Endangered frogs given new life in south Western Australia

The original article can be found here

HIRTY-ONE captive-bred endangered sunset frogs and 251 tadpoles have been translocated to the South-West in a bid to save the species from extinction. 
 
Department of Environment and Conservation officials said most of the amphibians were bred at Perth Zoo and moved to a private property in the Mt Frankland area.
There are only 30 known populations of the sunset frog left in the wild and the rare creatures survive in a tiny pocket of the South-West near Walpole and Nornalup.  They currently live in poorly drained peat-based swamps at the headwaters of drainage systems.

Climate change and feral animals, particularly pigs, have played a large role in the frogs' demise, experts say.

DEC threatened fauna ark project officer Manda Page said the sunset frog is also at risk of extinction because of its reliance on habitat that is no longer in abundance.

Dozens of sunset frogs have been sent to the South-West in bid 

to save the species from extinction.  

Picture credit: Department of Environment and Conservation Source: PerthNow

"The release site for the frogs and tadpoles was chosen because it provides suitable habitat and extends the known range of the species," Dr Page said.

“If they breed successfully here, this will hopefully provide insurance against the species being wiped out by a devastating local event such as a large-scale intense bushfire that could destroy the frog’s peat swamp habitat."

All of the tadpoles and most of the adult frogs were reared at Perth Zoo.

 “The owners of the property on which the animals were released have fenced the site and are taking a lead role in protecting and monitoring the frogs," Dr Page said.

“Staff from DEC’s Walpole office will be working with the owners to help them protect the habitat and monitor the survival and breeding behaviour of the frogs. This will hopefully enable us to assess if the translocation has been successful."

The translocation was funded by the State Natural Resource Management program.

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More info about Spicospina flammocaerulea

$11,000 fines and costs for smuggling native reptiles

The original article can be found here

A 46-year-old man from New South Wales has been fined $2000 and ordered to pay $9735 in court costs after being convicted of illegally possessing 29 native reptiles.
Neil Andrew Simpson, 46, was apprehended at Perth Airport on April 25 last year after officers from the Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) intercepted the illegal consignment of reptiles which had been flown to Perth from Newman and were scheduled to be put on a flight to Sydney.

The consignment included a death adder, geckos of various species, dragon lizards, a blue-tongue lizard and pythons. The reptiles were concealed in plastic containers.

Simpson was convicted this week in the Perth Central Law Courts following a two-day trial.

PROTECTED:
Rikki James Piromalli pleaded guilty to possessing
and keeping a South West carpet python
in captivity without authority.
Picture: DEC Source: PerthNow

There was also a second conviction in the Perth Magistrates Court this week, when a 33-year-old Nollamara man was fined a total of $600 and ordered to pay $110 in court costs for illegally keeping a 2m south-west carpet python at his home.

Rikki James Piromalli pleaded guilty to possessing and keeping the carpet python in captivity without authority. The snake is a specially protected species in WA.

DEC prosecutions coordinator Gail Ritchie said he was charged following a search warrant executed by WA Police on his property in January this year.

Ms Ritchie said wildlife smuggling was an ongoing problem and removing protected fauna from the wild had serious implications.

“In the Piromalli case, the carpet python cannot be released in a different location from where it was taken due to the possible effects on the local gene pool of this species. It also poses a risk of introducing disease to wild populations, but we will ensure that it is appropriately cared for,” she said.

“Wild reptiles should be allowed to remain in their natural habitat. DEC takes the unlawful possession of protected reptiles and reptile trafficking very seriously, and we will continue to investigate these matters.”

Under the WA Wildlife Conservation Act the maximum penalty for taking or possessing and keeping specially protected fauna is $4000.

Anyone who has information about the illegal removal of reptiles or notices any suspicious activity suggesting that reptiles are being illegally moved should call DEC's Wildcare hotline 9474 9055.

The cutest reptile you're goanna see

The original article can be found here

UNTIL now, very few of us would have seen this species of reptile - the Rosenberg's goanna. 
 
Once common in southern Australia, it is classified in many areas as vulnerable because of land-clearing and predators such as feral cats.

Adelaide Zoo has successfully bred the Rosenberg's goanna for the first time.
Picture: Jo-anna Robinson

For the first time, the Adelaide Zoo has successfully bred the goanna, which has distinctive orange/brown colouring and grows up to one metre. Eventually, it's hoped the breeding program will help boost their numbers in South Australia, particularly in the Mt Lofty Ranges where they are most prevalent.

The goannas are endangered
in the Mt Lofty region.

 "Having our own young born here means we will have the opportunity to monitor their development for the first time," the zoo's senior reptile keeper, Byron Manning, said.

Animal cruelty, part 4

A reminder why I place these articles!

The manager of the largest reptile zoo in the Netherlands has often said in public (television, newspapers, etc) that private keepers of reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates do not take care of their animals in the right way. He wants stronger laws and a mandatory animal-registration. He thinks he is holier than the Pope because a number of animals which are his responsibility are mistreated in a terrible way. Often this are animals that were confiscated by the government of the Netherlands. They are the property of the Dutch government and the zoo gets payed well to take care of them.

Also take a look at Animal cruelty 1, Animal cruelty 2 & Animal cruelty 3

Suffering Green Iguanas

In the exposition of the reptile zoo there are two groups of Green Iguanas (Iguana iguana). In the group that lived on the ground floor there was a female Green Iguana that was continuously was molested by a male Green Iguana. Thanks to this she always had a number of wounds that would not heal because the male kept biting her. It goes without saying that the female iguana was always very stressed and afraid. The people who had to clean out the terrarium wanted to place her in a large terrarium on the quarantine so she could get rest and her wounds would heal.
The two managers of the reptile zoo did not allow this!

Lots of visitors were shocked when they saw the male Iguana bite the wounded female. Much too late she eventually was placed in a (too) small terrarium (100 x 50 x 50 cm) on the quarantine. Too small because she was not able to hide when the terrarium was cleaned. This gave her a lot of stress again. In this terrarium she perished miserably; this process of dying lasted for many months I heard of the people who had to care for her. I already had left the zoo at that moment.

This Green Iguana should have been euthanized! Her wounds were chronically inflamed and did not heal. She became blind, would hardly eat or drink anything and there is no doubt in my mind that her internal organs also suffered a lot of the biting.

The top of the head of the female Green Iguana
that was continuously bitten by a male Green Iguana

The back of the female Green Iguana
that was continuously bitten by a male Green Iguana

In the past there also were other Green Iguanas at the quarantine that were very ill or disabled. These were not euthanized, but had to suffer during a long period before they died. This is a severe form of animal cruelty and very unprofessional of the responsible managers. Let the pictures speak for themselves.

This Green Iguana suffered of a severe form of rachitis
(not caused by the people of the reptile zoo).
It was kept alive during a longer period.
He was hardly able to move himself

A chronically ill Green Iguana that suffered for many months

A chronically ill Green Iguana that suffered for many months

In this setting the Green Iguana had to live during the awful last months of her life

Belo Monte Dam and Hunters Endanger Amazon Turtles

The original article can be found here

By: Mario Osava - The Guatemala Times


Local authorities, former hunters and environmentalists have joined forces to ensure the reproduction of Amazon turtles in Brazil’s Lower Xingú River. But now they face the threat of the Belo Monte hydro dam being built 40 km upstream.

BAJO XINGÚ, Brazil, Nov 21 (Tierramérica).- Brazilian Luiz Cardoso da Costa was horrified as he watched the Amazonian manatee, a large docile beast, bleeding out from the knife wound he had dealt it, yet greedily gulping down grasses as if eating could somehow stave off death.

 He was not expecting such an agonizingly drawn-out death. And it led him to swear off the hunting of these aquatic mammals, also known as seacows, which can reach sizes of up to half a ton of meat, fat and hide, which fetch a high price on the black market.

He had decided to use a knife and aim for the animal’s heart, because the traditional method of killing Amazonian manatees (Trichechus inunguis) seemed too cruel: sticking rods into their nostrils so that they die of asphyxiation.

But what provoked Da Costa, formerly a "great predator", to give up all forms of hunting forever was witnessing some 800 turtles being loaded onto a boat destined for Manaus, the central metropolis of the Amazon region, in northwestern Brazil. On that particular occasion, 13 years ago, he himself had sold "only around 20" of those 800, but the sight of such a huge number of dead turtles together shook him to the core.

Yellow Spotted River Turtle _ Podocnemis unifilis

His conversion was dramatic. Today he is the heart and soul of environmental protection in Tabuleiro do Embaubal, a group of more than 100 islands in the final stretch of the Xingú River, in the eastern Amazon, whose beaches are the principal known remaining breeding grounds of Amazon turtles.

Thousands of females gather here in September and October, especially on the beach in Juncal. They dig holes in the sand to serve as nests, lay their eggs, cover them up with sand, and then return to the river.

The spectacle of sand flying through the air as multitudes of large turtles dig their nests and lay their eggs could be a major tourist attraction some day, believes Saloma Mendes de Oliveira, secretary of the environment in the municipality of Senador José Porfírio, which includes the Tabuleiro do Embaubal archipelago. As well as a source of revenues, this would also promote the commitment of local communities to the preservation of nature, she added.




For now, the large gatherings of turtles makes them especially vulnerable to hunters, who continue to take advantage of the high prices for turtle meat and eggs, despite the fact that their capture is an environmental crime punished with heavy fines and even prison sentences in some cases. 

Podocnemis unifilis

This is why efforts are being stepped up to monitor the beaches during the "summer" or low-water period between June and November. Since September, Da Costa has been jointed by another 20 rangers.

These are people hired by a company called Biota, created through an agreement between the municipal government of Senador José Porfírio and Norte Energia, the consortium awarded the contract to build the Belo Monte hydroelectric power plant. Norte Energia is responsible for monitoring and mitigating the impacts of the two dams it will build as part of the project.

A good deal of controversy surrounds the potential effects of this energy mega project in the Amazon region, whose total capacity of 11,233 megawatts will be limited to 40% effective capacity, on average, due to the sharp variation in the flow of the Xingú River.

Norte Energia "hasn’t explained anything to us," said Da Costa. His fear is that the river’s water levels will drop, leading to drier "winters" or high-water periods on the Embaubal islands. If the wetlands that are usually flooded during the high-water period dry up as a consequence, this would deprive the turtles of their source of plant food, which means they would be thinner and lay fewer eggs, he explained.

However, this scenario is unlikely, according to Juarez Pezzuti da Silva, a biologist from the Federal University of Pará who is coordinating studies of reptiles in the Xingú River basin.

The flow of the Lower Xingú, the 220-km stretch of the Xingú River between Belo Monte and its mouth, is determined by the Amazon River, which receives its waters along with those of the more than 1,000 rivers in the Amazon Basin.

The Amazon River, vastly larger and faster flowing than its tributary, operates as a barrier to draining. This is why the water level of the Xingú would only drop lower than normal if the same thing happened in the Amazon River. In addition, both rivers are influenced by the tides of the Atlantic Ocean, despite the fact that it is 400 km away.

This is exactly what worries Oliveira: that the slower-flowing waters of the Lower Xingú "will become more acidic" by accumulating more decomposed organic matter, "affecting more susceptible species and reducing local biodiversity."

Norte Energia denies the possibility of such an impact, but its conclusions are not based on any serious foundations, she maintained.

The consortium only recognizes an "indirect influence" of the Belo Monte project on areas that will not be flooded, but they will suffer equally serious damage as the Volta Grande, the rocky 100-km stretch of river whose waters will be partially diverted to feed one of the Belo Monte dams, said Oliveira.

The dam will retain sediments that are needed to maintain the beaches of the Embaubal islands, whose height is crucial for the successful reproduction of Amazon turtles and other species, noted Pezzuti.

The greatest losses of eggs before they are hatched are due to increases in the river’s water level caused by unusually strong rains.

But these are unpredictable and uncontrollable enemies for rangers like Da Costa, who is responsible for preventing human and natural predators from endangering the fauna of the Tabuleiro do Embaubal.

Peasant farmer Manoel Nader witnessed the turtles laying their eggs on the beaches of Embaubal when he joined the group of rangers. “It was incredibly moving. I had never had the chance to see it before," he said, despite having lived almost all of his 48 years in the municipality.

But Nader confesses that, like a number of his colleagues, he had "fished" a few turtles in the past, for his own consumption, despite the prohibition. Now, however, he is committed to his mission to protect them. Besides, he added, "I prefer beef."

Podocnemis unifulis

The main problem is not the local fishermen, who are known and unarmed, capture only a small number of animals to eat themselves, and could be persuaded to stop, said Da Costa. The real threat is posed by traders "from outside" who supply turtles to big cities like Manaus and Belém. The only way to stop them is through police enforcement, he stressed.

The rangers in Embaubal are civilians, employed by Biota or the municipal government, like Da Costa, and have no law enforcement powers. The Brazilian Environmental Institute (IBAMA), which has this authority, transferred its responsibilities in the archipelago to a private foundation, which gave up the work two and a half years ago.

This left Da Costa as a solitary defender of Embaubal, often without the boats or fuel needed to travel among the islands, and sometimes a powerless witness to the capture of huge numbers of turtles.

He has devoted ten of his 47 years to his mission of protecting the turtles. He lives in the "Base", a large wooden house with an observation post that allows him to monitor Juncal beach, 600 meters away, during the daylight hours. He only rarely visits his family, a wife and six children who live in the city. He earns very little and has received numerous death threats. But he feels gratified.

Frogs’ Songs Attract Females, and Predators

 The original article can be found here

By SINDYA N. BHANOO

 
Male túngara frogs (Engystomops pustulosusgather) in shallow pools of water at night and let out long mating calls. Females visit these pools, listen to a few calls and then quickly pick mates. It’s a bit like speed dating.

A male call consists of a whine followed by a series of grunts, or “chucks.” New research suggests that females judge males on these chucks — not the absolute number, but the ratio of one frog’s chucks to another.
During the study in Panama, many female frogs seemed to prefer two chucks over a single chuck. But most did not show a preference between three chucks and two chucks.
It’s a concept humans can relate to, said Karin Akre, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Texas at Austin who led the research.

The call of a male túngara frog consists of a whine and grunting.

“If you have a pile of three oranges and four oranges, it’s pretty easy to see that one has more,” she said. “But it’s harder to tell the difference between 50 oranges versus 60 oranges, even though the absolute difference is greater.”
The frogs are not alone at night; also lurking nearby are bats that prey on the frogs.
Surprisingly, the researchers found that the bats use the same strategy as female frogs when selecting prey to single out.
Like female frogs, they are drawn to males emitting more chucks, and make their determinations based on the ratio, rather than the absolute difference.
“They show, really, the exact same preference,” Dr. Akre said.
Given the different auditory systems of the two species(one is a mammal and one is an amphibian), “it’s surprising and interesting that they share this cognitive ability,” she said.
The study appears in the current issue of the journal Science.

Most of India's amphibians may go extinct

You can find the original article here 

By: Manash Pratim Gohain, TNN | Dec 23, 2011 - The Times of India

NEW DELHI: To discover a new species is a huge honour for a biologist. By that yardstick, the achievements of Dr Sathyabhama Das Biju, an amphibian biologist at Delhi University, are staggering. He has discovered 42 species and is in the process of describing another 28, six new genera and one family - all of frogs.
Meet India's Frog Man, the champion of our amphibian diversity. This week, The Economist magazine featured him on its cover, a rare recognition for an Indian scientist. But for Biju, being in the limelight is an opportunity to make people aware of our vanishing wealth - 66% of Indian amphibians are under the threat of extinction, and if these little creatures vanish, a major ecological imbalance would follow.
"Amphibians were the first land animals and have a 350-million-year history. They are an environmental barometer and we can analyse the quality of our environment by studying them. We cannot imagine life without frogs. If there are no frogs, it would not be possible to grow anything in our fields," he says.

Biju, who works in the Systematics Lab of DU's Environmental Studies department, has been spending seven months a year in the forests of the Northeast and the Western Ghats for the past two decades. It's with this experience that he says the 'dream forest' cover of the Northeast will be lost forever in 20 years' time if urgent interventions are not made.
The scientist then makes a staggering claim: "India is yet to identify 50% of its flora and fauna." Many species of animals will become extinct, he says, without our even knowing they exist.
"For instance, 63 out of 350 amphibian species are no longer found. Amphibian conservation is less about money and more about rapid identification and management and creation of wetland and marshy areas. But we need to do this on a priority," he says. Biju is at present working on 28 new species of frogs which are yet to be described.
The neglect of small species stems from the way we look at wildlife, he says. "In India, when we say wildlife, we usually mean only tigers and elephants. This is a colonial way of looking at the importance of wildlife. But in the context of global warming and the biodiversity crisis, every specie is important for our survival," says he.
Winner of the $ 25,000 Sabin Award for 2008 given by The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) for his work on amphibian conservation and research and Earth hero Sanctuary Asia Wildlife Service Award 2011, Biju's central concern is the "tragedy of nameless extinction" of amphibians in India.

"We in India don't know 50% of our flora and fauna. Even small countries like Sri Lanka and Nepal have a list of the plants and animals found in their country. The tragedy is, we cannot recover destroyed biodiversity. In India, biodiversity and conservation is not in our agenda. We are just focused on GDP and profit. Environmental clearance is a mockery. If a green patch doesn't have elephants or tigers, it can be cleared for concretization," said Biju.
Biju, who is now expanding his scope of scientific research on frogs to central India, said that the Northeast is one of the richest regions in flora and fauna. "In India, the Northeast and Western Ghats are the best places for amphibians. But Northeast India's forests are now being ruthlessly destroyed primarily for jhoom cultivation (agriculture practiced by tribal groups), among other reasons," says he.
Biju and his team are currently working on a comprehensive book on importance of amphibians and its conservation.

Snakebite: Experts Seek New Emphasis on Quiet Killer

You can find the original article her

By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr. Published: December 12, 2011

Snakebite isn’t exactly a neglected disease, but since many victims die for lack of the right medicine, the World Health Organization recognized it as such two years ago.

Papers arguing for new emphasis on snakebite were presented last week at the annual meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.
Officially, the W.H.O. estimates that snakebites kill between 20,000 and 94,000 people a year. Some experts consider this estimate too low, because many deaths of peasant farmers and fishermen go unreported. Snakebites also cause up to 400,000 amputations yearly. 

Cobra (Rod Patterson/Gallo Images via Getty)

Few neglected diseases do so much damage. Even cholera has not officially killed 25,000 since 1973. Cases surge rapidly, as they did in Haiti in 2010, but can be rapidly contained with oral and intravenous rehydration; only about 6,000 have died in Haiti. The W.H.O. estimates there are 120,000 cholera deaths a year worldwide, but normally only about 4,000 are reported.
Most snakebite victims see local healers who apply tourniquets, slice the wounds to suck them, or apply “snake stones.”
Victims need to be rushed to hospitals for antivenom and often must be put on respirators or dialysis. One Nepalese program used volunteer motorcyclists to take victims to a clinic; death rates dropped by 95 percent after the program was implemented.
Cheaper, safer antivenoms are needed. Antivenom is usually made by “milking” snakes, injecting a horse or sheep, and harvesting antibodies; however, the process is expensive, and the product can cause severe allergic reactions.

Animal cruelty, part 3

A reminder why I place these articles!

The manager of the largest reptile zoo in the Netherlands has often said in public (television, newspapers, etc) that private keepers of reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates do not take care of their animals in the right way. He wants stronger laws and a mandatory animal-registration. He thinks he is holier than the Pope because a number of animals which are his responsibility are mistreated in a terrible way. Often this are animals that were confiscated by the government of the Netherlands. They are the property of the Dutch government and the zoo gets payed well to take care of them.

Poor care for Leopard geckos

On the same quarantine that I mentioned before (Animal cruelty 1 & Animal cruelty 2) live some Leopardgeckos (Eublepharus macularius) that are confiscated by the Dutch government. The management of the reptile zoo takes care of them and gets paid for that. I was told that they get around 1 euro per animal per day for the care. That is around 365 euro per animal per year!

What care do these geckos get for this money?

These leopard geckos are housed in very small faunariums with the following measurements: 23 x 15,5 x 17 cm. The leopard geckos are 13 to 15 cm long!! They can hardly move. These animals also do not get extra heating and illumination, so their ambient temperature is around 24 degrees C.
These faunariums are too small to contain a hiding place with a humid substance. This is necessary for Leopard geckos! Thanks to that (and insufficient food) their toes and fingers die and will fall of.
A few times per week they are fed. They get 1 or 2 crickets (crickets cost money!) supplemented with 10 to 20 mealworms.

Faunarium

Leopard gecko

Leopard gecko. What you see is the whole enclosure in which it has to live.

Leopard gecko with dying fingers

Leopard gecko with dying fingers

Leopard geckos. What you see is the whole enclosure in which they have to live.

There are also other small, confiscated lizardspecies housed and cared for in the same way for the same financial compensation. For example Lacerta virdis, Mabuya multifasciata, Gekko gecko and Agama agama. These species need to be housed in large terrariums with a heath lamp. They all are very stressed in these small faunariums.

Agama agama, male in a very small enclosure

Agama agama, female. What you see is half the enclosure in which it has to live.

Strangely enough there also were some Leopard geckos on the same quarantine that were favorites of one of the management members. These were housed in a terrarium with a heath lamp. This animal enclosure was around 100 x 50 x 50 cm. 

In this reptile zoo there is clearly a double standard and the confiscated animals draw the shortest straw. You would expect they get the best care possible, since the Dutch government pays the zoo many hundreds of euros to do so.

Snakes’ Feat May Inspire Heart Drugs

The original article can be found here

By LAWRENCE K. ALTMAN  October 27, 2011 

 BOULDER, Colo. — Pythons are known for their enormous appetites. In a single meal they can devour animals at least as big as they are — deer, alligators, pigs, household pets. 

Equally remarkable is what happens inside the python as it digests its prey. Within a day, its internal organs can double in size. Metabolic rate and production of insulin and lipids soar.
Then, like an accordion, the python’s organs return to normal size in just a few days. Metabolism slows. Then the snake can fast for months, even a year, without losing muscle mass or showing any ill effects, ready to ambush new prey.
How this process happens so rapidly is a biological mystery with important implications for human health, particularly when it comes to heart failure. Now scientists at the University of Colorado are reporting that they have partly solved it.
In a paper in the current issue of Science, they report that a gorging python expands its heart by enlarging existing cells — a process called hypertrophy — and not by creating new ones. (It is not known whether snakes get heart disease.)

A second finding is that a specific combination of three fatty acids produces enlargement of a python’s heart, intestines, liver and kidneys. Injections of the combination produce similar growth in the heart of a mouse.

A giant python swallows an alligator in Everglades National Park, Fla.

Understanding such exaggerated variations, the researchers say, could help them develop novel ways to delay, prevent, treat or even reverse various hereditary and acquired human diseases.
Substances from other reptiles have been used to develop drugs; for example, the diabetes drug Byetta is derived from a hormone found in Gila monster saliva. And the day may come when doctors literally prescribe snake oil for heart disease.
“Heart failure is the goal” of the python research, said Leslie A. Leinwand, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute professor at the University of Colorado and a senior member of the research team. She added that the findings might also lead to treatments to prevent sudden death in young athletes, as well as ailments like diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity.
A gorging python produces an opaque milky plasma composed of fatty acids and other lipids in amounts that would damage a human heart, Dr. Leinwand said. Trigylcerides, the main components of natural fats and oils, zoomed to 50 times the fasting rate.

Dr. Leinwand had been fascinated by a journal article by Stephen M. Secor and Jared Diamond urging other scientists to explore extremes of lifestyles among wild animals. The python research in Boulder began in 2005, when Cecilia A. Riquelme, who had earned a Ph.D. in cell biology in her native Chile, sought a fellowship in Dr. Leinwand’s laboratory.

An expert in the molecular workings of the heart, Dr. Leinwand knew little such research had been done on pythons. There are structural differences — a python heart has three chambers, a human heart four. Yet she thought experiments in comparative biology might advance human heart research.
Adult pythons can grow as long as 25 feet and as thick as telephone poles, far too large for her laboratory. So she bought a supply of five-footers and asked Dr. Riquelme, “How would you feel about working with pythons?”
Pythons are not venomous; still, she feared being bitten. But the challenge was too tempting to pass up, and after a harmless bite she overcame her fear.
She started by observing how the python’s organs grew while the intact prey was in the stomach. The organs regressed in size over about two weeks.
Using chemical stains they developed to measure cell size and the number of nuclei, the investigators determined that the heart expansion was from hypertrophy, not formation of new cells.

Hypertrophy of the human heart occurs in two types. One, from ailments like high blood pressure and heart attacks, is a leading predictor of death. The second type is beneficial and occurs from exercise in conditioned athletes.
The Colorado scientists found that the enlargement of a python’s heart is analogous to the growth seen in the heart of a human athlete. Among their goals is to better understand how plasma components instruct individual cells to develop into the beneficial ones among athletes or bad ones in disease.
After a year, Dr. Riquelme determined that she could enlarge the heart of a starved python by injecting blood from a feasting one. She then proposed adding the blood’s straw-colored plasma to rat heart cells to determine whether it had the same effect.
Dr. Leinwand doubted the experiment would work. But it did, repeatedly, and Dr. Riquelme said her colleague “jumped up and down” with excitement. Dr. Leinwand called it “the critical finding that motivated us to translate the python biology into mammals.”
Still, a major mystery remained: What component of the python plasma caused the cells to enlarge?

Dr. Riquelme used gas chromatography and additional techniques to analyze the proteins, lipids and other components of python plasma in fed and starving pythons.
Several pieces of evidence pointed to fatty acids, which are important in the body’s energy production and metabolism. In additional experiments, Dr. Riquelme and other members of the Colorado team found that only the specific combination of three fatty acids from a sated python produced the same hypertrophy when injected into a fasting one. The three fatty acids that enlarge the python’s cells (myristic, palmitic and palmitoleic) occur in proportionately higher amounts in pythons than in humans. Injections of one fatty acid, or a combination of two, did not produce hypertrophy.  

Leslie A. Leinwand

Another mystery was what protected the python heart from the toxic effects of huge amounts of the lipids. Further research determined that the protective substance was an enzyme, SOD (for superoxide dismutase), an antioxidant that defends cells exposed to oxygen.
Eventually Dr. Riquelme returned with her family to Chile (though their departure was delayed for months by the giant earthquake in February 2010), and it was left to her colleagues in Colorado to carry out additional experiments. In one, blood plasma from bloated pythons was injected into live mice. Again, surprisingly, mouse heart cells enlarged as they would in a well-conditioned athlete.
Along the way, the Colorado team asked Dr. Secor, now at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, to join in the research. He is an author of the new paper in Science.
The findings leave a number of mysteries still open. What causes the organs to shrink to their fasting size? How would such findings apply to the death of human cells? And will repeated injections of the fatty acid combination safely lead to sustained increase in organ size?
Dr. Leinwand said she carried out the python research with support from federal and Colorado taxpayers and the American Heart Association. But the federal National Institutes of Health rejected her requests for direct financing, calling the relationship between reptiles and human heart disease too remote. In 2007, Dr. Leinwand became a founder of the Hiberna Corporation of Boulder to develop drugs derived from the study of exaggerated variations in animal metabolism. The company helped pay for some of the research.

Adder disappearance in Nottinghamshire 'very worrying'

The original article can be found here

Adder disappearance in Nottinghamshire 'very worrying'

Wildlife experts fear that the adder may be extinct in Nottinghamshire after another annual survey failed to find any evidence of the reptile. The last confirmed sighting of the venomous snake in the county was in Sherwood Forest in 2005.
Nick Crouch, a conservationist, said its disappearance was "very worrying" as the species was a key indicator of the health of the food chain. The wildlife expect has appealed for the public to report any sightings.
'Bit of a mystery'
Mr Crouch, a nature conservation leader for Nottinghamshire County Council, said the species was once quite widespread across Sherwood. Adders are in rapid decline in the UK and experts put this mainly down to habitat loss and disturbance.

Adder (Vipera berus) from the United Kingdom

 "These snakes require areas of heathland and woodland," Mr Crouch said.
"These areas are being lost or are not being managed properly but quite why the adder seems to have disappeared in Nottinghamshire is a bit of a mystery.
"There's still plenty of suitable habitat left in the county including where the snake was recorded in 2005."
Nottinghamshire County Council is encouraging people to report all sightings of reptiles in the county, including grass snake, slow worm and common lizard.
"Such information helps us to identify important areas for these species, and to target action to conserve them," Mr Crouch said.
All sightings should be reported to the Nottinghamshire Biological and Geological Records Centre at Wollaton Hall.

A second article that deals with the same problem

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The original article can be found here

Adders and frogs are disappearing from the UK

Adders could soon be hiss-tory in the UK, according to new research. A nationwide survey by the Amphibian and Reptile Conservation (ARC) Trust found adders have been vanishing from our countryside since 2007. Adders are the UK's only poisonous snake, but now researchers say they might need conservation. It's thought lots of adders are killed because they're poisonous, but the ARC Trust says their decline may also be caused by disturbance of their habitat.

Adder (Vipera berus) from the United Kingdom

What snakes are there in the UK?
Adders aren't the only reptiles in trouble though. The study found slow worms, common lizards, grass snakes, common toads and common frogs are also becoming less widespread. The only species among reptiles and amphibians that was found to be increasing its range is the palmate newt.

Six Chinese charged for turtle catch

The original article can be found here

Six Chinese charged for turtle catch in Philippines (By: TERESA CEROJANO)


A court in the Philippines charged six Chinese fishermen with poaching endangered sea turtles in proceedings Monday aimed at protecting threatened wildlife along the country's coastline.
Authorities discovered a batch of giant green turtles after intercepting the fishermen's speedboat in waters off the western province of Palawan on Friday, said military spokesman Maj. Niel Estrella. A joint team from the Philippine navy, coast guard and the Environment Department made the seizure.
The boat was likely attached to a mother ship that escaped after the fishermen were detained, Estrella said.
Nine of the turtles were already dead, but three were released alive into the waters after being tagged, Glenda Cadigal, a wildlife specialist at the Palawan Council, told The Associated Press.

Chelonia mydas

 The sea turtles, also known as Chelonia mydas, are often caught for food and for use in traditional medicine. They can grow as long as 5 feet (150 centimeters) and weigh as much as 290 pounds (130 kilograms). They are endangered because of overharvesting of both eggs and adults.

On Monday, authorities filed criminal charges under the Philippines' Wildlife Act and Fisheries Code at the Palawan Regional Trial Court in the capital Puerto Princessa, said Adelina Villena, chief lawyer for the government's Palawan Council for Sustainable Development.

Chelonia mydas

If found guilty on all charges, the fishermen would face up to 24 years in prison. They were not requested to enter a plea Monday and a date for their arraignment was not immediately set, Villena said.
In Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said China was "paying attention to the incident" and asked the Philippines to ensure the safety and legal rights of the fishermen. "The Chinese Embassy in the Philippines has sent staff to visit the detained fishermen," Hong said.

Last year, six Chinese fishermen also on a speedboat were arrested near the same area with more than 50 turtles, many of them already butchered and one bearing a monitoring tag of the University of the Philippines Marine Science Institute, said Cadrigal, the wildlife specialist.
The trial of those fisherman is still continuing.

Nine dead Green Sea Turtles seized from six Chinese fishermen

"These kind of practices endanger the lives of other creatures in the sea because marine turtles have their function in the balance of the ecosystem," Cadigal said.
Sea turtles feed on sea grass, which keeps the blades short and promotes their growth across the sea bed, and also provide sand beaches with nutrients, partly because of the eggs they lay that remain unhatched.
Palawan, about 510 miles (820 kilometers) southwest of Manila, is the nearest Philippine province to the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, which are claimed by China, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia, Vietnam and Brunei.
Relations between the Philippines and China have recently soured after Manila accused Beijing of interfering with its oil exploration activities in the sea China claims in its entirety.


Associated Press writer Louise Watt in Beijing contributed to this report.

Animal cruelty, part 2

A reminder why I place these articles!

The manager of the largest reptile zoo in the Netherlands has often said in public (television, newspapers, etc) that private keepers of reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates do not take care of their animals in the right way. He wants stronger laws and a mandatory animal-registration. He thinks he is holier than the Pope because a number of animals which are his responsibility are mistreated in a terrible way. Often this are animals that were confiscated by the government of the Netherlands. They are the property of the Dutch government and the zoo gets payed well to take care of them. Also look at Animal cruelty 1.

Colubrid snakes with a lack of space


On the quarantine live a large number of colubrid snakes, mainly Pantherophis and Lampropeltis species. Most of them have a length of about 80 - 100 cm and live in small faunariums (37 x 22 x 24,5 cm). It goes without saying that this is much too small. The snakes can never fully stretch. If this was only for a short period, than it would not be that bad. But a lot of them seem to live in these small, plastic containers for years.

These containers are not heated. The room in which they stand is centrally heated, but only to about 24 ° C. The snakes have no chance to bask. And basking is part of their natural behavior; they are inhabitants of areas with a temperate climate. Next to that, they get no rest period in the winter months. This also is part of their natural behavior. During the winter months even the night temperature does not get below 24 ° C.
 
A number of these snakes are owned by the Dutch government; the management of the zoo gets paid per animal per day to take care of them. The Dutch government has confiscated the snakes for several reasons.
Let the pictures speak for themselves again.

A Lampropeltis triangulum sinaloae

A Lampropeltis triangulum sinaloae

A Lampropeltis getula californiae (a piece of cork is temporarily removed to make the photo)

 

An albino Lampropeltis getula californiae (a piece of cork is temporarily removed to make the photo)

A Lampropeltis triangulum sinaloae (a piece of cork is temporarily removed to make the photo)

A Lampropeltis triangulum campbelli (in a temporarily faunarium in which
it is placed while the other one - with the same size - is cleaned )

Geckos Threatened By Booming Demand For Traditional Medicines

The original article can be found here

November 16, 2011

by: Scott Hensley

An Asian lizard that likes to come out at night has become a prime target for hunters looking to make a quick ringgit, dong or Philippine peso.
The tokay gecko is reputed to have HIV-fighting properties, though there is no scientific evidence to support that notion. And it's been an ingredient in Asian traditional medicines for lots of other uses, including cancer.
Lately, though, the market for the lizards has really caught fire, leading the conservation group TRAFFIC, which monitors international trade in wildlife, to sound an alarm.
The surging "demand for tokay geckos is leading to the rapacious collection of this species throughout Southeast Asia," the group said in a new report (see page 9-10 in PDF). The group says "incredible claims of miracle cures and vast monetary gains may be indicative of an elaborate hoax."


The species, though under increasing pressure in such places as Malaysia and Indonesia, isn't on the endangered list maintained by CITES, an international group that regulates the wildlife trade.
TRAFFIC says it will investigate the trade of the species in Malaysia, which the group says "appears to be playing a central role in the recent boom in the tokay gecko trade."
The Philippines are another important source of the lizards. A few months ago the government warned people not to trap and sell them. It's against the law there. And a top health official warned there is no basis for the use of the lizard as a "cure for any ailment."

WRRT Raids Python Skin Factory

You can find the original article here 

On the night of October 10, 2011, our Wildlife Rapid Rescue Team received a tip from an informant about an illegal python skin factory in the Khan Daun district in Phnom Penh.  The next morning, the team headed directly to Phnom Penh Court to obtain a search warrant.  By 10am, warrant in hand, and working in conjunction with local military police and Forestry Administration officials, WRRT raided the factory and discovered 27 live pythons, weighing in at 248 kg, 180 kg of python fat, 74 kg of python meat, and 14 pieces of dry python skin. 


Products such as these can fetch a high price on the black market and are sold worldwide for food, medicine, and apparel.  After the offender was apprehended, he was fined 40 million riels (equivalent to about $10,000 USD) but lacking the requisite funds, he was immediately sent to court.  That afternoon, all the fat, meat, and skin was buried at Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Center. 


The next day, October 12, a team led by Mr. Heng Kimchhay, left Phnom Penh early in the morning to meet with Chief Forestry Administration official Heng Sieng Hong and our SWEC patrol team to release the 27 live pythons back into the jungle.  The release took place about 12km from Andong Teuk village at 6 different locations along 300m of highway, not far from a stream to which they could return.

Anger over shot croc

 Here you can find the original article

A MUCH-LOVED giant crocodile has been killed - shot between the eyes at close range in Arnhem Land.
The 5.1m "boss croc" - known as the Black Crocodile - was "of high cultural importance", elder Goldie Blyth said.
Its home for at least 40 years was in and around the Murrkan, Murgenella and Wark billabongs on the Coburg Peninsula north-east of Darwin.
Ms Blyth said "this latest victim of new-age technology, avarice and intolerance" appears to have been "murdered" from the Murgenella Creek Crossing last Sunday.
The croc was found floating two days later.

Jonathan Nadji with the dead croc.

"He (once) came up with a large barramundi, he threw the large fish around in his mouth as if to say, 'I got this barramundi' - waving it to us and showing us his catch; he then ate it front of us. It was a very special moment," Ms Blyth said.
"The crocodile's death is a very sad and a significant loss to traditional owners and the wider community.
"Cultural respects were paid on each visit to the site and the resident boss crocodile would seem to respond in kind, by showing itself and then swimming off to tend to its business. Traditional owners would regularly talk to the large crocodile.


"People had an enormous respect for the animal and the relationship goes back well over 40 years.
"On some occasions, people would talk to the crocodile before fishing or entering the water to hunt file snakes."
Ms Blyth called for signs to prevent stopping at the creek by "hoon shooting individuals". She has also called for Parks and Wildlife rangers to be reinstated at Murgenella - and wants the the culprit prosecuted.
Ms Blyth last visited the croc about three weeks ago.
"In recent times, the Black Crocodile did not like the sound of quad bikes and appeared to be agitated when he heard their sound," she said. "The crocodile was well-known to the old people and his killing is a loss of an important link to past generations that have passed on.

"The crocodile was always present or in close proximity to the crossing and was well known to both locals and some visitors."

Animal cruelty, part 1

Introduction 

Last year I came in contact with someone who worked as a trainee in the largest public reptile zoo in the Netherlands (it also is the largest shelter for reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates in the Netherlands).
The trainee initially was very pleased that she got the opportunity to work and learn there during a year. She heard positive stories about the zoo and its management.
After working there for a month she started to see things in the zoo that surprised her in an unpleasant way. Especially in the large quarantine rooms she saw things that made her doubt about the animalcare. Other employees agreed with her, but were not allowed to change things. Only the two members of the Board were allowed to do this. And they felt that the animals were housed in a right way and were not open to criticism. The trainee started to make pictures of (and made notes about) the cages and animals that shocked her.
I will place a number of these stories on this blog and you will see that the pictures speak for themselves.
Why do I do this?
The manager of this reptile zoo has often said in public (television, newspapers, etc) that private keepers of reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates do not take care of their animals in the right way. He wants stronger laws and a mandatory animal-registration. He thinks he is holier than the Pope because a number of animals which are his responsibility are mistreated in a terrible way. Often this are animals that were confiscated by the government of the Netherlands. They are the property of the Dutch government and the zoo gets payed well to take care of them.

Recently I came in contact with someone who was involved with the zoo for many years. Nowadays he has no connections with the zoo anymore, but knows a lot of what happened behind the scenes. Maybe this person will share some of his knowledge with me and the readers of this blog. 

I will start with a small article about tarantulas.

On the quarantine a number of fairly aggressive tarantulas from Africa are housed in very small, plastic terrariums (23 x 15 x 17 cm). These small containers were never cleaned. Employees who worked for several years in the zoo confirmed this. They were not allowed to touch the terrariums. The two managers occasionally threw a cricket or a mealworm in the terrariums and sprayed some water in it once or twice per month.
The terrariums are too disgusting to watch. The photos will speak for itself. The trainee was not sure if the spiders were property of the Dutch government. If so, the zoo gets paid for the "care".

The next article will be about some colubrid snakes.