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Rattlesnake Avoidance Training for Dogs
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SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) – A select group of people in Salt Lake put their dogs face to face with a rattlesnake Sunday afternoon to teach the dogs a valuable lesson. They participated in a unique training program that uses a powerful shock collar to teach the dogs to avoid rattlesnakes for the…
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A New Turtle Phylogeny
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Carettochelys insculpta. JCM Natural History Turtles (Testudines) form a clade with a distinctive body plan unlike any other living tetrapods. The taxonomy and phylogeny of some turtle clades are stil controversial. Previous studies included only a few species or genera Guillon et al. (2012) used an extensive compilation of DNA sequences from nuclear and mitochondrial…
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London’s amphibians and reptile populations mapped
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A common frog in garden pond – relatively abundantacross London, according to the first map of the capital’s reptiles and amphibians. Photograph: Ashley Cooper/Corbis Laurie Tuffrey guardian.co.uk, First atlas shows amphibians are widespread in the capital, but snakes and other reptiles are largely confined to its outer rings. From smooth newts living by the Tate…
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Snakes on the menu in Vietnam
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A 5-course snake feast in VietnamLance RichardsonSan Francisco ChronicleThey say that when the king’s daughter went sailing on the Nguyet Duc River (now the Duong), a snakelike leviathan capsized her boat by conjuring giant waves. It was the 10th century A.D., and many Vietnamese people worked rice fields along the river just as they do…
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A transitional snake from the Late Cretaceous of North America
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Researchers at Yale have identified an ancient slithering creature from the time of T. rex as the most primitive known snake, a finding with implications for the debate over snake origins. Gila monster (top), Coniophis precedens (middle), and the modern pipe snake. (Illustration by Nicholas Longrich) “It’s the missing-link snake,” said Nicholas Longrich, a postdoctoral fellow…
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Suzio Report, Early to Mid July 2012
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Howdy Herpers, 07/23/12 The monsoons have arrived here in Tucson, but thus far, it has been a mixed bag. Some places are getting pounded, some are not. Our beloved plot is receiving a fair amount of rain, it could be far worse. We THINK that there was a successful reproduction on the part of the spadefoot toads…
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Request for Snake ID
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Hi,My name is Suzanne Osier. I am a sailor and birder living aboard my boat and finishing a circumnavigation. I am moored on the Caribbean side of the Panama Canal in Fort Sherman. The San Lorenzo Protected Area is my temporary ‘backyard’. A few days ago, I found a snake and I can’t seem to…
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Indian snake charmers urged to switch to fakes
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The following story is adapted from the Daily News of India. PETA is urging India’s snake charmers to use fake animals during the upcoming Naag Panchami festival. PETA claimed snakes were cruelly captured in suffocating bags, kept in tiny boxes, starved or forced to drink milk. On Friday, the animal rights group PETA on called…
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Snakes in the North American Landscape
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Loss of species is thought to result ftom reduction,. degradation, and fragmentation of habitat, But, for many species we few ideas why habitat change impact6s their populations. Reptiles are thought to be in an extinction crisis and many snake species are of conservation concern. Snakes are of conservation concern throughout North American, and important for…
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Frog Deformities & Disease
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Climate change, habitat destruction, pollution and invasive species are all involved in the global crisis of amphibian declines and extinctions, researchers suggest in a new analysis, but increasingly these forces are causing actual mortality in the form of infectious disease. Amphibians are now, and always have been hosts for a wide range of infectious organisms,…
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The Herpetofauna Extinction Crisis
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The following is a press release from the Center for Biological Diversity. Amphibians and reptiles are amazing creatures with clever adaptations that have allowed them to brave the millennia. Consider the Coachella Valley fringe-toed lizard’s scaly hind toes, which resemble snowshoes and keep the lizard from sinking into sand as it sprints away from predators;…
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Suzio Report – Late June
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Howdy Herpers, 07/03/12 First off, happy birthday to Dennis Caldwell. I hope you will all check in and wish him well. The dude is like Peter Pan–he never grows up, and never grows old. Have a good one buddy, and live forever! We had an interesting weekend. What’s the point in having an interesting weekend if we can’t broadcast…
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Were All Dinosaurs Feathered?
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The new fossil find from the chalk beds of the Franconian Jura evokes associations with a pet cemetery, for the young predatory dinosaur reveals clear traces of fluffy plumage. It also poses an intriguing question: Were all dinosaurs dressed in down? The fossil of the fledgling saurian, probably newly hatched when it met its end,…
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3. Field Notes From Tobago
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Little Tobago Island is located off the northeast coast of Tobago, it is about 97 hectares, and contains seasonal and littoral forests. Birds of Paradise were once introduced here, they have now been extirpated and are replaced by feral domestic chickens. We made a day visit to the island on June 29 and observed some…
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Climate Change & Leatherbacks
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For eastern Pacific populations of leatherback turtles, the 21st century could be the last. New research suggests that climate change could exacerbate existing threats and nearly wipe out the population. Deaths of turtle eggs and hatchlings in nests buried at hotter, drier beaches are the leading projected cause of the potential climate-related decline, according to…
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Amphibians, Reptiles, & Natural History
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