He has dedicated his free time over the past three years studying a set of nine rock pools on the shore of Loch Alsh, near Reraig.

His Loch Alsh studies have unearthed an unexpected breeding population of palmate newts and has been monitoring their numbers.

It is an unusual find because the newts generally live in freshwater, rather than the more challenging conditions of the sea loch.

His work has been noticed by the Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Trust who have invited him to present his findings to the experts at the Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Symposium in Edinburgh this weekend.

According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the number of loggerhead turtle nests remained high and the number of leatherback turtle nests reached a record this year.

Researchers surveyed more than 800 miles of Florida beaches for two reports that document the number of nests and nesting trends.

"Pythons are an old, ancient species. We've seen this in more advanced species like garter snakes," said Booth, adding that the discovery helps scientists learn more about the snakes' evolutionary family tree.

It's still a mystery as to why parthenogenesis happens, though Booth hypothesizes that geographic isolation from males and captivity may have a lot to do with it.

In Thelma's case, her virgin birth may have been triggered by ideal living conditions, zoo curator McMahan speculates.

Taking an integrative approach to taxonomy (versus the traditional and still-common practice of relying solely on morphology), Scherz examined genetics, morphology, and a technique that’s still cutting-edge for distinguishing species: CT scans. Wrapping the frog in alcohol-drenched paper (don’t worry, it was long dead) and shooting X-ray beams at it while rotating its position, Scherz was able create 3-D computer images of its skeleton while not destroying any of the tissue.

The non-invasive method allowed Scherz to see subtle but crucial skeletal features (such as the length of a segment of the thumb bone) that were critical for recognizing the rhombus frog as a new, unique species.

The CT technology also enabled him to see the frog’s last meal (or perhaps last several), revealing a millipede, six ants, a spider, a fly, and at least three different species of beetle in its stomach and large intestine. It’s no wonder Scherz named it vaventy, the Malagasy word for “huge,” in the paper describing the find, published in Zootaxa.

During the 90-second-long clip, Jeans downed a glass of water filled with crickets, before putting a frog in the same glass and swallowing it whole.

Jeans, of Cowplain, Hampshire, then gulped down a three-inch long lizard.

He was prosecuted despite claiming that he regurgitated the animals afterwards.

Jeans was ordered to do 80 hours of unpaid work after admitting causing unnecessary suffering to the animals under the Animal Welfare Act 2006.

"All you get at the front are the offspring of the fastest toads who were themselves the offspring of the fastest toads who themselves were the offspring of the fastest toads.

"Genes for fast dispersal end up concentrated at the invasion front.

"This is evolution through space rather than time.

"It's quite different to the sorts of things (Charles) Darwin talked about."

“These two were removed (from waterways near Ski Beach) because they were a community pest – they start taking dogs and next it could be a kid.”

The old crocs are held in leafy enclosures, along with a handful of smaller salties in other fenced pools, at the site where the corporation once ran a crocodile farm.

Traditional owners didn’t want the reptiles killed – crocs are the totem animal for some Yolngu.

In some cases, the bites of venomous snakes called Russell's vipers, which inhabit South and Southeast Asian countries, can cause bleeding in the pituitary gland. This damages the organ and can prevent it from performing its basic function, the production of hormones including those that regulate sexual functioning.

In a report published in October 1987 in the journal The Lancet, researchers examined 33 cases of patients bitten by Russell's vipers. Some of those patients developed serious hormonal abnormalities, which resulted in decreased libido; loss of pubic and armpit hair; erection problems in men; and irregular, scant or absent menstrual periods in women.

The lake is on a wildlife sanctuary created for relocated Grand Canyon burros. Pauli’s trip is no pedal-to-the-metal exercise. Turtles take time. The ones Pauli receives will spend weeks in large ponds in Montana getting used to catching food, diving deep and swimming beyond the glass walls of an aquarium.

A turtle that has lived in shallow water in a short glass tank doesn’t know how to manage the sink-or-swim pond life. Pauli said the animals will be tested to see which are fit for release and which continue to need looking after.

Thursday, Pauli was working with a red-eared slider that was swimming the length of a pool 25 feet long. That turtle will be joined by other turtles submitted during the one-time, red-eared slider turtle turn-in program.