It's been a few months since the fire that destroyed the Pro Exotics snake facility owned by Robyn Markland and Chad Brown. The tragedy shook the entire reptile community this fall, so I thought I would check in with Robyn Markland and see how he, Chad and the company were doing.

With a new perspective on life, Robyn and Chad have remained amazingly optimistic during the ordeal of loosing all their snakes and facing the clean-up and rebuild.

Click here to hear the interview with Robyn.

To see the recently upload fire pics, click here.

And to get one of the last "WTS Dwayne" shirts, click here.

Just like Jello, jellyfish jiggle and wiggle. And that just may be the key to the increase in Florida's Leatherback Turtle population.

The largest of the marine reptiles, leatherbacks used to be rare visitors to Florida shores. But over the past two decades, the number of nests dug at Florida beaches has been increasing. This year's count is 600 nests, one of the highest ever at beaches tracked for long-term trends. Nest counts are the main method of assessing sea-turtle population trends.

This success story of sea-turtle conservation has a possible twist, said Kelly Stewart, a researcher with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. When jellyfish are abundant, the leatherbacks have a veritable feast, which could help the female turtles reproduce more often.

"Jellyfish, and any gelatinous species, are the preferred food source for leatherback sea turtles," said Stewart, who completed her doctoral thesis at Duke University on these turtle trends. "So, if there are more jellyfish, that may not be good for people, but is good for the leatherbacks."

Jellyfish aren't really fish but gelatinous creatures related to corals. There are more than 1,000 species around the world, and they have a familiar, umbrella-like body and tentacles. Most have the ability to sting their prey, but their main predators, such as leatherback turtles, seem to be immune to the venom.

In recent years, there have been giant blooms around the world, including several cases involving a jellyfish species that is foreign to an area. Cocoa Beach had such a phenomenon over the Memorial Day weekend with an invasion of mauve stingers, a deep ocean jellyfish that is rare in Florida but common in the Mediterranean.

To read the full article, click here.

It would make a great new superhero, but Citizen Scientists are people like you and I. In fact I would venture to say every single field herp is a citizen scientist. The changes they are making international are impressive, but these are people just following their hearts.

Dr Ceaser Sengupta, a pathologist and General Manager with what's considered to be the world's largest thyroid testing laboratory, Thyrocare Technologies Limited, leads a busy life. When he's not at his Turbhe office, his attention is divided between his six year-old daughter, his father and wife, with whom he resides in a swanky highrise in CBD Belapur.
All this might seem terribly ordinary if you didn't know about Sengupta's parallel life.

Occasionally, the 37 year-old takes off to far flung areas of the country, especially forests and swamps, carrying with him a sleeping bag, a supply of dry fruit, and a pair of leather boots that reach his knees, protecting him from snake bites. If unable to locate a cow shed to sleep in, the sleeping bag comes in handy.

On these trips that often last between four days to a month and a half, Sengupta, along with other skilled urban professionals from a variety of career fields, transforms into a 'citizen scientist' or amateur researcher.

Sengupta's task is as ambitious in nature as it is vital. He, along with 500 urban professionals, mostly from non-science and research backgrounds, are part of Lost Amphibians of India (LAI), a group that is searching for 50 Indian amphibian species, mostly frogs and caecilians, that are thought to have gone extinct. While several species have been sighted in the last 10 years, some have eluded researchers for over 169 years.

"It is an extremely important programme. Most Indians are concerned about certain 'prestigious' animals, and hardly ever give a thought to amphibians. Some of the species we are searching for have not been sighted for years. We need to see if they are still around," says Sengupta.

To read the full story, click here.

Because the climate is changing three times faster than animals can adapt to it, animals will need to change their natural range to survive. That is the conclusion of a new study on North American Rattlesnake populations.

"We find that, over the next 90 years, at best these species' ranges will change more than 100 times faster than they have during the past 320,000 years," said Michelle Lawing, lead author of the paper and a doctoral candidate in geological sciences and biology at IU Bloomington. "This rate of change is unlike anything these species have experienced, probably since their formation."

The study, "Pleistocene Climate, Phylogeny, and Climate Envelope Models: An Integrative Approach to Better Understand Species' Response to Climate Change," was published by the online science journal PLoS ONE. Co-author is P. David Polly, associate professor in the Department of Geological Sciences in the IU Bloomington College of Arts and Sciences.

The researchers make use of the fact that species have been responding to climate change throughout their history and their past responses can inform what to expect in the future.
They synthesize information from climate cycle models, indicators of climate from the geological record, evolution of rattlesnake species and other data to develop what they call "paleophylogeographic models" for rattlesnake ranges. This enables them to map the expansion and contraction at 4,000-year intervals of the ranges of 11 North American species of the rattlesnake genus Crotalus.

To read the full article, click here.

As we age, our ability to move and get around changes. One researcher is looking to lizards to help develop therapy aids for the elderly who need to rebuild their balance.
From Newswise.com:

But what are these built-in control mechanisms and how do they work? Hsieh believes the answers lie in the locomotion of some 130 lizards she has been studying in her lab, particularly basilisk lizards — nicknamed “Jesus lizards” because they can run across water — and baby frilled dragons from Australia.

“On the most basic level the answer is balance,” said Hsieh. “If these animals can’t maintain their balance, they cannot escape from predators, find food or even mate and reproduce.”
But Hsieh wants to understand how these lizards maintain that balance and quickly recover from slip perturbations while navigating changing environmental conditions such as narrow surfaces, smooth surfaces, slippery surfaces, granular surfaces and even surfaces that vary in height.

[....]

“There are a lot of hypotheses on why the elderly fall more,” she said. “Some say that as you get older, your reflexes slow or the springy tendons in your body become less springy. We can’t get at this age question, but instead use these lizards to elucidate the mechanisms that help a younger animal recover quickly when it begins to fall. We can then apply that knowledge towards improving therapy options or modifying environmental design for the elderly.”

The use of Cobra venom in pain relievers is fairly well-known, but another snake's venom is being looked at as a possible help.

As researchers continue to focus on the study of Texas Coral snake venom, they aim to search new lead and new insights into pain perception and targets for pain management. Researchers are much interested in determining how natural toxins effect.

David Julius, a neuroscientist at the University of California, San Francisco and his team decided to test snake venoms because of its ability to response with pain. They used samples of various kinds of venoms to rat neurons and measured the results on how strongly the nerves fired. Positive results were seen on Texas coral snake, a shy but deadly species and lives in southern areas of United States.

To read the full article, click here.

The movie Herpers was a ground breaking documentary film released in 2009 that was one of the first to explore the people and animals that make up the reptile and amphibian culture. With interviews with many noted breeders and hobbyists and footage from a number of private reptile breeding facilities, filmmaker Dav Kaufman took the world up close and personal with a culture many never knew existed. With the success of the first film, Dav jumped right back to work to produce a sequel.

kingsnake.com got the chance to talk movies with Dav Kaufman, director of Herpers II, the follow-up to his first film about the reptile community. Herpers II even includes an interview with our own Jeff Barringer.

To hear the interview, click here. And check out the trailer under the jump!

California concerns about Chytrid fungus is again bringing up the possible ban on importation of bullfrogs into the state.

They were imported from frog farms in Taiwan... environmental activist and former game warden [Miles Young] said.

The species is particularly susceptible to a skin fungus linked to vanishing amphibians around the world. And the conditions in which bullfrogs are raised, transported and sold are ideal breeding grounds for the fungus and its waterborne zoospores.

"It should be against the law to bring diseased nonnative animals into California," he grumbled. "But every time someone proposes a ban on bullfrogs, politics gets in the way and nothing gets done."

[....]

Opponents also said it unfairly targeted Asian American businesses because it did not affect the sale of turtles and frogs at pet stores.

In testimony before the panel, [Leland] Yee, an unsuccessful candidate in the Nov. 8 San Francisco mayoral election, said: "For over 5,000 years, it has been the practice of both the Chinese community and the Asian American community to consume these particular animals. They are part of our staple. They are part of our culture. They are part of our heritage."

For the full article, click here.

In our excitement over the possibility of the end of rattlesnake round-ups in Georgia, we mistook a press release as a valid news report. However here is some clarification from Georgia resident and venomous keeper, Chad Minter:

Cindy,
I noticed a couple of errors in your blog post.
First, Georgia has a different set of laws for wild animals (non-native) and wildlife (native.) Wild animal permits are not required for Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnakes. The authors of this letter have a gross misunderstanding of Georgia law.
The list of people permitted to keep Eastern Diamondbacks would be zero, because the permits are not required for native venomous species.
I am not an attorney, so I would urge anyone who is planning on keeping venomous in Georgia to contact their attorney AND Georgia DNR to make sure they are in compliance with all laws and regulations.
Second, I really don't think an out of state attorney and another out of state group would be considered "Georgia officials." I think the title may be misinterpreted to have a color of law.
Don't get me wrong, I do not support roundups at all, but the post does contain some misinformation.
Thanks,
Chad Minter
envenomated.com

I want to thank Chad for keeping us honest here. Below you will see the original posting I made.


So-called "Rattlesnake Round-ups" are disgusting public displays of animal abuse, made worse because the events are often attended and endorsed by local officials. The state of Georgia is bucking that trend.

Georgia state law requires that anyone who possesses a wild rattlesnake obtain a “wild animal license” from the Department of Natural Resources. For the sake of both animal welfare and public safety, the law requires those who keep wild rattlesnakes to buy liability insurance and treat the snakes humanely. The groups’ letter, sent by the Center, Coastal Plains Institute and Land Conservancy, and One More Generation, asks that appropriate law-enforcement measures be taken before and during the roundups to make sure sponsors and participants carry insurance and give the snakes humane treatment.

“Possession of wild rattlesnakes without a license is against the law in Georgia for good, common-sense reasons, and the state needs to make the law real by enforcing it,” said Collette Adkins Giese, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity who works to protect rare and vanishing reptiles and amphibians. “But the best way to stop the abuse of animals, make sure no one gets hurt, and save the eastern diamondback from extinction is to just cancel these roundups. The bottom line is, they’re cruel.”

Rattlesnake roundups are depleting populations of eastern diamondback rattlesnakes: Analysis of data from four roundups in the southeastern United States shows a steady decline in the weights of prize-winning eastern diamondbacks and the number collected. This once-common species is being pushed toward extinction not only by hunting pressure but also by habitat loss and road mortality. In August, the Center and allies filed a petition to protect the snake under the Endangered Species Act.

To read the press release, click here.

Photo from user SalS in our photo gallery

The near-complete skeleton of a plesiosaur, a type of marine reptile, has been unearthed in Alberta. While partial skeletons have been found in the past, this is the most complete finding so far.

"This thing would be many tens of metres (from) the surface" of the earth, said Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology curator Donald Henderson, who was at the site Thursday. "If it wasn't for the digging, we would never see this."

Heavy equipment operator Maggy Horvath was shovelling ore at the oilsands company's Mildred Lake mine site on Nov. 14 when her shovel exposed the neck and upper vertebrae of a plesiosaur.

A team from the Drumheller-based Royal Tyrrell was called in. But removing the fossil from its resting place, where it is now pushing through the face of a cliff about five metres above the mine pit's base, is a tricky job that hasn't even started.

"The rock is really crumbling and there's lots of fractures," said Henderson, noting there are safety and equipment issues. At this point, researchers have only begun to comb through the rubble removed from the cliff face in search of the plesiosaur's head and more of its neck.

To read the full article, click here.

The second most-commonly used pesticide is now showing that it causes reproduction problems in a number of species, including reptiles and amphibians.

Atrazine is the second-most widely used herbicide in the U.S. More than 75 million pounds of it are applied to corn and other crops, and it is the most commonly detected pesticide contaminant of groundwater, surface water and rain in the U.S.

The new review, compiled by 22 scientists studying atrazine in North and South America, Europe and Japan, appears in the Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.
The researchers looked at studies linking atrazine exposure to abnormal androgen (male hormone) levels in fish, amphibians, reptiles and mammals and studies that found a common association between exposure to the herbicide and the "feminization" of male gonads in many animals.

The most robust findings are in amphibians, said University of Illinois comparative biosciences professor Val Beasley, a co-author of the review. At least 10 studies found that exposure to atrazine feminizes male frogs, sometimes to the point of sex reversal, he said.

For the full article, click here.

Sea turtles are a common sight along some North American coastal areas, but for the first time, an Olive Ridley sea turtle was spotted in British Columbia.

"This is really exciting. It’s the first confirmed sighting in B.C. waters," said Jennifer Yakimishyn, species at risk recovery planner at Pacific Rim National Park Reserve.

Olive ridleys, which are listed in the United States as threatened, are warm water turtles, but there have been sightings in Washington and Alaska, so it was suspected there could be some in B.C. waters, Yakimishyn said.

"So this is a pretty significant find. It is the third (species of) turtle found in B.C. waters," she said. "My email box is full of messages from excited biologists. It’s causing a real stir in the science world."

The other two species found in B.C. are green and leatherback turtles, but neither is common.

Lisa Spaven, a Fisheries and Oceans Marine Mammal Response biologist, said the closest nesting beaches for olive ridley turtles are Mexico and California. Like all sea turtles, populations are endangered because of years of hunting.

To read the full article, click here.

Thought to be extinct for 50 years, the Hula Painted From (Discoglossus nigriventer) has reappeared!

The JNF removed the water from the swamp and redirected the flow of water to the river Jordan with artificial estuaries. But the operation led to numerous knock-on effects — the reclaimed land was useless for agriculture, toxins invaded the river and dumped peat routinely caught fire.

The disastrous operation also led to huge destruction of ecosystems, wiping out water plants, tropical aquatic ferns, the ray-finned fish Acanthobrama hulensis and the cichlid fish Tristramella intermedia. Until this week, it was thought that the hula painted frog was among the lost species.

But a routine patrol at the Ha’Hula lake by Israel’s Nature and Parks Authority turned up a mysterious, unknown female frog and took it back to the lab for testing. It was soon confirmed that it was a Hula painted frog, and the rare species had hung on amongst the devastation of its habitat.

For the full story, click here.
With news like this, the need to work harder on the conservation efforts of amphibians becomes all that more important.

“Our study shows that more than two thirds of the global amphibian diversity hotspots will likely be strongly affected by at least one of the three threats considered”, says Miguel Araújo from the Spanish Research Council.
“With more than 30 per cent of all amphibian species already listed as threatened by IUCN and many rare species still being discovered every year, our results highlight the need for greater conservation research and action for this highly threatened group,” said Yale University’s Walter Jetz.

For more on that article, click here.

Hey, any "Citizen Scientists" out there? There's an app for that!

A new iPhone application launched last night aims to enlist the help of the public in monitoring some of the most remote wildlife on the planet. Mobile phone users will be able to look for rare animals in their natural habitat, at any time of the day.

The Zoological Society of London, which has created the Instant WILD app, believes the system could revolutionise the way scientists track endangered species.

The app works by accessing motion-sensitive cameras that have been placed in clearings, watering holes and plains in Kenya, Sri Lanka and Mongolia. When an animal triggers the camera, the picture is sent to the app.

iPhone users can study the photographs and help ZSL to classify them. Jonathan Baillie, conservation director of ZSL, said it would usually take scientists days to go through the mass of pictures that are expected to be generated by the cameras.

To read the full article, click here.

In case you thought last year's Michigan oil spill was old news, try asking the animals still being found covered in oil, or the 30 still in rehab.

From the Battle Creek Enquirer:

Enbridge Inc.-contracted scientist Bob Doherty and three part-time helpers are still administering daily care to dozens of turtles that were rescued from the creek and river this spring and summer.

The turtles were too unhealthy to be released in time for winter hibernation, and will have to spend the winter in a small one-room heated facility near Historic Bridge Park in Emmett Township.

Throughout this summer's oil spill cleanup, turtles with oil on them were still being discovered, said Lisa Williams of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Some were cleaned in the field while others had to be taken into Doherty's wildlife center for care, Williams said.

In total, Doherty's team caught 4,200 turtles this year and checked them for oil, he said. Of those, 1,500 were cleaned. Others had damage to their shells from boats. About a dozen were recorded as dead.

To read the full article, click here.

In an effort to save their endangered species, Du Page County in Illinois is moving to have 5 of their park locations elevated to full nature preserves.

From the Daily Herald:

The distinction would offer the current preserves additional ecological protection. But it would not stop visitors from enjoying activities currently allowed at some sites, like dog-walking, biking or horseback riding.

“We are saying we will abide by the state's guidelines for higher restrictions of what we do with the land, but that does not preclude people from enjoying it,” said Erik Neidy, the district's manager of natural resources. “It basically restricts all destructive uses to the trails.”

[....]

Neidy said each area was chosen either because it already has trails and parking lots that should be contained or, conversely, has no trails or parking lots and forest preserve staff want to keep it that way.

“We've spent a lot of time and investment to make these areas high-quality, and this will allow us to preserve these areas into the future, not knowing what political pressures might be,” Neidy said.

Kudos to the staff of the parks district for taking a proactive approach. Michigan is also taking steps to aid the Blandings turtles in species survival.

In an effort to protect the Blanding’s turtle nests at the Michigan refuge from predators, namely raccoons, 93 eggs were collected from the nests and incubated for 49-80 days at Herpetological Resource and Management, which is a center near Jackson.

The hatchlings have been divided between the Detroit Zoo and HRM to begin a nurturing process called “head starting.”

“This is a good opportunity for us to do local conservation work on a species of special concern in Michigan,” said Jeff Jundt, the zoo’s curator of reptiles. “The incubation and nurturing process will serve as a temporary solution to help the species thrive until its native living conditions at Shiawassee can be stabilized.”

To read the full article, click here.

Tokay geckos are something not often found in private collections here in the US, but overseas in Malaysia they are selling for hundreds of thousands of dollars as wild-caught animals. The reason? They are being touted as a cure for AIDS.

Blogs all over Asia are spreading rumors of a miracle cure for HIV/AIDS found in the mouth of the Tokay, either in the saliva or the tongue. As a result, Tokays are disappearing from the wild in critical numbers.

From the Washington Post:

“TRAFFIC is alarmed at the massive increase in trade of these geckos. If the trade continues to mushroom, it could take years to repair the damage currently being inflicted on gecko populations,” said Chris R.Shepherd, TRAFFIC’s regional deputy director.

The geckos, popular as pets in Asia, have long been used as traditional medicine for illnesses such as diabetes, asthma, skin disease and cancer, the report said. Their carcasses are dried up and ground into powder for consumption. In some parts of Asia, Tokay wine or whisky is consumed to boost energy.

[....]

Shepherd said the Tokay Gecko remained poorly protected by national legislation and called for the lizard to be protected under CITES, the international convention on endangered species, before it becomes extinct.

Captive-bred animals may become all that is left of this species, like so many before, all because of unsubstantiated wild rumors about a "miracle cure" for AIDS.

The Utila Spiney-tailed Iguana was the species that introduced me to conservation and started my education work with the International Reptile Conservation Foundation. Now, one of the zoos working with them has successfully kicked off their breeding program. From Google News:

Reptile keepers at Bristol Zoo Gardens successfully hatched 17 baby Utila spiny-tailed iguanas - a species which is listed as critically endangered and was once considered to be one of the rarest iguanas in existence.

The eggs were laid after two young adult iguanas arrived at the zoo last year as a new breeding pair aiming to boost numbers of this species in captivity.

They were transferred to a temperature-controlled incubator for three months until hatching and then moved into a vivarium on display in the zoo's reptile house. Tim Skelton, curator of reptiles and amphibians at the zoo, said: "I'm thrilled that we have successfully hatched so many iguanas from the first clutch of eggs laid by our new female.

One of the biggest obstacles for conservation groups is money. A recent study shows that failing to conserve can have negative impact on a country's income. From Latin American Press:

Six of the world’s most biologically diverse countries in the world are in Latin America. Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Venezuela and Peru cover 10 percent of the Earth’s surface, but are home to 70 percent of the planet’s mammal, bird, reptile, amphibians, insects and plants in the world.

South America alone has more than 40 percent of the world’s biodiversity and more than a quarter of its forests.

[....]

These protected areas benefit the farming and fishing industries as well as tourism, said the report. Those areas have to fend off illegal occupation, logging, hydrological changes, pesticides, farming chemicals, fires, soil erosion, hunting and infrastructure projects, it added.

The State of Wyoming is having a contest to pick their conservation stamp based on the Horned Toad, aka short horned lizard. First place can bring you home $3500 and the chance to have your art go toward saving a species. Click here for more info.

The San Diego Zoo recently was able to create a viable cell culture of the endangered Mississippi gopher frog.

"With amphibians we have found that we can routinely obtain viable cells from a fresh biopsy, but they fail to thrive and divide, leaving us often unable to establish and freeze cell cultures," said Oliver Ryder, Ph.D., San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research director of genetics. "The question then is, how are we to know if there are viable cells in a tissue-pieced amphibian biopsy when we cannot grow the cells from a fresh biopsy?"

Thanks to a breakthrough achieved at the Institute for Conservation Research, the Mississippi gopher frog case provides proof that endangered amphibian cells can be grown and cells frozen from fresh or tissue-pieced and frozen biopsies.

The tissue-piecing technique has been used for some time with numerous species. In mammals, for example, scientists can mince a skin biopsy, treat it with cryoprotectant and freeze it. Later the tissue pieces can be thawed in a lab to establish a cell culture. But this method had not been previously successful with endangered amphibians until now.

Controversy is still raging about the Dunes Sagebrush Lizard in Texas.

Though the dunes sagebrush lizard’s habitat spans less than 2 percent of the entire oil-rich Permian Basin, industry-backed politicians Rep. Steve Pearce (R-N.M.) and Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) have asserted that protecting the lizard will shut down essentially all oil drilling, causing an economic catastrophe in New Mexico and Texas, as well as a nationwide oil shortage. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has called the claim false.

“Industry is trying to make the dunes sagebrush lizard into Godzilla, needlessly scaring citizens to score political points,” said Mark Salvo of WildEarth Guardians. “There is no reason to be afraid of this three-inch reptile.”

For the full press release, click here.

With Guinness waiting in the wings, uber croc expert Adam Britton headed to the Philippines to get an official measurement on Lolong, the giant saltwater croc.
From GMA News:

Australian zoologist and crocodile expert Dr. Adam Britton led the National Geographic team that measured the giant.

According to Britton in a videotaped interview with GMA News, Lolong's official measurement is 20 feet,three inches.

Previous erroneous reports in media had Lolong slightly longer.

Lolong was captured in the Agusan Marsh in September after reports of missing residents. Lolong now lives in a pen in Bunawan, Agusan del Sur where the sedated reptile was measured by National Geographic representatives shooting a documentary.

Britton will recommend to Guinness World Records the recognition of Lolong as the world’s biggest saltwater crocodile. Guinness representatives will no longer fly to the Philippines to measure Lolong and will depend instead on the results of Britton’s measurement.

Don't get too comfy at the top Lolong, some Aussie researchers just ran into an up and comer while researching fish. From ABC News:

"The closer we got to the net, we saw this large log in front of the net and pretty soon this log raises its head and parts of my net are dripping out of its teeth," he said.

"This was a five-metre crocodile that was bigger than our little boat, and he had the net well and truly wrapped around his jaw.

"He just blasted right through the net and tore this gigantic hole in the net, and of course I'm not catching any nursery fish with a hole.

Our friends from St. Augustine Alligator Farm were among a group of researchers who visits Sarawak on a Croc Conservation Conference. From the Boreno Post:

Minister of Special Functions Tan Sri Datuk Adenan Satem, in his speech when officiating at the opening of the International Crocodile Conference here yesterday, assured his full support to Sarawak Forestry Corporation (SFC) in carrying out the task and completing a comprehensive master plan.

Noting the importance of conservation as the fate of crocodiles was in the hands of humans, he said there was an urgent need to deal with the existing issues and problems.

"Unfortunately, the lives of our reptile friends depend on what we do. I, therefore hope that experts, scientists, management authorities and other stakeholders from across the world gathered here today could provide us with the recommendations, advice and assistance to come up with a long term management programme and resolution for human-crocodile co-existence," he said.

Adenan also mentioned the government’s concerns on wildlife and nature conservation, the reason why he had been given the task under the special functions to look after national parks, wildlife sanctuaries and nature reserves

One of the women who I spoke about in my International Herp Symposium talk, Marisa Tellez, had her masters thesis accepted and it is going to be published. From her current study project on American Alligators:

I know what you are thinking, “PARASITES!!!! Aren’t all parasites just blood sucking, diarrhea making, nasty little critters????” Well, not completely. Many parasites and the hosts they infect have formed a special and unique "affair" over many, many generations. This could help a host build a strong immune system, helping the host to fight off other diseases and adapt really well to changing environments (Did you know that some human autoimmune diseases are caused by the LACK OF parasites?). What's amazing about parasites is that their dependency with their host and environment make them key biological symbols of human induced environmental catastrophes. They can tell a story that us humans wouldn't even know about if it weren't for them!!! For example, the explosion of nematode parasites in fishes after the Exxon Valdez oil spill gave a clearer picture how the oil spill was affecting the whole ecosystem. So in short- even though parasites may not be cute and cuddly, they can help us understand about an organisms’ immune system and the health of the environment which is EXTREMELY important in our rapidly changing world today

You can learn more about her research project here.

What's new in venom research?

Celtic Biotech is using the venom of rattlesnakes to work towards a cancer cure. From IrishTimes.com:

Celtic Biotech, founded in 2003 by businessmen John Reid and Dr Paul Reid, has developed a treatment for advanced cancer from a powerful protein found in rattlesnake venom.

The company will this week begin testing the drug, now known as CB24, on patients at the George Pompidou University Hospital, Paris, under the supervision of consultant cancer specialist Jacques Medioni.

Celtic Biotech expects the trials to last about a year. They are designed to highlight the therapeutic value and safety of the drug.

The Irish company discovered a protein in rattlesnake venom that causes malignant cancer cells to self-destruct, a process known as cell death.

Two independent studies, by the US National Cancer Institute and University of Texas MD Anderson cancer center, have confirmed the protein’s anti-cancer properties.

In Australia, the venom of Funnelweb Spiders is being looked at as the new weapon in the fight against breast cancer. From FoxNews.com:

Dr. David Wilson has stockpiled venom from the fangs of up to 10 Australian funnel-webs for the two-year trial. His team will isolate up to 300 molecules in the venom and expose them to cancer cells to see how they react.

Wilson said spider venom contained molecules that have evolved to perform specific functions over millions of years. "They are designed to target very specific sites and we are hoping that some of these molecules target cancer cells."

The research was revealed Monday as Australians mark Pink Ribbon Day, which raises money for breast cancer prevention programs, support services and research.

Dr. Norelle Daly said the spider research, funded by the National Breast Cancer Foundation, was in its early stages. Venom molecules are used in chronic pain prevention, and scorpion venom has also been shown to bind to cancer cells in mice.

Even Iran is researching anti-cancer uses of venom. And some biology students at Tabor College in Kansas have learned a new meaning to the question, "Got Milk?" From the Hillsboro Star-Journal:

“I don’t want to traumatize the snake here, I’m going to be as gentle as I can,” Raugust said, as he pinned the first snake to the table with a metal tool and grasped it firmly behind the head.

With one snake and then the other, Raugust manipulated their heads so the exposed fangs hung over the edge of a small glass beaker.

“Right back here is where the venom sacs are,” Raugust said as he massaged the snakes’ heads to coax the venom out of them.

“The venom has all kinds of uses. They’re studying the venom to use on Parkinson’s, partial paralysis, and there’s an anti-coagulant in it so it keeps blood from clotting,” Raugust said. “They’re doing a lot of studies with venom because it has some interesting medicinal properties.”

It all starts with starving grad students, like Biology of the Rattlesnake presenter Chip Cochran. His research project, which is currently self-funded, is looking at populations of Speckled Rattlesnakes.

The planets biodiversity has provided cures for many illnesses that affect mankind. Countless other cures are still waiting to be discovered! The dilemma is that a cure may only exist in a single population that may be restricted to a single mountain range or even canyon. As urban sprawl encroaches on more and more habitat we are losing local populations of flora and fauna at an alarming rate. Former Director-General of the World Health Oranization and former Prime Minister of Norway Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland summarized it best “The library of life is burning and we do not even know the titles of the books.” Simply put, we are losing our resources before we even know they exist! Currently venom has provided mankind with drugs that treat everything from heart attacks, strokes and sickle cell anemia, to high blood pressure, diabetes, and chronic pain.

To read more about Chip and his research project, "The yin yang world of venom," click here. You can also donate a few bucks. Who knows, the next venom cure could save your life!

Living in an area with plenty of snakes is paying off for the Irula people in India.

Registered in 1978, the society, which had just 26 members in 1982-83, has grown with 328 Irula members. There are 250 licenced snake catchers and 108 of them are women. “We are happy that we also play an important role in helping the society,” said supervisor S Rajendran.

According to the society, the government had given them permission to catch only four types of poisonous snakes — Indian Cobra, Common Krait, Saw Scale Viper and Russell’s Viper. “Every year, we will be given an order by the government on the number of snakes we can catch. This year, we have been ordered to catch 2,000 snakes,” said Rajendran. “We have divided that number among our licenced members. For every snake caught, the catcher is paid accordingly. The rest of our members will catch rats to feed the snakes. We also extract red scorpion’s venom, but that is done only when we get orders.”

The Irula members say that the venom is extracted four times from a snake in 28 days. It is later taken to the lab and made to powder before being sold. Every time, an extraction is made, a mark is made on the snake for identification, so it is not again brought to the society before a certain period. “We make four marks on the snake. After that, we release it in the wild. Our members do not catch the same snake till it gets its new skin,” explained a member.

To read the full article, click here.

The Orinocos have arrived safely at the Zoo as of October 19 and continue to settle into their habitat nicely. Follow their progress with the regular updates on the zoo's facebook page. The lead photos is of the pair in their new habitat.

When Karel Fortyn, owner of Seaway Serpentarium, passed away this spring, he left behind plans to build a larger enclosure for his critically endangered Orinoco crocodiles.

Following a massive legal battle to determine ownership of the animals and the moving of heaven and earth to secure permits to transport the animals from Canada to the U.S., the Orinocos are heading to the Gladys Porter Zoo.

From the press release:

The Gladys Porter Zoo spoke for the crocodiles in early summer and the work began. An American alligator exhibit was targeted for renovation. Also, import permits needed to be applied for, and it was hoped that the permit would be granted and issued well before winter temperatures began to settle in.

The Division of Management Authority for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued import permits in late September, and the exhibit renovations are nearing completion. Next week, the U.S. Orinoco Crocodile Team will meet with the Canada Orinoco Crocodile Team, and the process of extracting the animals from their cramped quarters will begin. Once the crocodiles are secured and crated, the crew will drive straight through to Brownsville to keep transport time as short as possible. This is an extremely risky procedure for Blade and Suede, because when they struggle during capture, their muscles build up high levels of acid that does not process out quickly. That is why large crocodiles frequently die during – or shortly after – capture procedures.

Orinoco crocodiles are native to Venezuela and Colombia, South America. Due to extensive exploitation for their hides, they are the most endangered New World crocodilian, suffering a population decline of over 80 percent within the last three generations.

To read the full press release, click here.

Photo by Darren Green on photo.net

For most people, a walk in the woods is a leisurely stroll. With a herper, it's is a frantic dash to grab, look and identify.

From one of my favorite bloggers, Janaki Lenin at The Hindu:

I can remember only one instance when Rom let me walk ahead of him in a forest. That was more than a decade ago in Havelock, Andaman Islands. It was mid-morning when I came upon a green snake on the path and I exclaimed, “Look!” Rom ordered urgently, “Catch it.” But by that time, the snake had whizzed past. A few minutes later, there was another snake on the path and I couldn't help myself. “Look,” I cried. An exasperated Rom demanded, “Instead of saying “Look,” why can't you jump on it first? I can always ‘look' later.”

Leaping on snakes is not hardwired into my reflexes and I was defensive. “Why do you have to go after every snake you see?” I demanded. “Can't you just watch it? Do tiger people catch every tiger they see?” He replied, “It's impossible to watch snakes like you would mammals. And the only way to identify the species is to catch and examine it.”

That's true. Many species look identical, while some species come in a range of colours and patterns. Hence herpetologists (those who study reptiles) do not usually trust the looks of a snake. If anyone had the temerity to describe, “I saw a brown snake with bands,” the experts would retort disdainfully, “There are so many; what's the scalation?”

To read the full post, click here.

As Philippine crocodiles head for extinction, the Philippine Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) will be begin a study of the animals, spurred on by the discovery of Lolong, the world's largest captive crocodillian, in September in a swamp in Bunawan, Agusan del Sur.

It could be the start of long-term government research on what is listed by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as a "critically endangered" species.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) will start a groundwork study next month on the population and distribution of crocodiles in the Agusan Marsh Wildlife Sanctuary in northeast Mindanao.

"This scientific study will hopefully provide us with the necessary baseline information on the abundance and area of concentration of crocodiles within the marsh, from which we will base our short term and long term management program for the crocodiles in the Agusan Marsh," said Environment Secretary Ramon Paje.

Hopefully, it will also be the beginning of a focused nationwide study that is long overdue for the Philippine crocodile.

To read the full article, click here.

The endangered Chiricahua leopard frog needs your help in gaining protected habitat. From the Center for Biological Diversity, a letter that will get to the US Fish and Wilflife:

The Chiricahua leopard frog, a five-inch, spotted amphibian of the American Southwest and northern Mexico, is poised to receive 11,467 acres of protected critical habitat -- a few crucial wet areas, in a dry region, where the frog's survival will be a high priority.

Unfortunately, the government has omitted from its critical habitat proposal some of the homes of Chiricahua leopard frogs in the vicinity of a gargantuan, proposed open-pit copper mine in the Santa Rita Mountains of southern Arizona.The Center for Biological Diversity first filed a scientific petition to protect the Chiricahua leopard frog and its habitat in 1998. This petition documented the species' widespread declines in response to habitat destruction from urbanization, livestock grazing and other factors, as well as non-native species like bullfrogs and bass. Since then the threats to this beautiful amphibian have increased.

To sign the letter and send it off, click here.

You can add pit vipers to the list of species that can reproduce without a male being involved.

From Live Science:

In 2009, this copperhead gave birth to a litter of four offspring that were outwardly normal in appearance, two of which were alive at birth. Analysis of DNA from the mother, one live offspring and one of the stillborn progeny revealed no signs of genes from a father, suggesting a true virgin birth.

"With the availability of DNA fingerprinting technologies, we are now becoming aware that the process of parthenogenesis is in fact more common than we ever imagined," Booth told LiveScience.

Parthenogenesis may have evolved in these snakes as a mechanism to battle a lack of suitable mates.

"Instead of wasting eggs, which are costly to produce and a finite resource, parthenogenesis may represent an alternate means of reproduction to overcome this," Booth said. In light of the loss of habitat these snakes face, virgin births might allow this species to hold on a little longer, he added.

So, ladies, we just need to figure that out totally on the human end of the things and it saves a lot of painful nights out at the bar.

As if the Deepwater Horizon spill wasn't enough of a threat to sea turtles, conservation groups are now suing over deaths to the animals caused by fishing nets.

The fisheries Service has linked these “strandings” to drowning in shrimp fishing nets. Despite this rise in sea turtle strandings and the devastating impacts of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil disaster, the conservation groups say the agency has not fulfilled its duty to protect the imperiled animals from harm.

Recent federal reports show the number of drownings in the Gulf alone likely exceeds the allowable take for the Gulf and Atlantic shrimp fisheries combined, and also indicate significant noncompliance with existing regulations. The lawsuit aims to force the fisheries service to complete the required studies and adopt interim measures to protect turtles.

“Sea turtles in the Gulf of Mexico are still reeling from the impacts of last year’s oil spill, and they simply can’t withstand the chronic threat of drowning in shrimp nets,” said Jacyln Lopez, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. “The government’s own data show that record numbers of sea turtles have perished in the Gulf of Mexico this year, yet the Fisheries Service has not taken protective measures to prevent sea turtles from dying in the shrimp-trawl fishery.”

Shrimp trawling has for many decades been the primary threat to sea turtle survival in the U.S., and turtles in the Gulf of Mexico may be more vulnerable now to drowning in shrimp nets as a result of the BP spill and cleanup efforts. The shrimp trawl fishery incidentally captures and kills thousands of threatened and endangered sea turtles each year. “Turtle excluder devices” can help prevent turtles from drowning in the nets, but not all shrimpers are required to use them and still others simply don’t comply with existing regulations.

To read the full article, click here.

Warm fuzzy animals might get most of the attention when it comes to conservation, but that isn't stopping the folks at the Memphis Zoo from efforts to save salamanders, an important species in detecting overall ecosystem health.

"It's really horrible that we're in a situation where hundreds of animals are disappearing," said Kouba, director of conservation and research at the Memphis Zoo. "If the same situation had happened with mammals, the outcry would be tremendous. But we aren't receiving the same attention to the dramatic loss of these amphibians."
The Memphis Zoo has received a $300,000 grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services to fund conservation research and study reproductive techniques for salamanders.

It's in some ways the second phase of a $120,000 IMLS grant that has helped the zoo become a leader in frog and toad reproduction, Kouba said.

The zoo is working with other institutions, including Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Gardens and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Its main partner is Mississippi State University, Kouba said.

To read the full article, click here.

In a program funded by the Canadian Ministry of Natural Resources, Reptiles at Risk reaches out and teaches school children about conservation efforts.

The Reptiles at Risk: On the Road program is an exciting, hands-on program featuring live reptiles.

Did you know that snakes and turtles are at risk in Ontario? Immaculate principal, Louisa Bianchin, said she was excited for the students to experience these reptiles.

“This program teaches students the importance of protecting these reptiles so that they exist for future generations,” Bianchin stated in a press release. “Many snakes in our geographical area are harmless and should not be persecuted, and turtles that often cross busy roads need to be saved and avoided by drivers. This program encourages all of our students to recognize the importance of all living creatures.”

Students were so excited to handle corn snakes, rat snakes and garter snakes which were brought into the school, Bianchin said in the press release. Those who wanted to handle a snake were given this “awesome” experience and learned that it is their responsibility as the future generation to protect all reptiles so that they do not become endangered species.

Kudos to the Canadian government for recognizing this is a valid educational tool. To read the full article, click here.