India is the land of a million snake bites, and far too often death results from inability to receive treatment fast enough. That may be changing.

In order to reduce the number of deaths caused by snakebites due to late administration or unavailability of anti-snake venom, a state-owned drugs company, Haffkine Bio-Pharmaceuticals Corporation Limited, has devised a 'medicines for snake bite' box, equipped with bottles of anti-snake venom and other simple, use-friendly paraphernalia that can save a bite victim.

[....]

"Every year, we see at least 500 cases of snakebites in the state of which 60 per cent result in death due to late administration of antivenom.

There have been instances wherein a snakebite victim has been rushed to a primary health centre, but they do not have anti-snake venom stored. Delay in treatment and loss of crucial time can results in death," said, Bharat Joshi, director, Sarpadarshan of India, a non-profit organisation.

To read the full article, click here.

For most herpers, Australia represents a glorious place of wide biodiversity and well loved species of reptiles. Now they have two more to add to that list.

Two amazing new species of boulder-dwelling frogs have been discovered by researchers exploring remote areas of Cape York Peninsula in North East Australia.

Both frogs have now been named. The first is the called Kutini boulder frog (Cophixalus kulakula). The species name kulakula translates as ‘rocky place', and is a traditional name for the area where the species was discovered.

The species name of the second frog, the golden-capped boulder frog (Cophixalus pakayakulangun, translates as ‘belonging among the boulders'.

Both names are derived from the local Kuuku Ya'u language and were formulated in consultation with indigenous custodians of the lands on which the frogs were discovered.

The frogs are interesting in that they are restricted to piles of massive boulders ‘hidden' in the rainforest. They are adapted to their rocky world in having long arms, long slender fingers and big triangular finger pads. These features enable them to climb among the labyrinth of rocks in which they live.

To read the full article, click here.
Photo of the The newly discovered golden-capped boulder frog.

Once the 65-million year old turtle was unearthed, the real challenge began.

The fossil is the shell of a big sea turtle called Taphrosphys sulcatus, which broke into hundreds of pieces during the eons that it lay buried in what is now near Sewell, Gloucester County.

Many of the fragments are smaller than a fingernail. There is no cardboard box with a helpful photo to show what the completed "puzzle" should look like.

And yet, little by little, the graceful curvature of an ancient reptile is emerging, as doctoral students Elena Schroeter, 27, and Paul Ullmann, 25, match up jagged edges and glue them together.

"It's a job for young eyes," said their supervisor, Kenneth Lacovara, an associate professor of biology at Drexel.

The finished product will be a nice display piece, perhaps at Drexel or its new affiliate, the Academy of Natural Sciences. It also may provide insight into various scientific questions, such as how turtles evolved and how they are related to other creatures.

To read the full article, click here.

Dugongs and turtles are having major issues in Queensland, but locals have made changes in their hunting practices to help the animals rebound. From Big Pond:

Queensland Environment Minister Vicki Darling on Thursday said the Girrigun Aboriginal Corporation, which covers two clan groups in the Townsville region, had agreed to suspend hunting of both species indefinitely.

The clans are entitled to hunt both species under the Native Title Act but agreed to stop after widespread flooding across Queensland last summer damaged sea grass beds - the major food source for both animals - along the coastline.

The agreement comes two weeks after traditional owners' groups from Bundaberg to Gladstone agreed to self-imposed bans on hunting both species

On our own shores, fisherman make changes to shrimping to help the turtles in the Gulf:

The study's authors estimate that 4,600 sea turtles die each year in U.S. coastal waters.

Before measures to reduce bycatch were put in place, total sea turtle takes surpassed 300,000 annually. Of these, 70,000 turtles were killed.

The study used data collected from 1990 to 2007 by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to determine bycatch rates across more than 20 fisheries operating in Atlantic waters from the Gulf of Mexico to the Canadian border, and in the Pacific Ocean, along the West coast and around Hawaii.

It found that overall turtle bycatch rates, including both fatal and nonfatal run-ins, have fallen about 60 percent since 1990.

Visit Science Daily to read the full article.

Did Titanoboa, the largest known snake from the Paleocene epoch, battle a super-sized freshwater croc for prey and survival in Columbia? That's the question paleontologists are now asking themselves.

The 60-million-year-old freshwater relative to modern crocodiles is the first known land animal from the Paleocene New World tropics specialized for eating fish, meaning it competed with Titanoboa for food. But the giant snake could have consumed its competition, too, researchers say.

"The younger individuals were definitely not safe from Titanoboa, but the biggest of these species would have been a bit much for the 42-foot snake to handle," said lead author Alex Hastings, a graduate student at the Florida Museum of Natural History and UF's department of geological sciences.

The new species is a dyrosaurid, commonly believed to be primarily ocean-dwelling, coastal reptiles. The new adult specimens challenge previous theories the animals only would have entered freshwater environments as babies before returning to sea.

To read the full article, click here.

Philandering may be the key to raising your kids right, at least in the world of frogs.

Focusing on the African grey foam nest tree frog (Chiromantis xerampelina), the researchers sought to understand why females behave promiscuously, despite the risk of disease, injury and predation.

"One hypothesis for female promiscuity is that females can increase the genetic diversity of their offspring and, in so doing, increase the chance that at least some offspring survive and reproduce," Dr Byrne said.

Dr Byrne said the argument for mating with multiple partners (polyandry) was that it increased genetic diversity cushions against fluctuating selective forces in challenging environments.
"The frog's offspring are developing in an environment that's highly unpredictable in terms of rainfall, food availability and predation risk," said Dr Byrne.

"If the environment is fluctuating, it is very difficult for females to predict which male partner will provide genes that give her offspring the best chance of performing well in the future".

So what happens in the forest, stays in the forest. To read the full article, click here.

After strong conservation efforts, 80 sand lizards were released in Hengistbury Head, Dorset.

The last positive sighting of a sand lizard at this site was in the 1960s.

Once commonly found on sand dunes and heathland, the lizards became endangered due to gradual destruction of their habitats.

The captive bred sand lizards, reared at Marwell Zoo, have been released at Hengistbury Head as part of a long-term conservation project to restore the species status.

During the 20th Century a 90% loss of sand lizards was recorded in Dorset.

To read the full article, click here.

Of course there are retics! Retic, while not everywhere are in fact definitely easy to find. The breeding of the dwarf groups is going amazing and there are now carpet python sized retics out there. Yeah there is a limited group of folks selling them here but they are passionate about their big kids and really that is a lot of what this community is about. We all heavily embrace what we love. This is my favorite from the show, but there are some rocking retics. Kevin has his anthrax, head over to the back wall and find Twin City for some and to the right wall and find the breeder of this gem.

Remember to check our Tinley 2011 photo gallery for photo regularly.

The biggest thing I hear from anyone about shows is "It was just another ball fest!" While ball pythons will always remain a major staple at reptile shows simply because they are such a great starter pet and their massive genetic puzzle, there is a new kid making a rise at shows. The Morelia complex is starting to become one of the more popular pythons out there. being one of my favorite snakes, I spent a great deal of time with the guys on Morelia Row. Here is one of my favorite shots of the show. I did pick up 4 rescues today as well. 3 Coastal Carpets and a stunning Jungle Carpet will now move into my educational programs. I need to also pick up "The Complete Carpet Python" which is being offered for sale this weekend for the first time. NARBC is now MORELIA FEST!

We're on the road again! I'm heading out to represent kingsnake.com at the North American Reptile Breeders Conference in Anaheim, CA.

kingsnake.com will be covering NARBC live again, just like we did NARBC Anahei, last month.
If you're there, look for me at set-up on Friday as well as at the show and auction over the rest of the weekend. Stop me and say hi!

We'll be enjoying the chance to bring the show to those not able to be there. And if you are at the show, we will keep in touch with you as well. Live blogs of the talks, photos from the show floor, interviews with vendors and attendees as well as taking you along on any herping trips will all be happening.

A few ways to keep up with us this week are listed after the bump.

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.

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.

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.

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.

On Monday, a fire devastated the facility owned by our friends Chad Brown and Robyn Marklund of Pro Exotics. Almost their entire snake collection was wiped out overnight; a few snakes and eggs survive, but almost everything is gone.

While they had insurance, few companies will accept the real value of our animals. Losing twenty years of work with a variety of morphs, including some they were still working to prove out, is a huge blow to their program.

Chad and Robyn have always been amazingly stand-up guys. I have needed monitor advice many times over the years with my rescue work, and any time I asked, Robyn was there for me. He took the time out of his day to give me a hand with animals he had no responsibility for. He just did it, because that is who he is.

Chad has always treated anyone he met as if they were an old friend. Never one to let his celebrity go to his head, Chad gladly cleaned poo alongside his guys at shows and at work.

A member of our community here at kingsnake.com has taken the first step to give some of that support back to these great guys and their business: Pitoon of United Herps started a fundraiser to get them back on their feet.

Now all of us at kingsnake.com are asking you to consider giving your support to these two guys, their animals, and their company. Let's come together as a community and help them recover.

To donate, you can click here on Facebook, or make a donation through Paypal to the email address robyn@proexotics.com; just select "gift" and send.

Every little bit will help our friends get back on their feet. And Chad and Robyn, we're here for you!

The Ancient Egyptians knew it, but we're just catching on: the Nile Crocodile is actually two very different species.
From NatureNews:

The iconic Nile crocodile actually comprises two different species only distantly related. The large east African Nile crocodile (Crocodylus niloticus) is in fact more closely related to four species of Caribbean crocodile than to its small west African neighbour, which has been named Crocodylus suchus.

Evon Hekkala of Fordham University in New York and her colleagues revealed evidence for the existence of the second species by sequencing the genes of 123 living Nile crocodiles and 57 museum specimens, including several 2,000-year-old crocodile mummies.

A follow up interview with one of the researchers proves to be just as interesting. From Discover Magazine:

For years, people have been looking at what they considered to be the Nile crocodile and they didn’t really have much material to compare across Africa. In the 1970s, the industry that was involved in tanning crocodile hides was looking for ones with fewer bony scutes. A man called Fuchs did an analysis of the scutes to identify stocks that have fewer of them. He proposed some of these subspecies but the crocodile researchers threw out his work and said this guy doesn’t know what he’s talking about.

That’s the earliest sign of a morphological difference. People had been looking and looking and they just couldn’t see these differences. There had been all this evidence throughout the years about some extreme differences but most of the anecdotes were about their behaviour. Crocodiles are generally very hard to tell apart from their exterior features.

We can now revisit the morphological data to see what springs out. There’s an unpublished preliminary analysis of skulls by Chris Brochu that does pull apart the two species based on just skull morphology. We’re working together to write a description of the new species to pull together the behavioural, genetic and morphological data.

This just proves to move forward, sometimes we must look back.

Any one person can make a change in this world for the better, Eighth grade Rachel Hopkins is showing exactly how it's done.

Last month, the Raleigh eighth-grader addressed the Wake County Board of Commissioners to share her vast knowledge about frogs and to put in a good word for proclaiming the last Saturday in April as Save the Frogs Day.

Impressed, the commissioners said they would take the issue to the governor, and the paperwork that would make Rachel's dream a reality is now making its way through the political pipeline.

Meanwhile, the frogs could use some help.

One-third of the world's amphibian species, including frogs, are threatened, Rachel said, and at least 200 species have already met with extinction since 1979.

"Frogs will not survive the 21st century if they continue declining at their current rate," she said.

If you happen to shrug, Rachel is quick to set you straight. She admits she fell in love with frogs initially because "they're just really, really cute - I love their little eyes" and "they have a lot of personality," but the more she learned, the more she came to love.

Every time I see a story like this, I feel proud of our upcoming herpers, Rock on, Rachel!

To read the full story, click here.

Cyclones and floods ravaged Australia earlier this year, and now the impact on the local wildlife is rearing its head. Sea turtles and dugongs are washing ashore in astounding numbers lately. From the Telegraph:

Now naturalists fear that up to 1,500 dugongs – a species of sea cows – and 6,000 turtles along the Reef are likely to die in the coming months because their main food source, sea grass, which grows on the ocean floor, was largely wiped out by the floods and cyclone.

In some places the plants were ripped from the seabed by currents created by the storms and in others they were inundated under silt and soil washed out from the land by the torrential rains.

Beachgoers have reported stumbling across groups of turtles in shallow waters near Townsville – only to discover they were dead or dying.

"This is a long-term environmental disaster," said Dr Ellen Ariel, a turtle expert at James Cook University.

"It is not like an oil spill where you can clean the water and move on. It is such a large stretch of coastline... We have had mass strandings of turtles. The turtles are sick and starving and can't go on any longer. They don't have anywhere to go."

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority says it expects more dugongs to die than in any previous event.

Hurricane Irene was no where near as devastating as we thought it might be, but that doesn't diminish the impact on the east coast Sea turtle populations. From Pilot Online:

One-third of the sea turtle nests buried in the beaches of the Outer Banks were destroyed by Hurricane Irene, and the number could rise if remaining nests fail to hatch, but that's just nature taking its course, biologists said this week.

Loggerhead and green sea turtles laid 147 nests on National Park Service beaches from Ocracoke north, the second highest number on record. Seventy-eight of those hatched before the storm.

Of the 69 remaining when the hurricane hit, 45 were lost, said Britta Muiznieks, wildlife biologist for Cape Hatteras National Seashore.

Beginning on the Sunday after the storm, the remaining nests were checked, and it appears that 20 still have live eggs, she said. However, saltwater inundation and extra layers of sand may have harmed them.

What is left for kids to paint these days? I guess the old train trellis is no longer cool, because according to TheDestinLog.com, turtles are coming into Emerald Coast Wildlife Refuge in increasing numbers.

A woman who lives off of Beach Drive in Destin discovered two eastern box turtles with their shells painted — one had the No. 3 on it, while the other paint job couldn’t be identified.

[....]

“One might think this is cute and harmless, however, it can adversely affect the health of these animals. And, since we don't know exactly the purpose of these numbers, we are concerned about what other harassment the turtles may be exposed to,” the refuge’s Facebook page stated. “This entire shell structure is absorbent and if the outer keratin is breached by infection or injury, the turtle can lose its protection and infection can proceed into the bony layer and the body cavity, threatening the turtle's life"

And in staying with the idea to save the best for last, baby Sea Turtles were released to the Gulf. From Bradenton.com:

Volunteers with Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch on Monday released about 100 baby green sea turtles to the Gulf of Mexico.

The hatchlings had been born the night before, and volunteers were able to rescue them before they became disoriented by nearby lights.

The nest was the first in at least 11 years to be laid by a green turtle. All but one of the more than 140 nests recorded on Anna Maria Island this year were laid by loggerhead turtles.

Our hearts are heavy for our friends at Pro Exotics today. A fire broke out early this morning at their Colorado facility. It is currently still burning, and according to their Facebook page, they do not expect any of their snakes to survive. We will keep you updated on this and try to reach Chad or Robyn today to find out what happened.

We at kingsnake.com will keep Chad, Robyn and their entire staff and families in our thoughts.

UPDATE:
The local press Fox31 Denver is on the scene and interviewed Chad Brown and Robyn Marklund. From the their site:

"This is decades of work to produce the animals that we've been producing," Brown says. "This is a huge loss for our business.

Pro Exotics has been in business for 20 years.

"These are very special animals," Brown says. "There's a number of unique animals that were the only ones of their type on the planet."

"With the heat inside I can't imagine those animals surviving," he says. "They're very tough animals but to survive that type of heat is very unlikely."

"I could see the flames inside the facility, and certainly the smoke was really heavy" says Brown's partner, Robyn Markland.

"This is going to be our life-changing moment, we'll figure things out and we'll move forward," he say

To see the interview and read the full story, click here.

The inability to reach medical care is one of the biggest issues in the treatment of venomous snake bites in Africa. The lack of anti-venom is a close second.

As many as 1.5 million people in that region are bitten by snakes each year, according to a new study that analyzed three decades worth of surveys and medical reports. Previous studies were based on less reliable methods and may have underestimated the problem, the researchers said.

The majority of snakebites and deaths from these bites occur in rural areas, where access to health care services is limited, the researchers said.

The new findings are important because, without knowing the true size of the problem, and which areas are most affected, authorities cannot properly address the issue, said study researcher Jean-Philippe Chippaux, of the Institute of Research for Development (IRD) in Paris.

Currently there is only enough anti-venom (also called antivenin) available in the region to treat about 10 percent of snakebite cases. Pharmaceutical companies have been reluctant to manufacture anti-venom because they do not know how much to make or where to distribute it, Chippaux said.

The new findings may signal to these companies that there is a need for more anti-venom. Doctors in the region should also be trained to treat snake bites and administer anti-venom, Chippaux said.

To read the full article, click here.

David Williams is currently working on a project to reduce mortality rates and increase anti-venom. That is still a bit down the road, but he, along with a group of co-authors, released a paper as the first phase of that project this spring. You can read the abstract and purchase the full paper here. As more details of the project become finalized, we will help David spread the word.

From funeral crashing snakes to a story that reminds me of my experience doing education at the Wisconsin State Fair, it's more oddities in the news.

From the Sacramento Bee:

A Sacramento man has been taken into custody for allegedly taking big bites out a pet python, which was reported recovering after surgery.

David Elmer Senk, 54, was booked into Sacramento County Jail on suspicion of unlawfully maiming/mutilating a reptile. Bail was set at $10,000.

Sacramento police were called to the 3600 block of Marysville Boulevard in Del Paso Heights about 6:30 p.m. Thursday on a call about a man who had been assaulted and was not responsive. When they arrived, they found Senk.

While speaking with Senk, a citizen got the officers' attention and told them that Senk had just taken two large bites out of their small live python. Animal control was called to the scene and Senk was taken to jail. The snake was not in good condition when handed over to animal control officers, police said.

[....]

Police said that Senk was "an acquaintance" of the snake owner. Senk allegedly asked to hold the snake and then bit into the repitile twice.

The snake is doing well now and I am left thankful that the child that bit one of my snakes at the State Fair did NOT do anywhere near this amount of damage! I counted 12 stitches on the ball's belly.

I wonder, is that a snake in your pants or are you just happy to see me? Seriously, it is never a good idea to steal a snake from one store to sell to another. From USA Today:

Eric Fiegel, 22, was arrested at 3:40 p.m. Tuesday after police reviewed surveillance footage from a pet shop that shows a man stealing baby albino boa constrictors July 30 from Predator's Reptile Center in Mesa by placing them in his pants and exiting the store, according to police.

[....]

Fiegel was later positively identified from a police lineup by two witnesses and also from the surveillance footage that showed him placing the snakes in his pants, according to a police report.

From Reuters, a snake is now looking for a new home after paying final respects:

A 6-foot (1.83-meter) long tropical snake that showed up uninvited at a Pennsylvania memorial service in May has been nursed back to health and put up for adoption, an animal rescue official said on Friday.

The red tail boa constrictor was found near a parking area at Hershey Cemetery in central Pennsylvania as guests gathered for a funeral. The snake, which was not aggressive, was later handed over to Forgotten Friend, a reptile sanctuary.

My rescue has gotten a ball python which was listed as the cause of a heart attack, but none of our stray intakes had gone to say goodbye to a person.
Lastly, in the no good deed goes unpunished, a Merrillville, Indiana woman tried to help the turtle cross the road was not rewarded too well. From Merrillville Community.com:

A turtle's salvation led to two traffic wrecks involving four vehicles Monday on Taft Street, Merrillville police said.

Jim Lilley, Merrillville's chief of detectives, said a driver stopped her vehicle before 1 p.m. in a southbound lane of Taft Street near 93rd Avenue, attempting to rescue a turtle that was crossing the road.

The stopped vehicle, which had its hazard lights running, then was rear-ended, Lilley said.

All that poor turtle wanted to do was get to the other side.

Sometimes you're just left shaking your head wondering what the hell some people are thinking. This week had a huge selection of those stories. I promise I did not make any of these stories up -- and none are from the Weekly World News.

First up from nzherald.co.nz:

A Kiwi is facing a string of charges after allegedly threatening police with a large snake during a bizarre stand-off on Queensland's Sunshine Coast.

The man, reportedly from Masterton, was arrested after police claimed he threatened them with the 1.5 metre-long snake at the scene of a motor vehicle accident in Maroochydore on Saturday.

Yep, he threatened cops with a carpet python. Perhaps he was hoping they would be stunned by their beauty?

Now, I understand more people list the fear of snakes than any other fear, but really, you need to aim a bit better. From the Daytona Beach News Journal:

Deputies were called out to the man's West Volusia home about 4 p.m. Thursday after receiving a report a man, later identified as Garrett Bauernschmidt, had a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Susan Williams, the man's caretaker, told authorities she had arrived at the home and found a large water moccasin lying near the front door.

Bauernschmidt retrieved his .38-caliber handgun and shot one round of birdshot at the snake, but missed, according to a report from the Volusia County Sheriff's Office. Williams told deputies the man was manipulating the safety to enable the second chamber when the gun discharged.

And the snake lived another day completely unharmed.

Lastly, a toilet is no where for any animal let alone a Bearded Dragon. From the BBC:

The owner of a bearded dragon dumped in a white bag in the toilets of an Edinburgh supermarket is being sought by animal welfare officers.
The adult male reptile was found in Morrisons on Pilton Drive in the men's toilets on Sunday.
He is now being cared for at the Scottish SPCA's Edinburgh and Lothians Animal Rescue and Rehoming Centre.

There are places you can leave your animals, no matter what kind, if you can no longer care for them

Oregon State University researchers are looking into zooplankton often referred to as Water Fleas (Daphnia magna) as a possible weapon against the devasting chytrid fungus affecting amphibians worldwide.

From International Business Times:

It was known that the zooplankton could devour some types of fungi. Oregon researchers wanted to find out whether Daphnia magna could also consume the chytrid fungus that's been devastating amphibian populations worldwide, including Colorado's endangered boreal toad. Through extensive research, scientists confirmed that Daphnia magna could consume the free swimming pores of the fungal pathogen.

"Our laboratory experiments and DNA analysis confirmed that it would eat the zoospore, the free-swimming stage of the fungus," said lead researcher Julia Buck, an OSU doctoral student in zoology.

The fungus B. dendrobatidis, dubbed a "chytrid" fungus, is responsible for a recently discovered disease of amphibians chytridiomycosis. It can disrupt electrolyte balance and lead to death from cardiac arrest in its amphibian hosts if it reaches high levels, an OSU release said Friday. However, OSU researchers found that Daphnia magna might make a meal of the troublesome fungus.

This breakthrough is welcome news, however another article points to an oddity. Why has Chytrid not impacted Asia yet?

Much of the natural environment in Asia seems conducive for Bd, so why has the continent so far been spared from the amphibian plague? The researchers have three hunches. The first, and most worrisome, is simply that Bd has not yet emerged in Asian environments. Analyzing the geographic distribution of the places where Bd did turn up, though, doesn’t point towards normal emerging disease patterns. On the other hand, Bd could be native to the Asian environment, meaning local amphibian species could have built up an evolutionary resistance to the normally devastating disease. Finally, it could be that Bd has tried to rear its head in Asia, but that some unknown factor in the nature is preventing the fungus from taking hold. Microbes on Asian amphibians’ skin, for example, could be saving their hosts from the disease.

Though things seem rosy for Asian amphibians, the lack of explanation is worrisome. The research team acknowledges that much more data are needed in order to fully assess and understand the Bd threat to amphibians in the Far East. Given the complexity of natural environments, small changes in temperature due to climate change, for example, could be enough to tip the scales in favor of Bd’s emergence onto the Asian amphibian scene. Following populations of Asian amphibians to see how Bd changes over time would be one way to elucidate the mystery. The scientists also propose analyzing the genetics of Bd strains found in different parts of the world to see if they differ in virulence.

To read the full article, click here.

Most of us who grew up loving snakes, find ourselves in a situation of explaining why. Naturalist and ophiophilist Trisha Douda volunteers her time teaching people the basic in and out of all things serpentine but also ways to avoid natural pit falls in Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority.

“There’s 2,900 species of snake, and it’s impossible to know everything about all of them, so I stick to the Santa Monica Mountains,” Douda said. “I just got involved because I knew these hills so well and was always sharing what I knew anyway.”

A distance runner who grew up near King Gillette Ranch, Douda has been studying snakes for nearly three decades, dating back to her childhood when she used to catch snakes and keep them in her room. Noticing that they looked miserable in captivity, she has long since refrained from keeping them as pets and instead enjoys observing them in nature.

Anyone who wants to learn how to do the same is welcome to join her guided hour-long hikes, which usually begin in the morning when snakes are most likely to be seen during hot summer months.

[....]

“Snakes have a lot of redeeming qualities with a limited body structure,” Douda said. “They have survived quite beautifully.”

One of their most positive contributions to humankind is their consumption of rodents, which significantly reduces the spread of diseases brought by mice and rats.

To read the full article, click here.