China to release alligators into wild

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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.

Juvenile Chinese Alligator (Alligator sinensis) Picture: Fons Sleijpen (C)

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.
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.
"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.
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.
The researchers will install radio transmitters on the reptiles to trace their whereabouts and collect data for scientific study, Wang said.
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.
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.

Juvenile Chinese Alligator (Alligator sinensis) Picture: Fons Sleijpen (C)

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.
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.
The breeding center now has more than 1,000 captive alligators.

In Everglades, tracking pythons may provide clues to vanishing wildlife

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By Darryl Fears, Published: April 28, 2012

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.
“Do you see her?” asked Hart, a research ecologist for the U.S. Geological Survey. “Yeah, she’s in there,” answered Thomas Selby, a wildlife biologist. “I think she knows we’re here,” said Brian Smith, another biologist.

Pictures

Within seconds, the 16¹ / ₂-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 the near disappearance of rabbits, opossums, raccoons, foxes and even bobcats in the southernmost section of the 1.5 million-acre Everglades.
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.
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.
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 17¹ / ₂ feet — more than twice as long as former basketball player Shaquille O’Neal is tall.
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 Frank J. Mazzotti, a professor of wildlife ecology and conservation for the University of Florida.



“All it takes is three snakes,” he said, mating and laying an average of 50 eggs, and up to 100 eggs, per year.
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.
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.
“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.
Pythons prefer warmth, but many in the Everglades have managed to survive hard freezes, leading some biologists to worry about their ability to adapt and travel north. The snake has already been swimming and slithering south toward the Florida Keys.

Venomous Snake Farming High-Stakes Business in China

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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) (Bloomberg)

Man sentenced to 21 months in prison for smuggling turtles from Japan to US in snack boxes

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By Associated Press, Published: April 30, 2012

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.
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.

In a letter to U.S. District Judge George King, Yamagami apologized and promised never to engage in animal smuggling again.
“I am extremely ashamed and remorseful about my actions,” he wrote.
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.
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.

Most of the animals are protected by an international endangered species agreement and can only be imported with a permit.
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.
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.
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.

Bumblebee-Colored Gecko Discovered on the Admiralty Islands

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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.

The Bumblebee Gecko, Nactus kunan (Robert Fisher / US Geological Survey)

The new species of gecko, described in the journal Zootaxa, 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.
“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.”
“We’ve officially named it Nactus kunan for its striking color pattern — kunan 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.”
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.
“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.
“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.

24 New Species of Skinks Discovered on Caribbean Islands

24 New Species of Skinks Discovered on Caribbean Islands

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A team of biologists from Penn State University has discovered 24 new species of lizards known as skinks, all from islands in the Caribbean.

The Anguilla Bank skink, one of the 24 new skink species
discovered by Penn State scientists (Karl Questal / Penn State University)

The newly discovered skinks are reported today in a 245-page article in the journal Zootaxa.
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.
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.
“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.”
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.
“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.
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.
“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.”
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.
“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.”

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24 newly discovered lizard species face extinction

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WASHINGTON: Half of the 24 new lizard species known as skinks, all discovered on the Caribbean islands, may be close to extinction and the other half are also under threat.

Researchers led by Blair Hedges, professor of biology at Penn State University, attributed their loss to the mongoose, a predatory mammal introduced by farmers to control rats in sugarcane fields during the late 19th century.

"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 Zootaxa reports.

"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.

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.

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.

"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.

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.

"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.

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.

Rare Reptiles Breed in Wild

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Two baby ploughshare tortoises born to parents raised in a captive breeding program are discovered in Madagascar, validating the conservation effort.

By Jef Akst | April 27, 2012

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.
“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.”
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.
Read more about the ploughshare tortoise’s poaching woes in this month’s “Marked for Life.”

Researcher Forms Group to Save Turtles

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Posted: April 25, 2012 by Ashleigh Johnson

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.
"In the spring and the summer, they're crossing the roads quite often," Hanberry said Wednesday.
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.
For their suggestions to become reality, Hanberry said the support of the community is needed.
"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.
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.