Credit: Francisco Farriols Sarabia via Wikimedia Commons

While studying lizard skulls at the National Dinosaur Monument in North Dakota, Dalton Meyer discovered a new species of fossilized Gecko. While inspecting a pair of skulls of previously labeled as European skink ancestors, the use of 3D imaging proved one to be exactly that, however the other emerged to be a gecko type of animal closely resembling the banded gecko common to the US.

What caught my attention the most about the story other than the fact that it was basically about dinosaur geckos (and please click through to the story at the end to read everything) was this part!

In naming the new species, Meyer chose “helioscopus,” which roughly translates into “sun watcher,” and “dickersonae,” which honors his grandmother, Helen Dickerson, his great aunt, Shirley Dickerson, and Mary Cynthia Dickerson (no relation), who was the first curator of herpetology at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.

“Both my grandmother and great aunt were extremely important people in my life, and my great aunt passed away while I was in the early stages of working on this fossil,” Meyer says. “I was truly honored to have a chance to get to use their family name in this new species, in part as a memorial that will now persist long after I am gone.”

If you remember my first presentation to the International Herpetological Symposium, you know why! To read the full story, and I strongly suggest you do, click here to visit futurity.org.

Photo of Gideon, a Grand Cayman hybrid bred by Ty Parks in FL, but living his best life safe in WIsconsin - Cindy Steinle

Recently, the State of Florida deemed all Green Iguanas (Iguana Iguana) as a restricted species and created quite a stir, confiscating animals from even private zoos and killing the animals rather than allowing them to be rehomed or allowed to remain on display at the zoo. Now in a move to destroy the reptile industry further, Florida Fish and Wildlife is making the move to change the language from Iguana (Iguana Iguana) to simply Iguana. This would thus include all species including Cyclura and Ctenosaura most definitely but potentially all species under the family Iguanidae which would also include Amblyrhynchus, Brachylophus, Cachryx, Conolophus, Dipsosaurus, and Sauromalus as well.

This is not only bad for pet owners and breeders, but seriously detrimental to worldwide conservation efforts as many assurance populations of a variety of both Cyclura and Ctenosaura species are maintained safely in Florida.

Read the update after the jump or click here to be taken to USARKFL's notice! There is also a link to the bill after the jump.

Being dubbed "The world's bravest golfer", in reality, he is just an Australian playing golf. While teeing off, a golfer had some visitors at the tee pad.

The serpents have been identified as coastal carpet pythons, which don’t have fangs or venom, but are known for their “100 small, sharp teeth which have the ability to cause substantial needle-like lacerations.” No matter what, they use constriction to kill their prey, so perhaps stay away. Just in case

Now we know that it is two males in combat and the Golfer was never in danger. To see the whole story with video, visit Golf Digest here.

The snake that was found in a bag carried by one of the guests at Immigration offices in Kampala recently. PHOTO/KARIM MUYOBO

When a man recently showed up at the immigration offices looking for services in Naguru, Kampala, security was stunned to find a large black snake in his bag. They were even more shocked to learn this large black snake was in fact a Cobra.

Mr Simon Peter Mundeyi, the spokesperson of the Internal Affairs ministry, said when the strange man was asked why he had carried such a dangerous reptile (a cobra), he said it is his "brother" and that he moves around with it wherever he goes

Remember, leave you snake at home when visiting government offices! To read the rest of the story, click here!

Garter snakes come together in communities led by older females, new research shows.ALL CANADA PHOTOS/ALAMY

The general belief is that snakes are solitary animals, but as more research into these animals happens we are learning that many have very developed social communities. In a first of it's kind study of thousands of wild snakes, we learn that Garter snakes have a very complex community with social structures and a female based hierarchy.

Ecologists had long assumed snakes are antisocial loners that hang out together only for core functions such as mating and hibernation. However, in 2020, Morgan Skinner, a behavioral ecologist at Wilfrid Laurier University, and collaborators showed in laboratory experiments that captive garter snakes have “friends”—specific snakes whose company they prefer over others. Still, studies of wild snakes were lacking “because they’re so secretive and difficult to find,” Skinner says.
Then he learned that the Ontario Ministry of Transportation had funded an unprecedented long-term study of a huge population of Butler’s garter snakes (Thamnophis butleri) in Windsor, Canada. Ecologists began to monitor the flute-size slitherers in 2009 to keep them safe from nearby road construction. They regularly captured snakes in the 250-hectare study area, using identifying markings to track more than 3000 individuals over a 12-year span—about the lifetime of a garter snake.

The study goes into much more detail and deserves a look! To read more on this incredibly interesting study, visit Science.org here.

In the hottest and wryest region of Vietnam, deep in the dry lowland forest of Nui Chua National Park, researchers discovered a new species of blind skink. Searching around the leaf litter around the yellow-bellied termite mounds that these skinks preferred to dine on, the found 7 specimens. When they looked closer, they realized they had a new species, the Ninh Thuận blind skink ()

Ninh Thuan blind skinks have a “worm-like” body that can reach about 4.6 inches in length, the study said. Their eyes are “rudimentary” and “completely covered by scales.” They are also “limbless” with only males having “rudimentary” hind limbs that form “flap-like structures” near their tails.

To read more about this cool discovery click here.

photo courtesy - Missouri Department of Conservation The male hellbender found in the Gasconade River

An Eastern Hellbender, reared in the St. Louis Zoo and then re-released as an adult in the wild was found to have been the first zoo reared animal to have reproduced in the wild having fathered 86 "well-developed" eggs in the Gasconade River.

Justin Elden, curator of herpetology and aquatics at the Zoo, said hellbenders are cryptic, secretive creatures. Numbers might be rising faster than known.

“If there’s one there’s likely many more,” said Elden. “It’s exciting stuff, and my hope and thought is that this is the first of many that we will find.”

This means awesome things for the future of hellbenders! Go check out the full story here!

The Snapping turtle in the aquarium at the scene, photo by author

When I saw the message pop up from the director of the shelter, I figured she wanted to let me know I might have a few animals to prepare for. My local news was filled with the story of a large confiscation of dogs in my city. I was not expecting what came next. 
"Cindy, are you available to help us tomorrow? We aren't done. Today was just the dogs and there are a lot of exotics and we need you to look at things. There are alligators."

I was still under some restrictions from my shoulder surgery and they knew I was limited in what I could do, but they needed my eyes and knowledge more than my arm. I said the only thing I could. "What time and where do you need me"

Presque Isle Co, MI, July 4, 2007, photo by kingsnake user ratsnakeheaven

The Southwest Michigan Land Conservancy is closing on 457 acres of property known as the La Grange Valley wetlands that is known as a "biodiversity hot spot" that houses a pair of nesting bald eagles and two endangered species, including the eastern massasauga rattlesnake.

The agency’s ultimate goal is to protect an important fen habitat with upland islands and tall hardwood trees that harbor a lot of wildlife, including several state threatened or endangered species like the Blanding’s turtle. And no, Hansen says, the agency’s not revealing the other federally endangered species — apart from the massasauga rattlesnake — out of a need to protect it.

To learn more about the project visit swmlc.org

To read the full article, click here.

Photo courtesy of NPR article

With their new found popularity from Minecraft, almost everyone now knows the Axolotl with it's goofy grin. The National Autonomous University is hoping that people love them enough to adopt one, well virtually at least! It might seem amazing with their popularity as a pet, but their wild numbers are on a rapid and drastic decline. Right now, they are running a campaign where you can virtually "adopt" an animal by naming one for a year, donating meals towards one or even donating towards habitat purchase!

Over two decades ago, there were about 6,000 of these tiny salamanders for every square kilometer in Lake Xochimilco in Mexico City. In the last count from 2014, there were only about 36 axolotls per square kilometer, according to Luis Zambrano, who was involved in the axolotl census.

"It's gotten worse. They're not completely extinct, but it's worse," said Zambrano, who is also an ecologist at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.

As always, the biggest threat to the Axolotls is humans, this time it isn't the pet trade however. It is from the over expanding population in their native environment and the poisoning of the groundwater. We all know the importance this tells us about the stability of that area as a whole!

To read the full article, go to NPR here.

I celebrated World Snake Day a week early last Sunday here in Milwaukee at a fundraising event called "Sipping for Snakes" hosted by the Eastern Massasauga SSP.  I mean it is Wisconsin, we do everything with either cheese or beer. I stumbled across the event on facebook and was instantly excited! A fundraiser for rattlesnakes ON MY DAY OFF! I mean what more could I ask for!!! 

An FWC officer smiles as he surveys the scene after the killing of 34 pythons and a pregnant pet boa by FWC officers (Photo by Chris Coffee, who has granted permission for this photo to be published and disseminated)

In 2021, Florida changed their ownership laws but promised that pet owners were able to keep their animals for the lifetime of the animals. Breeders stopped breeding and started moving animals out of fear of repercussions. Animals that were legally owned under a "Conditional Species Permit" were now considered illegal, however according to FWC, they were grandfathered in for the rest of their lives and could live out their lives in their current homes.

"I want to make sure the public's aware that if you currently own one of these reptiles, you're allowed to keep it until it's death. So no one is telling you you have to get rid of your pet or euthanize it and no one from the state is going to take it from you." Rodney Barreto , Chairman - Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission - Public commission meeting February 25, 2021 

"Their pets are their pets and they are going to continue to be their pets and we made sure that it was very clear." - Mike Sole, Former Vice Chairman - Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Public commission meeting February 25, 2021

New footage shows hundreds of thousands of baby giant South American river turtles hatching. (Source: Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) / ECOVALE)

Between Brazil and Bovlia along the Guaporé River, scientists recently captured video of the world's largest turtle hatching! Conservation efforts caught the South American River turtles emerging this winter.

Conservationists say coordination between the two countries is important for the protection of the species and hope to establish some sort of protected area for them.

The Wildlife Conservation Society has been working with scientists to use technologies such as drones and thermal images in order to estimate the population of the species there. But, the hope is to be able to use artificial intelligence soon to automate the process of counting the turtles.

Check out the awesome video of these animals hatching here.

A thermal image of the leatherback sea turtle digging sand, in Phang Nga, Thailand January 14, 2023, in this screen grab taken from a handout video obtained by Reuters on January 17, 2023. Department of Marine and Coastal Resources/Handout via REUTERS

Conservation officials in Thailand recently caught an endangered Leatherback Turtle laying their eggs in a nest on drone footage.

The department said a thermal drone was able to record more information than labour-intensive human patrolling techniques, as its sensors could detect the body heat of warm-blooded animals - or more specifically the thermal differences between animals and their surrounding environment - despite the darkness.The technology was helpful in preventing noise and light from disturbing the turtles while nesting, it said.

Check out the awesome footage here.

Scientist Mario Yanez holds a specimen of the new dwarf boa species.(AFP: Rodrigo Buendia)

A new species of dwarf boa has been discovered in the Amazon in Ecuador. This brings the number of known Tropidophis to 6 located in South America!

Two specimens were found in the Colonso Chalupas national reserve and in the private Sumak Kawsay park, the discoverers reported.

The snakes are "a relic of time", Ecuadorian researcher Mario Yanez — of the National Biodiversity Institute (INABIO) — said.

"They are animals so old, that finding or bumping into one of them is a privilege."

The boa, Tropidophis cacuangoae, was named after early-20th-century Indigenous rights activist Dolores Cacuango. To read move, click here.