With the odds against them — only about 1 in 1,000 sea turtles survive to adulthood — the hatchlings had missed their instinctual dash to the ocean and had been collected after routine beach nest inspections by the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center in Boca Raton.

Stored in several plastic bins and cramped on top of each other as when they first hatch, the tiny turtles about 3 inches long were brought on board by members of the Coast Guard.

Most of the hatchlings were baby loggerhead sea turtles, but four young sea turtles that had been rehabilitated at the nature center also made their way back into the ocean.

Even though crocodile attacks are fewer are further between these days, local fishing communities still remain fearful of coming into contact with the grey-skinned reptile and which feeds on prey and in the same mangroves where fishermen gather molluscs and fish.

In the Bay of Cispatá, near San Antero, Sucre, marine biologists have been studying the Magdalena Caiman to be able to give this creature a fighting chance for survival. Last February, a team of international biologists visited the fresh- water lagoon to see first hand how a 10 year-long project by the Asociación de Caimaneros de Cispatá, Asocaimán, has farmed 3,000 eggs and returned to the wild some 4000 baby crocs.

Part of the responsibilities of Asocaimán is to work closely with local communities to dissuade them from hunting the endangered creature in order to sell their skins on the global black market.

Colombia is one of the world’s leading exporters of exotic leathers and legal exports of local crocodile skins totaled USD $12 million in 2014. According to the Colombian Association of Zoo Farms, Azoocol, some 600,000 alligator skins are sold every year to luxury brands, especially in Asia where demand for legally-farmed alligator handbags and accessories remains high.

These incredible photos capture the stomach-churning moment a snake sneaks up on a lizard and swallows it whole.

The white-spotted cat snake, measuring about 1.8m in length, spent around half an hour consuming the lizard after slithering up on it as it slept.

The chameleon forest dragon, also known as a Javan humphead lizard, usually sleeps at the ends of branches which makes it an easy target for predatory snakes.

The unlucky reptile, which was around 25cm long, was resting on a branch 3m off the ground in Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park in South Sumatra, Indonesia.

An experiment has shown green sea turtle embryos are much more likely to die when they are inside eggs that go underwater for six hours.

Scientists say the study shows the turtles, which rely on low-lying coastal habitats, are likely to feel the early impacts of rising sea levels.

"In some places it only takes a small rise in sea levels, when combined with a storm or a king tide, to inundate what had previously been secure nesting sites," said lead researcher Dr David Pike of James Cook University.

Scientists have welcomed the first results of a captive breeding program aimed at saving a group of critically endangered Fijian crested iguanas, the first such attempt to reintroduce a species in that country.

Some of the iguanas that were introduced to the Fijian island of Monuriki two months ago have been tracked down by scientists and appear to be healthy.

A total of 32 iguanas were microchipped and released, with tiny radio transmitters glued to the tails of 11 for tracking purposes. Nine were recovered on Sunday.

US Geological Survey biologist Robert Fisher reported all had increased in length and lost their excessive weight. A lean diet of native plants had evidently “sorted them out,” he said. There was no evidence of trauma or other health issues.

The bulk of his hospital bill — $83,000 of it — is due to pharmacy charges. Specifically, charges for the antivenin used to treat the bite. KGTV reports that Fassler depleted the antivenin supplies at two local hospitals during his five-day visit. Nobody expects antivenin to be cheap. But $83,000?

There's currently only one commercially available antivenin for treating venomous snakebites in the United States -- CroFab, manufactured by U.K.-based BTG plc. And with a stable market of 7,000 to 8,000 snakebite victims per year and no competitors, business is pretty good. BTG's latest annual report shows CroFab sales topped out at close to 63 million British pounds, or $98 million dollars, last fiscal year. The antivenin costs hospitals roughly $2,300 per vial, according to Bloomberg, with a typical dose requiring four to six vials. In some cases multiple doses are needed, according to CroFab's promotional Web site.

BTG has fought aggressively to keep competitors off the market. A competing product, Anavip, just received FDA approval this year and likely won't be on the market until late 2018. This lack of competition is one reason that snakebite treatments rack up such huge hospital bills -- $55,000. $89,000. $143,000. In May of this year, a snakebit Missouri man died after refusing to seek medical care, saying he couldn't afford the bill.

The roughly 120 million-year-old snake, dubbed Tetrapodophis amplectus (literally, four-legged snake), likely didn't use its feet for walking. Instead, the appendages may have helped Tetrapodophis hold onto a partner while mating, or even grip unruly prey, said study co-researcher David Martill, a professor of paleobiology at the University of Portsmouth in the United Kingdom.

Previous research has detailed two-legged snake fossils, but this is the first known snake ancestor to sport four legs, he said. It likely evolved from terrestrial-burrowing creatures, and was a transitional animal that lived during the shift from ancient lizards to modern-day snakes, he added.

Two months ago the world’s conservationists crossed their collective fingers and waited to find out if a 100-year-old female Yangtze giant softshell turtle (Rafetus swinhoei), the last of her gender, would—after artificial insemination—finally lay fertile eggs and save her species from extinction.

I’m sorry to say that those hopes have, at least temporarily, been dashed. The Turtle Survival Alliance reported this week that the centenarian did lay 89 eggs, but all were infertile.

That doesn’t mean the quest is over, however. The female is expected to lay one or two more clutches of eggs this year. They’ll try to inseminate here again before then.

Officers from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission visited the home of William Henry Jowett after receiving a tip that he was keeping two of the threatened reptile at home.

The 53-year old eventually received a misdemeanor citation after he was discovered keeping two loggerhead sea turtle hatchling. The penalties for this included up to one year imprisonment and a potential fine of up to $1,000.

Jowett reportedly obtained the animals from the canal in his backyard two months ago and decided to place these in a saltwater aquarium to show to his daughter. He said that he had plans to release the turtles but became attached to the animals.

The animals were taken from the aquarium and moved to the Loggerhead Marine Life Sanctuary Center. The turtles were later released offshore.