Pet owners never like to leave their pets behind when they travel -- but only the obsessed few try to smuggle them onto an airplane disguised as a hamburger.

From the South China Morning Post News:

A man tried to smuggle his pet turtle through security in Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport by hiding it in a KFC hamburger.

The incident occurred on the morning of July 29, when a man, surnamed Li, was about to board China Southern Airlines flight 345 to Beijing, Guangzhou Daily reported. As Li passed through airport security, X-ray screening machines detected a few “odd protrusions” sticking out of a KFC burger that the man had packed in his bag.

Airport staff determined that the protrusions looked suspiciously like turtle limbs, and asked to inspect Li’s luggage.

“There’s no turtle in there, just a hamburger,” Li reportedly insisted. “There’s nothing special to see inside.”

Li finally acquiesced to an inspection after repeated requests from airport staff, who uncovered the pet turtle hidden inside the burger. When asked why he had devised this strange idea, Li said that he had only wanted to travel together with his “beloved” turtle.

Read the rest of the story here.

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Turns out crocodiles have a sweet tooth -- although unlike humans, they usually assuage it with fruit, not chocolate bars.

From New Scientist:

Reports that crocodiles have a taste for fruit go back decades, says Thomas Rainwater at the US Fish and Wildlife Service in Charleston, South Carolina. "But since these animals were long considered carnivores, no one paid much attention."

In a routine analysis of American alligators (Alligator mississippiensis) living in the Everglades National Park in Florida, Rainwater and his colleagues found fruit including pond apples in the alligators' stomachs. They then turned up reports that at least 13 of the 23 living crocodilian species are fruit eaters.

Whether or not crocodilians actively go after fruit is debatable – especially as the predators are secretive and tend to do most of their foraging at night. A crocodile might simply eat an animal that has itself recently dined on fruit, for example.

But there is some evidence that fruit is consumed deliberately, too.

Read the full story here.

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When firefighters entered a burning home in northern Utah, they found a roomful of snakes, some venomous.

From ABC News:

Among the snakes that were found were some of the most deadly, including five albino western diamondbacks and a Gaboon viper.

“The Gaboon viper is considered one of the most dangerous snakes in the world,” said Brad Hunt of the Utah Division of Wildlife. “It has very long fangs and very potent venom.”

The Gaboon Viper is indigenous to Africa, and anti-venom for the snake is not readily available in the United States.

Having venomous snakes is illegal in the state of Utah, and even native snakes must be registered and have permits. It is suspected that the owner, whose name has not been released but who officials believe is a snake professional or breeder, smuggled at least the Gaboon viper from out of state.

He was cited for possession of illegal animals, and Animal Control was in contact with an attorney to consider options for pressing any misdemeanor charges.

The snakes that he owned legally will be returned to him, officials said.

An animal control officer on the scene noted "the snakes were kept in 'incredible condition' and in 'immaculate facilities.'"

Read the full story here.

Photo: Gaboon viper by kingsnake.com user viperkeeper.

In a new interview with National Geographic, Dr. Michael Hutchens discusses the hazards of working in areas where there are dangerous species of invertebrates and vertebrates, both on land and water -- and how to protect yourself. During the interview, he tackles a topic that comes up constantly on kingsnake.com: the misuse of the terms "poisonous" and "venomous" when discussing snakes.

From the interview:

First let me address an issue that is a pet peeve of many biologists, and that is the difference between the terms “venomous” and “poisonous.” Many lay people use the terms interchangeably, when, if fact, they are very different. A poison is typically ingested, whereas venom is injected or actively introduced into the victim’s body. An example of the former is the cane toad (Bufo marinus)—potential predators of the toad are poisoned by toxic secretions produced by glands on the skin when they try to ingest the animal. An example of the latter is the king cobra (Ophiophagus hannah), a large predatory snake that literally injects venom through its syringe-like fangs that are connected to venom glands. Some venomous species, such as rear-fanged snakes and gila monsters (Heloderma suspectum, one of the world’s few venomous lizards) must chew in order to introduce the venom, since they have no efficient way of injecting it. In addition, some poisons can be introduced through means other than ingestion, as for example, when someone with a cut on their hand picks up a poison dart frog, and the poison enters the blood stream through a skin abrasion.

Hitchens and NatGeo go on to discuss other herpetofauna as well as sea life and birds. It's well worth a read.

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So, a python apparently capable of eating a T. rex got out of its cage at a Dartmouth frat house this week, and to hear the national media tell it, we're just lucky Western civilization survived.

Oh, wait. Rather read the real story? Try this from the Hanover, NH, Valley News:

A small dog known to wear pink collars and matching sweaters made national headlines Wednesday after she discovered a ball python that had escaped on Dartmouth College’s campus last week.

Daisy, a 4-year-old Jack Russell/Dachshund mix, found the 3-foot-long snake while walking with her owner outside Tabard House, a coed Dartmouth fraternity, around 8 p.m. Tuesday night.

The snake’s disappearance had been picked up by the national news media when it went missing from its tank at the fraternity last week. Tabard President Connie Gong, a Dartmouth student who is watching the snake this summer, first noticed it was gone on Thursday.

The story erupted online again Wednesday, as the Associated Press picked up the scent. Other news outlets produced their own articles, including the Atlantic Wire, which dubbed the pooch “Hero Dog.”

[...]

[W]hile Hanover Police sought the public’s help in locating the snake, advising people to use caution if they came across it, [veterinarian Christine] Pinello said humans and animals alike were in little danger. Adult pythons can grow up to 5 feet, and they’re not poisonous. A python like the one that escaped Tabard would only eat small animals like mice, Pinello said.

“A 3-foot python really isn’t big,” Pinello said. “The python is probably scared.”

Hanover Police Captain Frank Moran said his department was aware that the snake had been found and the snake is now a “non-issue.”

He offered a joke, too: “The only thing that’s concerning is that now it’s 9 feet long.”

The Dartmouth reported Tuesday night that Gong said the python — named Lyude, and presumably still only 3 feet long — has been returned to its cage.

Read the full story here.

Photo: James M. Patterson/Valley News

From Yahoo News Canada:

A group of biologists working in Saskatchewan's Grasslands National Park are trying to save one of Canada's rarest and perhaps strangest creatures — the greater short-horned lizard.

This lizard, which can be found anywhere between New Mexico and southwestern Alberta, has a rather unique and strange defense mechanism. It shoots its own blood from its eyes to ward off an attacker.
The lizard has been considered endangered on Canada's Species At Risk list since 2007, mainly due to habitat loss from "ongoing oil and gas development, proliferation of roads, proposed mineral development, and an increased human presence."

Read the story here, and watch video of this lizard's bloody defenses under the jump.

An alligator handler in Florida had his arm broken in two places when a thousand-pound gator bit him during a demonstration at a party.

From the Sun-Sentinel:

Will Nace, a volunteer handler, was bitten by the alligator Lunge while performing during a private party at Native Village on Saturday, said park co-owner Ian Tyson.

The alligator grabbed Nace's arm and dragged him into a pond where the two spun around. Another trainer jumped into the gated pit and manage to set Nace's arm free.

Surge Achille, a party-planner at the park, said the frightening incident took less than a few minutes.

"It was surrreal. It was like your mind couldn't catch up with what was happening," Achille said. "I kept thinking it wasn't real, but it was."

Nace will require multiple surgeries and skin grafts. Read the full story here.

Photo: Sun-Sentinel

It's not often the Daily Mail and Gawker both pick up a story about a snake, but this one -- from the "you can't make this stuff up" category -- took the prize.

As reported in the Times of Israel:

According to a Channel 10 report, the man, a resident of central Israel, paid his parents a visit in the northern town of Nofit. While sitting on the john, he was rudely and painfully interrupted when a snake appeared and bit his penis. The victim “ran from the room in horror” and went to Haifa’s Rambam Medical Center for treatment, according to the report.

A blood test found that the snake was not venomous. The man was in good condition, but doctors decided to keep him under medical supervision.

Read it here .

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It's Friday, so let's be happy! And all you have to do to get that way is read this good news from the Houston Zoo, where their efforts to keep Houston toad populations healthy and thriving are paying off.

From the zoo blog:

We have been very successful in raising the tadpoles and subsequent toadlets that we kept back from our releases. Of all the tadpoles that hatched from the eggs, we only lost 5! We now actually have too many toadlets (200+) to keep here at the facility! In the coming weeks, we will once again work with researchers from Texas State University and USFWS to release these little guys back out into the wild. This will mark our fourth release of the year and is the first time ever that we have released three different life stages: eggs, juveniles, and adults!

Read the rest here!

Photo: Houston Zoo

Dozens of animals, including a number of rare lizards and a baby alligator, were stolen from the Australian Reptile Park last week.

From News.com.au:

There are concerns for the reptiles as some are sensitive and require high maintenance, and without proper care there is a significant risk of them not surviving.

Australian Reptile Park senior curator Liz Vella said they were unsure exactly which animals and how many were missing.

"We haven't been able to get into the park to do an animal count because the police are still taking fingerprints and investigating,'" she said.

She said the animals stolen were all part of the park's educational collection.

"These are the ones we take out to show our visitors,'" she said.

"They are very rare and specialised - they aren't dangerous but they need our care. A lot of them are also used in our regional breeding programs with other zoos.'"

Ms Vella said the animals taken were a mix between exotic and native and included geckos, lizards and a baby alligator.

"We're devastated. We love these animals like they are our own,'" she said.

"They all have their own personalities and we are really worried about them."

Read more here. Additional information and a video report are here.

Photo: Seven Network

Never underestimate the power of a snake.

From NBC Washington:

A snake slithered its way into some equipment at a power substation, knocking out electricity to thousands in Arlington late Saturday night.

Read more here.