Scientists continue to study the genome of the painted turtle, seeking clues in its amazing ability to survive and thrive in difficult environmental conditions that might help human victims of stroke, heart attack, and hypothermia.

From 680News.com:

The shelled reptile, named for the bright yellow stripes that adorn its body, is a fresh water species that can freeze solid and return to life when thawed.

It can also hold its breath for up to four days at room temperature without suffering oxygen deprivation and up to four months when hibernating, said Brad Shaffer of UCLA’s Institute of the Environment and Sustainability and one of the lead authors of the study published in the latest edition of the journal Genome Biology.

“Those are fascinating ecological, physiological features that have evolved in turtles … so as a biologist those are fascinating things to learn more about, more about the genes that allow them to do that,” Shaffer said.

Shaffer and his colleagues hope solving the DNA puzzle may one day lead to innovations in treating hypothermia, frostbite, heart attacks or strokes.

The DNA confirmed for scientists that the turtles have evolved at a … turtle’s pace, and have in fact changed little in design over the past 210 million years.

“Turtles are nothing short of an enigma,” Richard K. Wilson, director of Washington University’s Genome Institute and one of the authors, said in a statement. “We could learn a lot from them.”

In addition to their ability to freeze and thaw without suffering organ or tissue damage, they have longevity and continue to reproduce at advanced ages, he said.

Read more here.

The disastrous ExxonMobil oil spill in an Arkansas residential neighborhood is threatening reptiles and other local wildlife.

From The NY Daily News:

The evacuation of almost two dozen homes after an oil pipeline ruptured in Arkansas has left an eerie sight in one neighborhood — and many unanswered questions.

“That neighborhood was like a scene from ‘The Walking Dead,’” state Attorney General Dustin McDaniel said Wednesday after visiting the Little Rock suburb of Mayflower. “There were still Easter decorations on homes, but there was not a soul in sight other than people in Hazmat suits.”

ExxonMobil is investigating what caused its Pegasus pipeline, which carries oil from southern Illinois to the Texas Gulf Coast, to burst open March 29.

[...]

Officials say at least 16 oily birds, seven turtles, nine reptiles, a beaver and a muskrat have been recovered for treatment. At least seven ducks died as the result of the spill.

Read the full story here.

Usually when the words "endangered wildlife" and "smuggling" get used in a headline, the story is set in some exotic tropical location. Not this time.

From Syracuse.com:

A North Country woman who smuggled more than 200 turtles, alligators, iguanas and other wildlife into Canada pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court in Syracuse.

The endangered and threatened animals were worth "hundreds of thousands of dollars," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig Benedict in a news release.

Olivia Terrance, 28 of Hogansburg, NY, faces up to five years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine when sentenced Aug. 5, Benedict said.

Court papers show she smuggled the rare animals across the Saint Lawrence River into Canada on the St. Regis Mohawk Reservation, which spans both countries. The animals were transported on two dates: by car on July 8, 2009 and by boat Aug. 4, 2010, according to a memorandum by U.S. District Court Judge Norman Mordue.

Terrance was delivering the animals to her cousin, Dennis Day, in Canada, to sell to retailers and collectors, prosecutors said.

Read the whole story here, eh.

A new gecko study from the University of Akron in Ohio may help scientists develop an underwater adhesive.

From National Geographic:

To examine a gecko's cling, [study leader Alyssa] Stark and colleagues put harnesses on six tokay geckos (Gekko gecko) and put them on four surfaces which varied in their wettability, or their degree of water resistance.

The reptiles' feet were submerged in water on glass, plexiglass, a transparent plastic often used as a glass alternative, and Teflon.

Plexiglass and the transparent plastic "mimic the surface chemistry of the leaves geckos are really walking on in their natural environments," Stark said.

As a gecko moved across each surface, the team applied a force in the opposite direction until the animal slipped, which allowed them to measure the animal's grip.

The results showed that on glass, a film of water developed between the geckos' toes and the surface, reducing their ability to stick to the glass. But on plexiglass and the plastic, the geckos' toes create air pockets that allows their feet to stay dry—preserving the stickiness.

Read the whole story, and see a video, here.

Photo: National Geographic

Scientists may have found a reliable method of monitoring populations of threatened reptiles and amphibians, using a technique once thought limited to the tracking of warm-blooded species.

From Science Live:

Camera traps are frequently used to take pictures and monitor populations of large mammals like tigers and leopards, but until now, they haven't been used often to count Komodo dragons ― the world's largest lizards ― or other reptiles and amphibians.

Recent research suggests that they can and should be used to keep tabs on these animals, and that cameras may beat the physical traps currently used to monitor Komodo dragon populations.

Camera traps work by taking pictures when alerted to the presence of an animal by a motion detector, often an infrared one that detects heat. That's a potential problem for reptiles and amphibians, which are cold-blooded, and thus often have the same temperature as the surrounding environment.

But the study, published online last week in the journal PLOS ONE, found that cameras worked about as well as traps at detecting the presence of Komodo dragons ― and, in certain areas, did even better. Plus, they require much less manpower to operate, and are far less expensive. With cameras, there is also no need to set up a large trap, bait it with goat meat and free the animal afterward.

Find out how this discovery is being used to protect the largest of all lizards here.

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Scientists have squenced the genome of the western painted turtle (Chrysemys picta bellii).

From RedOrbit.com:

Publishing the work in this week’s Genome Biology, researchers describe that much like the turtle itself, the rate of genome evolution is very slow. Their data show that turtle genomes evolve at a rate that is about a third that of the human genome and a fifth that of the python, the fastest genome analyzed to date.

Through extensive research, scientists have discovered many interesting facts about these abundant North American reptiles. They are long-lived, can withstand low temperatures and can survive long periods with no oxygen. The sex of the turtle is determined by the temperature at which the egg develops rather than through genetics. The painted turtle can survive up to four months under water depending on the temperature.

Previously, analyses of fossils have shown that the painted turtle has existed for more than 15 million years, and four regionally based subspecies have evolved during the last Ice Age. The western painted turtle is by far the largest of the four subspecies and can grow to 10 inches long.

The painted turtle is the first of its genus to have its genome fully sequenced, and only the second non-avian reptile to undergo the analysis. Data has revealed some very interesting insights about the bizarre features and adaptations that exist only in the turtle genome.

Read more here.

Resistant bacterial infections and human immune system disorders may one day be conquered with the help of alligator blood.

After a lifetime of fascination with and study of crocodilians, Mark Merchant of McNeese State University has focused his research on the antibacterial power of alligator serum.

Merchant knew from what he had seen that the alligator's immune system far surpassed that of humans, so he began investigating the "mechanism of action" behind this phenomenon.

Experiments using alligator serum (a component of the blood that is left after the coagulants and the blood cells are removed) gave an indication that he was looking in the right direction.

A simple experiment of placing a drop of the serum in a petri dish of bacteria demonstrated its powerful effect as an antibiotic by killing all the bacteria exposed to it.

Unfortunately, because of the size of its cells, the serum cannot be safely injected into human blood veins at the risk of anaphylactic shock -- the body would recognize it as foreign, triggering a massive allergic response.

However, a drug synthesized to match the serum's chemical makeup could still have topical applications including treatment of burn victims, diabetics, AIDS patients and others who suffer from skin lesions that are difficult to heal, Merchant said.

But the research wasn't over there -- they just needed to go deeper.

"We turned our interest to the white blood cells," he said.

They found that a tiny protein or peptide within the white blood cells also acts as a powerful antibiotic.

He and his researchers found these proteins have a strong positive charge. Bacteria have a strong negative charge on their outer wall, so the two are drawn together like magnets.

They bind by electric attraction, and the protein kills the bacteria by rupturing its outer wall.

Merchant believes this is a breakthrough that could lead to "a whole new class of drugs with an entirely different mechanism," though he cautioned "this isn't without potential problems."

Read more here.

What do you suppose would happen if a dozen venomous snakes were slithering all over a football stadium in the U.S.? Mass exodus, right? Not in India.

From The Indian Express, via ESPN:

A dozen poisonous snakes were spotted at the Kalyani Stadium, the venue at which Mohan Bagan beat Arrows 3-2 during an I-league fixture on Sunday.

None of the players or the ball boys were bitten but the snakes were spotted near the dressing rooms and on the field of play after full-time.

Officials of the Kalyani Municipality ensured that the snakes were removed from the stadium.

The All India Football Federation (AIFF), however, is unlikely to ban the Kalyani Stadium as an I-League venue.

Read more here.

The Smithsonian National Zoological Society announced Friday that the Panama Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project has successfully bred an endangered amphibian. From their release:

The limosa harlequin frog (Atelopus limosus), an endangered species native to Panama, now has a new lease on life. The Panama Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project is successfully breeding the chevron-patterned form of the species in captivity for the first time. The rescue project is raising nine healthy frogs from one mating pair and hundreds of tadpoles from another pair.

"These frogs represent the last hope for their species," said Brian Gratwicke, international coordinator for the project and a research biologist at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, one of six project partners. "This new generation is hugely inspiring to us as we work to conserve and care for this species and others."

Nearly one-third of the world's amphibian species are at risk of extinction. The rescue project aims to save priority species of frogs in Panama, one of the world's last strongholds for amphibian biodiversity. While the global amphibian crisis is the result of habitat loss, climate change and pollution, a fungal disease, chytridiomycosis, is likely responsible for as many as 94 of 120 frog species disappearing since 1980.

Between its facilities at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Gamboa, Panama, and the El Valle Amphibian Conservation Center in El Valle, Panama, the rescue project currently cares for 55 adult limosa harlequin frogs of the chevron-patterned form and 10 of the plain-color form. The project has had limited success breeding the plain-color form of this species, and has successfully bred other challenging endangered species, including crowned treefrogs (Anotheca spinosa), horned marsupial frogs (Gastrotheca cornuta) and toad mountain harlequin frogs (A. certus).

Read the full release here.

The journal Herpetology is reporting that a team of Japanese researchers has discovered a new species of newt in the Vietnamese provinces of Ha Giang and Cao Bang.

From Phys.org:

The new specimen was found at the museum in Japan, and its curator contacted Kanto Nishikawa, one of the researchers involved in the study. Initial observations indicated nothing out of the ordinary, but after closer inspection, the team realized that its morphology didn't conform to any known species. They subsequently performed genetic analysis which confirmed the newt as a new species: Tylototriton ziegleri— Ziegler's crocodile newt—after the prominent German researcher Thomas Ziegler, who has contributed greatly to the study and conservation of amphibians and reptiles in Vietnam.

Read the full story here.

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Geckos and other arid zone reptiles may be in for a tough battle to survive, thanks to climate change.

From the science site Phys.Org:

In a study, published in the journal Diversity and Distributions, the team led by PhD researcher Paul Duckett, used a new modelling technique to predict if the Australian gecko; the Tree Dtella (Gehyra variegata), could successfully move from one location to another as climates changed.

While previous studies have focused on predicting those regions that will become suitable for species to live in the near future, this research has measured a species ability to even make the journey in time

"The real question isn't where they are going but can individuals actually reach a suitable new home before it becomes critical to their survival," says Duckett.

Read the rest here.

What's up with the tiny heads of sea snakes? Evolution, say scientists at the University of Adelaide in Australia. From the university website:

An international team of scientists led by Dr Kate Sanders from the University of Adelaide, and including Dr Mike Lee from the South Australian Museum, has uncovered how some sea snakes have developed 'shrunken heads' - or smaller physical features than their related species.

Their research is published today in the journal Molecular Ecology.

A large head - "all the better to eat you with" - would seem to be indispensable to sea snakes, which typically have to swallow large spiny fish. However, there are some circumstances where it wouldn't be very useful: sea snakes that feed by probing their front ends into narrow, sand eel burrows have evolved comically small heads.

The team has shown normal-shaped sea snakes can evolve such "shrunken heads" very rapidly. This process can lead to speciation (one species splitting into two).

Read more here.

Photo: University of Adelaide

Daisy Morris, a four-year-old girl in the UK whose mother describes her as having been an "avid fossil hunter" since the age of 3, has not only discovered fossils of a new species of Pterosaur, that species has been named after her.

From Science World Report:

Pterosaurs once roamed the Earth during the Cretaceous, living worldwide in all kinds of different environments. The reptiles had the ability of powered flight--actively gaining height and taking off from the ground rather than just gliding or soaring. In addition, pterosaurs had short, fur-like reptilian "hair" which has been observed in the soft tissue preserved in some fossils. They ranged greatly in size, with some of them possessing a wingspan that stretched up to 42 feet. The recent find, though, only had about a two-foot wingspan and was small-bodied. Yet even so, it lived alongside the much larger ornithocheirids and istiodactylids.

The new species that was discovered is now named Vectidraco daisymorrisae. "Vectidraco" means "dragon from the Isle of Wight" while "daisymorrisae" honors the founder, Daisy Morris.

Read more about this little girl's amazing discovery here.

The current issue of National Georgraphic magazine is dedicated to the question of reversing extinction. It asks: Can we bring back lost species through cloning, whether those species were lost last year or thousands of years ago?

It's a Jurassic Park-esque fantasy brought to life, as scientists work to revive lost species and commercial interests examine their progress for hope of profit.

Ron Medor of MinnPost.com takes a broad view in an article published today:

Suddenly, "de-extinction" is all the rage.

"Reviving Extinct Species" is the cover subject in the current National Geographic, which tells us that restoring creatures like the woolly mammoth to the earth "is no longer a fantasy" — and then asks, "Is it a good idea?"

Not coincidentally, a special TEDx Conference took place last Friday at National Geographic's headquarters in Washington, sponsored jointly by the Geographic, the TED organization and an outfit called Revive & Restore, which thinks resurrection biology through gene-splicing and cloning is not only a good idea but a cool one, a great one, whose time has come at last.

In the words of Revive & Restore co-founder Stewart Brand, longtime big thinker on environmental stuff, the TED presentations constituted "the first public discussion of something that's been brewing for a year or two, which is the possibility of bringing back extinct species for real, not in fiction this time."

In National Geographic, science writer Ed Yong examines the progress being made in resurrecting the southern gastric brooding frog, an amphibian that uses its stomach for a womb and vomits its young, which has been extinct for almost 30 years:

Two years ago, Mike Archer from the University of New South Wales looked down a microscope and saw that a single fertilised frog egg had divided in two. Then, it did it again. And again. Eventually, the egg produced an embryo containing hundreds of cells.

“There were a lot of hi-fives going around the laboratory,” says Archer.

This might seem like an over-reaction. After all, millions of frog eggs divide into embryos every day, as they have done since before dinosaurs walked the earth. But this egg was special. Archer’s team of scientists had loaded it with the DNA of the southern gastric brooding frog—a bizarre creature that has been extinct for almost 30 years.

The fact that it started to grow into an embryo was a big deal. The fact that it never went further was disappointing, but not unexpected. This is cutting-edge science—cloning techniques put to the purpose of resurrection.

Archer’s goal is simple: To bring the extinct gastric brooding frog back from oblivion and, in doing so, provide hope for the hundreds of other frogs that are heading that way. Getting the embryo was a milestone and Archer is buoyantly optimistic that he’ll cross the finish line soon. Lazarus, he says, will rise again.

Read more on "de-extinction" from National Geographic here.