique series of notched tail scutes on a female C. siamensis as she aggressively defended a nest.

“From these markings we determined the female was hatched on 11 August 2012 (age = 9.75 years) and released in March 2014. A camera-trap placed at the nest on 11 May 2022 and recovered on 5 July 2022 recorded 1724 images.

“These images indicated the female remained in attendance at the nest throughout the monitoring period. Camera-trap imagery captured eight nest repair events and two nest defense events; during the later the female defended the nest from village dogs.”

Meet BdDV-1, a viral fragment discovered by scientists whose paper was recently published by the journal Current Biology. The researchers found it in much the same way that one disentangles a knot, by pulling on individual threads to see where they lead. While examining the BD fungus to learn about weaknesses, they discovered a single-stranded DNA virus trapped within the genome of the fungus. Although this only applied to certain strains, when infected they produced fewer spores than the uninfected fungi. Now the next step is to see if researchers can clone and engineer this virus so that it kills BD and saves the frogs.

That will not be the easiest task to accomplish, however, for a big reason: Currently the virus makes the fungus more deadly to the frogs, rather than less so.