
Amphibians, Reptiles, & Natural History

Naturalist, Photographer , Zoologist
After retiring from a career teaching biology and anatomy & physiology and science administration, I study reptiles and amphibians (but focus mostly on squamates). My current interest are in snake phylogeny and diversity, highly aquatic snakes (that are non-sea snakes), the herpetofauna of Trinidad and Tobago, and giant snakes. I have been on the Board of Directors of the Chicago Herpetological Society, the Board of Directors of the Tucson Herpetological Society; a research associate at the Field Museum in Chicago. I have been a member of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Snake Specialists Group International Society for the History and Bibliography of Herpetology (ISHBH); and on the board of directors of Friends of Madera Canyon.
Thamnophis gigas. By Photo: Dave Feliz, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=25541989 Protecting the Giant Garter SnakeRose et al. (2019) present work that highlights how the implications of uncertainties and unknowns can be explored by building…

The Florida Burmese lay their eggs in May-June. During this time the female wraps around the eggs to guard them and also to keep them warm. She will ”twitch” to generate heat keeping the…

Mating aggregation of anacondas involving a very large female (Ashley) and 11 males. The female moved out of the water and dragged with her some of the males that were coiled around her (A).…

Here is a story from Fort Wayne, Indiana’s The Journal Gazette. It documents the search for a giant python in the midwestern USA in 1952. Lt Charles Morrow (left) directs Sheriff’s Mounted Posse in…
Sometimes exceeding 100 kg in weight, the Komodo dragon Varanus komodoensis is the largest species of lizard in the world (photo Ruchira Somaweera). (b) Large Komodo dragons in modern-day populations depend heavily upon introduced ungulates…

Researchers last week captured and killed the largest Burmese python to be removed from Big Cypress National Preserve in the Florida Everglades, according to wildlife officials.The 17-foot, 140-pound female snake — an invasive species…
The following is from the GuardianAuthorities are considering banning tourists from Komodo, the island home of the ancient Komodo dragon, to allow for conservation efforts amid concerns over animal-smuggling. The island, in Manggarai Barat,…
An adult Three-toed Skink. Photo Nadav Pezaro Biologists observe a lizard lay eggs and give birth to live young Scientists have never before witnessed the birth of live young and the laying of eggs…

In a new paper, Hunter et al. (2019) used environmental DNA (eDNA) to detect the presence of the invasive Burmese Python. Environmental DNA is shed into the environment through skin cells and bodily fluids…