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Reptile & Amphibian
News Blog

Keep up with news and features of interest to the reptile and amphibian community on the kingsnake.com blog. We cover breaking stories from the mainstream and scientific media, user-submitted photos and videos, and feature articles and photos by Jeff Barringer, Richard Bartlett, and other herpetologists and herpetoculturists.

Wednesday, October 5 2011

Hellbenders listed as endangered species

By Cindy Steinle
Wed, October 5 2011 at 09:22

The US Fish and Wildlife moved Ozark Hellbenders into the endangered species column today and has plans to move it to CITIES appendix III listing on October 6, 2011.

Under the ESA, an endangered species is any species which is in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range. The Ozark hellbender, which grows to lengths up to 2 feet, inhabits the White River system in southern Missouri and northern Arkansas. Ozark hellbender populations have declined an estimated 75 percent since the 1980s, with only about 590 individuals remaining in the wild.

It is believed numbers have dropped because of degraded water quality, habitat loss resulting from impoundments, ore and gravel mining, sedimentation , and collection for the pet trade.

Also threatening the Ozark hellbender is a fungal disease, chytridiomycosis (chytrid), and severe physical abnormalities (e.g., lesions, digit and appendage loss, epidermal sloughing) which most Ozark hellbenders exhibit.

In addition, the average age of Ozark hellbender populations is increasing and few young are being found, indicating problems with reproduction or juvenile survival. This, and the multiple threats from disease and habitat degradation, could lead to extinction of the Ozark hellbender within 20 years.

“The Ozark hellbender faces extinction without the protection afforded by the Endangered Species Act,” said Tom Melius, the Service’s Midwest Regional Director. “Listing provides tools and an infrastructure within which partners can pool resources and expertise to help save this species.”

To read the full press release, click here.

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Tuesday, October 4 2011

Crocodilian display of motherly love

By Cindy Steinle
Tue, October 4 2011 at 15:16

When most people think of alligators, very few think, "Wow! What amazing mothers they are!"

Maybe that should change:

Maternal instinct in the wild has rarely been better captured on camera. As Claudia Marlene, the photographer who took this amazing sequence of photos, says it: "Hero Mom!” Couldn't have put it better.

While there isn't much in the way of words, the story told by these photos is purely amazing! To see the full set, click here.

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Monday, October 3 2011

Childhood love of lizards drives one man to save a species

By Cindy Steinle
Mon, October 3 2011 at 11:02

As a 13 year old boy scout, Alan Templeton met his first collared lizard in the Ozarks. Fast forward to today, when a colleague mentioned to him he was studying the animals but having a hard time locating them.

In 1987 Templeton transplanted collared lizards to three glades to see if he could repopulate the Ozarks. By 1993 they were still there, but they had not expanded to other glades, even though other rich habitats were no more than 200 feet away. If they remained that isolated, they would probably die out, as others had done before them.

That led to a decade-long "experiment," as Templeton put it, in conservation biology. Every effort to protect, or restore, a critical habitat is an experiment, he said, because not enough facts are known in the beginning, and it's not always clear what the result will be.

One thing did seem clear. Humans had been changing the Ozarks since the first Indians settled in the area, about 10,000 years ago. More recently, some areas had been carved out for ranching, and frequent fires had altered the landscape. And in the 1940s, authorities began controlled burning of forest areas in hopes of reducing the threat of major fires that could wipe out thousands of acres.

But there was something wrong with that picture. That wasn't the way nature had protected the lizard's habitat prior to human occupation. When a fire started, it burned everything. Maybe, Templeton thought, that's the way it should be.

To read the full article, click here.

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Back In Black!! - 2011 Super Black Heads

By Ralph Davis
Mon, October 3 2011 at 10:02

YouTube video of 2011 Super Black Heads

Check out the video of the Super Black Heads.

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Sunday, October 2 2011

First reptile genome sequenced

By Cindy Steinle
Sun, October 2 2011 at 08:12

The very first lizard that has had its DNA sequenced was a Green Anole, and there is hope that this will shed more light on the makeup of vertebrate evolution.

In a paper appearing in Nature, a consortium of scientists share the information they've gleaned from the first sequencing of a reptile’s genome. They believe that A. carolinensis could be important for understanding the evolution of the amniotic egg, and that its genome could help them discover how it has so easily adapted to a number of various habitats, as well as lead them to the common ancestor that all amniotes (species that reproduce via amniotic eggs) share.

Amniotic eggs are eggs that have a shell and can hold water. They're a big evolutionary deal because they allowed species to be able to reproduce on land. Scientists have sequenced the genomes of mammals and birds who reproduce in this way, but A. carolinensis is the first reptile.

To read the full article, click here.

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