tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55315493668069189962024-02-07T02:37:50.233-08:00Herpnews-blogNews about reptiles and amphibians. This may be news from herpetologists, organizations, but also from private persons. Everyone is welcome to send me some news about the protection, abusing, mistreatment, discoveries, etc., of these fascinating animals .Piet-Ton Sebaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15394705925239784996noreply@blogger.comBlogger67125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5531549366806918996.post-72258193135941948292012-12-29T07:13:00.003-08:002012-12-29T07:13:26.082-08:00Crayfish Harbor Fungus That's Wiping Out Amphibians<div id="page_head">
<h1>
Crayfish Harbor Fungus That's Wiping Out Amphibians</h1>
<h2 class="subtitle">
Freshwater crustaceans could be the key to
understanding how the chytrid fungus persists in the ecosystem long
after the last amphibian is gone. </h2>
<div class="publication">
Helen Fields for National Geographic News</div>
<div class="publication_time">
Published December 17, 2012</div>
<div class="publication_time">
<br /></div>
<div class="article_text">
<strong>Scientists have found a new culprit in spreading the disease
that's been driving the world's frogs to the brink of extinction:
crayfish.</strong><br />
In the last few decades, the disease caused by the chytrid fungus has been a disaster for frogs and other amphibians.
More than 300 species are nearly extinct because of it. Many probably
have gone extinct, but it can be difficult to know for sure when a tiny,
rare species disappears from the face of the Earth. (Related photos: "Ten Most Wanted 'Extinct' Amphibians.")<br />
"This pathogen is bad news. It's worse news than any other pathogen in the history of life on Earth as far as we know it," says Vance Vredenburg, a conservation biologist at San Francisco State University who studies frogs but did not work on the new study.<br />
The chytrid fungus
was only discovered in the late 1990s. Since then, scientists have been
scrambling to figure out how it spreads and how it works.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqjRyYRt2TBgIsbatQlHcB7_d_SlaYWwgCPsGVbF8UftTM0o4zesKgop_s3Yp-MCg_Zcokmt2H_tSmMJibQktjbR49T5aDN-eoOh8BHlHPSdo-KXaw98yHElPT7k0j6WTdPR4SDy04djjm/s1600/chytrid-frog-killing-fungus-not-limited-to-amphibians_62460_600x450.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqjRyYRt2TBgIsbatQlHcB7_d_SlaYWwgCPsGVbF8UftTM0o4zesKgop_s3Yp-MCg_Zcokmt2H_tSmMJibQktjbR49T5aDN-eoOh8BHlHPSdo-KXaw98yHElPT7k0j6WTdPR4SDy04djjm/s1600/chytrid-frog-killing-fungus-not-limited-to-amphibians_62460_600x450.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="caption">
Dead frogs killed by the amphibian chytrid fungus.</div>
<div class="credit">
Photograph by Joel Sartore, National Geographic</div>
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<br />
<br />
One of the biggest mysteries is how chytrid can persist in a frogless
pond. Researchers saw it happen many times and were perplexed: If all
of a pond's amphibians were wiped out, and a few frogs or salamanders
came back and recolonized the pond, they would also die—even though
there were no amphibians in the pond to harbor the disease. (Learn about
vanishing amphibians.)<br />
One possible reason is that chytrid infects other animals. For a study published today in <em>Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</em>, Taegan McMahon,
a graduate student in ecology at the University of South Florida in
Tampa, looked at some possible suspects and focused on crayfish, those
lobsterlike crustaceans living in freshwater. They seemed like a good
possibility because they're widespread and because their bodies have a
lot of keratin, a protein the fungus attacks.<br />
<br />
In the lab, McMahon exposed crayfish to the disease and they got
sick. More than a third died within seven weeks, and most of the
survivors were carrying the fungus. She also put infected crayfish in
the water with tadpoles—separated by mesh, so the crustaceans wouldn't
eat the baby frogs—and the tadpoles got infected. When McMahon and her
colleagues checked out wetlands in Louisiana and Colorado, they also found infected crayfish.<br />
That means crayfish can probably act as a reservoir for the disease.
The fungus seems to be able to dine on crayfish then leap back to
amphibians when it gets a chance. No one knows for sure where the fungus
originally came from or why it's been such a problem in recent decades,
but this research suggests one way that it could have been spread.
Crayfish are sometimes moved from pond to pond as fish bait and are sold
around the world as food and aquarium pets. (Related photos: "New Giant 'Bearded' Crayfish Species.")<br />
<br />
The study doesn't answer every last question about the disease. For
one thing, crayfish are common, but they aren't everywhere; there are no
crayfish in some of the places where frogs have been hardest hit,
Vredenburg says. But, he says, the new research shows that "we need to
start looking a little more broadly at other potential hosts."<br />
</div>
<h2 class="subtitle">
</h2>
</div>
Piet-Ton Sebaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15394705925239784996noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5531549366806918996.post-51677495802092090152012-12-29T07:02:00.004-08:002012-12-29T07:02:55.351-08:00Exotic animal trade thrives in China<div id="Title_e">
<h2>
Exotic animal trade thrives in China</h2>
<h5 style="background-color: #e4f4e9;">
Updated: 2012-10-23</h5>
<h3>
By Wang Xiaodong (China Daily) </h3>
A long, yellow-gray snake lay motionless in a glass box. On one side,
in a separate container, a hairy, black spider about the size of a
chicken egg stalked its lair. On the other, a lizard fidgeted in a sand
box.<br />
It was the kind of display ordinarily found at a zoo.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZCRjyJrOc4ICKe20dEZZ-iO-WYYxKyp-8-ULSz-3n_BEZRerqh092t7rRhcM4Jakzx8leOZV2p4ZN6VzQGy2nx-Q-5fbtp3CVXsHbtHhCM9xxUi_GoMrdW0Httwyx36WJvn0jY-KJe4-H/s1600/china1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZCRjyJrOc4ICKe20dEZZ-iO-WYYxKyp-8-ULSz-3n_BEZRerqh092t7rRhcM4Jakzx8leOZV2p4ZN6VzQGy2nx-Q-5fbtp3CVXsHbtHhCM9xxUi_GoMrdW0Httwyx36WJvn0jY-KJe4-H/s1600/china1.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">A woman kisses a lizard as people
gather together to share experiences about <br />cultivating cold-blooded
reptiles at Jilin in Jilin province. </span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Yet the unusual menagerie was not in a zoo but in a nondescript Beijing store — and all of these exotic creatures were for sale.<br />
On a weekend afternoon, roughly a dozen people crammed into a small,
square room in a secluded corner of Guanyuan Pet Market in the capital's
Haidian district. Some were there out of curiosity, others to buy.<br />
"The store owner just told me the lizards are 3,000 yuan ($480)
each," said Li Zhi, a middle school student who had been browsing with a
friend. "It's too expensive. My spider only cost 170 yuan."<br />
He said he bought the spider — a species called Chilean rose — from
an Internet trader. It lives in a glass cage in his living room.<br />
"It's about 10 cm in diameter now" Li said. "I like spiders. They
look cute, they don't bite unless cornered, and even if I am bitten, it
doesn't matter because they are not poisonous. Having a spider is no big
deal."<br />
Several other stores in the two-floor, underground market also had lizards, scorpions and spiders on display.<br />
Yet, wildlife protection experts have warned that buying an exotic
animal without knowledge of how to care for it can be extremely
dangerous, not to mention illegal.<br />
"Many wild animals are aggressive by nature and do not make suitable
pets," said Zhang Jinshuo, a zoologist with the Chinese Academy of
Sciences. "Even tamed wild animals are likely to attack. They also
spread disease.<br />
"And, if they are abandoned or they escape, they pose potential danger to the public," he added.<br />
The media has been awash with stories about exotic animals on the loose in Chinese cities this year.<br />
Over the summer, a crocodile was spotted in a Beijing public pool and
a giant salamander was discovered in another residential complex, while
in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu province, a woman alerted authorities
after her Burmese python escaped.<br />
There have been countless tales of snakes and spiders appearing in
streets and on subway trains in large cities, such as Shanghai and
Guangzhou.<br />
"Many wild animals are dangerous," said a handler at the Beijing
Wildlife Protection and Nature Reserve Management Station, who gave his
name as Yang. "A snake may look quiet and gentle in a box at a pet
market, but that's because the box is not very hot. When the temperature
rises the snake will become very active.<br />
"Even trained handlers like us are sometimes bitten by these animals."<br />
He said his station is constantly receiving calls about abandoned exotic pets, which they must then find and collect.<br />
"We've taken in at least eight monkeys alone this year," Yang said.
"Most were actually sent to us by residents who realized they couldn't
handle them. This puts even more pressure on us because keeping pets
isn't what we are here to do."<br />
Wild animals require special, controlled environments to survive. For
example, he said, snakes need to be kept in tanks set to the right
temperature and humidity.<br />
A beastly trade<br />
According to Zhang at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, such animals
should not be available to shoppers in the first place because the
breeding of many exotic animals is outlawed by regulations.<br />
"No individual can breed or sell protected wildlife without
permission from the government," Zhang said, quoting the regulations.
"That includes the crocodiles and some turtles commonly seen at pet
markets."<br />
Li Li, who heads the Panther Protection Station for Wild Animals, a
nonprofit group in Beijing, said permits are usually only issued to
wildlife protection or research institutes, or large, animal
reproduction centers. It is "virtually impossible" for an individual to
get one, he said.<br />
But as the pet industry continues to boom — Chinese people are
expected to spend 7.84 billion yuan on pet care this year, according to
market research by Euromonitor — traders are circumventing the law to
cater to the demand for exotic species.<br />
As is often the case, the Internet is the main channel for such dodgy dealings.<br />
Traders often target online forums for owners of exotic pets to
advertise and sell their animals, including raccoons, slow lorises,
foxes, chameleons, poisonous snakes and rare turtles.<br />
A vendor in Beijing's suburban Daxing district, who gave his name as
Wang, was offering crocodiles for sale on a forum hosted by Baidu, a
major Chinese search engine. He said the creatures were from a small
farm owned by a friend.<br />
A 60-cm-long crocodile costs 900 yuan, he said. "Many people have bought them to slaughter and eat, or just keep as pets."<br />
He was also offering a type of crocodile native to Malaysia, which is
smaller but much more expensive, costing 6,000 yuan each. "It was
smuggled (over the border) and there are only a dozen crocodiles of this
type in China," he said.<br />
When asked how safe it was to keep the reptile as a pet, he
recommended owners by a 1-meter-high tank and "always throw the food in
quickly" as the crocodile can jump very high and will bite fingers.<br />
The manager of an online store run from Beijing, who declined to give
his name and would only communicate online through instant messenger,
had a rare, large white cobra, which was pictured in a steel cage. He
said he had caught it in the wild.<br />
At a pet market near Panjiayuan, in Beijing's Chaoyang district, a
vendor said his lizards are from Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur
autonomous region, which borders several Central Asia countries.
However, he would not disclose the exact source.<br />
Yang at the Beijing Wildlife Protection and Nature Reserve Management
Station said he suspects some of the pets they receive from residents
were illegally traded.<br />
"Wild animals are more dangerous to keep and are more likely to hurt
people and transmit disease," he said. "We advise residents to report
such cases to the police."<br />
A staff member on the law enforcement and monitoring team at the
capital's landscape and forestry department said the authority is
investigating several traders suspected of selling protected animals.<br />
"We are still collecting information," said the staff member, who
declined to give his name. "We've received many reports from residents
recently, but it's difficult, as most suspects reveal little information
about themselves except their instant messenger number."<br />
He added that his team conducts regular patrols at pet markets and
will punish vendors who are found selling protected wild animals without
a permit.<br />
However, experts say ultimately consumers should be educated to avoid breaking the law.<br />
"The government should increase publicity to make people aware that
many wild animals are actually not allowed to be traded," said Wang Yue,
spokeswoman for the Beijing Dog Breeders Association.<br />
<br />
<em>Contact the writer at wangxiaodong@chinadaily.com.cn</em><br />
<h3>
</h3>
</div>
Piet-Ton Sebaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15394705925239784996noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5531549366806918996.post-35802091597943312722012-10-26T21:48:00.003-07:002012-10-26T21:48:44.207-07:00Indonesia remains epicenter for illegal wildlife trade in reptiles and amphibians <div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif,arial; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #333333;"><a href="http://news.mongabay.com/2012/1024-kimbrough-reptile-trade-indonesia.html" target="_blank">The original article can be found here</a> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif,arial; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #333333;">By: <a href="http://news.mongabay.com/news-index/liz%20kimbrough1.html">Liz Kimbrough</a>
<br />
October 24, 2012</span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi38JeNckwi4QD1YUX_Ha5RlDZFQBN_vTx9qBDFSoebtCXOmSTCi2bmi-44bNRqPqSsswXAuiMaBtzLBI7O5cq7u4bOAvGfCOipRIIHO3r-J12liW8GChRCfGWnf7ZJgx5A1a-NDmN1jtps/s1600/indonesian01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi38JeNckwi4QD1YUX_Ha5RlDZFQBN_vTx9qBDFSoebtCXOmSTCi2bmi-44bNRqPqSsswXAuiMaBtzLBI7O5cq7u4bOAvGfCOipRIIHO3r-J12liW8GChRCfGWnf7ZJgx5A1a-NDmN1jtps/s1600/indonesian01.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif,arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Illegally
traded lizards (left to right): black tree monitor (Varanus beccarii),
Reisinger's tree monitor (Varanus reisingeri), emerald monitor (Varanus
prasinus), and the blue-spotted tree monitor (Varanus macraei). Photo
courtesy of Jessica Lyons.</i></span></span></span></span><div style="background-color: transparent; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;">
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<span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif,arial; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif,arial;"><span style="color: #333333;">Demand
for exotic pets is driving the illegal harvest and trade of
herpetofauna (reptiles and amphibians) in Indonesian New Guinea,
according to a recent study published in the journal Biodiversity and
Conservation. </span></span></span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgebPrYmBLiHX_7prsKWJ1yKzhfQCYz2ccz1xXYYmCZJy-hPfta2F_nonxxXOl_v6u7nRge9-1mYh5YCYU585L718hwFYUlxobri-YLKiFIqMv_QIlAoAd39dSR-LMolHNzGniP_Nn65OB8/s1600/indonesian02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgebPrYmBLiHX_7prsKWJ1yKzhfQCYz2ccz1xXYYmCZJy-hPfta2F_nonxxXOl_v6u7nRge9-1mYh5YCYU585L718hwFYUlxobri-YLKiFIqMv_QIlAoAd39dSR-LMolHNzGniP_Nn65OB8/s1600/indonesian02.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif,arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Wild
carpet pythons (Morelia spilota) are traded on a legal quota system,
but researchers say the quota is often exceeded. Photo courtesy of
Jessica Lyons.</i></span></span></span></span></span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif,arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i> </i></span></span></span></span></span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif,arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i> </i></span></span></span></span></span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif,arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i> </i></span></span></span></span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif,arial; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif,arial;"><span style="color: #333333;">
Between September 2010 and April 2011, Daniel Natusch and Jessica Lyons
of the University of New South Wales surveyed traders of amphibians and
reptiles in the Indonesian provinces of Maluku, West Papua and Papua.
<br /><br />
The authors encountered a slew of species being exploited for trade including: the green python (<i>Morelia viridis</i>), boelens python (<i>Morelia boeleni</i>), frilled necked lizard (<i>Clamydosaurus kingii</i>), New Guinea snapping turtle (<i>Elseya branderhorsti</i>), blue tongue lizard (<i>Tiliqua scincoides</i>), the green tree frog (<i>Litoria caerulea</i>), and several species of monitor lizards (Varanus sp.).
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif,arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Illegally traded green pythons (Morelia viridis) in the black market pet trade. Photo courtesy of Jessica Lyons.</i></span></span></span></span><div style="background-color: transparent; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;">
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According to the paper, they recorded, "5,370 individuals representing
52 species collected solely for the pet trade. At least 44 % were either
fully protected or had not been allocated a harvest quota, making their
harvest and trade illegal. Approximately half were listed within the
Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna
and Flora (CITES)."</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"></span>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg0xtXmBc9LE80pT2-kd2ClvYyS-GkG-L_Hjlht56oipGdY_hDvkb-cY_Vmdbz4U6shNb4MUdxdn3wM0Nls4YGfky_sftS1lOCOxPsrs_s_Q92BNhNbGwO0D1YmCz47sk9_gZA9PTG2aMU/s1600/indonesian04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg0xtXmBc9LE80pT2-kd2ClvYyS-GkG-L_Hjlht56oipGdY_hDvkb-cY_Vmdbz4U6shNb4MUdxdn3wM0Nls4YGfky_sftS1lOCOxPsrs_s_Q92BNhNbGwO0D1YmCz47sk9_gZA9PTG2aMU/s1600/indonesian04.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif,arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Illegally traded blue-spotted tree monitor (Varanus macraei) in a crate. Photo courtesy of Jessica Lyons.</i></span></span></span></span><div style="background-color: transparent; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;">
<br /></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /><span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif,arial; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #333333;">CITES,
which Indonesia became a party to in 1979, regulates international
wildlife trade. Under CITES, certain species are assigned a harvest
quota; a specific number of individuals that can be collected from the
wild. Animals listed as "fully protected" or without an assigned harvest
quota cannot be legally collected or traded.
<br /><br />
The Directorate General of Forest Protection and Nature Conservation
(PHKA) is responsible for the monitoring and enforcement of CITES
regulations in Indonesia. Natusch and Lyons' findings suggest that there
are some key gaps in PHKA’s enforcement.
<br /><br />
"Illegal trade is due, partly, to an inadequate understanding of the
species being traded and is facilitated by poor monitoring and
enforcement at key trade hubs," they write.
<br /><br />
A 2011 paper, also by Lyons and Natusch, focusing on the illegal
laundering of green pythons asserted similar findings. A report
submitted by Indonesia at the CITES Asian Snake Trade Workshop in 2011
claimed that there was no illegal trade in Indonesian snakes. However,
Lyons and Natusch uncovered a different story—that breeding farms were
being used to illegally launder wild caught snakes.
</span></span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcoZvowSbvKEcD064Jeb9hpDAxz_7oxCO2HOpcyKe8R_Dgeb5U5hAdDeNOsZx1cyqVxDEQvY_ct-ERtj5NVZmsSmXOPm1iKnOBEDiPLXxA3hJmyvY0k4Tv2Gm77Na2zF_TltIk0AJUaYPb/s1600/indonesian05.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcoZvowSbvKEcD064Jeb9hpDAxz_7oxCO2HOpcyKe8R_Dgeb5U5hAdDeNOsZx1cyqVxDEQvY_ct-ERtj5NVZmsSmXOPm1iKnOBEDiPLXxA3hJmyvY0k4Tv2Gm77Na2zF_TltIk0AJUaYPb/s1600/indonesian05.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif,arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Illegally
traded green python (Morelia viridis) with head injury likely due to
being in a cramped, wet cage. The snake may have rubbed itself raw
trying to escape. Photo courtesy of Jessica Lyons.</i></span></span></span></span><div style="background-color: transparent; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;">
<br /></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif,arial; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #333333;">
Between April 2009 and Sept 2011, the authors surveyed traders who supplied the market for green pythons (<i>Morelia viridis</i>).
Commercial trade in green pythons is legitimate when the traded
individuals are bred in captivity, but harvesting green pythons form the
wild is strictly illegal. However, it appears that many traders are
taking advantage of an inadvertent loophole in the system. Local
collectors harvest snakes in the wild, and sell them to breeding farms,
which pass these snakes off as captive bred.
<br /><br />
"Extrapolation of monthly collection estimates provided by traders
revealed that at least 5,337 green pythons are collected each year,
suggesting that at least 80% of the green pythons exported from
Indonesia annually are illegally wild-caught," the scientists wrote last
year.
<br /><br />
The authors suggest many methods to counter the laundering of illegally
caught wildlife. One novel method is ensuring that the snakes are sold
along with their eggshells, which can be measured to verify
authenticity.
<br /><br />
"Merely the requirement of having to enclose eggshells within shipments
(and not even measuring them) would curtail much of the trade," Lyons
told mongabay.com.
<br /><br />
As of yet, this method has not been implemented.
</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif,arial; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #333333;">
In addition, Natusch and Lyons recommend, "the need for increased
monitoring and enforcement, improving the knowledge base of species
traded and educating consumers about the effects their demand for pets
has on these species."
</span></span><br />
<div style="background-color: transparent; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: transparent; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif,arial; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #333333;">CITATION:
Lyons, J.A., Natusch, D.J.D. Wildlife laundering through breeding
farms: Illegal harvest, population declines and a means of regulating
the trade of green pythons (Morelia viridis) from Indonesia. Biological
Conservation. (2011), doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2011.10.002
<br /><br />
Natusch, D. J. D., and Lyons, J.A. Exploited for pets: the harvest and
trade of amphibians and reptiles from Indonesian New Guinea.
Biodiversity and Conservation. (2012), doi: 10.1007/s10531-012-0345-8
</span></span><div style="background-color: transparent; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> </span></div>
<div style="background-color: transparent; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://news.mongabay.com/2012/1024-kimbrough-reptile-trade-indonesia.html#stFiMUbX5MKd5OFY.99" style="color: #003399;"></a> </span></div>
</div>
Piet-Ton Sebaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15394705925239784996noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5531549366806918996.post-27851180107079584412012-07-13T12:32:00.000-07:002012-07-13T12:32:05.070-07:00Only 18 snakes left !!!<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://news.mongabay.com/2012/0710-hance-st-lucia-racer.html" target="_blank">The original article can be found here</a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<h2>
</h2>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Meet the world's rarest snake: only 18 left</span></h2>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif,arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b><a href="http://www.mongabay.com/jeremy_hance.html">Jeremy Hance</a><br />mongabay.com
<br />
July 10, 2012</b></span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif,arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b> </b></span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif,arial; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #333333;">It's slithery, brown, and doesn't mind being picked up: meet the Saint Lucia racer (<i>Liophis ornatus</i>),
which holds the dubious honor of being the world's most endangered
snake. A five month extensive survey found just 18 animals on a small
islet off of the Caribbean Island of Saint Lucia. The snake had once
been abundant on Saint Lucia, as well, but was decimated by invasive
mongooses. </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif,arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span></span></span></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNwbG8Hoy-WdGoA69KZeQoE5EdmIvXC32GHGPXiYxYzapmZvXec3_ws_33-P4VojkSc9ZI3RmFmL1GAl1RscIQeJkLrnVbpE_H3Zf-zxqxLzs2qKeLol1EPWJW9tvzW6G0FSY24AjRUz-k/s1600/zeldzaam1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNwbG8Hoy-WdGoA69KZeQoE5EdmIvXC32GHGPXiYxYzapmZvXec3_ws_33-P4VojkSc9ZI3RmFmL1GAl1RscIQeJkLrnVbpE_H3Zf-zxqxLzs2qKeLol1EPWJW9tvzW6G0FSY24AjRUz-k/s1600/zeldzaam1.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif,arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>World's rarest snake: Saint Lucia racer. <br />Photo by: G. Guida.</i></span></span></span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif,arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">For nearly 40 years the snake was thought to be extinct until in 1973 a
single snake was found on the Maria Major Island, a 12-hectare (30 acre)
protected islet, a mile off the coast of Saint Lucia (see map below).
After catching and tagging 10 individuals, scientists now believe 18 may
survive in total. The island is free of the mongoose that have killed
off the population of Saint Lucia. Non-venomous, the Saint Lucia racer
feeds on local lizards.
<br /><br />
"It was a huge relief to confirm that a population of the racer still
survives," Matthew Morton, Eastern Caribbean Program Manager for the
Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust (DWCT), said in a press release,
"but that relief is tempered by the knowledge of how close we still are
to losing it forever."
<br /><br />
The DWCT is working with Fauna & Flora International, the Saint
Lucia National Trust, and the Saint Lucia Forestry Department to save
the species with additional funding support from the Balcombe Trust, the
Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife
Service.
<br /><br />
Conservationists working with the Saint Lucia racer are closely looking at successful efforts to save the Antiguan racer (<i>Alsophis antiguae</i>).
With a population that hit a nadir of 50 individuals in 1995, the
Antiguan racer today has a population of over 900. Eradicating invasive
predators, such as mongoose and rats, as well as education efforts have
helped the Antiguan racer bounce back. Researchers are now looking to
reintroduce the snake to more habitats as an insurance policy against
extinction, especially as climate change raises sea levels. </span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif,arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span></span></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRz98V-cds_uivQfF43_BPdePUHHkWWt-A3OH6bfJ8ZP-af56XoQV6UJpqkmghyphenhyphen6zRm1_bvoCdjaKpowsxnDTChbOz5PZkIyMGgQYQM3gE1HbKdXbUZhA7gFwq2HGXrhJsD8oNEXFF_u_2/s1600/zeldzaam2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRz98V-cds_uivQfF43_BPdePUHHkWWt-A3OH6bfJ8ZP-af56XoQV6UJpqkmghyphenhyphen6zRm1_bvoCdjaKpowsxnDTChbOz5PZkIyMGgQYQM3gE1HbKdXbUZhA7gFwq2HGXrhJsD8oNEXFF_u_2/s1600/zeldzaam2.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif,arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Stephen Lesmond holding one of the world's last Saint Lucia racers. <br />Photo by: T. Ross with DWCT.</i></span></span></span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif,arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
"Tens if not hundreds of West Indian animals have already been lost
because humans have unwisely released harmful species from other parts
of the world, and we cannot allow the gentle Saint Lucia racer to be the
next casualty" Jenny Daltry, Senior Conservation Biologist with Fauna
& Flora International says. "To do nothing is not an option."
</span></span></span></span></span><div style="background-color: white; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif,arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b> </b></span></span></span></span></div>Piet-Ton Sebaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15394705925239784996noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5531549366806918996.post-17213631709593830772012-07-08T01:34:00.001-07:002012-07-08T01:34:10.894-07:00Crocodylus siamensis<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://europe.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2012-07/08/content_15557909.htm" target="_blank">The original article can be found here</a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<h2 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">3,600 crocodiles rescued from smugglers in S. China</span></h2>
08-07-2012<br />
<br />
NANNING - Police in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region said Saturday
they had seized more than 3,600 smuggled crocodiles, saving them from
being served as exotic dishes.<br />
Veterinarians are providing medical treatment to the endangered
reptiles, with some having died from heatstroke during transportation,
said an official from the public security bureau of Chongzuo city.<br />
The Siamese crocodiles were seized in the city on Tuesday night as
their trucks crossed the China-Vietnam border. Smugglers intended to
supply them to restaurants in neighboring Guangdong province, the
official said.<br />
Siamese crocodiles are a critically endangered species native to most
Southeast Asian countries. Their fresh is served as delicacies in some
southern Chinese cities, creating an underground market of the reptiles,
animal rights activists said.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvbG-uffcBzBc2uz_DYerDlC3SB4w0-0Ij5XWEg5iDqM03Blyi9QD_rGY7gPdze5BeGcewrzm-IsTdGb9JRBd9LFIItzRGZ8e0Rut1xchSPmCWGatb5fYQs0CSJtUxbk9X0KWsgWNSkirj/s1600/siamese_crocodile.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvbG-uffcBzBc2uz_DYerDlC3SB4w0-0Ij5XWEg5iDqM03Blyi9QD_rGY7gPdze5BeGcewrzm-IsTdGb9JRBd9LFIItzRGZ8e0Rut1xchSPmCWGatb5fYQs0CSJtUxbk9X0KWsgWNSkirj/s1600/siamese_crocodile.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siamese_crocodile" target="_blank">Note 1...</a><br />
<br />
<b>Siamese crocodile</b> (<i>Crocodylus siamensis</i>) is a freshwater <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crocodile" title="Crocodile">crocodile</a> native to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indonesia" title="Indonesia">Indonesia</a> (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borneo" title="Borneo">Borneo</a> and possibly <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Java" title="Java">Java</a>), <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brunei" title="Brunei">Brunei</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Malaysia" title="East Malaysia">East Malaysia</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laos" title="Laos">Laos</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambodia" title="Cambodia">Cambodia</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burma" title="Burma">Burma</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thailand" title="Thailand">Thailand</a>, and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam" title="Vietnam">Vietnam</a>.
The species is critically endangered and already extirpated from many
regions. Its other common names include: Siamese freshwater crocodile,
Singapore small-grain, <i>cocodrilo de Siam, crocodile du Siam, buaja, buaya kodok, jara kaenumchued,</i> and soft-belly. (wikipedia) <br />
<br />
<a href="http://animal.discovery.com/guides/endangered/reptiles/siamese-crocodile.html" target="_blank">Note 2... </a><br />
<br />
<div class="subhead primeColor">
SIAMESE CROCODILE (<i>Crocodylus siamensis</i>)</div>
<table border="0"><tbody>
<tr><td valign="top" width="365">
The Siamese crocodile is a Southeast Asian reptile that lives in
slow-moving freshwater habitats such as rivers, swamps and streams. It
has a broad snout, powerful tail and grows to a length of about 12 feet.
Populations of Siamese crocodile are rapidly decreasing due to hunting
and loss of habitat.<br /><br /><b>IUCN Status:</b> Critically Endangered<br />
<b>USFWS Status:</b> Endangered<br />
<b>Major Threats:</b> Conversion of habitat to agricultural land and poaching<br />
<b>Habitat:</b> Swamps and the sheltered parts of rivers, streams and lakes<br />
<b>Location:</b> Borneo, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam<br />
<b>Diet:</b> Mainly fish; also amphibians, reptiles and possibly small mammals
</td><td valign="top" width="365"><b><a href="http://animal.discovery.com/guides/endangered/reptiles/anegada-ground-iguana.html"></a></b>
</td>
<td width="5">
</td>
<td valign="top" width="170"> </td></tr>
</tbody></table>Piet-Ton Sebaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15394705925239784996noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5531549366806918996.post-70292827757960939322012-07-08T01:13:00.002-07:002012-07-08T01:13:56.082-07:00Alligator sinensis<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-gators-20120704,0,6257902.story" target="_blank">The original article can be found here</a></div>
<h1 style="text-align: center;">
San Diego Zoo gets two Chinese alligators in preservation effort</h1>
<h2>
The reptiles arrive from Florida as part of a long-term strategy to
keep the species, listed as critically endangered, from going extinct in
the wild.</h2>
<span class="toolSet" style="width: 335px;">
</span><br />
<div class="byline">
<span class="byline">Tony Perry, Los Angeles Times,</span><span class="dateString"> July 4, 2012</span>
</div>
<br />
<div id="story-body-text">
<div class="storyDateline">
——
</div>
SAN DIEGO On her first full day in her new home,
Xiao was tentative Tuesday, but the sun finally lured her out of the
pool onto the sand. Xidi was less adventuresome, preferring the water.<br />
<br />
The pair of Chinese alligators had just arrived at the San Diego Zoo
from the St. Augustine (Fla.) Alligator Farm Zoological Park as part of a
long-term strategy to keep the species from going extinct in the wild.</div>
<div id="story-body-text">
</div>
<div id="story-body-text">
</div>
<div id="story-body-text">
<br />
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC-KAQsVYxb_4J3X6wF4toEHr7vTT8o4fj-YPX5V_ohQLudkOoAhMPvtCa7i3qKW66EWMsYkj-OIS9nwhvKT8QbbirlEI9Dv9wlAsRkyvxBafPZwWnw7gj-oe4HY1awzMSxZglCGKynvAB/s1600/sinensis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC-KAQsVYxb_4J3X6wF4toEHr7vTT8o4fj-YPX5V_ohQLudkOoAhMPvtCa7i3qKW66EWMsYkj-OIS9nwhvKT8QbbirlEI9Dv9wlAsRkyvxBafPZwWnw7gj-oe4HY1awzMSxZglCGKynvAB/s1600/sinensis.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Xiao is one of two Chinese dragons, both females, now at the San Diego
Zoo. <br />Unlike their American cousin, the world’s only other alligator
species, they are armored top and bottom.
<br /> <span class="credit">(<span class="photographer">John Gibbins, UT San Diego</span>)</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div id="story-body-text">
<br />
The alligators are among the
smallest and most endangered members of the crocodilian family. Unlike
their American cousin — the world's only other alligator species — they
are armored top and bottom. Their tapered snouts turn up slightly at the
end, and their blunt teeth are good for crushing clams and snails.<br />
<br />
For eons, Chinese alligators were found in much of eastern China. They
were called "muddy dragons" and lived along the wetlands of the Yangtze
River.<br />
<br />
But dams along the Yangtze destroyed nearly all their habitat, farmers
poisoned the rats they ate and hunters killed them, spurred by beliefs
that alligator meat cures ailments and prevents <a class="taxInlineTagLink" href="http://www.latimes.com/topic/health/diseases-illnesses/cancer-HEDAI0000010.topic" id="HEDAI0000010" title="Cancer">cancer</a>.<br />
<br />
Kevin Torregrosa, the reptile expert at the St. Augustine alligator
farm, said the latest estimate is that there may be fewer than 100
Chinese alligators in the wild. The species is listed as critically
endangered.<br />
<br />
A population of the animals on a Chinese preserve is imperiled by
inbreeding, and there are not many wild places where they could be
reintroduced.<br />
<br />
Enter a "species survival program" for the Chinese alligator under the
auspices of the Maryland-based Assn. of Zoos and Aquariums. Torregrosa
is the program director. With the loan of Xiao and Xidi to San Diego,
the St. Augustine park retains 15 Chinese alligators.<br />
<br />
The survival program is working to mix and match male and female
alligators among the 28 zoos and reptile parks that have one or more of
the animals, which grow to a length of 5 to 7 feet, and 80 to 100
pounds.<br />
<br />
Which brings us to the arrival Monday of Xiao and Xidi by air freight, eagerly awaited by curators at the San Diego Zoo.<br />
<br />
Both of the animals are females. Next year the zoo hopes to get a male
Chinese alligator so propagation can begin. Artificial insemination
among reptiles has not been perfected.<br />
<br />
For now, Xiao and Xidi will swim and lounge in their open-air grotto,
part of a new reptile and amphibian exhibit called Reptile Walk, which
includes Surinam toads, Malayan giant turtles, Mexican giant tree frogs,
rosy boas, kingsnakes and more. The exhibit opens Wednesday.<br />
<br />
The Chinese alligators do not pose a threat to humans, except possibly
in the most extreme of circumstances. They are warm-weather creatures;
the balmy clime of Southern California should be ideal.</div>
<div id="story-body-text">
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinXtxdMDVgrpxsqcljIrNh0LqI1-YP2FjGGfJIwwsk1LTI3feEdOKBCPjJ73rOudDpSfUjfl_fh1x5_F25K7VaAGLoAFiQwxCVkLOxNgu6bw2mVNI6B9Puq2YNaanhOjR20EIjYAJs322y/s1600/chinese+alligator3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="429" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinXtxdMDVgrpxsqcljIrNh0LqI1-YP2FjGGfJIwwsk1LTI3feEdOKBCPjJ73rOudDpSfUjfl_fh1x5_F25K7VaAGLoAFiQwxCVkLOxNgu6bw2mVNI6B9Puq2YNaanhOjR20EIjYAJs322y/s640/chinese+alligator3.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Juvenile Alligator sinensis (Photo: Fons Sleijpen)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div id="story-body-text">
<br />
<br />
"It's sad when something so small and benign is reduced to such small
numbers in the wild," said Kim Lovich, associate curator of herpetology
at the zoo. "I don't have a favorite reptile, but I do love the
crocodilians."<br />
<br />
After being on display in Florida, Xiao and Xidi are accustomed to being
watched and, once they get used to their new digs, probably will spend
more time on the sand than submerged.<br />
<br />
"They have neat little personalities: a little like bulldogs, stocky,
with a little attitude," said Torregrosa. "You're going to like them."<br />
<br />
<i><a href="mailto:tony.perry@latimes.com">tony.perry@latimes.com</a></i>
</div>
<br />
<h1 style="text-align: center;">
</h1>Piet-Ton Sebaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15394705925239784996noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5531549366806918996.post-76092227558502946002012-05-05T10:58:00.002-07:002012-05-05T10:58:51.622-07:00China to release alligators into wild<a href="http://europe.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2012-05/02/content_15189647.htm" target="_blank">The original article can be found here</a><br />
<br />
HEFEI - A nature reserve in east China's Anhui province will release
six captive-bred alligators into the wild as part of an experimental
program to boost the population of the endangered animal.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8oLRnUKXKGJcPxprd6YzfXq_fKt-NJ6eoFG9RPrZIyamxtLHiCv65rfZbuxSpFk41OIvjeC7vAxEYaMVILG78wfhwkH2ZU3dIdfUJ4SsSzkodLC71TrCI0CJQxIzI-T4dQlebvz6lwZRO/s1600/chinese+alligator2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="428" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8oLRnUKXKGJcPxprd6YzfXq_fKt-NJ6eoFG9RPrZIyamxtLHiCv65rfZbuxSpFk41OIvjeC7vAxEYaMVILG78wfhwkH2ZU3dIdfUJ4SsSzkodLC71TrCI0CJQxIzI-T4dQlebvz6lwZRO/s640/chinese+alligator2.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Juvenile Chinese Alligator (Alligator sinensis) Picture: Fons Sleijpen (C)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
The Anhui Yangtze Alligator Nature Reserve is preparing to put the
alligators in a natural environment later this month, marking the
center's eighth attempt to do so since the program started in 2002.<br />
So far, the nature reserve has succeeded in releasing 45 Chinese
alligators into the wild, and the six new members will bring the total
to 51, sources with the reserve said.<br />
"The experiments were successful, as the released alligators began
laying eggs in 2008 and the alligators that hatched in the wild are in
good conditions," said Wang Chaolin, deputy director of the nature
reserve.<br />
Wang said researchers need to choose young and healthy alligators so
they will survive harsh natural conditions. The alligators will also
undergo DNA testing before being released to avoid in-breeding.<br />
The researchers will install radio transmitters on the reptiles to
trace their whereabouts and collect data for scientific study, Wang
said.<br />
Anhui is home to the majority of the country's Chinese alligators,
which are widely known as the Yangtze alligators because they live along
the lower reaches of the Yangtze River.<br />
China has put the Chinese alligator as a priority on its protection
list and established the Chinese Alligator Breeding Research Center in
Anhui in 1979.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_7SVI-TXrNycx2CG6qI8m23tMdeHaCmcfpl1LgMFG5TDaniypE8ZJWC1dBiaC903HDpu59b6U4NdiOuQazVnXpNnQitqx3hMesUEjRATxFWSvAvX7U8f3Mj1Srp85B5Zu7ss4fVI4g8GR/s1600/chinese+alligator1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="428" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_7SVI-TXrNycx2CG6qI8m23tMdeHaCmcfpl1LgMFG5TDaniypE8ZJWC1dBiaC903HDpu59b6U4NdiOuQazVnXpNnQitqx3hMesUEjRATxFWSvAvX7U8f3Mj1Srp85B5Zu7ss4fVI4g8GR/s640/chinese+alligator1.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Juvenile Chinese Alligator (Alligator sinensis) Picture: Fons Sleijpen (C)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Thanks to human efforts to aid in the animal's survival such as
enlarging their habitats, the number of the critically endangered
Chinese alligators living in the wild has been growing over the past few
years.<br />
The number of wild Chinese alligators is currently estimated to
exceed 150, excluding the scores of captive-bred animals that have been
reintroduced to the wild, in contrast to about 100 in 2005, Wang said,
citing a recent census.<br />
The breeding center now has more than 1,000 captive alligators.Piet-Ton Sebaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15394705925239784996noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5531549366806918996.post-74594178199582205122012-05-01T02:13:00.001-07:002012-05-01T02:13:52.723-07:00In Everglades, tracking pythons may provide clues to vanishing wildlife<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/in-everglades-tracking-pythons-may-provide-clues-to-vanishing-wildlife/2012/04/28/gIQAWRvenT_story.html" target="_blank">The original article can be found here</a><br />
<br />
<div class="module byline">
<h4>
By <span class="author vcard"> <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/darryl-fears/2011/02/28/ABnY0sM_page.html" rel="author">Darryl Fears</a></span>, <span class="timestamp updated processed">Published: April 28, 2012</span></h4>
<h3>
</h3>
</div>
<div class="article_body entry-content">
<br />
<article>
<span class="dateline"></span> EVERGLADES NATIONAL PARK, Fla. —
Kristen Hart’s search for a cold-blooded killer came to an end at a
perfect hideout — thick scrub brush, dense trees and shade. She crouched
with three scouts and whispered.<br />
“Do you see her?” asked Hart, a research ecologist for the <a data-xslt="_http" href="http://www.usgs.gov/">U.S. Geological Survey</a>.
“Yeah, she’s in there,” answered Thomas Selby, a wildlife biologist. “I
think she knows we’re here,” said Brian Smith, another biologist.<br />
<h3 style="text-align: center;">
<b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/pythons-kill-off-native-animals-in-everglades/2012/01/30/gIQAdawJdQ_gallery.html#photo=11" target="_blank">Pictures </a></b></h3>
<div class="article_body">
<br />
<article>
Within seconds, the 16<sup>1</sup>
/
<sub>2</sub>-foot Burmese python uncoiled and made a run for it. What
happened next is a drama that plays out every week or so, as state and
federal biologists try to prove — or disprove — that the giant invasive
snakes are the reason for <a data-xslt="_http" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/in-florida-everglades-pythons-and-anacondas-dominate-food-chain/2012/01/30/gIQAULTVdQ_story.html">the near disappearance of</a> rabbits, opossums, raccoons, foxes and even bobcats in the southernmost section of the 1.5 million-acre Everglades.<br />
Smith
and Selby charged into the trees. “I’ve got the head!” Smith shouted.
“Grab the tail!” They stumbled out with the writhing snake in a
chokehold, huge mouth agape, ready to bite.<br />
It was actually the
second time biologists got their hands on Python 51 — the 51st caught.
Two months ago, they surgically fitted her with a radio transmitter,
motion detector and global positioning system to study her diet and
movements.<br />
Now, the snake’s days of squeezing the life out of prey
and giving birth to about four dozen babies every year are over. The
scientists want to retrieve their expensive equipment and the data it
contains. She was euthanized last week, along with an even bigger snake,
the largest ever captured in Florida, at 17<sup>1</sup>
/
<sub>2 </sub>feet — more than twice as long as former basketball player Shaquille O’Neal is tall.<br />
Burmese
pythons are native to Southeast Asia. No one knows for certain how the
invasive snake entered the Everglades. The belief that Hurricane Andrew
blew them there from exotic pet shops and houses in 1992, or that
numerous pet owners released them when they grew too large, is likely a
myth, according to <a data-xslt="_http" href="http://crocdoc.ifas.ufl.edu/staff/frankmazzotti/">Frank J. Mazzotti</a>, a professor of wildlife ecology and conservation for the University of Florida.<br />
<br />
<br />
<script src="http://player.ooyala.com/player.js?height=270&deepLinkEmbedCode=53YjBsNDrv5ys2PkOkdONR3ZgfOB2cNu&embedCode=53YjBsNDrv5ys2PkOkdONR3ZgfOB2cNu&video_pcode=BjMW06iecUOEhEKw8wym0AKLeiI4&width=480&hide=info%2Csharing%2Cchannels%2Cendscreen">
</script>
<br />
“All it takes is three snakes,” he said, mating and laying an average of 50 eggs, and up to 100 eggs, per year.<br />
Their
population in the Everglades is estimated at anywhere between 5,000 and
100,000 by USGS. The National Park Service says that more than 1,800
pythons have been removed from the park and surrounding areas since
2002. No one in the park has ever been attacked by a python.<br />
Some
game officials and citizens have suggested sending bounty hunters with
guns and machetes into the park. Bounty hunters are great at capturing
snakes — when they find them, which is rare. Hunters are also known to
execute small native snakes, mistaking them for python hatchlings.<br />
“Someone
could tell you there are 10 pythons in this area, and you could walk
all day and not see them,” Smith said as he leaned on a truck, dirty and
tired after wrestling Python 51 and leading the team on a two-mile hike
with her live 140-pound body draped over their shoulders.<br />
Pythons
prefer warmth, but many in the Everglades have managed to survive hard
freezes, leading some biologists to worry about their <a data-xslt="_http" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/blogpost/post/burmese-pythons-could-the-snakes-move-north/2012/01/31/gIQAYVHPfQ_blog.html">ability to adapt and travel north</a>. The snake has already been swimming and slithering south toward the Florida Keys.</article>
</div>
</article>
</div>Piet-Ton Sebaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15394705925239784996noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5531549366806918996.post-39740536593403810262012-05-01T02:05:00.001-07:002012-05-01T02:05:53.553-07:00Venomous Snake Farming High-Stakes Business in China<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/venomous-snake-farming-high-stakes-business-in-china/2012/04/30/gIQAtkjwqT_video.html" target="_blank">The original article can be found here</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<span class="oplayer-info-description">Apr. 30, 2012 - Snake
farming is becoming a lucrative business in China as the nation's middle
class grows, with products being used as food, in traditional medicines
and exported for use in research to help cure disease. Bloomberg's
Margaret Conley reports from one farm outside of Shanghai where snakes
have become a million-dollar business, and witnesses first-hand how
dangerous the occupation can be. (Source: Bloomberg)</span>
<span class="credit">(<span class="organization">Bloomberg</span>)</span><br />
<br />
<script src="http://player.ooyala.com/player.js?height=270&deepLinkEmbedCode=pyczhsNDrThobQdjq-lAwKvj0w06JA_M&embedCode=pyczhsNDrThobQdjq-lAwKvj0w06JA_M&video_pcode=BjMW06iecUOEhEKw8wym0AKLeiI4&width=480&hide=info%2Csharing%2Cchannels%2Cendscreen">
</script>Piet-Ton Sebaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15394705925239784996noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5531549366806918996.post-23950041350113081682012-05-01T01:59:00.000-07:002012-05-01T01:59:11.239-07:00Man sentenced to 21 months in prison for smuggling turtles from Japan to US in snack boxes<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/energy-environment/japanese-man-sentenced-to-21-months-in-prison-in-california-turtle-smuggling-case/2012/04/30/gIQA537DsT_story.html" target="_blank">The original article can be found here</a><br />
<br />
<div class="module byline">
<h4>
By <span class="author vcard"> Associated Press</span>, <span class="timestamp updated processed">Published: April 30, 2012</span></h4>
<h3>
</h3>
</div>
<div class="article_body entry-content">
<br />
<article>
<span class="dateline"></span> LOS ANGELES — A man was sentenced
to nearly two years in prison Monday for smuggling dozens of live
turtles and tortoises from Japan into the U.S. by hiding them in snack
food boxes.<br />
Atsushi Yamagami was given 21 months in prison and ordered to
pay more than $18,000 in fines after pleading guilty in August to one
felony count of smuggling. He could have faced a maximum sentence of 20
years.</article><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkGWQ_0lLQWfj6AJFcq0Cl_SYyOLcDCKePJ3NM1qGmQ8cMCDsa4w6DTmrTQ7m7MRXlZZ7R2dulia2f6fPfeNZMLwa8r6yOM-q3NHEtjHnJbHNt2JAgs2o7Bc8h9po_SssMJJGjJxghy5mX/s1600/Turtle+Smuggling.JPEG-0af1d.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkGWQ_0lLQWfj6AJFcq0Cl_SYyOLcDCKePJ3NM1qGmQ8cMCDsa4w6DTmrTQ7m7MRXlZZ7R2dulia2f6fPfeNZMLwa8r6yOM-q3NHEtjHnJbHNt2JAgs2o7Bc8h9po_SssMJJGjJxghy5mX/s1600/Turtle+Smuggling.JPEG-0af1d.jpg" /></a></div>
<article><br />
In a letter to U.S. District Judge George King, Yamagami apologized and promised never to engage in animal smuggling again.<br />
“I am extremely ashamed and remorseful about my actions,” he wrote.<br />
Federal
agents arrested Yamagami, 39, and Norihide Ushirozako, both of Osaka,
in January 2011 at Los Angeles International Airport as part of an
undercover investigation known as Operation Flying Turtle.<br />
The 55
turtles and tortoises were hidden in snack food boxes found in a
suitcase. Federal prosecutors argued the measures taken by the men
constituted animal cruelty and the reptiles posed a risk of transmitting
salmonella.</article><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz5Pjjx8IH84mziUyFaH7aXk60FpoibOOFuVhVU0wYoQOjzWhPevZ2jA0fSJTSfwZuLK_642g5BexI3zQtShzawZZnUpDYibvEtPJ3nXKs0ySVFO0zWgWk4eBf4bw9gMbtfRGqBswELY0r/s1600/Turtle+Smuggling.JPEG-053c1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz5Pjjx8IH84mziUyFaH7aXk60FpoibOOFuVhVU0wYoQOjzWhPevZ2jA0fSJTSfwZuLK_642g5BexI3zQtShzawZZnUpDYibvEtPJ3nXKs0ySVFO0zWgWk4eBf4bw9gMbtfRGqBswELY0r/s1600/Turtle+Smuggling.JPEG-053c1.jpg" /></a></div>
<article><br />
Most of the animals are protected by an international endangered species agreement and can only be imported with a permit.<br />
After
the animals were smuggled into the U.S., Yamagami sold or traded them
at pet shows and used the proceeds to purchase snakes, turtles and
tortoises native to North America, which were then smuggled to Japan for
resale, authorities said.<br />
Yamagami paid couriers to hide wildlife
inside luggage, according to court documents. Authorities believe
Yamagami and his couriers took more than 40 trips to and from the U.S.
between 2004 and 2011.<br />
Ushirozako also pleaded guilty in August to
a smuggling charge and was released from federal custody after being
sentenced to time served, which totaled about seven months.<br />
</article>
</div>Piet-Ton Sebaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15394705925239784996noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5531549366806918996.post-5604557706551352022012-05-01T01:50:00.003-07:002012-05-01T01:50:44.640-07:00Bumblebee-Colored Gecko Discovered on the Admiralty Islands<a href="http://www.sci-news.com/biology/article00271.html" target="_blank">The original article can be found here</a><br />
<br />
A team of biologists from the Papua New Guinea National Museum and the
U.S. Geological Survey has discovered a new species of slender-toed
gecko on Manus Island, the largest island of the Admiralty Islands,
Papua New Guinea.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNb3MnBxeHpzpa3-Ap3MXTKD5ZRy1Hyx4-_Nx8hcaWFmKk2FIwh_hEPHZ2AYmfUi09LjGs92-RHPZEIBvbX01DTbRpLy2DSLBLMTXig0mDOHlExhVEZNIOqSw1QFinENoygz7xQLj0emvO/s1600/bumblebee+gecko.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNb3MnBxeHpzpa3-Ap3MXTKD5ZRy1Hyx4-_Nx8hcaWFmKk2FIwh_hEPHZ2AYmfUi09LjGs92-RHPZEIBvbX01DTbRpLy2DSLBLMTXig0mDOHlExhVEZNIOqSw1QFinENoygz7xQLj0emvO/s1600/bumblebee+gecko.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Bumblebee Gecko, Nactus kunan (Robert Fisher / US Geological Survey)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
The new species of gecko, described in the journal <em>Zootaxa</em>,
measures about 5.7 cm (2.2 inches) in body length and is adorned like a
bumblebee with black-and-gold bands and rows of skin nodules that
enhance its camouflage on the tropical forest floor.<br />
“The discovery of a new species from deep in the forests of New
Guinea is a cause for celebration, adding one more chapter to “The Book
of Life,” said USGS Director Marcia McNutt. “Now the real work begins!
To fill those pages with the wonders of this new creature, its place in
the forest ecosystem, its adaptation to its environment, and perhaps
even novel strategies for coping with disease from which we will
ultimately benefit.”<br />
“We’ve officially named it <em>Nactus kunan</em> for its striking color pattern —<em> kunan</em>
means bumblebee in the local Nali language,” explained Dr. Robert
Fisher, a herpetologist at the USGS Western Ecological Research Center.
“It belongs to a genus of slender-toed geckos, which means these guys
don’t have the padded, wall-climbing toes like the common house gecko,
or the day gecko in the car insurance commercials.”<br />
Dr. Fisher collected two specimens of the bumblebee gecko on Manus
Island in 2010 and analyzed their genetics to show that the lizards were
new and distinctive.<br />
“This species was a striking surprise, as I’ve been working on the
genus since the 1970s, and would not have predicted this discovery,”
said Dr. George Zug, a herpetologist at the Smithsonian Institution and a
curator emeritus at the National Museum of Natural History.<br />
“Exploration of Manus Province is in its infancy, with many new
species possible, and this joint expedition was our first to this
region,” added Dr. Bulisa Iova, a reptile curator at the Papua New
Guinea National Museum.<br />Piet-Ton Sebaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15394705925239784996noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5531549366806918996.post-73663234575831233882012-05-01T01:47:00.002-07:002012-05-01T01:47:06.555-07:0024 New Species of Skinks Discovered on Caribbean Islands<h2>
24 New Species of Skinks Discovered on Caribbean Islands</h2>
<a href="http://www.sci-news.com/biology/article00286.html" target="_blank">The original article can be found here </a><br />
<br />
A team of biologists from Penn State University has discovered
24 new species of lizards known as skinks, all from islands in the
Caribbean.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUkcHAiFxNSQ7pG04Df7V0X8CCORNiWpIMMtSELd4m5YFDg-6IczGCQaheISL9gPFzgi-1EzBx8LUp4Ql_4_JsuhyphenhyphenvIXrc8TlqetNIFSrZ8BiaQJIOH_o5Av58-USvS2oDXZFwm1Dn_WeU/s1600/skink1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUkcHAiFxNSQ7pG04Df7V0X8CCORNiWpIMMtSELd4m5YFDg-6IczGCQaheISL9gPFzgi-1EzBx8LUp4Ql_4_JsuhyphenhyphenvIXrc8TlqetNIFSrZ8BiaQJIOH_o5Av58-USvS2oDXZFwm1Dn_WeU/s1600/skink1.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Anguilla Bank skink, one of the 24 new skink species <br />discovered by
Penn State scientists (Karl Questal / Penn State University)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The newly discovered skinks are <a href="http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/list/2012/3288.html" target="_blank">reported today in a 245-page article in the journal <em>Zootaxa</em></a>.<br />
About 130 species of reptiles from all over the world are added to
the global species count each year in dozens of scientific articles.
However, not since the 1800s have more than 20 reptile species been
added at one time.<br />
Primarily through examination of museum specimens, the team
identified a total of 39 species of skinks from the Caribbean islands,
including 6 species currently recognized, and another 9 named long ago
but considered invalid until now.<br />
“Now, one of the smallest groups of lizards in this region of the
world has become one of the largest groups,” said Blair Hedges, a
professor of biology at Penn State University and a lead author. “We
were completely surprised to find what amounts to a new fauna, with
co-occurring species and different ecological types. Some of the new
species are 6 times larger in body size than other species in the new
fauna.”<br />
These New World skinks, which arrived in the Americas about 18
million years ago from Africa by floating on mats of vegetation, are
unique among lizards in that they produce a human-like placenta, which
is an organ that directly connects the growing offspring to the maternal
tissues that provide nutrients, Prof. Hedges also explained.<br />
“While there are other lizards that give live birth, only a fraction
of the lizards known as skinks make a placenta and gestate offspring for
up to one year,” Prof. Hedges said. He also speculated that the lengthy
gestational period may have given predators a competitive edge over
skinks, since pregnant females are slower and more vulnerable.<br />
The researchers note that about half of the newly found skinks
already may be extinct or close to extinction. The loss of skink species
can be attributed primarily to predation by the mongoose – an invasive
predatory mammal that was introduced by farmers to control rats in
sugarcane fields during the late nineteenth century.<br />
“The mongoose is the predator we believe is responsible for many of
the species’ close-to-extinction status in the Caribbean,” Prof. Hedges
said. “Our data show that the mongoose, which was introduced from India
in 1872 and spread around the islands over the next three decades, has
nearly exterminated this entire reptile fauna, which had gone largely
unnoticed by scientists and conservationists until now.”<br />
This newly discovered skink fauna will increase dramatically the
number of reptiles categorized as critically endangered by the
International Union for Conservation of Nature in their Red List of
Threatened Species.<br />
“According to our research, all of the skink species found only on
Caribbean islands are threatened,” Prof. Hedges said. “That is, they
should be classified in the Red List as either vulnerable, endangered,
or critically endangered. Finding that all species in a fauna are
threatened is unusual, because only 24 percent of the 3,336 reptile
species listed in the Red List have been classified as threatened with
extinction. Most of the 9,596 named reptile species have yet to be
classified in the Red List.”<br />
<br />
<h2 style="text-align: center;">
<b>--------------------------------------------------------------------</b></h2>
<h2>
24 newly discovered lizard species face extinction </h2>
<a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/flora-fauna/24-newly-discovered-lizard-species-face-extinction/articleshow/12938172.cms" target="_blank">The original article can be found here</a><br />
<br />
<span id="advenueINTEXT" name="advenueINTEXT">WASHINGTON: Half of the 24 new <a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/lizard-species">lizard species</a> known as skinks, all discovered on the <a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Caribbean">Caribbean islands</a>, may be close to <a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/extinction">extinction</a> and the other half are also under threat. <br /><br /> Researchers led by Blair Hedges, professor of biology at <a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Penn-State-University">Penn State University</a>,
attributed their loss to the mongoose, a predatory mammal introduced by
farmers to control rats in sugarcane fields during the late 19th
century. <br /><br /> "The mongoose is the predator we believe is
responsible for many of the species' close-to-extinction status in the
Caribbean," said Hedges, the journal <a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Zootaxa">Zootaxa</a> reports. <br /><br />
"Our data show that the mongoose, which was introduced from India in
1872 and spread around the islands over the next three decades, has
nearly exterminated this entire reptile fauna, which had gone largely
unnoticed by scientists and conservationists until now," said Hedges,
according to a Penn statement. <br /><br /> About 130 species of reptiles
are added to the global species count each year in dozens. However, not
since the 1800s have more than 20 reptile species been added at one
time. <br /><br /> Primarily through examination of museum specimens, the
team identified a total of 39 species of skinks from the Caribbean
islands, including six species currently recognized, and another nine
named long ago but considered invalid until now. <br /><br /> "We were
completely surprised to find what amounts to a new fauna, with
co-occurring species and different ecological types," Hedges said. He
added that some of the new species are six times larger in body size
than other species in the new fauna. <br /><br /> Hedges also explained that
these New World skinks, which arrived in the Americas about 18 million
years ago from Africa by floating on mats of vegetation, are unique
among lizards in that they produce a human-like placenta, which is an
organ that directly connects the growing offspring to the maternal
tissues that provide nutrients. <br /><br /> "While there are other lizards
that give live birth, only a fraction of the lizards known as skinks
make a placenta and gestate offspring for up to one year," Hedges said. <br /><br />
He also speculated that the lengthy gestational period may have given
predators a competitive edge over skinks, since pregnant females are
slower and more vulnerable. </span>Piet-Ton Sebaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15394705925239784996noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5531549366806918996.post-66073599273489499362012-05-01T01:26:00.001-07:002012-05-01T01:26:07.152-07:00Rare Reptiles Breed in Wild<a href="http://the-scientist.com/2012/04/27/rare-reptiles-breed-in-wild/" target="_blank">The original article can be found here</a><br />
<br />
<h2>
Two baby ploughshare tortoises born to parents
raised in a captive breeding program are discovered in Madagascar,
validating the conservation effort.<br />
</h2>
<strong>By Jef Akst | April 27, 2012</strong><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaOfG9KMXHSZTLxC3ldYH3ZWHEGYfNE_cGCxbxcScAONT3xBbtwK5r3zDlaRvLosdoP4HYHCeptzyUi2himYMtxD91Ss0qGqDcWTozxqwyy7X0vddn1yozw2FoovL8Dumj26IZ2rDBFK_w/s1600/baby-tortoises.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaOfG9KMXHSZTLxC3ldYH3ZWHEGYfNE_cGCxbxcScAONT3xBbtwK5r3zDlaRvLosdoP4HYHCeptzyUi2himYMtxD91Ss0qGqDcWTozxqwyy7X0vddn1yozw2FoovL8Dumj26IZ2rDBFK_w/s1600/baby-tortoises.jpg" /></a></div>
As few as 500 adult ploughshare tortoises roam the bamboo scrub of
Baly Bay in north-western Madagascar. Fortunately, many others are
thriving in the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust’s captive breeding
colony. Since 1998, 65 sub-adult tortoises have been reintroduced into
the wild. And now, a local field team has discovered the first progeny
of those released animals.<br />
“The importance of the discovery of the baby ploughshares cannot be
over-emphasised,” Lee Durrell, the Trust’s Honorary Director, said in a
press release. “They represent a beacon for the future of not only the
iconic ploughshare in Madagascar but many other species whose survival
relies on similar conservation breeding programmes.”<br />
Measuring just 5 centimeters in length and weighing just 30 grams,
the two babies are believed to be approximately 1 year old. The question
now is will they survive. “The Madagascar habitat that is their home is
a tough one—there are bush pigs, buzzards, a harsh climate, and
poachers to contend with—but they are healthy and strong and we believe
they stand a good chance,” Durrell says.<br />
Read more about the ploughshare tortoise’s poaching woes in this month’s “<a href="http://the-scientist.com/2012/04/2012/04/01/marked-for-life/">Marked for Life</a>.”<br />
<br />
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<strong><br /></strong>Piet-Ton Sebaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15394705925239784996noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5531549366806918996.post-7941269732607709622012-05-01T01:19:00.000-07:002012-05-01T01:19:07.996-07:00Researcher Forms Group to Save Turtles<a href="http://www.komu.com/news/researcher-forms-group-to-save-turtles/" target="_blank">The original article can be found here</a><br />
<br />
Posted: April 25, 2012 by <strong>Ashleigh Johnson</strong><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhje8KDQVwJQNkQVKVplUw6WDoLvFbhXeV_06S9fwiU5x9r_P2VuH6DdV8sOb_Xh9wCbRr-HMrUEkhvmLNeXDLugL2IhC-fCVP60NGQlUmmaeHxPggwFZcpgvTTIlOwHuh2YG0MLLM_virK/s1600/turtle_colombia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhje8KDQVwJQNkQVKVplUw6WDoLvFbhXeV_06S9fwiU5x9r_P2VuH6DdV8sOb_Xh9wCbRr-HMrUEkhvmLNeXDLugL2IhC-fCVP60NGQlUmmaeHxPggwFZcpgvTTIlOwHuh2YG0MLLM_virK/s1600/turtle_colombia.jpg" /></a></div>
COLUMBIA - Residents concerned about the safety of turtles crossing
busy roads have formed a group committed to helping the creatures called
Turtle Crossing Como. University of Missouri natural resources
researcher Brice Hanberry started the group after moving to Columbia and
noticing the large population of turtles in the area.<br />
"In the spring and the summer, they're crossing the roads quite often," Hanberry said Wednesday.<br />
The goal of the group is to convince the city council to add some
turtle-friendly additions to the roads as they undergo routine
maintenance. Turtle Crossing Como suggests road signs, ramps leading
down from curbs, indentions in curbs and possibly tunnels underneath
roads for turtles to cross through safely.<br />
For their suggestions to become reality, Hanberry said the support of the community is needed.<br />
"The city council wouldn't feel any kind of obligation to do anything
unless the citizens were interested in it happening," Hanberry said.
She encourages residents to attend a series of town hall meetings
underway now and speak in favor of turtle-friendly additions to the
roads.<br />
The additions have been put on a list of other possible changes to be
made to Columbia roads in the future, but the list has not yet been
presented to the city council.<br />Piet-Ton Sebaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15394705925239784996noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5531549366806918996.post-3221301669519707462012-04-29T06:34:00.004-07:002012-04-29T06:34:59.786-07:00Living up to their good luck: Rare Philippine turtles smuggled to Hong Kong returned to Manila<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/living-up-to-their-good-luck-rare-philippine-turtles-smuggled-to-hong-kong-returned-to-manila/2012/04/27/gIQAwkjWkT_story.html" target="_blank">The original article can be found here</a><br />
<br />
<div class="module byline">
<h4>
By <span class="author vcard"> Associated Press</span>, <span class="timestamp updated processed">Published: April 27, 2012</span></h4>
<h3>
</h3>
</div>
<div class="article_body entry-content">
<article>
<span class="dateline"></span> MANILA, Philippines — Turtles
represent longevity and good luck, and that’s certainly true for 18 rare
smuggled turtles that were returned from Hong Kong to their native
Philippines.<br />
Philippine Wildlife Bureau head Mundita Lim says the pond
turtles were confiscated at the Hong Kong airport in February from a
Chinese student, along with 13 more common box turtles.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4XOVGbrrr9y0ummNPLHpaZmxGa4iOt7axxkb6jQrCizxBxSnaUnv0DzLDwsH_iDT_Pxe-x_Yin7M1_3ukEmGDlxTyxJV6fSr9UIAUBGxNIgUdj4eb_-GdRu0rpBtXZyLjYwGehk7D5Rsa/s1600/pondturtle0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4XOVGbrrr9y0ummNPLHpaZmxGa4iOt7axxkb6jQrCizxBxSnaUnv0DzLDwsH_iDT_Pxe-x_Yin7M1_3ukEmGDlxTyxJV6fSr9UIAUBGxNIgUdj4eb_-GdRu0rpBtXZyLjYwGehk7D5Rsa/s1600/pondturtle0.jpg" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPqxFORb3DIqdo7q1qJd-ah7795ys7qfi4tfd6H3gm_yM0I7N3AjR7RaqZUPP0ajyxA2to3xvTTD3rcXQ5TeQHEAFpjz53VHCF-9tuYFIgKAk6i71IPBBwSlSPg6NzNjupPR1_yOWtQAVC/s1600/pondturtle1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPqxFORb3DIqdo7q1qJd-ah7795ys7qfi4tfd6H3gm_yM0I7N3AjR7RaqZUPP0ajyxA2to3xvTTD3rcXQ5TeQHEAFpjz53VHCF-9tuYFIgKAk6i71IPBBwSlSPg6NzNjupPR1_yOWtQAVC/s1600/pondturtle1.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
Pond turtles (Siebenrockiella leytensis) live only in forests on Palawan Island southwest of
Manila. Only about 120 remain in the wild. Lim says they are prized as
novelty pets or food.<br />
Philippine officials took the unprecedented
step of traveling to Hong Kong and retrieving the turtles because they
are so rare. Palawan’s governor received the turtles at the Manila
airport Friday.<br />
The 18 will be rehabilitated before being released in the wild.<br />
<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<b><a href="https://www.google.nl/search?source=ig&hl=nl&rlz=&q=siebenrockiella+leytensis&oq=Siebenrockiella+leytensis&aq=0L&aqi=g-L1g-vL2&aql=&gs_l=igoogle.1.0.0i19j0i15i19l2.1218.1218.0.3027.1.1.0.0.0.0.76.76.1.1.0...0.0." target="_blank">More info about Siebenrockiella leytensis </a></b></div>
</article>
</div>Piet-Ton Sebaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15394705925239784996noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5531549366806918996.post-70407433634441077882012-04-29T06:05:00.002-07:002012-04-29T06:05:44.462-07:00Chambal sanctuary a killing field for gharials<a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/12860429.cms" target="_blank">The original article can be found here</a><br />
<span class="byline"><a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/toireporter/author-Faiz-Rahman-Siddiqui.cms" rel="author">Faiz Rahman Siddiqui</a>, Apr 25, 2012</span><br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg083D1FnU0v3y8u7uR-1n86W7Ovm2FWkHc6ZNGuc5Ydd4Op0GoMalaZgyzx1GkglTSEkWeKBHAcxPYNahoJg5JtZwcLKep03A_N58fhKVZDpFgZi-7439f0JRHSRE0brKRzUEX1X4Has9o/s1600/gharial3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg083D1FnU0v3y8u7uR-1n86W7Ovm2FWkHc6ZNGuc5Ydd4Op0GoMalaZgyzx1GkglTSEkWeKBHAcxPYNahoJg5JtZwcLKep03A_N58fhKVZDpFgZi-7439f0JRHSRE0brKRzUEX1X4Has9o/s1600/gharial3.jpg" /></a><span id="advenueINTEXT" name="advenueINTEXT">KANPUR: Illegal fishing in the National
Chambal Sanctuary is killing endangered gharials like the one found
dead in the Chambal river in Etawah on Thursday last. The tragedy
continues unabated despite the fact that now there are very few gharials
left in the region. <br /><br /> The gharials (Gavialis gangeticus) have
been declared as a 'critically endangered specie' by the International
Union For Conservation of Nature. The National Chambal Sanctuary, which
falls in UP as well as Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, is a known as a habitat for the endangered gharial and other aquatic animals. It is spread in an area of 5,000 sq km. <br /><br />
Experts say illegal fishing, using boat and synthetic net, is posing a
serious threat to the endangered gharials nesting in the sanctuary. Only
on Monday, a 16-ft-long gharial was found hacked into pieces at Lal Pura Khar
in Bhareh area of Etawah and on Monday a boat and a large synthetic
fishing net was seized by the forest department personnel of the
National Chambal Sanctuary. <br /><br /> Such illegal practices are still on
despite a ban on fishing by authorities in the sanctuary to ensure the
safety of the aquatic animals. There is an urgent need to check the
rampant killing of gharials and other rare aquatic animals, including
dolphins and turtles and to strictly enforce the ban. Nesting of the
endangered gharial have recently been sighted along the Chambal river,
at present, there incubation period is underway and hatching of egg is
expected to take place in the last week of May or first week of June,
the National Chambal officials said. <br /><br /> "The female gharial lays
30 to 40 eggs in each nesting site. These eggs are incubated and hatched
due to sand's heat. Then the baby gharials emerge from their eggs and
creep into the river," the expert informed. <br /><br />
"Areas known for the notoriety of hunters start from Panchnada to
Bansuri, which is nearly a 15 km of stretch, then from Siddhbaba temple
upto Pali, a 6km spread of land downstream, besides from Barchauli to
Kasauwa, Ranipurwa to Lakhanpurwa and from Gati to Kheda," said a forest department official. </span><br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH3MMZErf21QbStvyoj0RnVKx1v2p2ZW_g03_uOCw4BAwYrSQGLgVXn111uKO0lx-_dBL6Q-izUptIj20v8koObyXrhj26hY_aO1z580GRsJYxMElJTM8tIkV3KS8wSdDVWabMeDgiww6t/s1600/gharial2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH3MMZErf21QbStvyoj0RnVKx1v2p2ZW_g03_uOCw4BAwYrSQGLgVXn111uKO0lx-_dBL6Q-izUptIj20v8koObyXrhj26hY_aO1z580GRsJYxMElJTM8tIkV3KS8wSdDVWabMeDgiww6t/s1600/gharial2.jpg" /></a><span id="advenueINTEXT" name="advenueINTEXT">
Most of these reptiles are victims of by-catch in fishing nets.
Sand-mining also poses one of the most significant threats to gharials,
Gangetic dolphins and turtles in the Chambal sanctuary. "What is more
shocking is that these endangered aquatic species are being killed by
fish poachers as these reptiles become victim of by-catch. Sand-mining
is other illegal practice within the sanctuary, but there is no one to
check those involved in the illegal trade," says Rajiv Chauhan,
secretary, Society for Conservation of Nature. <br /><br /> He further
informed that earlier there was a guard especially employed for guarding
gharials in the region but the post has been lying vacant since the
past eight-nine years following retirement of the previous staff. <br /><br /> Fishermen are active both in the upstream (Madhya Pradesh) and downstream in (Uttar Pradesh). <br /><br />
Another wildlife enthusiast claimed that big contractors are in cahoots
with local fishermen and use them for fishing. "Such contractors are
least bothered about the welfare of the environment and are using every
possible means available to earn quick money," he said. <br /><br /> "This
is a big problem and there's a lot of manpower needed to trap these
illegal fishers. However, we will leave no stone unturn to check the
illegal fishing practice to save endangered species," says Uma Shanker
Dohre, Wild Life warden, while talking to TOI. <br /><br /> In 2007, from
November till March 2008, more than 112 gharials died in the Chambal due
to unknown reasons. Further investigations by the IVRI suggested the
possibility of poisoning by metal pollutants. Just 200-300 gharials are
believed to be left in the Chambal and Katarnia Ghat. All over India,
there are 2,000-3,000 gharials left. </span><span class="byline"><br /></span>Piet-Ton Sebaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15394705925239784996noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5531549366806918996.post-22984118352445249552012-04-29T05:54:00.003-07:002012-04-29T05:54:42.112-07:00Limbless amphibian species found<div class="story-header">
<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17827350" target="_blank">The original article can be found here</a></div>
<div class="story-header">
<br /></div>
<span class="byline">
<span class="byline-name">By Sivaramakrishnan Parameswaran</span>
<span class="byline-title">BBC Tamil Service</span></span><br />
<span class="byline"><span class="byline-title">25-04-2012</span></span><br />
<br />
<div class="introduction" id="story_continues_1">
A UK-Indian team of scientists have announced the discovery of a new species of limbless amphibian.</div>
The animal was identified by accident in the Western Ghats area in the state of Kerala, South India.<br />
The specimens were found inside moist soil after digging the shrub-covered bank of a mountain stream.<br />
The creature - about 168mm in length and pink in colour -
belongs to an enigmatic, limbless group of amphibians known as the
caecilians.<br />
Ramachandran Kotharambath, lead author of the report, told
the BBC Tamil Service that the animal was identified as a new species
following extensive comparisons with other, similar examples from this
amphibian group.<br />
According to the researchers, specimens of the novel caecilian - named <em>Gegeneophis primus</em> - were collected during field works in two consecutive monsoons, first in October 2010 and then in August 2011.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinEulAqlbTXoJs1b56Sojo2OlM2i_aIK3JqUQP08Wlt1TJNOSe7rfaYKykQZ_VY0qgzXvA1P3dybCKDwS9JDLN-AnSrxDvf7_ETRlFQmL1oy974JPj_F6nTq7f4gRXZzku8KrJELb-AVpB/s1600/limbless1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinEulAqlbTXoJs1b56Sojo2OlM2i_aIK3JqUQP08Wlt1TJNOSe7rfaYKykQZ_VY0qgzXvA1P3dybCKDwS9JDLN-AnSrxDvf7_ETRlFQmL1oy974JPj_F6nTq7f4gRXZzku8KrJELb-AVpB/s1600/limbless1.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="width: 464px;">The caecilians are an enigmatic group of limbless amphibians</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
They were discovered at a valley on a plantation in the Wynad district of Kerala.<br />
<span class="cross-head">Active collaboration</span>
The new finding was made as part of a longstanding research
collaboration between the department of zoology at the University of
Kerala and London's Natural History Museum. The Central University at
Kasargod in Kerala also contributed to of the discovery.<br />
The finding has been reported in the latest edition of the academic journal Zootaxa.<br />
<br />
<div id="story_continues_2">
The wider distribution, natural history and habitat preferences of the species are yet to be determined.</div>
The discovery of this species indicates that the caecilian
amphibians might have great diversity all along the Western Ghats area
said Mr Ramachandran.<br />
"The discovery on a plantation points out that these elusive
animals are very vulnerable to anthropogenic activities and are living
silently right under our feet," he explained <br />
The new species do not face any immediate threat as long as the habitat structure is maintained, according to the scientists. <br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSVskU-SiViErJNleOr_7gD2Qataix5ykktYz0e5ZpBYbpIG-VOz3RdTpa0ofBDBsFlMGPsMrv2DtoAyFlk6YgSDgmoYOoONR8_1cHyuhtjUJPjuuRKF_162Zv57GvaqduRzLKoDSwyFgM/s1600/limbless2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSVskU-SiViErJNleOr_7gD2Qataix5ykktYz0e5ZpBYbpIG-VOz3RdTpa0ofBDBsFlMGPsMrv2DtoAyFlk6YgSDgmoYOoONR8_1cHyuhtjUJPjuuRKF_162Zv57GvaqduRzLKoDSwyFgM/s1600/limbless2.jpg" /></a>They also say that they need to know how far and wide this species is distributed and what are the habitat requirements.<br />
Though these tiny amphibians are at least safe now, any major
modification in the plantation structure could dangerously affect the
species survival, said Mr Ramachandran<br />
Co-author Dr Oommen says the discovery was significant since
the finding ended a hiatus of almost half-a-century. "It highlights the
fact that the knowledge of caecilian amphibians of the Western Ghats
remains incomplete and in need of further study." <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/life/Caecilian" target="_blank">More about these animals </a><br />
<span class="byline"><span class="byline-title"> </span>
</span>Piet-Ton Sebaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15394705925239784996noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5531549366806918996.post-67342115469570253342012-04-24T07:17:00.000-07:002012-04-24T07:17:14.894-07:00HORRIBLE!!!!!!<h4 id="watch-headline-title">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="long-title" dir="ltr" id="eow-title" title="RATTLESNAKE TORTURED for Photo Opportunity in Apache OK.MP4">RATTLESNAKE TORTURED for Photo Opportunity in Apache</span></span></h4>
This rattlesnake was tortured for photo opportunities in Apache,
Oklahoma. They freeze the snakes (which starts the crystallization of
their blood) and then sew their mouths shut. Snakes are then used like
props for photos and are left baking in the hot sun all weekend long.
Snakes feel pain and suffer just like any other living being does.<br />
Rattlesnake roundups & felony animal cruelty are OK in Oklahoma?
THIS weekend in Waurika & Waynoka, Oklahoma they will hold their
annual rattlesnake roundups. Waurika is one of the towns where they have
sewn snake mouths shut & put them on display. To help put an end to
rattlesnake roundups and to learn more about them please visit these
sites and share this with others...<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<object width="320" height="266" class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="http://0.gvt0.com/vi/NJjrq2fLV_g/0.jpg"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/NJjrq2fLV_g&fs=1&source=uds" />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">People who do this should be put in a freezer for three days... </span></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/h9gWEolbMaE?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<h1 id="watch-headline-title">
<span class="long-title" dir="ltr" id="eow-title" title="RATTLESNAKE TORTURED for Photo Opportunity in Apache OK.MP4"> </span></h1>Piet-Ton Sebaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15394705925239784996noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5531549366806918996.post-16578560894592200152012-04-19T07:26:00.001-07:002012-04-19T07:26:14.985-07:00A turtle baby boom<a href="http://www.iucnredlist.org/news/green-turtle-nesting-boom-in-philippines" target="_blank">The original article can be found here</a><br />
<br />
<div class="b-title">
<span class="title"></span><br />
<div class="markup">
Green Turtle nesting boom in Philippines</div>
<br />
<div class="date">
2012</div>
</div>
<div class="b-title">
<strong>A turtle
baby boom on the Baguan Island of Turtle Islands in the Philippines has
produced a record 1.4 million eggs according to Conservation
International (CI) Philippines citing figures from the Department of
Environment and Resources (DENR).</strong><br />
In 2011, a total of 14,220 Green Turtle (<em>Chelonia mydas</em>)
nests were counted on Baguan Island, the highest number since recording
at the site began in 1984. This adds up to over 1.44 million eggs which
will provide a huge boost to the population of the Green Turtle which is
listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdn4wYGlbwVyU8VaGiHFQwxEBSzB0LkcIgNTFeU9wpaDSB8eZcUSql133vMymp3Iv7moPNSbM06JrfdsgxTrmVD-VZaNvnpyiUbaxKFqF7WMo97ZHRxokI9Zzrz6SelP3yaAYGVapY6K26/s1600/greenturtle01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdn4wYGlbwVyU8VaGiHFQwxEBSzB0LkcIgNTFeU9wpaDSB8eZcUSql133vMymp3Iv7moPNSbM06JrfdsgxTrmVD-VZaNvnpyiUbaxKFqF7WMo97ZHRxokI9Zzrz6SelP3yaAYGVapY6K26/s1600/greenturtle01.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
“1.44 million green turtle eggs in one year is an astounding number
for a nesting beach that’s only a little over one kilometer in length.
This definitely presents great hope for boosting green turtle
populations,” said <strong>Romeo Trono, CI Philippines Country Executive Director and IUC</strong><strong>N S</strong><strong>SC Marine Turtle Specialist Group Member</strong>.
“With an average of 90% hatching success and 1% survival rate up to
sexual maturity, Baguan in 2011 alone could contribute up to 13,000 to
the adult turtle population.”<br />
</div>
<div class="b-title">
Baguan is one
of the nine islands in the Turtle Islands Heritage Protected area
(TIHPA), a protected area which is jointly managed by two countries;
Malaysia and the Philippines. Baguan is one of six islands in the
Philippines’ Turtle Islands Wildlife Sanctaury and there are three
islands located in Malaysia’s Sabah Turtle Islands Park (TIP).<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSlJf_cXCJ-RpgYmrCJkihX_JQN0DsVTT40DKWdK1YZWIvA1r1sNWUN9MTIgn7dtGGC1k7UkLkE-k5ohxYhOyoByc9L2QKn7smo9hjfIAe0p36tPTU5Li9dxo0ERWK0Xmye5yHd8FIHnUf/s1600/greenturtle02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSlJf_cXCJ-RpgYmrCJkihX_JQN0DsVTT40DKWdK1YZWIvA1r1sNWUN9MTIgn7dtGGC1k7UkLkE-k5ohxYhOyoByc9L2QKn7smo9hjfIAe0p36tPTU5Li9dxo0ERWK0Xmye5yHd8FIHnUf/s1600/greenturtle02.jpg" /></a>The nesting success has been attributed to the combined conservation
efforts of CI Philippines, DENR, local government and the Malaysian park
management authority Sabah Parks. A protection area was set up around
Baguan and law enforcement to prevent poaching, egg collection and
habitat destruction was strengthened by training park wardens, law
enforcers and community volunteers. Patrolling efforts were also
increased and the enforcements team included officers from the
Philippine Coast Guard and Philippine Navy Marines.<br />
“Bold protection measures such as the establishment of Baguan no-take
zone and the complete protection status of the Turtle Islands Park in
Sabah have been instrumental in ensuring a safe haven for turtles while
other beaches in the region were being lost to coastal development,”
says <strong>Dr. Nicolas Pilcher, director of Sabah-based Marine
Research Foundation and Co-Chair of the </strong><br />
<strong> International Union for Conservation of the Nature Marine Turtl</strong><strong>e</strong><strong> S</strong><strong>pecialist Group</strong>.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgJPvtjzAOOQVNkDQ1s4CmMzMvb34WA7LCTcrjuKBW9tTN_Cj_eIKhEwWkwNF-ZodK1APK3498lO30vARRWtxi0OLKoEAZiOLEFKvMKIY5c7NX-KZ3dHql32RFshyhkvK21ijqadwjut61/s1600/greenturtle03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgJPvtjzAOOQVNkDQ1s4CmMzMvb34WA7LCTcrjuKBW9tTN_Cj_eIKhEwWkwNF-ZodK1APK3498lO30vARRWtxi0OLKoEAZiOLEFKvMKIY5c7NX-KZ3dHql32RFshyhkvK21ijqadwjut61/s1600/greenturtle03.jpg" /></a>Dr Nicolas
Pilcher and Romeo Trono, who are both members of the IUCN SSC Marine
Turtles Specialist Group, along with Dr. Mundita Lim and Renato Cruz at
DENR, Joel Palma at WWF Philippines and Paul Basintal at Sabah Parks,
who are all also members of the IUCN SSC Marine Turtles Specialist
Group, have been leading turtle conservation projects in Malaysia and
the Philippines for over 20 years. They have worked closely to link
government agencies and NGOs and have developed a joint network of
protected areas to safeguard turtles at all stages of their life cycles.
Records kept by DENR show there are more Green Turtle nests on Baguan
when the area is protected proving that conservation action and
protection can work.<br />
“The hatchlings that emerge from the Turtle Islands still face great
risks throughout their lives as they journey through the ocean,” added <strong>Romeo Trono</strong>, “but at least here in the Turtle Islands, we are determined to provide them with a good start.”<br />
<br />
<a href="" name="green-turtle-nesting-boom-in-philippines"></a><br />
<a href="" name="green-turtle-nesting-boom-in-philippines"><b>Related links:</b></a><br />
<a href="" name="green-turtle-nesting-boom-in-philippines">
</a><br />
<ul><a href="" name="green-turtle-nesting-boom-in-philippines">
</a>
<li><a href="" name="green-turtle-nesting-boom-in-philippines"></a><a href="http://www.conservation.org/newsroom/pressreleases/Pages/SeaTurtleBabyBoomonTurtleIslandsBreaks28-yearRecord.aspx" target="_blank">Conservation International</a></li>
<li><a href="http://iucn-mtsg.org/" target="_blank">IUCN SSC Marine Turtle Specialist Group</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/details/4615/0" target="_blank">More about the Green Turtle</a></li>
</ul>
<br />
<strong>International Union for
Conservation of Nature Marine Turtl</strong><strong>e</strong><strong> S</strong><strong>pecialist Group</strong>.</div>Piet-Ton Sebaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15394705925239784996noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5531549366806918996.post-22264968982436925102012-04-19T07:01:00.004-07:002012-04-19T07:02:42.415-07:00Frogs at front of germ warfare<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au/article/2012/03/19/315061_news.html" target="_blank">The original article can be found here</a><br />
<a href="http://www.frogsaustralia.net.au/frogs/display.cfm?frog_id=154" target="_blank">More info about the species</a> <a href="http://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au/article/2012/03/19/315061_news.html" target="_blank"><br /></a></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="artAuthor"><a href="mailto:batemand@tcp.newsltd.com.au">By: DANIEL BATEMAN</a></span></div>
<br />
<div class="topleftcol" style="text-align: left;">
<div>
<b>
A TINY frog that lives in the rainforests of North Queensland could provide humans with a cure for deadly bacterial diseases. </b></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Nuclear scientists are searching for ways to fight
antibiotic-resistant bacteria such as golden staph, which kills
thousands of hospital patients each year. </div>
<div>
They have found
chemicals secreted from the skin of two amphibians, the Australian
green-eyed tree frog and the growling grass frog, can form a defence to
the bacteria.</div>
<div>
The cutting-edge research is being carried out at
the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation's nuclear
reactor at Lucas Heights in Sydney.</div>
<div>
Melbourne University Professor
Frances Separovic, who is leading the project team, said they had
characterised several small proteins - known as peptides - from the skin
glands of the frogs, which had been found to host defence compounds
with strong antibacterial activity.</div>
<div>
The peptides work by attacking
the membranes of unwanted bacteria found on the frogs' skin, killing
them before they can present a danger to the frog.</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHrcnBHotmNsIm_hux_944As40EPjFTwx9wtzm8ppuSihuGYBoqnTuEC5fECwk4YItXDbvNGI6Zsd4RC2hVXFhwd12HIuWKfLjeB94oNX75lt-Y_22mOrpojVvLGHfnEPrlUFtPhEr25NI/s1600/frog2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHrcnBHotmNsIm_hux_944As40EPjFTwx9wtzm8ppuSihuGYBoqnTuEC5fECwk4YItXDbvNGI6Zsd4RC2hVXFhwd12HIuWKfLjeB94oNX75lt-Y_22mOrpojVvLGHfnEPrlUFtPhEr25NI/s1600/frog2.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">HOPE: Researchers hope frogs can help <br />
unlock a cure for deadly bacterial diseases.<br />
<i>Litoria genimaculata</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
"By
understanding their 3D structure and mechanism of action at the
molecular level, we may be able to increase their antibiotic potency or
antimicrobial potency and specificity," Prof Separovic said.</div>
<div>
The
nuclear reactor is being used to analyse, on a molecular level, how and
why peptides from the frog skin secretions work, and how well they can
kill bacterial cells.</div>
<div>
"Given that we don't want them to attack
healthy human or frog cells, we also need to establish whether and how
these antimicrobial peptides are selective for bacterial cells," Prof
Separovic said.</div>
<div>
It is hope the research will be completed by the
end of the year, providing a blueprint for scientists to develop new
drugs that can combat antibiotic-resistant bacteria.</div>
<div>
The two frog
species have been selected for the project, as the skin secretions from
the animals are known to protect the frogs against a broad range of
bacteria. </div>
<div>
The green-eyed tree frog, also known as the tapping
green-eyed frog, lives in rainforests in North Queensland, often found
near rocky creeks.</div>
<div>
The species gets its name from the brilliant
green colour over the brow of each eye. The frog grows to about 7cm
long. It has adapted its appearance to blend in with the moss-covered
forests, with most having a brownish-green body with rust-coloured
blotches that match the lichen-covered rocks of the creeks and streams
of its habitat.</div>
</div>Piet-Ton Sebaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15394705925239784996noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5531549366806918996.post-13779830995306174152012-04-15T01:23:00.004-07:002012-04-15T01:23:58.000-07:00Despite Deadly Fungus, Frog Imports Continue<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/08/us/chytrid-fungus-in-frogs-threatens-amphibian-extinction.html?scp=1&sq=frogs&st=cse" target="_blank">The original article can be found here</a></div>
<span itemprop="creator" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person"></span><br />
<h6 class="dateline">
By JOHN UPTON Published: April 7, 2012 </h6>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
A clerk serving Cantonese-speaking customers at a cluttered market in
San Francisco’s Chinatown reached into a tub of American bullfrogs. She
drew a one-pound frog from the top of the pile. She whacked its head,
sliced its neck and placed its body in a plastic grocery bag. </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody" style="text-align: justify;">
The frog cost about $4. If it was sautéed, stir-fried or cooked in a
clay pot and served with rice and vegetables, it could provide enough
poultry-flavored white meat for a meal for at least two people. </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody" style="text-align: justify;">
Tests on the bullfrog by Raul Figueroa, a researcher at San Francisco
State University, confirmed that it was infected with an invisible but
virulent fungus. The chytrid skin fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis,
or B.d., is harmless to humans but may have wiped out hundreds of
amphibian species. Two other bullfrogs that The Bay Citizen bought from
other Chinatown markets also tested positive. </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody" style="text-align: justify;">
The disease appears to affect only amphibians, and some species are
immune to its effects while others succumb rapidly. It causes the
amphibians’ skin to thicken and leads to cardiac arrest. </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody" style="text-align: justify;">
American bullfrogs are native to eastern North America but are reared in
factory farms around the world. Two million bullfrogs are imported into
the Bay Area every year, according to federal import records, and
millions more are shipped to other major cities. </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody" style="text-align: justify;">
Scientists and conservationists fear that the global trade could lead to
the extinction of countless species of frogs and salamanders.
Amphibians play subtle but substantial roles in California’s ecosystem,
eating insects and feeding wildlife. </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody" style="text-align: justify;">
American bullfrogs are an invasive species in California. State law
requires markets to kill the bullfrogs when they are sold, although pet
stores are allowed to sell them alive. Yet the bullfrogs make their way
into rivers and lakes, where they spread the disease and devour
everything from native tadpoles to ducklings. </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody" style="text-align: justify;">
Some of the bullfrogs that are free in the Bay Area are former pets.
Buddhists may have released others during traditional ceremonies that
liberate living creatures. Once in the environment, the frogs can
reproduce. </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody" style="text-align: justify;">
Efforts to ban the live bullfrog imports have been strenuously opposed
by Chinese-American leaders who defend their communities’ rights to a
traditional part of their diet. </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody" style="text-align: justify;">
A study of 493 fresh-bought frogs from San Francisco, Los Angeles and
New York found that 62 percent were infected with the chytrid fungus.
</div>
<div itemprop="articleBody" style="text-align: justify;">
“We don’t know if the bullfrogs contributed to the introduction of B.d.
into the U.S.,” said Lisa M. Schloegel, a disease ecologist and lead
author of the study, which was published in the journal Biological
Conservation in 2009. “But the bullfrogs are a constant source of
infection.” </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody" style="text-align: justify;">
Vance T. Vredenburg, a biology professor at San Francisco State
University who specializes in amphibians. said he had seen “literally
hundreds, and tens of thousands” of dead animals on the shorelines of
lakes. “With this fungus pathogen, we have something the world has never
seen before,” he said. “It’s jumping from species to species to
species, and we have very little predictability about what species it’s
going to have an effect on.” </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody" style="text-align: justify;">
American bullfrogs survive the pathogen but can transfer the fungus
spores to other, less fortunate species. The fungus has torn through the
Sierra Nevada, leaving the once-abundant mountain yellow-legged frogs
on the brink of extinction. </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlFZle_J4cPgrwQhVSTPCp3H6wVdl1X5CxrtjpIMpzfAuIkNyVdKO60wAF1CXCy5xBDESbubttZBp9TS8WeUZWmWgRQZR2PDq5Q10IlvrPBWptj5onI42lQZWRIltJSUQJ2PpdZFZgh8Gd/s1600/frogfungus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlFZle_J4cPgrwQhVSTPCp3H6wVdl1X5CxrtjpIMpzfAuIkNyVdKO60wAF1CXCy5xBDESbubttZBp9TS8WeUZWmWgRQZR2PDq5Q10IlvrPBWptj5onI42lQZWRIltJSUQJ2PpdZFZgh8Gd/s1600/frogfungus.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><h6 class="credit">
<span style="font-size: small;">Adithya Sambamurthy/The Bay Citizen<br />More than half the frogs imported into San Francisco <br />every year carry the chytrid skin fungus. </span></h6>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div itemprop="articleBody" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody" style="text-align: justify;">
Proposals to ban the live imports into California were initially pushed
forward by conservationists and animal rights groups in the mid-1990s. A
few years later, scientists perplexed by worldwide amphibian deaths
discovered B.d. </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody" style="text-align: justify;">
Assemblyman Paul Fong, Democrat of Cupertino, who championed a bill last
year that outlawed the sale of shark fins, opposes a ban on live frog
imports. So does Senator Leland Yee, Democrat of San Francisco. </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody" style="text-align: justify;">
“It’s a food stock that many Chinese-Americans rely on,” Mr. Yee said. </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody" style="text-align: justify;">
Pius Lee, chairman of the Chinatown Neighborhood Association in San
Francisco, said he warned Buddhists that “pro-animal groups are watching
you” and suggested they free animals from containers without releasing
them into the wild. </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody" style="text-align: justify;">
But Kerry Kriger, an ecologist who founded the Santa Cruz-based
nonprofit Save the Frogs after studying B.d. in Australia, said
regulations were needed. </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody" style="text-align: justify;">
“People set them free on purpose. They escape, and the water they’re
held in has chytrid in it — and that gets flushed out into the
environment,” Dr. Kriger said. “You can ship in as much chytrid fungus
into the United States as you want right now, and that’s what people do
with the bullfrogs.” </div>
<div class="authorIdentification">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
jupton@baycitizen.org</div>
</div>Piet-Ton Sebaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15394705925239784996noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5531549366806918996.post-17607977471572005752012-03-23T13:19:00.004-07:002012-03-23T13:19:49.147-07:00Sibling is not such a load of croc<a href="http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/more-news/sibling-is-not-such-a-load-of-croc/story-fn7x8me2-1226308647068" target="_blank">The original article can be found here</a><br />
<br />
<cite>Kelly Ryan, </cite><span class="source-prefix">From:</span>
<cite>
<a class="source-heraldsun" href="http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/">Herald Sun</a></cite><span class="datestamp"> March 24, 2012 </span><br />
<br />
<strong>CRANKY croc Charlie wants much smaller sibling Peter Pan off his
back. Brotherly rivalry is alive in the reptile world and a pesky loved
one can quickly become just another snack. </strong><br />
<br />
The freshwater crocodiles were born from the same clutch of eggs five
years ago. But an extremely rare genetic condition has kept Peter Pan a
miniature version of his more fearsome family members, with Charlie at
least five times bigger, heavier and hungrier.<br />
Owner Scott
D'Agostino says his little pet doesn't know he's a tiny version of the
larger deadlier predators and has a feisty bite to prove it. He even has
his own Facebook site.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRxXq9gP87EysAEaBXUmT-q-PY57d-_qath_B2HBO9Q5m906oF6EHTJdKF28GdqqH7UehzkkSbWRPinTOGzdYsWgGntz2v9rlBTnuY4KTUwvxKBXB7l0ZzCMYYMk2KhneYZaziEBaGtpIM/s1600/crocodile-brothers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRxXq9gP87EysAEaBXUmT-q-PY57d-_qath_B2HBO9Q5m906oF6EHTJdKF28GdqqH7UehzkkSbWRPinTOGzdYsWgGntz2v9rlBTnuY4KTUwvxKBXB7l0ZzCMYYMk2KhneYZaziEBaGtpIM/s1600/crocodile-brothers.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="caption-text">FRESHWATER CROCS CHARLIE AND PETER PAN WERE
BORN FIVE YEARS AGO BUT, DUE TO A GENETIC CONDITION, CHARLIE IS NOW
ABOUT THREE TIMES LARGER THAN HIS SIBLING. </span>
<span class="image-source"> Herald Sun</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
"He eats the same food, is healthy and
happy but just hasn't grown up at all," he said. "He was named after
Peter Pan from the story of the boy who never grew up."<br />
The scaly
pair will join the police dog squad and amazing animal survivors at a
huge open day at Melbourne University's Veterinary Hospital at Werribee
tomorrow.<br />
The specialist animal hospital treats about 17,000 pets a year.<br />
Vets
will join pets to teach people how to read animal body language and
provide career advice to students keen to work with our four-legged or
feathered friends.<br />
The day will feature demonstrations on health and nutrition, dog obedience, horse health and fascinating reptiles.<br />
Melbourne
Cup winners Doriemus and Brew are guests of honour. The open day will
be held from 10am-3pm at the hospital, 250 Princes Freeway, Werribee.<br />Piet-Ton Sebaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15394705925239784996noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5531549366806918996.post-82815409605998039932012-03-23T13:09:00.002-07:002012-03-23T13:09:26.313-07:00Should the location of newly discovered species be hidden?<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17386764" target="_blank">The original article can be found here</a><br />
<br />
<span class="byline">
<span class="byline-name">By Stephanie Hegarty</span>,
<span class="byline-title">BBC World Service</span></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="introduction" id="story_continues_1">
Discovering a new species
can be the defining moment of a biologist's career, but for some it can
also mean exposing rare and vulnerable animals to the dark world of the
wildlife pet trade, with catastrophic results.</div>
It's a scientific dilemma that has led some conservationists
to question whether it would be better to hide their findings from the
world.<br />
In 1999, herpetologist Bryan Stuart was working in Northern
Laos when he stumbled across an eye-catching newt he had never seen
before. <br />
The creature was prehistoric in its appearance with thick, warty skin and bright, yellow dots all the way down its back. <br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMzB4rfkmGXBF3wdvVLhJc0TTmK9N3CKT0gvTrZPRi0kDzyPts-Ado0SoYM7VgKFhBN8kv5Bcjaex0qhmjmcr1GSqwAfVEKWXk8XjRz1QguKgwV1dJIP6q-B8K-s7TZUBlES8SjqquCbzp/s1600/secret03.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMzB4rfkmGXBF3wdvVLhJc0TTmK9N3CKT0gvTrZPRi0kDzyPts-Ado0SoYM7VgKFhBN8kv5Bcjaex0qhmjmcr1GSqwAfVEKWXk8XjRz1QguKgwV1dJIP6q-B8K-s7TZUBlES8SjqquCbzp/s320/secret03.gif" width="320" /></a>He spotted it in a bottle of alcohol that a Lao colleague had
brought back from a wedding in a remote part of the country - the
poison from the newt's skin had been used to make a drink with special
medicinal properties for a toast to the newlyweds.<br />
Stuart went in search of the newt in the wild and three years
later he published an article in the Journal of Herpetology, announcing
the discovery of the new species, Laotriton laoensis.<br />
<div id="story_continues_2">
"When you see one of these animals in the wild
in your hand for the first time and you recognise that it is absolutely
unique, it's like discovering a treasure," he says.</div>
<br />
But his joy turned to horror when he realised his discovery
had caught the attention of amphibian dealers around the world. Examples
of the species were popping up in pictures on amphibian pet forums as
far away as Germany and Japan. <br />
Stuart soon realised that trading networks had emerged
between Laos and the West and traders were using his report as a roadmap
to capture and sell hordes of the newts. <br />
"The mindset of these commercial collectors is to go in, get
as many as you can, as quickly as you can, to make as much money as
possible," he says.<br />
"What's worse is they have set up these trade networks with local villagers telling them to collect as many as they can."<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEZN96Iy9fndiTgVB9WFczNhHZYui1YfHrCYn1vWxup8yCfCrQTS_4FYt2L6Qb6KXi-iMM2qX639nrNmY2uuQtWTgHacIAAwtDqOr0CVHwxWJtFT0U4a08veaAt6vsD-Bd0bjJ4lkkLqDW/s1600/secret02.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEZN96Iy9fndiTgVB9WFczNhHZYui1YfHrCYn1vWxup8yCfCrQTS_4FYt2L6Qb6KXi-iMM2qX639nrNmY2uuQtWTgHacIAAwtDqOr0CVHwxWJtFT0U4a08veaAt6vsD-Bd0bjJ4lkkLqDW/s1600/secret02.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="width: 224px;">Smugglers sold Laotriton laoensis newts <br />for $200 each</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
The Lao newt lives on the surface of rock pools and was easy
to find. Villagers were typically offered less than $1 (£0.63) for each
newt. Smugglers then sold them on to hobbyists for as much as $200
(£130).<br />
Because the newt is unique to Laos and only found in three
small areas in the north of the country, the population was quickly
decimated. <br />
In 2008, six years after the publication of Stuart's paper, a
biologist from the National University of Laos, Somphouthone
Phimmachak, proved the species was close to extinction. Her work led to
the Lao newt being granted official status as a threatened species,
making it illegal to trade specimens caught in the wild.<br />
<br />
It wasn't the first time a scientific discovery has put a rare species in danger. <br />
"A turtle from the small Indonesian island of Roti was so
heavily hunted that today it is nearly extinct in the wild," says
Stuart. A rare gecko from south-east China was removed from its natural
habitat entirely by smugglers who got prices as high as $2,000 (£1,272)
for each.<br />
<div id="story_continues_3">
Jason Lee Brown, a herpetologist who has
studied poison frogs in Peru since 2003, describes three separate
incidents where his discoveries put a species' existence under threat. </div>
In 2006 he published the picture of a new species of poison
frog, Ranitomeya benedicta on the internet. Almost immediately it
appeared in trade shows in Europe and North America. <br />
Two years later it happened again when he published the
description of a second new species and again when he reported the
rediscovery of a third species thought to be extinct.<br />
In 2010 Brown returned to the area in Peru where he had
initially discovered R. benedicta and found that locals had been cutting
down canopies in the trees where the frogs were known to live.<br />
"I almost quit what I was doing," he says. <br />
Two of these frogs were declared threatened last year.<br />
Endangered species status is meted out by the International
Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), according to the convention on
trade in endangered species (Cites). It was first signed in 1973 and has
now been ratified by 175 countries. <br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8dC7w4izOi3F_glGW2dQKtiBrQMQmTqDqPkXz0wNIxLvtUVPxx-_guDF6iJhs7eup-wbE_C0CS_CQbSaA8IsL-d_Ur8nGkwEaGFIDyEy39FfHpj4DKdBvdxMpHCG6H8SdQIXguCGd4Me6/s1600/secret01.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8dC7w4izOi3F_glGW2dQKtiBrQMQmTqDqPkXz0wNIxLvtUVPxx-_guDF6iJhs7eup-wbE_C0CS_CQbSaA8IsL-d_Ur8nGkwEaGFIDyEy39FfHpj4DKdBvdxMpHCG6H8SdQIXguCGd4Me6/s1600/secret01.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="width: 464px;">This illegal shipment of frogs were on their way to <br />Europe from Peru when they were found dead</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
But according to some conservationists, endangered species
status creates new problems. Chris Shepherd of Traffic, an organisation
that monitors the wildlife trade, believes the endangered label can
boost animals' black market value.<br />
He regularly visits the wildlife markets of Jatinegara in Jakarta and
Chatuchak in Bangkok where he has seen traders advertising the fact -
albeit slyly - that the animals they sell are endangered and illegal.<br />
Traffic is working to train local law enforcement agencies to
clamp down on illegal wildlife trade. But obliterating wildlife trade
is low on the political agenda in countries such as Laos, Indonesia,
Thailand and Peru.<br />
"Customs have a very important role to play being at the
front line of import and export," says Shepherd. "But finding a customs
officer anywhere in the world that cares much about newts is difficult."<br />
<br />
<h2 style="background-color: orange;">
<b>Why should we care about newts?</b></h2>
<ul style="background-color: orange;">
<li><b> "Amphibians are the new canaries in the coal mines," says Ariadne Angulo of the IUCN</b></li>
<li><b> They are often the first species to respond to pollution or change in climate and are crucial in surveys of landscape health</b></li>
<li><b> A third of all known species of known amphibians are classified as threatened</b></li>
<li><b> Amphibians eat a lot of invertebrates and are an important source of food for larger predators</b></li>
</ul>
<div style="background-color: orange;">
<b>Source: Ariadne Angulo, IUCN</b></div>
<br />
<br />
Relying on governments in developing countries to address the
issue is pointless, agrees Jason Lee Brown, who got little help from
the Peruvian authorities when he drew cases of frog smuggling to their
attention.<br />
<div id="story_continues_4">
<br /></div>
<div id="story_continues_4">
"There is widespread apathy, they have so many
issues to deal with that are more important and they just don't have
the infrastructure to deal with this," he says. </div>
He believes the responsibility lies with those in the developed world who are driving the pet market. <br />
Peruvian hunters, many of whom live on $1.25 (£0.79) a day,
can get about $2 (£1.30) a frog. Collectors in Europe and the US will
pay up to $1,000 (£636) a pair, making smuggling a very lucrative
business.<br />
Some people believe the only viable solution to the trade of wild animals is captive breeding.<br />
Mark Pepper, who has worked with Brown on frog conservation
projects in Peru, runs a legal and ethical frog breeding business but
sometimes he finds illegal traders selling species he has never worked
with under his name. <br />
He thinks smuggling is not the most pressing threat to
amphibians. For some species, such as the Lao newt, smuggling can have a
devastating effect, but most amphibians face the much greater threat of
habitat destruction.<br />
Timber felling and mining are a much greater risk to the frogs he has studied in Peru, he says.<br />
"Smuggling is a drop in the bucket."<br />
The logical thing it seems would be to keep the locations of the animals secret and some scientists do choose to do this. <br />
<br />
Last year the <a href="http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/15/after-8-decades-tiny-toad-resurfaces-in-asia/">New York Times reported</a>
that a herpetologist in Malaysia, Indraneil Das rediscovered a striking
amphibian called the Borneo rainbow toad previously thought to be
extinct. Das avoided publishing its specific location.<br />
Similarly, after his experience with the Lao newt, Bryan
Stuart discovered a species of poison snake and decided to keep its
location secret. But it was something he was uncomfortable doing.<br />
He believes that scientists need to share knowledge of which
species occurs where so that they can co-operate with each other and the
public to preserve the species and its habitat.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Piet-Ton Sebaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15394705925239784996noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5531549366806918996.post-62376632742055479172012-03-22T12:58:00.001-07:002012-03-22T12:58:32.554-07:00Protection of one of the rarest turtles of the world<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Slow and Steady</b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>A Manhattan night-life barons's race to save an ancient species</b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Bij William Finnegan</b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
One smuggler wore a trilby, white with a black band. Another looked like Little Richard. The third was the most worrisome. He had heavy shoulders and a lidless, unsmiling gaze...</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV5w7WJO_ax6oDvu8WQ2ECxnmiIeXN6slMHFaHzvGnQ4eMZPWrC3xNx1GWMAVpPKsxWqHdjLQ8tNLD1ZjO9E6xtz260o_YnjnThnYilpOxmbs1Jdyls7rZKlEpek52Dk9iuEnLrPkReQCc/s1600/plowshare1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV5w7WJO_ax6oDvu8WQ2ECxnmiIeXN6slMHFaHzvGnQ4eMZPWrC3xNx1GWMAVpPKsxWqHdjLQ8tNLD1ZjO9E6xtz260o_YnjnThnYilpOxmbs1Jdyls7rZKlEpek52Dk9iuEnLrPkReQCc/s1600/plowshare1.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Eric Goode with a plowshare tortoise at <br />Ankarafantsika National Park, in Ampijoroa, Madagascar. <div style="background-color: white; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;">
<br /></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Read more here...</div>
<br />
<a href="https://turtleconservancy.org/documents/2012/2/The%20New%20Yorker.pdf" target="_blank">https://turtleconservancy.org/documents/2012/2/The%20New%20Yorker.pdf</a><br />
<br />
And here...<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/photobooth/2012/01/plowshare-tortoise.html" target="_blank">http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/photobooth/2012/01/plowshare-tortoise.html </a><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOhI0iQFsBrnpGmMasoyzdqtSrtdgr6yUtlXnmKXrMoROu79QkQP7ADMC0lYByZcC8GuKMEvHGGmH5XerCICNxc6jitMMmgf2N6-ZIRv2n5bfnTiyeCQNTqC6dn63mKgeIEOGALuzG_mH1/s1600/plowshare.jpg" /> </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br />Piet-Ton Sebaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15394705925239784996noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5531549366806918996.post-72145266641232384612012-03-22T12:45:00.002-07:002012-03-22T12:45:18.979-07:00Sea turtles protection<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/mar2012/2012-03-16-091.html" target="_blank">The original article can be found here</a></div>
<br />
<h5>
<b><span>Court Upholds Limits on Sea Turtle Deaths in Hawaii's Longline Fishery</span></b></h5>
<h5>
<b>HONOLULU, Hawaii</b>, March 16, 2012 (ENS) - In a decision Thursday,
the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a federal district court
settlement limiting the number of loggerhead and critically endangered
leatherback sea turtles that can be caught by Hawaii's longline
swordfish fishery.
</h5>
The settlement responded to a lawsuit brought by conservation groups
Turtle Island Restoration Network, Center for Biological Diversity and
KAHEA challenging the National Marine Fisheries Service's decision in
2009 to nearly triple the number of sea turtles the fishery could catch.<br />
he settlement rolled back the limit to prior levels. Today's decision
rejected an appeal by the fishing industry, which sought to invalidate
the agreement.
<br />
Earthjustice attorney Paul Achitoff said, "We're glad the federal
appeals court upheld the temporary sea turtle protections we won with
the consent decree, but the high level of sea turtle harm NMFS is now
proposing may well be worse than the previous rule. NMFS seems to be
raising the limits to accommodate the longliners rather than to ensure
that the species aren't driven to extinction, as the law requires."
<br />
Swordfish longline vessels trail up to 60 miles of fishing line
suspended in the water with floats, with as many as 1,000 baited hooks
deployed at regular intervals. Sea turtles become hooked while trying to
take bait or become entangled while swimming through the nearly
invisible lines.
<br />
These encounters can drown the turtles or leave them with serious
injuries. Sea birds such as albatross dive for the bait and become
hooked; marine mammals, including endangered humpback whales and false
killer whales, also sometimes become hooked when they swim through the
floating lines.
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia7dH_3TdVLao64hvVnOj539gWJ7Li-QGfZ9JI4Z9OdgJtLVUImvGTBNxmHgXfcwx2QfrjGMxxmYtt3cAGB9yWUOiJLfgCTH3rkay42pOMSouN-DEPYy0BjrE9hA7ndIW1m3iUXGbLy2XD/s1600/seaturtle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="245" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia7dH_3TdVLao64hvVnOj539gWJ7Li-QGfZ9JI4Z9OdgJtLVUImvGTBNxmHgXfcwx2QfrjGMxxmYtt3cAGB9yWUOiJLfgCTH3rkay42pOMSouN-DEPYy0BjrE9hA7ndIW1m3iUXGbLy2XD/s320/seaturtle.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><h5>
Sea turtle swims in waters south of Kona <br /> on the west coast of the Big Island, Hawaii. <span>(Photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kajo0069/5756670471/" target="_blank">K. Johannson)</a> </span></h5>
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"Hawaii's public-trust ocean resources have to be better managed for our
collective best interest, and not just the interests of this commercial
fishery," said KAHEA Board President Kealoha Pisciotta. "The 9th
Circuit decision is a victory not just for the turtles, but for Hawaii's
people who rely on a healthy, functioning ocean ecosystem. We can't
rest as long as federal fishery managers continue to allow unacceptable
levels of harm to the few sea turtles remaining in the ocean."
<br />
Turtle Island Restoration Network, Center for Biological Diversity and
KAHEA sued the National Marine Fisheries Service over its decision to
increase, from 17 to 46, the number of loggerhead sea turtles the
fishery could catch in a year before being required to shut down.
<br />
At the same time, NMFS was considering increasing protections for
loggerheads under the Endangered Species Act by upgrading it from
"threatened" to "endangered."
<br />
The plaintiffs and NMFS agreed to settle the case by rolling back the
number of loggerheads allowed to be caught to 17 while the agency
decided whether to uplist the species and prepared a new analysis of the
effects of increasing the turtle catch limit on the species' survival
and eventual recovery.
<br />
Judge David Ezra approved the settlement as a consent decree.
<br />
In its appeal, the fishing industry argued that the court lacked the
power to issue the consent decree. The appeals court rejected this
argument, noting that the consent decree simply offered the sea turtles
some protection by reinstating the previous catch limit, while allowing
the agency an opportunity to reconsider its position in light of the
latest scientific information.
<br />
"Our settlement ensures that sea turtles can swim more freely and safely
in Hawaii's waters," said Miyoko Sakashita, oceans director at the
Center for Biological Diversity. "If loggerheads and leatherbacks are
going to survive, we need to stop killing them in our fisheries."
<br />
While the appeal was pending, NMFS in September 2011 changed the
loggerheads' designation to "endangered." In January of this year, the
agency also issued a new biological opinion as contemplated by the
consent decree. That document proposes to increase the number of
endangered loggerhead sea turtles the longliners can catch from 17 to
34. It also increases the limit for catching endangered leatherback sea
turtles from 16 to 26. Notably, in 2011 the fishery was forced to
close after it caught its limit of leatherbacks.
<br />
Teri Shore of the Turtle Island Restoration Network said, "Sea turtles
are becoming more endangered, not less, so each one we lose in the
longline fishery pushes them closer to extinction. Allowing more sea
turtles to be harmed in this high-bycatch fishery makes a joke out of
so-called sustainable seafood."
<br />
<br />
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<b><span> </span></b></h5>Piet-Ton Sebaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15394705925239784996noreply@blogger.com0