Photo : Sjoerd van Berge Henegouwen/Nature World News
Previously thought to be extinct, the first photographs of a live Western Serpentiform skink (Eumecia anchietae) have emerged. In true reptile fashion, it was spotted alongside the road by a tourist in Masai Mara. There is little known of the species because of their extremely reclusive nature and the fact that they were believed to be extinct.

A chance meeting will lead to publication for one lucky tourist.

At the time the photos were taken, both the ranger and tourist, Sjoerd van Berge Henegouwen, were unable to identify the species. When Henegouwen posted them on his Facebook page, Dr. Wagner identified the lizard. These photos will be published in a book Dr. Wagner is writing about reptiles in Africa.

Read more at Nature World News.

Loma Linda University is working closely with researchers to determine whether the proteins can reduce bleeding and swelling during and after brain surgery. The study will last until 2019, but if successful it may impact over 800,000 people in aiding in the recovery after surgery including the reduction of loss of functions that may happen when operating on this sensitive area.

“We are tremendously excited about what the findings could mean to medicine,” Zhang said. “Our team is studying surgical brain injury and, currently, when a surgeon removes a brain tumor, the liver, or some other organ is often damaged in the process. By immunizing the patient with snake venom ahead of time, we can reduce the trauma that is associated with the surgery.”

If successful, other the venom of other animals may also be analyzed.

Read more at Adventist Review.

A retired teacher in Winter Park Florida is in an Orlando hospital after being bitten on the hand Thursday by a 20 inch Gaboon Viper (Bitis gabonica). The reptile owner, a licensed keeper, is expected to recover, and the snake has been secured, as has the rest of his small collection.

"It wasn't as if the snake had gotten out from my understanding. I think he was bitten on the hand, but based on the evidence, it looks like a simple keeper mishap," - Steve McDaniel, FWC investigator

Found in the rainforests and savannas of sub-Saharan Africa Gaboon Vipers have the longest fangs, up to 2 inches (5 cm), and the highest venom yield of any venomous snake.
Read more on the WESH web site. Gallery photo by dendroaspis

kingsnake.com gallery photo by Eve
In the animal kingdom, just like the disco, the flashiest males often have more luck attracting a mate but when your predators hunt by sight, this makes them more of a target according to a new study published in Ecology and Evolution. Using models that replicated the coloration of male and female lizards, they found that the male lizard models were less well camouflaged and more likely to fall prey to bird attacks.

"In females, selection seems to have favoured better camouflage to avoid attack from avian predators. But in males, being bright and conspicuous also appears to be important even though this heightens the risk of being spotted by birds," Kate Marshall, University of Cambridge

Using visual modelling, Marshall and her colleagues tested around 300 color variations to find ones that matched the male and female colors in order to make the 600 clay lizards used in the study. They placed models in ten sites on each of the two islands and checked them every 24 hours over five days to see which had been attacked by birds.

Read more at: http://phys.org

More than 130 crocodiles have been captured and fitted with waterproof transmitters as part of a long term University of Queensland study into how the creatures use the environment. The data-gathering program is the largest and longest of its type, beginning in 2008 and set for another 10 years thanks to a new generation of acoustic tags.

"Our goal is to understand the role of crocs in the ecosystem and look how they move into the river systems, estuaries, creeks and waterholes," - Craig Franklin, UQ School of Biological Sciences

The study found small crocs hide in creeks, while reptiles in the five metre category rule water holes and that estuarine crocs can move 1000km in a year and up to 60 km a day. Professor Franklin said his team was using the information to build computer models that might predict the travel plans of estuarine crocs when influenced by climate change.

For more, check out the article at the Brisbane Times You can follow the movements of several of the tagged crocodiles online at http://www.uq.edu.au/eco-lab/crocodile-tracks.

A local herpetologist is moving his reptiles to comply with a city zoning ordinance that bars him from running a rescue and rehabilitation center at his house. Chad Griffin, the owner of CCSB Reptile Rescue & Rehabilitation Center, said he is looking for a site and will move the reptiles

Because Griffin is cooperating with the city, officials are working with him to find a new site and to move the animals, said Chris Murphy, the deputy director of planning and development services.

“Our end objective is compliance with the ordinance” Chris Murphy - Deputy Director Winston-Salem, N.C.

Griffin has about 10 days to remove the outdoor enclosures that house the alligators, 30 days for venomous snakes and up to 60 days to stop operating the business in his home, Murphy said. He will be able to keep some reptiles in his house, including nonvenomous snakes, that are considered pets.

kingsnake.com would like to remind everyone that keeps herps to make sure you your not violating any local or state laws or ordinances so you don't find yourself in similar circumstances. Read more at the Winston-Salem Journal
Image by David Rolfe

Scientists discovered a new species of snake in the Kimberley region of north-western Australia belonging to Acanthophis (Australian death adders), a genus of highly venomous snakes found in Australia and New Guinea and parts of Indonesia.

The Kimberley death adder, Acanthophis cryptamydros, described in a paper published August 28 in the journal Zootaxa, is an ambush predator, staying camouflaged until it can surprise it's prey. The snake is roughly 24 inches (60 cm) long and has a diamond-shaped head.

“It’s not clear how many Kimberley death adders there are in the wild, but they’re probably quite rare,” - Simon Maddock University College London

The species’ range extends from Wotjulum in the west, 45 km north-north-east of Halls Creek in the south, and Kununurra in the east and is also known to occur on some offshore islands including Koolan, Bigge, Boongaree, Wulalam, and an unnamed island in Talbot Bay.

To read more check out the PDF article on Zootaxa - Image by Ryan J. Ellis.

In the United States getting bit by a rattlesnake is a very expensive business. With anti-venin prices at the hospital running $2300.00 a vial, and with severe envenomations often requiring 10 or more vials, its not uncommon for a course of treatment to run close to, or more than $100,000.00.

Meanwhile, in Mexico, that same treatment, using the exact same anti-venins, usually costs a tenth, or less, and achieves the same results. Why the cost disparity?

That's exactly the question researcher Dr. Leslie Boyer at the University of Arizona wanted to find out. The founding director of the VIPER Institute, a research group studying ways to improve the medical treatment of venom injuries, used the numbers to build a pricing model for a typical arachnid anti-venin sold in the U.S. and the disparity is breathtaking. According to the model, a single vial of anti-venin that would cost over $14,000 in the United States would cost one or two hundred dollars in Mexico.

"The U.S. needs to re-think how we manage these things, because we have reached the point where the developing world is getting more timely access to better drugs (at least in this field) than we are." - Dr. Leslie Boyer

According to Boyer, in Mexico authorities determined some time ago that treating venomous snake and spider bites was a public health issue, but to try to implement something similar here would require an act of Congress.

To read more check out the article at the Washington Post. Gallery photo by JeffB.

A Mexican national is being held in prison in Guayaquil Ecuador after trying to smuggle out specimens of both species of endangered iguana only found in the Galapagos Islands. The smuggler was trying to transport nine marine iguanas and two land iguanas, all endemic to the islands' fragile ecosystem, intending to send the reptiles to Uganda

9 Marine neonate (Amblyrhymchus cristatus), and 2 juvenile ground iguanas (Conolophus suscristatus) were found in a suitcase where they had been packed so they could not move. The iguanas are being evaluated and fed before they will be reintegrated into their habitat in the Galapagos National Park.

Authorities said the man had previously committed similar crimes in New Zealand, and are investigating his possible involvement in a global network of traffickers in protected species.

To read more, check out the original press release by the Ecuadoran Environment Ministry.

Gallery photo by Ivory Tortoise

From June of next year, Sanofi Pasteur's stock of anti-venin Fav-Afrique will be exhausted and no more will be produced by the company. The technology used to create the anti-venin will be used in rabies treatments, according to manufacturer Sanofi Pasteur.

“Fav-Afrique is no longer being manufactured so vulnerable farmers will lose their lives or limbs.” - Abdulrazaq Habib Bayero University

Treating bites from snakes like mambas, vipers and cobras just does not add up any more, Sanofi Pasteur said. But tens of thousands may die, unnecessarily, according to Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) as it demanded action over the withdrawal of Fav-Afrique. MSF says there will be no alternatives to replace the Sanofi Pasteur treatment for at least two years and that five million people are bitten by snakes each year, 100,000 die and 400,000 are disabled or disfigured.

Read more at The Independant Gallery photo by Drjones