The 9ft (2.7 metre) creature has been taught to walk towards a series of yellow targets, getting a treat if he manages to complete the task successfully.

Despite its terrifying reputation, this Komodo dragon often responds to its keepers call by waddling towards the targets.

As Komodo dragons spend most of their time resting in the sun, the training provides much-needed exercise for Sunny throughout the day.

And once he masters the trick, keepers can ask Sunny to move into a different area of the exhibit.

The training is also helpful if medical attention is needed, as Sunny could voluntarily move without the need for sedation.

Footage from the GoPro camera is currently being used to review the sessions and give an insight into how Sunny sees his training.

According to the federal agency, the black pinesnake is found only in Mobile, Washington and Clarke counties in Alabama, and 11 Mississippi counties, including Jackson and George. It has not been seen in Louisiana in more than 30 years.

If deemed threatened under the Endangered Species Act, the government would impose certain restrictions on activities like the use of herbicides, controlled burns and some timber activities in the affected habitat areas.

"The black pinesnake is an important part of the longleaf pine ecosystem in southern Alabama and Mississippi," Fish & Wildlife Southeast Regional Director Cindy Dohner said in a prepared statement. "Conservation efforts for the black pinesnake align closely with efforts already ongoing in this ecosystem for other wildlife like the gopher tortoise, eastern indigo snake, dusky gopher frog and the red-cockaded woodpecker."

A total of 51 Leptodactylus fallax, known as mountain chicken frogs because they reportedly taste like chicken and make a clucking-like noise, were released on the Jersey-sized island of Montserrat, a British Overseas Territory.

In 2009, conservationists rescued a population of the critically endangered frogs from the island to avoid them being wiped out by a chytrid fungus which has devastated amphibian numbers worldwide. The mountain chicken frog population has also dwindled due to people eating them – the species is the national dish in nearby Dominica.

Following a breeding programme with the rescued frogs by London Zoo and Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, which produced 76 frogs from just two females, 51 frogs in July were put in custom-built shipping containers, flown to Antigua and then by a smaller plane to Montserrat. On arrival at their remote forest home on the volcanically active island, they were kept in tents for several days to avoid being stressed by their new environment, before being released into the wild.

The python is one of the San's most important animals. According to their creation myth, mankind descended from the python and the ancient, arid streambeds around the hills are said to have been created by the python as it circled the hills in its ceaseless search for water.

Sheila Coulson's find shows that people from the area had a specific ritual location associated with the python. The ritual was held in a little cave on the northern side of the Tsodilo Hills. The cave itself is so secluded and access to it is so difficult that it was not even discovered by archaeologists until the 1990s.

When Coulson entered the cave this summer with her three master's students, it struck them that the mysterious rock resembled the head of a huge python. On the six meter long by two meter tall rock, they found three-to-four hundred indentations that could only have been man-made.

Green sea turtles normally live in the Pacific’s warmer latitudes. Their numbers are dwindling because of development along the beaches they use to nest, and because they sometimes become snared in industrial fishing nets and drown.

Climate change has also affected the ancient reptiles. Because temperature determines their gender when they hatch, females vastly outnumber males these days. And the warmer ocean currents tend to take the turtles places they’re not accustomed to going, such as San Francisco Bay.

Herpetology keeper Ruth Smith said: “Sand lizards are the UK’s rarest lizard and populations in some areas are so low that we can’t just rely on protecting the site, we have to help breed them to boost their numbers.

“Surveys have shown that sand lizard numbers have significantly improved in the locations where they have been released before and it’s proven that those bred in the likes of zoos have a higher chance of survival than those that hatch in the wild.

“That’s because we’re able to give them plenty of food and intensive care in their vital early days and build them up for around four to six weeks, giving them a great head start.

But far from being scared, Mr Korostelev was delighted with his deadly encounter.

He said: 'It was not an accidental meeting, the main purpose of my trip was to capture an American crocodile in its natural environment.

'I met this crocodile underwater face to face. When it swam close to me, the only thought I had was about how great it was that I could take great pictures.

'It nuzzled into the camera several times and sometimes it touched me with its tail.'

"We were supposed to come out on a Friday the first time," said Swanson. "We ended up being delayed by a day because he was burying his aunt, who had just died from breast cancer the day before. When he found out that we were out here to collect these snakes to try to use them for cancer research, it changed their whole outlook on it."

It changed the Hubbards' outlook so much that they plan to turn part of their property into a conservation area so people can view the creatures in their natural habitat. They're hoping to open up the eco-tourist venture by sometime next summer.

“Firefighters conducted a search but found that the house was unoccupied at the time of the fire,” Lt. Carol Jones, a fire department spokeswoman, said in a news release issued Tuesday morning. “A family member who later arrived explained that the owners were actually out of state and then inquired about the family pet.”

Firefighters happily reunited the daughter with the family’s pet frog, who appeared unharmed, Jones said.