HERP NEWS 015/2010

THE RECORD (Kitchener, Ontario) 15 January 10 New python find sparks fears of a ‘super snake' in Everglades (Andy Reid)

Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (McClatchy-Tribune) : Fears of a new "super snake" emerging in the Everglades grew this week during a hunt to track South Florida's invasive python population.

A three-day, state-coordinated hunt that started Tuesday had, by Wednesday, netted at least five African rock pythons - including a 14-foot-long female - in a targeted area in Miami-Dade County.

Three of the African rock pythons found were captured, while two got away. One had a circumference of 31 inches, while another was bearing eggs. Those findings add to concerns that the rock python is a new breeding population in the Everglades and not just the result of a few overgrown pets released into the wild, according to the South Florida Water Management District.

In addition, state environmental officials worry that the rock python could breed with the Burmese python, which already has an established foothold in the Everglades. That could lead to a new "super snake," said George Horne, the water district's deputy executive director.

In Africa, rock pythons eat everything from rats to goats. There have been cases of the snakes killing children.

"They are bigger and meaner than the Burmese python," said Deborah Drum, deputy director of the district's restoration sciences department. The concern is that a hybrid python could pose even more risk of large constrictor snakes overwhelming the Everglades where they thrive.

http://kitchenerwaterloorecord.ca/News/article/656441

WHIG-STANDARD (Kingston, Ontario) 15 January 10 How I learned blacksnakes ingest their young to protect them (Glen E. Smith lives in Perth Road Village.)

The highland blacksnake is one of our more-celebrated types here in South Frontenac Township. There are, it appears to be, two distinct types of blacksnakes in this area. One looks very much like the other but is shorter and prefers water to land as its primary habitat.

This water blacksnake frequents the lakes, rivers and ponds of eastern Ontario, feeding on small fish and frogs. It is quite wily by nature and will usually flee at the approach of humans.

The larger highland blacksnake prefers the rugged rocks and terrain of eastern Ontario. These snakes will, rarely, attain the impressive length of two-and- a-half metres. This snake forages the rockpiles, trees, tunnels, barns, basements and sheds of the countryside, looking for food. This food will consist, primarily, of baby mice, rats, birds and various other prey.

This snake is much more aggressive than its watery cousin. When approached, it will usually curl up and strike at humans or other animals (or, conversely, it will lie dead-still on a barn beam, for instance, as people pass below it.)

The highland blacksnake's aggressiveness or indifference to humans is responsible, in no small part, for its high death rate. Many drivers in this area seem to approach with glee the opportunity to drive over these big snakes while they are sunning themselves on the roadways.

The small spirit and mean nature of these drivers is really unfortunate, as the unenviable side of the highland blacksnake is many times outweighed by its more positive contributions to our lives, especially in ridding our landscape of vermin.

One of the peculiarities of these slithery creatures is their ability to protect their young by ingesting them into a stomach sac as required. This will be long and loudly denied by any expert in the snake world, but I must tell you how I happen to know it is true.

My brother and I and a couple of friends were walking beside the pond that Perth Road divides just south of Perth Road Village. It was almost exactly where the township fire hydrant is now located. I was about 12 at the time, with my partners-in-walking being, perhaps, a little senior to me.

I think we all saw the adult blacksnake at almost the same time. She (I presume it was a she) was lying on a flat, rocky place and sunning herself in the warm summer rays.

The snake was about a metre long. Near her nose was a small conglomeration of baby snakes -- perhaps seven in total, and each being about three centimetres long. We must have awakened her with a start as she immediately opened her mouth, and all of the little ones slithered down her throat, one by one.

As youths, we were stunned and amazed to see this happen, and we stopped and chatted amongst ourselves, trying to decide if we really all had seen the same thing. While this momma snake lay still and watched us, someone suggested that we chop her open to see if the little ones were indeed inside of her. Being mere boys, and ignorant ones at that, we decided to kill her by dropping larger stones on her, and to continue dropping the stones until her stomach opened up to let us view her insides.

This was accomplished in short order and, sure enough, there inside the adult snake were the little ones, aligned and squeezed into a stomach compartment and safe from all but wandering and wondering country boys. I have to believe that if the danger had passed by this momma snake, her mouth would have re-opened and the little ones would have come back out.

Why this snake, once she had picked up the little ones, did not flee from us has puzzled me over the years. I can only concur that although she was very close to water, she was probably of the highland blacksnake variety and, as said, they usually will not demonstrate fear.

This is one of the vignettes from my youth that I am not particularly proud of, but I feel that it should be passed on for posterity. A word of warning, however: If you mention this incident to any local snake experts, they will undoubtedly tell you that it "just can't happen that way." I could only reply that: I wish that they had been there with my friends and I on that long-ago day.

http://www.thewhig.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2262272

OSCEOLA NEWS-GAZETTE (Kissimmee, Florida) 15 January 10 Anaconda found at East Lake Fish Camp (Juliana A. Torres)

Photo: Sgt. Brian Adams, of the Osceola County Sheriff's Office, at left, and Osceola County Animal Control Officer Scott Shindoll hold the 12-foot green anaconda found at East Lake Fish Camp. (Photo: Osceola County Sheriff's Office)

The 12-foot green anaconda snake found at East Lake Fish Camp Wednesday probably could have lived happily in East Lake Tohopekaliga for years, said George Van Horn, the director of Reptile World Serpentarium, where the snake will live now.

“I figured, if he had managed to continue on for more years, it would have gotten a lot bigger and he could have become a real behemoth and been a legend,” Van Horn said. “Not the Loch Ness monster but the Toho Monster.”

Van Horn said he knew someone came into the store before previously and told a story about a big snake that was seen by Chisholm Park.

“It could have been this very snake,” Van Horn said.

The serpentarium owner said he thought the anaconda was male and that it was not a recent escapee from life as a pet.

“I think he’s been living in the wildlife probably for quite some time. He’s got some battle scars on him,” he said. “He may have been living in Lake Toho for some years.”

Reptile World’s newest attraction, joining the dozens of other snakes already on display at the serpentarium. Van Horn said he hopes to pair it with a much smaller female anaconda he acquired less than a year ago. The female anaconda wasn’t found in the wild. Van Horn said the serpentarium has collected a number of different snake species found in the area over the years, but never an anaconda.

“It’s probably the first anaconda found loose in Florida,” he said.

The mounted patrol unit from the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office found the snake Wednesday morning at the camp, on the north side of East Lake Tohopekaliga. The unit was doing exercises, walking their horses over grates when they saw the snake, holed up against the cold weather in the storm drainage grates that led to a retention pond about 10 to 15 feet away.

“It quite possibly could have been a dangerous situation but that anaconda was dormant,” Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Twis Lizasuain said.

Because of the cold snap in the weather, the reptile had gone into brumation, a state of dormancy reptiles use similar to hibernation. The deputies were able to get the snake out and handle it easily, Lizasuain said. Osceola County Animal Control transported the snake to the serpentarium.

The cold, however, was not the snake’s only problem. Officials could tell it had recently eaten, mostly likely right before the temperatures dropped, Van Horn said, and the snake’s prey had gone undigested when the snake’s metabolism slowed. The risk then is that the carcass will start to rot, and the resulting bacteria would hurt the snake.

On Thursday morning, the anaconda regurgitated a goose, for its betterment, Van Horn said, though he added that one of the neighbors near where the snake was found told him that a prize goose of hers had recently disappeared.

The Sheriff’s Office’s discovery shed some light on reports from residents near East Lake Fish Camp, who had noticed a decrease in a chickens and ducks and geese over the last several months, Lizasauin said.

“It explained possibly why there were animals disappearing,” she said.

Van Horn said at first he thought officials had rescued the anaconda and saved its life. However, by Thursday, as the warm weather retuned, and the snake became more active in the sunlit enclosure set up for him at the front of the serpentarium, he had a different theory.

“I’m thinking if they hadn’t apprehended him in that drain, he would have warmed up today and he might have been right back in the lake and been on his merry way,” he said Thursday. “I realized, you know, if an anaconda gets away, it’s going to be a lot harder to find because they’re going to be in the water, they’re going to be at the edge of the lake. You’ll never see them.”

Green anacondas, usually found in tropical South America, are non-venomous and prey on fish and animals near the water. In their habitat, only an anaconda’s eyes and nose would stick up over above the water, Van Horn said.

“Unless they track up on land, nobody’s ever going to encounter them,” he said.

In any case, Van Horn said he’s thrilled to have the huge snake at the serpentarium.

“We’re very happy that it ended up here,” Van Horn said. “These guys surprise you. He’s just come through one of the longest cold spells we’ve had in some time and he’s seems to be doing OK.”

http://oscnewsgazette.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5442&Itemid=6

EXPRESS-NEWS (San Antonio, Texas) 15 January 10 Cold turtles, warm hearts (Lynn Brezosky)

Port Aransas: For turtle rescuers, it can start with a gentle poke at the eyes in hopes the heavy lids will open in a sign of life. If they do, the urgency sets in.

Turtles that in some cases weigh more than 100 pounds are wrapped in towels and blankets against cold that has all but frozen their blood. Coordinates are taken, shells are measured, and they are rushed in trucks and SUVs from clammy sands to saunalike rooms with tanks and kiddie pools.

The sickest will rest awhile in the warm air, unable yet to be put in water. Scientists such as the University of Texas' Tony Amos mist them, drop water in their eyes and use intravenous tubes to drip fluid into their rubbery joints. Some are treated with steroids or antibiotics.

The rewards come with a twitch of a flipper, a lifting of the head and a patrician gaze in answer to Amos' soothing, “You doing OK there, mate?”

Rehabilitation can take days or months. Saved turtles, now tagged for research, are returned to the Texas coastal bays, where they quickly dart out of view.

Cold-stunning occurs when winter air masses cause temperatures in bays and inlets to nosedive, shocking the cold-blooded reptiles. Their systems slow until they can no longer swim.

Comatose, they wash up on beaches, easy prey for coyotes and pecking seagulls. If not attacked, they freeze or dehydrate.

The past week's stunning surpassed all in recent memory. The front blew in Jan. 9, and strandings began the next day. Water temperatures, already in the 50s from a chilly December, dropped in some areas into the 30s.

Jeff George, curator for South Padre Island's Sea Turtle Inc., had hoped most sea turtles had heeded the earlier cold as a signal to swim to deeper, warmer waters. Satellite tracking showed many had.

But turtles washed up anyway, throughout the weekend and into the week.

Volunteers joined Texas Parks and Wildlife biologists and game wardens, U.S. Fish and Wildlife staff and UT and Texas A&M University researchers to probe bay shores with small fishing boats and search beaches on foot and in vehicles. The Gulf Intracoastal Canal Association suspended barge traffic.

Stunned turtles dotted the shores of east Matagorda Bay, Mustang Island, North Padre Island, Baffin Bay, Port Isabel and South Padre Island.

The South Padre rescuers were able to save 81 of 125 found, in part because temperatures didn't drop quite as much. By Friday, all but 12 had been returned.

Turtles found farther north were taken to the Animal Rehabilitation Keep at Port Aransas and the Texas State Aquarium in Corpus Christi.

In Texas, at least 425 turtles washed up, almost 70 percent of them dead. In Florida, the rescue tally was nearly 3,000.

Despite the toll, researchers are encouraged. The numbers indicate one of the planet's most ancient species is making a comeback.

“If there weren't so many out there, we wouldn't see this,” said Donna Shaver, Padre Island National Seashore's chief of sea turtle science and recovery. “That's very exciting to us, when we look at the stranding data through time and see how the population is increasing.”

Greens are the dominant sea turtle in Texas waters, where they're listed as threatened. They are considered endangered in Florida and off Mexico's Pacific Coast.

Once abundant in the Gulf of Mexico, they had nearly disappeared by the late 19th century as people scooped eggs from nests and overharvested juveniles for turtle soup. Others were inadvertently trapped in trawls and gillnets or died ingesting plastic bags and other trash.

With protection of nests and efforts such as the Sea Turtle Stranding and Salvage Network's rehabilitating injured turtles, numbers of greens as well as still-endangered species such as the Kemp's ridley have steadily risen.

At Amos' lab, all but one of the turtles were greens. Amos tucked a blanket more securely around the 160-pound loggerhead in a plastic pool, happy to see it stir.

Dead or alive, each turtle is important to research. A necropsy is done on each carcass, and live ones are tagged to help understand their patterns. Some, like a smaller turtle named Scooter, had tags showing they had been rescued before.

“They don't smile, but they don't fight it, and they don't bite us,” Padre Island biologist Cynthia Rubio said of the rescues. Of the returns? “Once they take that first swim, they're ready to go.”

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/81793392.html

KATU (Portland, Oregon) 15 January 10 Snake, alligator seizure: What happens now? (Dan Tilkin)

Vancouver, Wash.: Dozens of snakes, most of them poisonous, that were found sharing the basement of a Vancouver home with an alligator were seized on Thursday, raising questions of what the folks were doing with them and what will happen now.

It all started when police showed up at a home in the 800 block of East 32nd Street to serve a search warrant after they got a tip about illegal snakes in the home.

Once they got there, they found dozens of venomous snakes and a 4-foot alligator in the basement.

All of the hissing and rattling left some officers so unnerved that they refused to go in and Clark County Animal Control was called to help out.

The snake owner's wife, who spoke to us off camera, said her husband has had pets like this for years and all were well cared for. But it is against state law in Washington to own dangerous pets like venomous snakes and alligators - at least it has been since July. That's when lawmakers changed the rules to say this:

A person shall not own, possess, keep, harbor, bring into the state or have custody or control of a potentially dangerous wild animal, except if they owned it prior to July 22, 2007, they can keep possession of the animal for the remainder of the animal's life. - Washington RCW 16.30.030

But the city attorney says Vancouver city code requires a permit for animals like this. The owners did not have any permits.

The snake owner's wife said her husband knew the law had changed and he made a poor choice to keep the snakes and alligator in their home.

She is now concerned for her children and whether people will think they are bad neighbors. She said one bad decision doesn't mean they are bad people.

Police said the snakes and alligator were well cared for and that the owner used to work with these kind of reptiles professionally, even making the cages himself in his garage.

The city attorney said they usually make a decision on whether to charge someone within 30 days.

Meanwhile, the snakes and alligator were taken away. The non-venomous snakes ended up at the Humane Society for Southwest Washington and the other snakes and the alligator were taken to a reptile facility in Oregon.

http://www.katu.com/news/weird/81807872.html

PRETORIA NEWS (S Africa) 15 January 10 Party for Natie and his closssest palssss (Tarryn Harbour)

He has spent his wedding anniversary, Christmas and New Year's Eve in a small room surrounded by more than 40 venomous snakes. Now he can add his birthday to that list.

Snakeman "Nutty Natie" Swart turned 35 on Thursday. A braai was held outside his enclosure to celebrate the occasion.

"It's not the best birthday I have ever had. I would prefer to be out (of here). But next year I will be out," he said.

Swart has 38 days to go in his attempt at breaking the Guinness Record for the number of days spent living with 40 venomous snakes.

He has been in the enclosure at the Chameleon Village Reptile and Conservation Park at Hartbeespoort Dam for 120 days already.

"By the time I get out I will have spent almost half a year in total in here. It's a long time. It seems easy... it's not. Getting out (to go to hospital) actually made it harder to come back. I thought after day 40 it would be easy, but it's not. It's harder," he said.

Swart spends his time on Facebook, watching DVDs and reading books. He gets lots of visitors over the weekends, but not so many during the week. Park staff have their own work to do, but they try to talk to him as often as they can.

"All the visitors ask the same questions - 'What do you eat; are you crazy' - but with us he can have a normal conversation," explained David, aka "Dangerous Dave", one of the workers at the park.

There are now 43 snakes in the enclosure. The extra three were gifts from visitors.

"Someone gave me a boomslang with one eye. They had caught her in the veld like that, and brought her to me. I have been feeding her up over the last two months... she's looking nice and healthy now," Swart said as another snake lay curled up on his computer keyboard beside him.

As for what he eats: "I'm gatvol of junk food. When I get out of here I won't look at another (fast food) restaurant for a year," he exclaimed.

"But it's okay for now. I lost a lot of weight in hospital and I haven't put any of it back on yet."

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=139&art_id=vn20100115042329363C986394

DAILY MAIL (London, UK) 15 January 10 Spot the gecko: Reptile so small it can fit on pencil top found along with dozens of other new species in threatened Ecuador jungle (Julian Gavaghan)

Photo: Gordon Jr: The miniature gecko perched on top of a pencil was found on Bird Leg Hill microhabitat in Ecuador (Photography by Reptile & Amphibian Ecology International and/or Paul S. Hamilton)

A gecko so small it can perch on top of a pencil has been discovered along with dozens of new animal species in Ecuador’s threatened rainforest.

Scientists also found 30 new varieties of frog and a snail-sucking snake – all on the verge of becoming extinct.

Their microhabitat – the Cerro Pata de Pájaro, meaning Bird Leg Hill in Spanish – has seen 95 per cent of its trees felled for farming.

The unique conditions of the mountain slope – a rainforest capped in cloud forest – mean these animals are not seen on neighbouring hills in western Ecuador.

‘There is obviously a great concern that these species will disappear as soon as, or even before, they are formally described by science’, said expedition leader Dr Paul Hamilton of Explorers from Reptile & Amphibian Ecology International.

‘In this part of ¬Ecuador, if you go to one spot you can find 20 or 30 species of frog, and if you go to the next site over you will see a whole bunch of different ones.’

His team also found three species of lungless salamanders and bushmaster snake, which is the longest viper in the world yet is rarely recorded, having been hunted almost to extinction in many parts of its range.

Photo: Revealing: A transparent frog - one of 30 news species - shows its beating heart while sitting on a glass sheet

One of the discoveries which has most excited many of the scientists are the frogs which lay their eggs in trees rather than water.

Instead of hatching into tadpoles, they hatch out into miniature versions of the adults, some barely larger than a pinhead.

The snail-sucking snake, with striking red markings, has a blunt snout ‘made just perfectly for jamming into the hole of a snail shell and providing that suction to suck the snail right out of there,’ said Dr Hamilton, an American.

But the animals’ habitat is being threatened by deforestation and climate change.

The rise in temperatures and drought are forcing animals to move to higher elevation in search of cooler, wetter climates.

Photo: Weird: A snail-sucking snake that can syphon its prey out of its shell

Indeed, sites like Pata de Pájaro are under siege from countless ecological disturbances, from widespread deforestation for cattle grazing to timber harvesting and hunting.

Climate change models actually predict that many of these mountaintop cloud forests – along with the animals that depend on them – will disappear altogether from global warming if something is not done to save them.

The rain frogs just discovered are particularly susceptible to climate change since they rely on moist trees to lay their eggs which may dry up with temperature increases.

Previous work by the scientists in the area yielded an amazing diversity of more than 140 reptiles and amphibians.

‘There are countless gaps in our knowledge about the status and distribution of tropical animals; this study just scratches the surface of what we know about this region alone, much less what is happening to global patterns of extinction’, said Dr Hamilton.

‘But to stem the pattern of current extinction rates, we all need to do our part, whether that be driving less, eating less meat, or simply educating ourselves and spreading the word.’

Dr Kerry Kriger, director of the Save the Frogs charity, said: ‘The good news is, the animals are still there and alive, so there is still time to save them from extinction.

‘But we need to take action now to make it happen.’

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1243490/Spot-gecko-Reptile-small-fit-pencil-dozens-new-species-threatened-Ecuador-jungle.html#

UPI 15 January 10 Snake park owner back at work after bite

Bundaberg, Australia: The owner of an Australian reptile park, bitten by a deadly eastern brown snake, was back on the job Thursday working with the snake that almost killed him.

Ian Jenkins apologized to the audience at Snakes Downunder in Queensland just before he passed out Tuesday, The Fraser Coast Chronicle reported. He spent a night in intensive care at Bundaberg Hospital.

Jenkins said he was probably bitten by Blackie, the brown snake, while handling it before the show. But he did not realize what had happened because there was no pain from the venom and he could not see any puncture marks.

"Apart from feeling like a complete idiot, I'm fine," he said Thursday. "If someone told me they didn't realize they were bitten by a snake, I wouldn't have believed them. I used the same snake in a show today -- when you fall off the horse, you've got to get straight back on."

The eastern brown, found on the east coast of Australia, is one of the world's deadliest snakes. Its venom is second only to the taipan, another Australian resident, in toxicity.

http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2010/01/15/Snake-park-owner-back-at-work-after-bite/UPI-60941263535817/

COMMERCIAL APPEAL (Memphis, Tennessee) 15 January 10 Slithery dilemma puts potted African violet in perspective (Horticulturist Felder Rushing is a 10th-generation Southern gardener. Contact him at his Web site: felderrushing.net. His show, "The Gestalt Gardener," is on Mississippi Public Radio 90.3 FM at 9 a.m. Fridays, rebroadcast at 10 a.m. Saturdays.)

Some of life's natural things are not very pleasant to read or think about, much less actually participate in. Especially feeding oddball pets.

What's to do with a tropical ball python, much less two? Sending them to a pet store would just extend an ethical problem.

Especially those left in my daughter's apartment by a scurrilous ex-boyfriend who has since moved back to Seattle -- sans his snakes. Long story short, I have become an unwilling de facto caretaker of a pair of beautiful, graceful, ball python snakes. Keep in mind that I dislike goldfish bowls and parrot cages as unnaturally confining, making their inhabitants absolutely dependent on human care.

But then -- pardon the deconstructionism -- what is an African violet in a pot on a windowsill, if not a captive wild creature? Or tomatoes grown just for their reproductive fruits?

Or enticing birds close to the house with bird seed hauled from thousands of miles away, just so they can entertain us with their colorful antics -- and then hope the cat doesn't take advantage of his natural inclination to dine on the unnatural concentration of winged food?

Where does it stop?

In this vein, I find myself having to feed the pythons every now and then. And they don't eat dog food, or stale coffee grounds -- they eat live mice, which don't naturally relish being dumped into large snake pits. Which means I have to take responsibility for feeding them to the snakes.

Sheesh. Since I couldn't simply let the tropical snakes go (unlike native garden snakes, they are tropical and would quickly die outside), and I wouldn't put them up for adoption at a pet store because who knows who will end up with them, and besides I'd simply be passing along the ethical dilemma. Right?

So for awhile I was stuck with them, like with my not-so-bright dog and my old rubber tree, both of which have to be fed and watered, and protected from the elements. They need me for survival.

Just wish these snakes could live on bananas and Cheerios, like me.

Luckily, a zoo educator agreed to take them off my hands to use as "show and tell" at area schools. They are no longer just lounging in a glass box, staring balefully at me as I sit at my computer, wondering when I would bring some unfortunate live food to them. Now they will be teaching kids to live and let live.

Now, about that brown dog who thinks my straw hat is an appetizer...

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2010/jan/15/slithery-dilemma-puts-potted-african-violet-in/

THE TELEGRAPH (London, UK) 15 January 10 Alligators breathe like birds due to shared dinosaur ancestor

Researchers found that, just as it does in birds, air flows in one direction as it loops through the lungs of alligators.

The breathing method is believed to have first appeared in ancient reptiles called archosaurs which dominated the Earth 251 million years ago.

Dinosaur ancestor of birds may have used feathers to attract mateIn contrast, mammalian breath flows in and out of branching cul-de-sacs in the lungs called alveoli.

Archosaurs evolved along two different paths, one of which gave rise to the crocodilian ancestors of crocodiles and alligators.

The other produced the flying pterosaurs and eventually birds.

The research on alligators suggests that birdlike breathing probably evolved earlier than previously thought, before the archosaur split. It may explain why archosaurs became so dominant in the Early Triassic Period which followed a devastating mass extinction known as the ''Great Dying''.

Prior to the extinction event, which killed off 70% of all land life and 96% of sea life, reptile-like mammals called synapsids were the largest animals on Earth.

After it, mammals were overshadowed by reptiles in the form of archosaurs and, later, dinosaurs.

As the Earth recovered from the ''Great Dying'' conditions were warm and dry, with oxygen levels almost half what they are today.

But despite the lack of oxygen many archosaurs were capable of vigorous activity.

''Lung design may have played a key role in this capacity because the lung is the first step in the cascade of oxygen from the atmosphere to the animal's tissues, where it is used to burn fuel for energy,'' said lead researcher Colleen Farmer, from the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, US.

Little is known about the archosaur that was the common ancestor of crocodilians, pterosaurs, dinosaurs and birds.

It was likely to have been a ''small, relatively agile, insect-eating animal,'' said Dr Farmer.

In modern birds, oxygen enters the bloodstream via tubes known as ''parabronchi'' through which air flows in one direction before exiting the lung. The efficiency of this design helped birds fly at altitudes that would ''render mammals comatose'' said Dr Farmer.

Some scientists have argued that unidirectional airflow only evolved after crocodilians split from archosaurs, arising among pterosaurs and meat-eating theropod dinosaurs such as Tyrannosaurus rex.

Dr Farmer measured the one-way passage of air through alligator lungs using surgically implanted flow meters in live animals. She also conducted experiments on dead alligators.

Her findings, published today in the journal Science, showed that air looped in a single direction through ''aerodynamic valves'' in an alligator's multi-chambered lungs.

''Our data provide evidence that unidirectional flow of air in the lungs predates the origin of pterosaurs, dinosaurs and birds,'' she said.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/6990112/Alligators-breathe-like-birds-due-to-shared-dinosaur-ancestor.html

FRASER COAST CHRONICLE (Maryborough, Australia) 15 January 10 Jenkins bitten by brown snake (Clementine Norton)

Despite biting the hand that feeds him, Blackie the Eastern Brown snake was back on show at the Childers reptile park yesterday.

Snakes Downunder owner Ian Jenkins was also back at work after spending a night in intensive care at Bundaberg Hospital, suffering the after-effects of a bite he received on Tuesday.

“Apart from feeling like a complete idiot, I’m fine,” he said.

“If someone told me they didn’t realise they were bitten by a snake, I wouldn’t have believed them. I used the same snake in a show today – when you fall off the horse, you’ve got to get straight back on.”

Mr Jenkins said it was a wake-up call about how easy it could be to be bitten by a Brown snake and not even realise.

“I thought I just had a scratch, I didn’t even think about it – even in the hospital, we couldn’t find any puncture marks,” he said.

It is believed Mr Jenkins was bitten when he was handling the snake before a show.

“I climbed into the arena and felt like I had a bit of heartburn, but I continued to the end of the show,” he said.

“I went to put the snake away, apologised to the public and passed out.”

He said the venom from Eastern Brown snakes was not painful, which meant it could be easy to mistake a bite for a scratch.

Queensland Ambulance Service officer-in-charge Gary Cotterill said staff at the reptile park gave excellent first-aid.

“We discounted a heart-attack fairly early on and I got his wife to do a pressure immobilisation.

“Even the hospital couldn’t find a bite – a Brown snake has small fangs and only a tiny bit of venom and look at what it’s done.

“With snake bites, it’s not about technology – pressure immobilisation has been the treatment used for years and it still works best.”

http://www.frasercoastchronicle.com.au/story/2010/01/15/bitten-by-a-brown-and-didnt-know/

THE COLUMBIAN (Vancouver, Washington) 15 January 10 Animal expert plans 10-day Vegas stay with snakes

Las Vegas (AP): An expert in deadly animals is planning to stay for 10 days inside a box full of snakes at a Las Vegas Strip casino as part of a reality television show.

Donald Schultz will enter the clear glass box outside O'Sheas Casino on Sunday, starting with 50 snakes inside. Plans call for five new snakes to be added to the box each day until there are 100 snakes -- including cobras, pythons and rattlesnakes.

The stunt will be filmed for Animal Planet's "Wild Recon" series.

http://www.columbian.com/news/2010/jan/15/animal-expert-plans-10-day-vegas-stay-with-snakes/

MACARTHUR CHRONICLE (Australia) 15 January 10 Snake expert Craig Adams urges caution as hot weather continues (David Campbell)

Macarthur area residents have been warned to be wary of snakes as January’s hot weather continues.

Craig Adams is the director of Snake and Spider Safety Awareness For Employees, an occupational health and safety program for dealing with snakes and spiders.

He said people did not need to be in the bush to see a dangerous snake.

Mr Adams said Sydney’s west was turning up the usual suspects this summer, including red-bellied black snakes and the far more dangerous eastern brown snake.

“Recent hot humid weather has created ideal conditions for most snakes and that brings them closer to humans,” he said.

“Browns do extremely well in habitats that have been altered by humans, as does their prey, the fast breeding european rats and mice.”

Practical steps to reduce snake numbers include rubbish removal, vermin control and cutting the grass to increase visibility.

Mr Adams said the only issue with snakes in Australia was the public attitude towards them.

“I think Australians are proud of their venomous snakes and spiders and have a bit of a “she’ll be right” attitude towards it all but we owe it to ourselves to learn as much as we can about first aid for snake bite as being prepared could very well be the difference between life and death,” he said.

“Snakes are definitely here to stay and the best course of action, as with most things, is to manage the risk through greater community education and awareness.”

For more information, visit sssafe.com.au

http://macarthur-chronicle-wollondilly.whereilive.com.au/news/story/snake-expert-craig-adams-urges-caution-as-hot-weather-continues/

FREE PRESS (Burlington, Vermont) 14 January 10 Monkton moves to save salamanders (Candace Page)

When Monkton Selectman John Phillips first heard of a plan to build salamander crossings under the Monkton-Vergennes road he thought, "Are you kidding me?"

Other Monkton residents had a similar reaction to what seemed like an unlikely idea. But, like Phillips, the town has become a convert to the idea of creating Vermont's first highway retrofit to protect wildlife.

"The more we studied it, the more sense it made," Phillips said Wednesday.

Tonight, residents will gather to hear the results of a $25,000 planning grant to design 10 special culverts under the road. They will be briefed on the town's application for $225,000 in federal funds to build the first two crossings.

Every spring, passing cars squash thousands of salamanders and frogs as they try to migrate from uplands southeast of the busy road to a big wetland northwest of the highway.

The migration has become a cause celebre in this part of Addison County, with residents forming nightly bucket brigades to ferry the creatures across the highway -- an unsafe activity because of heavy traffic on the road.

Four species found here are considered to be of conservation concern in Vermont, and one, the blue-spotted salamander, is found in unusual numbers. As many as 1,000 dead salamanders and frogs have been found on the road in a single night.

"This place is unique," herpetologist Jim Andrews said Wednesday. "There are unusual species here. There's great diversity and huge numbers. And there's high mortality. That's the clincher. There's so much traffic that we've seen 30, 40, 50 percent mortality."

Chris Slesar, chairman of the town Conservation Commission, has led the campaign for the wildlife crossings. He said if nothing is done, some of the salamander populations will not survive.

"We would have stood by and watched an important part of our biodiversity blink out," he said.

If the town wins a grant, crews would install special oversized culverts in two migratory hotspots near the Huizenga swamp in West Monkton.

The boxlike concrete underpasses would be topped by permeable pavement that lets moisture seep through. They would have amphibian-friendly dirt floors with enough large rocks to let the creatures hide from predators.

"We don't want to build a buffet for raccoons," Andrews said.

The salamanders would be herded toward the culverts by low retaining walls.

The culverts will be large enough for use by small mammals, including bobcats, which also try to cross the road near the swamp.

Traffic on the Monkton-Vergennes road has increased in recent years, residents say, as the road has become a shortcut from U.S. 7 in Vergennes to Interstate 89 and Taft Corners in Williston.

Salamanders winter in the rocky uplands above the highway, but must reach the wetlands in order to reproduce. The females lay their eggs in water and the young spend a month or two as water creatures before taking to the land. Adults and young must go back across the highway before winter.

Survival of Monkton's blue-spotted salamanders is of particular concern, Andrews said, because they are not widespread in Vermont. Adults don't reach sexual maturity for several years, and then lay fewer eggs than some other amphibians.

"Blue-spotteds can live longer than some deer, but it is not so certain that they will be able to replace themselves," Andrews said. The more spring migrations a salamander survives, the more likely they will be to produce some young.

Newborn salamanders provide a service to humans, he said, because they devour mosquito and blackfly larvae in the wetland.

Competition for funding is likely to be fierce. Like other states, Vermont receives federal transportation money every year that must be set aside for enhancement projects such as bike paths, landscape improvement and wildlife crossings. The money cannot be spent on traditional highway projects like paving or bridge repair.

Monkton must provide 20 percent, or $56,400 of the total $282,000 project cost. The match will come in the form of private grants and donated consulting services. No local tax money would be spent, Phillips said.

Vermont will have more than $3 million to spend on transportation enhancements in 2010, program coordinator Curtis Johnson said Wednesday, but has received $8.8 million in applications. He described the Monkton application as "competitive." Grants will be announced in March.

Slesar said his commission knew it was unlikely to win funding for all 10 wildlife culverts, so chose to apply for the first two on their priority list.

"We're trying to be realistic," he said. "One culvert would make an appreciable difference. Two culverts would be tremendous."

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20100114/NEWS02/1140312/Monkton-moves-to-save-salamanders

SIFY (India) 14 January 10 Crocodile population rises to 1,610 in Bhitarkanika

(IANS) The crocodile population in Orissa's Bhitarkanika national park here has gone up to 1,610 -- from last year's 1,572, a week-long census revealed Thursday.

'A total of 1,610 estuarine crocodiles, including three reptiles measuring more than 20 feet, were sighted in the water bodies of the park,' the park's divisional forest officer (DFO) Prasanna Kumar Behera told IANS.

The increase in the crocodile population is attributed to various conservation measures the state government has taken in the locality.

The counting of the crocodiles was conducted Dec 31-Jan 8, involving forest officials, environmentalists, activists of non-government organizations and local residents.

http://sify.com/news/Crocodile-population-rises-to-1-610-in-Bhitarkanika-news-kboo4dfbfed.html

PALM BEACH POST (Florida) 14 January 10 No sun, no slither; chilly snakes make easier targets for hunters of invasive pythons (Paul Quinlan)

Four African Rock pythons — the fiercest of the python breeds feared to have infested Florida wilds — have been captured in the wilds of western Miami-Dade County, part of a three-day sweep targeting the aggressive reptilian invader.

The catch — a 12-footer and two 14.5-footers Tuesday and a 9-footer Wednesday — brought the total number of African rock pythons bagged in Florida to at least 11, raising worries that Africa's largest snake might be breeding in the Everglades among the estimated tens of thousands of the comparatively even-tempered Burmese cousins, according to Scott Hardin, exotic-species specialist for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Two others were spotted but escaped, said LeRoy Rodgers, a scientist with the South Florida Water Management District out on the hunt.

"We're finding more and more," said Rodgers. "We feel pretty certain that we're looking at, at least, the early part of an established population."

The hunt was planned far in advance to coincide with cold weather, when the giant snakes tend to come out of hiding to sun themselves on levees, roadsides and clearings. The severe cold snap has only helped, plunging the snakes into a lethargy that's given hunters an edge.

"We've been more successful than I would have imagined," said Denis Giardina, one of the hunters and part of a team charged with ridding the Everglades of invasive species.

The three-day strike against the African rock pythons is focusing on area where they have turned up previously, on lands southeast of the intersection of Tamiami Trail and Krome Avenue in western Miami-Dade, not far from the Miccosukee Indian casino.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/no-sun-no-slither-chilly-snakes-make-easier-177067.html?imw=Y

THE COLUMBIAN (Vancouver, Washington) 14 January 10 Officials seize 40 snakes in raid - 34 of the serpents are venomous; 4-foot-long alligator also found in home (John Branton)

When Trisha Kraff first descended into the basement of a home in Vancouver’s Shumway neighborhood Thursday, she found herself in the presence of 40 caged serpents, the vast majority of them venomous.

Among the poisonous snakes found were puff adders and a rhinoceros viper — and rattlesnakes including red diamondback, albino, Hopi and Mojave varieties, officials said.

“It was a little unnerving,” Kraff, an officer with Clark County Animal Protection & Control, said later. “All of them were rattling and they were not happy to have us there.”

The discovery came late Thursday morning during a raid of a home at 815 E. 32nd St. by animal control officers, Vancouver police and wildlife agents. The officials had a court warrant to search the home for illegal snakes, Kraff said.

The 40 snakes, including 34 that are venomous, were found in cages affixed to the wall and looked well-fed and healthy, officials said. A biologist and trained snake handler helped transfer them from the cages into portable containers.

Officials took the poisonous snakes to a reptile rescue organization.

The half-dozen non-venomous snakes, including a reticulated python, were taken to the Humane Society for Southwest Washington on Northeast 192nd Avenue in far-east Vancouver.

Officials also found a reptile they described as an alligator, named Jake, that also was taken to the shelter.

The snakes’ owner, whom officers declined to identify, told them he keeps snakes as a hobby and has worked with snakes for 18 years.

The man was cooperative with officials during the raid, and surrendered ownership of the snakes to the county.

The man was not arrested, but officers said they plan to send their reports to prosecuting attorneys for possible charges of illegal snake and alligator possession, and possible permit violations.

Once the legalities are sorted out, officials may try to find homes for the snakes.

County records show the home is owned by Nelson B. Keliipio Jr., but it hadn’t been confirmed Thursday night that he owned the snakes.

On Thursday evening, a man inside the home waved away a Columbian reporter who knocked at the front door. After that, The Columbian was unable to reach the man by phone.

The outside of the ordinary-looking home appeared tidy, with a tether ball pole and small garden.

Officials said children live in the home where the snakes were kept, but officials were aware of no one being bitten. The snakes’ owner had taken precautions for the children’s safety, officials said.

Once the reptiles had been delivered to the shelter, and her paperwork gathered, Kraff said she’d never dealt with so many snakes and was done for the night. The reptiles had ranged from about six inches long to nearly five feet.

“I’ve got the venomous snakes out of my hair,” she said. “The rest of my day is a piece of cake.”

http://www.columbian.com/news/2010/jan/14/officials-seize-40-snakes-in-raid/

ARIZONA DAILY STAR (Tucson) 14 January 10 Network's snake stunt will benefit UA VIPER (Becky Pallack)

Venom researchers at the University of Arizona's VIPER Institute will benefit from a publicity stunt by Animal Planet involving a snake pit.

Beginning Sunday, Donald Schultz, host of the show "Wild Recon," will spend 10 days with 50 to 100 snakes in a glass enclosure outside O'Sheas Casino for a special episode called "Venom in Vegas."

Besides living with the snakes, he'll extract their venom for use in research.

"And when he's not milking venomous snakes with his bare hands, he'll be conducting cutting-edge tests to measure, for example, the potency of venom, the depth of fang penetration, and the strike range of the world's fastest snakes, through the use of high-speed cameras," according to an Animal Planet press release.

When VIPER head Leslie Boyer first heard about the special, "I burst into laughter! And then I thought, you know, that a third of my snake-bite patients are men doing one kind of stunt or another," she said.

The UA's Venom Immunochemistry, Pharmacology and Emergency Response Institute — that's VIPER for short — is home to scientists who are developing new ways to diagnose and treat snake bites and scorpion stings.

Boyer said the show will bring to light an important issue in medicine: The shortage of life-saving antivenom. Plenty of patients are children, old people, scientists and agricultural workers.

After the stunt, some of the snakes and venom will be donated to VIPER, which will distribute the snakes to scientists who can give them good homes and use the venom in student projects, Boyer said.

And AnimalPlanet.com will have links to venom information and collect donations for VIPER's research. VIPER will use the donations to develop new antivenom treatments, start new research projects, continue teaching and research projects, and travel to study snakes and help patients.

"We are honored and delighted that this crazy stunt involved producers that wanted to see real science happen," Boyer said.

http://www.azstarnet.com/metro/325195

INVERCLYDE NOW (UK) 14 January 10 Shopworker Finds Escaped Snake

A Greenock shopworker got a shock when she realised there was a snake just a few feet away from her.

The woman was working at Window Blind Design in Sir Michael Street on Tuesday when she became aware of the creature.

It had managed to get into the store from neighbouring reptile shop Pro-Exotics which was closed at the time

The shopworker, who didn’t want to comment today, ran to a neighbouring hairdressers and called police.

The snake crawled into a long cardboard tube and the officers covered both ends while waiting for vet staff to arrive and take it away.

Police said the snake was about six-foot long.

A spokesman added: “Obviously we don’t have any training in dealing with snakes so the officers attending were a little apprehensive.”

Willaim Ewart of Pro-Exotics said the snake – a bull snake -- was harmless and had got out of an untaped box left at the shop by a customer.

He said there was no obvious hole the creature could have got through to enter the blind shop.

http://www.inverclydenow.com/news-detail2.asp?ID=3842

PENRITH STAR (Australia) 13 January 10 Scooby fights snakes for Penrith family (Roderick Shaw)

An adult eastern brown snake met its match in a Bel-Air Road, Penrith, backyard recently.

Paula Pedelty said the snake slithered into her yard where her Rhodesian ridgeback dog Scooby seized it behind its head and killed it.

She took Scooby and the dead snake to a vet who said the dog was lucky not to have been bitten.

``I never thought about this happening,'' Mrs Pedelty said. ``We keep our yard clean; we don't have any long grass.''

Featherdale Wildlife Park senior curator Chad Staples said people living near bushland should be aware it is home to brown snakes and red-bellied blacks.

Few people are bitten but dogs are vulnerable because they might instinctively attack snakes.

``Snakes don't want to bite you; they don't want to waste their venom on something they can't eat,'' he said.

Mr Staples said snakes rarely live in yards and usually merely cross them to get to their hiding place.

``People tend to have most problems if there's a lot of hiding spots in their yard,'' he said. ``If you are bitten, get to hospital as soon as possible, even if you think the snake wasn't venomous.''

http://www.penrithstar.com.au/news/local/news/general/scooby-fights-snakes-for-penrith-family/1724358.aspx

QUEENSLAND TIMES (Ipswich, Australia) 13 January 10 Snake makes slippery customer

When Trish Kelly said she wanted to attract customers to her store, this isn’t what she had in mind.

Safe City cameras spotted a snake slithering into her Mixed Spice on Brisbane store in the early hours of the morning.

For someone who “absolutely can’t stand snakes”, Ms Kelly said she had the fright of her life when she later opened the store.

“There was a note on my door that said ‘don’t open your shop before ringing the police’,” she said. “When I turned it over it said ‘there’s a snake in your shop’ – I nearly died,” she said.

A Queensland Museum spokesman said their snake experts couldn’t clearly identify the offending snake, but said it could be a brown snake or a range of non-venomous snakes.

Ms Kelly said while local snake catchers couldn’t find the offending intruder when the incident occurred last Wednesday, she wasn’t too concerned that the snake was still in her Brisbane Street store.

But just to be sure she said she always double checks the lay-bys and before going to the toilet by stamping on the ground saying “I’m here, I’m here”.

“My biggest fear in life is snakes, I wouldn’t look at a picture of them if I had the chance – I’d turn the page as soon as I could,” she said.

“It wasn’t a good way to start the day. While the snake catcher was in the store I was as far away as I could be.

“But now I’m sure it’s gone away, I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t think otherwise.”

Ipswich Mayor Paul Pisasale said the clear footage – which allowed Safe City operators to notify police of the snake danger – was a testament to the security system’s effectiveness.

“Safe City is an excellent system and a real asset to the community.

“This is a good example of how effective Safe City can be,” Cr Pisasale said.

“Police were notified of the snake sighting and were able to warn the shop owner, which could have saved her from a dangerous situation.”

http://www.qt.com.au/story/2010/01/13/cctv-alert-saved-me-from-snake-encounter/

BORNEO BULLETIN (Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam) 13 January 10 Six-Metre Python Caught In Tutong (Zainal HJ)

Tutong: A Python about six metres long was captured by the Fire and Rescue Department on Monday at approximately 10pm at the residence of Awg Anuar bin Haji Md Jaya in Kampong Keriam, Tutong.

The owner of the house was alerted when the "Serama" chickens, which he has been rearing, started to make loud noises. When the owner went to investigate the cause of the commotion, he saw the large snake in the unlocked chicken coop, which, fortunately, had not devoured any of the Serama chickens yet.

The owner then closed the door of the chicken coop and called the fire brigade for assistance. He said this was the ninth time a snake, small or large, has been caught in the area. He thanked the Fire and Rescue Department for their assistance.

http://www.brudirect.com/index.php/2010011213828/Local-News/six-metre-python-caught-in-tutong.html

MANILA TIMES (Philippines) 13 January 10 Live python captured in Terminal 1 of NAIA (Johanna M. Sampan)

A 5-foot python was found at the curbside of the departure area at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, Terminal 1, on Tuesday.

Rosalinda Reyes, a 64-year-old from Pampanga, who was sending off a relative, narrated she saw the snake crawling at the parking lot of the curbside. “Naghahatid na ko dito since 1992 pero ngayon lang ako nakakita ng ganito. Ang laki -aki noong ahas [I’ve been sending off passengers here since 1992 but this is the first time I’ve seen a python this big], “ she said.

Another well-wisher, Eldwin Algor said, “Nagulat ako may lumabas sa ilalim noong van, nasagasaan pa nga yung malaking ahas [I was surprised when the python came out from under the van].”

The Philippine Aviation Security Services Corp. personnel caught the python and promptly brought it to the Bureau of Animal Quaratine in Pasay City.

http://www.manilatimes.net/index.php/component/content/article/42-rokstories/9550-live-python-captured-in-terminal-1-of-naia

DAILY NEWS (Durban, S Africa) 12 January 10 Boy survives after snake bite (Irene Kuppan)

A day after he was bitten by a snake, a three-year-old boy was still being treated with anti-venom in hospital.

The boy, from Kelso on the South Coast, apparently fell off his bicycle and onto the snake, which bit him.

Yesterday the boy's father, who was named only as Mr Schaefer, said his son was in a stable condition.

After being treated at Kingsway Hospital, the boy was taken to St Augustine's Hospital and later to Parklands Hospital, where he is now being treated.

Schaefer was still uncertain what type of snake had bitten his son, but suspected it was a Mozambique spitting cobra.

Arno Naude, a snake expert and the chairman of the Transvaal Herpetological Association, said the cobra's venom destroys cell tissue and breaks down muscle, making its bite very dangerous.

Bite symptoms include an immediate burning sensation in the affected area, a metallic taste in the mouth and dizziness, which follows about 15 minutes after being bitten. Swelling occurs and blisters form.

"One of the dangers with the Mozambique spitting cobra is that it also has neuro-toxic venom, which affects the nervous system and could slow down breathing."

Naude said this type of cobra was very common in southern Africa, especially in wet areas, and was found in KwaZulu-Natal, Swaziland and Mozambique.

"It is probably the snake that people are most often bitten by in Swaziland," he said.

At an average length of 1 to 1,2 metres, the cobra is also able to spit its venom, which could cause blindness if it enters the eyes of its victims, Naude said.

However, if the venom is rinsed out immediately and the eyes treated correctly, blindness would not be permanent.

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=139&art_id=vn20100112125537375C263998

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR (Boston, Massachusetts) 12 January 10 Saving an Aztec salamander:

An effort to save the axolotl – a type of salamander – is also a bid to preserve an ancient culture (Sara Miller Llana)

Xochimilco, Mexico City: The ancient waterways upon which the Aztec Empire was built are now a fraction of their former glory. Sucked dry by Spanish conquerors and subsequent urban planners, Mexico City’s great lake is now little more than a network of canals in Xochimilco, a borough in the city’s far south.

Hidden underneath the murky water, sharing space with discarded soda cans and empty potato-chip bags, an ageless “water monster” called the axolotl, a central figure in Aztec legend and a protein-rich part of the diet then, is also vanishing.

The creature is a type of salamander boasting a tuft of featherlike gills on its head and a “smile” that makes it seem more like a stuffed animal than a slimy amphibian.

The axolotl is found naturally only in this tangle of canals and channels, but urban growth, pollution, and the introduction of predatory fish have taken a heavy toll: The salamander population has shrunk 10-fold in the past five years alone. Today, scientists estimate that, at best, only some 1,200 are left.

Now a team of biologists in Mexico City is trying to save the axolotl (pronounced AK suh lot’l) from extinction. It’s not just a matter of preserving an icon of the past: In laboratories around the world, axolotls are studied for their potential to aid war victims and others who have lost limbs, because they have the ability to regenerate lost or damaged body parts.

“It’s not a panda in terms of cuteness,” concedes Luis Zambrano, the lead biologist overseeing a bustling lab of students at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, who are monitoring the axolotl population in Lake Xochimilco. “But for historic, cultural, gastronomical, biological, and medical interests, they are, by far, more important than a panda.”

At first glance, Xochimilco seems little more than a tourist trap, a Mexican version of Venice. Colorful gondolas called trajineras hold Mexican families lunching on tacos and mariachi ensembles looking for a buck.

Yet beyond the tourist route, narrow canals where marshland is accessible only by canoe and where trees form canopies across the waterways, Dr. Zambrano and his team are rebuilding channels to restore axolotl communities in the wild.

It seems a race against time. The International Union for Conservation of Nature has classified the axolotl as a threatened species. Zambrano’s research suggests it could disappear in coming years if nothing is done.

On a recent day, a group of students measured the growth of salamanders that have been living in a refuge at the edge of a farmer’s property, surrounded by irises that act as a natural filter and within nets to fight off the tilapia and carp that were introduced into the waters more than two decades ago and now feed on axolotl eggs whenever they can find them.

Initially, the scientists expected to breed the animals in labs and reintroduce them into the water. But Zambrano says that would reduce genetic variability and increase risks of chytrid fungus, which causes a disease that has been killing amphibians worldwide. Instead, they are breeding them in their natural habitat, creating five experimental channels now, with more channels planned.

Success depends on the full support of the locals, says Elsa Valiente, who leads the axolotl project on the banks of Lake Xochimilco, where some 1,000 farmers and 200 fishermen are registered to fish. “It cannot work without their commitment,” she says.

Getting locals and biologists on the same page is not always an easy task. When students here think of an axolotl, they think of science. Locals say they think about a favorite lunch of the past – axolotl tamales, served whole in cornmeal and covered with corn leaves.

But a handful of area farmers who grow spinach and cilantro on plots of land called chinampas talk proudly of the salamander’s role in the great legends of their history: The Aztec god Xolotl is believed to have turned into an axolotl while fleeing his enemies. “I don’t want to lose this part of our culture,” says Anastasio Santana, on whose land the biologists built their first experimental channel.

Farmers are reaping indirect benefits from the world’s interest in their ancient creature. If the project is going to succeed, ecological degradation, from uncontrolled population growth and Xochimilco’s role as a receptacle for wastewater from nearby treatment plants, must be reversed.

So the project includes a series of conservation training. It has also purchased a compost machine to give farmers and fishermen an alternative source of income and supported their efforts to sell their herbs and vegetables citywide as a “locally grown” option for urbanites.

The project also seeks to resume work with the municipality to help remove the tilapia and carp that nibble at the edges of the chinampas.

Those aren’t the only goals, though. Local farmer Dionizio Eslava, who heads a producer’s association in Lake Xochimilco, sees the project as a parallel effort to re-create ancient life on the floating gardens of Xochimilco, where many today have opted to grow more lucrative flowers in greenhouses instead of food.

His group wants to work with farmers to get rid of pesticides, create compost, and reforest stretches of land. “We cannot preserve only our biodiversity,” Mr. Eslava says, “but our culture, too.”

http://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/Wildlife/2010/0112/Saving-an-Aztec-salamander

NEW ZEALAND HERALD (Auckland) 12 January 10 Abandoned pet terrapins causing havoc in the UK (Cahal Milmo0

Around Britain, the placid calm of urban ponds and watercourses is being disturbed by a rapacious new menace – legions of abandoned pet terrapins.

It begins with the unexplained absence of frogspawn. Then comes the slow but steady disappearance of dragonfly larvae, fish and ducklings. In extreme cases, there are even vicious attacks on small dogs.

Conservationists have issued a warning that hundreds of boating lakes, canals and waterways in towns and cities are infested with terrapins and small turtles which were bought as pets while brightly-coloured babies barely bigger than a 50p coin but dumped by owners unable to cope as they grew to mature carnivorous adults the size of a dinner plate.

The trend began in the early 1990s when thousands of red-eared terrapins, each capable of living up to 30 years, were bought by young fans of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle cartoon.

But ecologists have warned of a more recent second wave of releases which is seeing additional species, including the aggressive snapping turtle, dumped in the wild.

Although native to warmer climes such as America's Mississippi valley, the terrapins and turtles readily take up residence in Britain's parks and wetlands where they have a ready food supply, including young waterfowl.

Experts have seen examples of ponds stripped of wildlife by a population of just two or three terrapins.

Such is the scale of the problem that 51 terrapins and turtles, from five different species, were recently removed from a single pond in a north London park after the local authority called in a specialist trapper.

Two years ago, a colony of 150 of the creatures was removed from the 25 ponds on Hampstead Heath and re-homed at a sanctuary in Tuscany.

The result is a double headache for conservation groups as they try to control the problem by trapping and removing the unwanted invaders but struggle to find new homes for the captives because of their longevity (some species can live for up to 50 years) and the costs of running a dedicated aquarium.

One sanctuary receives unwanted animal at a rate of six a week.

John Baker, of the Amphibian and Reptile Conservation (ARC) Trust, said: "When these animals are bought as babies they seem attractive pets. But they grow to a significant size and people think it is OK to take them to their nearest body of water and release them into places where they prey on native species and can spread disease.

"The additional problem is what to do with them once we find them. The law says they cannot be returned to the water and sanctuaries are often reluctant to take them. Caring for a terrapin is a major undertaking – they live for decades and we don't want to see them put down. People really need to be more responsible about buying them in the first place."

As committed scavengers without natural predators in Britain, terrapins and turtles find themselves at the top of the food chain in urban ponds and watercourses, chomping their way through a menu of native species that includes newts, fish, toads, frogspawn, larvae and, for the largest and most aggressive specimens, the occasional duckling or juvenile moorhen and coot.

Of particular concern is the common snapping turtle, a powerful American species, which has a vicious bite and is known for its aggression.

One of the creatures was captured in the trawl of Clissold Park in Stoke Newington, which netted 51 critters, while another was suspected of carrying out attacks on several dogs and a Canada goose in east London.

Rebecca Turpin, London officer for the ARC Trust, said: "We should not underestimate the impact that these animals can have. They can decimate a pond. I personally know of several where there is no wildlife left because of a few resident terrapins.

"They can go through the native species pretty quickly if the conditions are correct."

The influx of red-eared terrapins to Britain in the early 1990s was halted by legislation banning imports of the species, but it has been replaced in the pet trade by a number of new types, including the yellow-belly slider, the Cumberland, the diamondback and the European pond turtle.

Individual specimens can be bought for as little as £10 (NZ$21.70).

Experts have consoled themselves with the fact that Britain's climate means that although the terrapins and turtles can survive, they are unable to breed because cooling temperatures in the autumn do not leave fertilised eggs enough time to hatch.

But the evidence in recent years is that a small numbers of juveniles has survived and prospered, raising the prospect of an established population across the British Isles.

Wayne Rampling, a terrapin expert who runs a trapping service and sanctuary in Essex, carried out the week-long operation to clear the pond at Clissold Park. He said: "In many ways they are beautiful creatures.

But they are in the wrong places and they are extremely adaptable. In London we found several babies which suggest very strongly that they are beginning to breed. When you add to that the fact that every female can have three sets of five-to-35 eggs, the implications are obvious."

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10619738

THE NEWS (Lahore, Pakistan) 12 January 10 A man who sleeps, eats with snakes (Khalid Iqbal)

Snakes are dangerous. But Muhammad Rasool Jahangir has been sleeping and eating with snakes for last thirty years. He has more than 100 snakes in his house.

Muhammad Rasool Jahangir of Takht Bhai, Mardan, organises shows of dangerous snakes at the Ayub National Park every day for visitors.

He told ‘The News’ here on Monday that there are more than 120 kinds of snakes in the world.

According to him, several kinds of snakes are also present in Rawalpindi and Islamabad. He said that snakes bite him on hands, arms, legs and even on the face and some snakes suck their poison after biting him. There are around 100 kinds of snakes in his house, which he caught from different parts of the country. He had performed snake shows in India, the US and the UK and received applause from crowds.

Jahangir, aged 54, is fond of snakes. “My children play with snakes at home,” he said. He said that no doubt snakes are not pets but his snakes are living like pets. Small snakes take milk, eggs and bread but large snakes hunt for rats, lizards, chickens and insects. Female snakes give hundreds of eggs but they eat up 90% of them, he said.

He said that he has snakes of different colours, including black, brown, green, yellow and red. Snakes could sleep and hear and see but all snakes are not poisonous, he added. He said that he has snakes from 13 inches to 3 metres. He earns a reasonable amount of money every day by performing snake shows. Sometimes he earns Rs1,200 and sometimes Rs2,000.

The taste of snake poison is not bitter but sweet, contrary to what most people think, he said. He said that he calls all his snakes with their nicknames like ‘Shero’, ‘Kajla’ and ‘Billa’.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp?id=218178

DAILY MERCURY (Mackay, Australia) 12 January 10 Brave dog kills brown snake (Clare Chapman)

A Walkerston resident who came home from a holiday yesterday did not expect to find the remnants of an unusual yet vicious battle in his backyard.

But when David Fenech went out the back of his property to fill up his 11-month-old puppy Shapei’s water bowl yesterday morning he began to realise what had unfolded in his absence.

Along with victorious Shapei, a Staffordshire bull terrier-cross, Mr Fenech found a very defeated 1.5-metre brown snake in his yard.

“I had just got back from holidays,” Mr Fenech said.

“I went out there to fill up the dog’s water bowl.”

He was interrupted by a neighbour who had witnessed an epic battle between Shapei and the snake that lasted for more than an hour before the snake finally met its end.

“It turned out my dog was fighting it for about an hour and a half.

“Shapei was actually fighting it.

“The neighbour was watching the whole time but he couldn’t do anything.”

Mr Fenech said Shapei bit the venomous snake three times and strangely it appeared the puppy knew exactly how to attack the snake to avoid being bitten himself.

“He bit it three times; he knew exactly where to get it.

“The bites are on the neck, away from the head, on the body and by the tail.”

http://www.dailymercury.com.au/story/2010/01/12/brave-dog-tackles-snake-and-kills-it/

BOTSWANA PRESS AGENCY (Gaborone) 11 January 10 Illegal reptile rearing lands man in trouble

Tonota: Tonota village resident is likely to face charges of illegal rearing of reptiles within the residential environment contrary to the Wildlife conservation and National Parks Act of 1992.

In an interview with BOPA, the head of law enforcement and chief wildlife ranger in Francistown Mr Milikani Tshupeng said wildlife officers went to the place where the reptiles were kept and confiscated them following a tip off from community members.

The man has since been handed to the police for investigations on allegations of illegally keeping deadly reptiles such pythons, puff adders, cobras, tera pins and related reptiles within the residential area, which posed a danger to other residents, he said.

He said if found guilty he could face five years imprisonment or a fine of P10 000.

Mr Tshupeng stated that though there is no policy that outlaws rearing of such reptiles; one can tame such reptiles for scientific and educational research purposes given by discretion of director of wildlife He lamented failure by Batswana to attend kgotla meetings addressed by wildlife personnel where they explain the operational regulations of wildlife, how and where one could have access or permission to legally trade in wild animals.

Warning that ignorance of the law is no defence, Mr Tshupeng said those caught running illegal wildlife businesses would face the wrath of the law.

Tonota police confirmed receiving a report about a man who is rearing poisonous and deadly reptiles within his compound.

Tonota police station commander superintendent Reuben Mphoeng explained that such a report was brought to his office by one farmer who explained that some boys came to his farm claiming to be looking for a deadly python which escaped from the mans yard.

Superintendent Mphoeng stated that such a reptile is said to normally escape from the yard and therefore could be a danger to human life, especially children as well as chickens or small animals.

In another development, wildlife officials have confiscated a parrot from one Francistown resident who had illegally brought it into the country.

The officials warned that it is an offence for one to illegally import any kind of bird species into the country without permission from veterinary officers as such birds could contract deadly diseases.

http://www.gov.bw/cgi-bin/news.cgi?d=20100111&i=Illegal_reptile_rearing_lands_man_in_trouble

DAILY NEWS (Durban, S Africa) 11 January 10 Umgeni croc still on the loose (Dasen Thathiah)

The Umgeni crocodile is still eluding wildlife officials, possibly because a television crew disturbed the area by going right up to the trap, which was set a week ago.

Depending on reports from the public, officials would look at the possibility of moving the trap by next week.

But shooting the animal is a last resort that will only be taken in life-threatening cases, said Jeff Gaisford, spokesperson for Ezemvelo Wildlife KZN.

Durban canoeists recently spotted the two-metre crocodile near the Connaught interchange, about 4km from the mouth of the Umgeni River.

Gaisford said the reptile posed little threat to an adult but children were more at risk because of their smaller size and were seen as "easier prey".

"Crocodiles are very careful about how they use their energy. If a 2m croc tackles a 2m prey, it would have to use an immense amount of energy," he said. "We would only shoot it as a last resort if it was deemed to be a threat. It would be a different scenario if the croc was running loose at a settlement where there were dozens of kids that played in the river."

The area was disturbed last week after television crews ventured to the spot and Gaisford urged the public to "let the matter take its course".

"We are most disappointed that certain media went right to the trap. We appeal to everyone to leave it alone. The more disturbances we have, the less likely the croc will go there."

The trap is made of wire mesh and has a hinged door at one end, with a wire catch and a line connected to the bait.

"If anything attacks the bait, the door will snap closed, trapping it inside," Gaisford said. Wildlife officials hoped to remove the crocodile before the start of the Dusi next Thursday.

Ezemvelo recently came under fire from animal rights authorities for using a dead dog as bait, but Ezemvelo defended the decision, saying the animal's body was found after it had been struck by a car.

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=14&art_id=vn20100112131154935C678709

JAKARTA GLOBE (Indonesia) 11 January 10 Take a Bite on the Wild Side (Marcel Thee)

Here’s your order of fried python, sir.”

Sitting inside the Istana Raja Cobra restaurant in Kelapa Gading, I am about to experience my first taste of snake meat.

Throwing away my repulsion for these slithering creatures, I dig in for my first bite — served in the shape of buffalo wings, with a side dish of sambal and salty soup.

Smelled like chicken, tasted like it, too. Not too shabby, I thought.

My plate of grilled python, which was recommended to me as the restaurant’s most popular dish, had the tenderness of chicken thighs, with a certain spicy sweetness, perhaps due to being marinated before cooking.

Diners can choose meat marinated in their choice of satay or other sauces. I had chosen satay.

The only clue that this was not your everyday meat was the abundance of small bones.

“People like it because the meat is thick, like chicken, pork or beef,” said Nur, our waiter.

She also told us that diners at the restaurant regularly drink snake blood as well. I declined, but my more courageous female dining partner — who happens to be my wife — chose to try it out.

“It is healthy and it enhances your sexual prowess,” said Nur, not realizing that no man would publicly admit he needed “enhancements” of any sort.

She then took us to the kitchen, where a cobra was being held just behind its head by Warta, the cook. The cobra seemed to sense no danger and remained calm as the cook laid it on a table. Warta then cut off its head with a butcher’s knife, immediately pouring the blood into a cup already filled with strong Chinese wine and bile from a cobra’s gall bladder (an optional ingredient).

Skinning the snake for its meat and organs, Warta told my partner to drink it “before the blood begins to freeze.”

She held her nose to block the smell, and took one quick gulp with no visible gag reflex. “It tastes completely like Chinese wine,” said Ingrid, my wife.

The thought of drinking snake blood seemed more off-putting than the actual act and I promised myself that for our next visit, I’d muster enough courage to drink the hot and bitter beverage.

Istana Raja Kobra is just one of Jakarta’s many restaurants that serves up unorthodox delicacies. Many of these are sold as exotic health foods rooted in traditional Chinese medicine. Apart from cooked meat and blood, there are pills (which are to be taken regularly like medicine) and meat resembling beef floss, but made of animals like snake, lizard and monkey, with prices ranging from Rp 18,000 to 150,000 ($2 to $17) per serving.

To have a better understanding of these exotic feasts, my adventurous companion and I made our way to the Mangga Besar area of West Jakarta a few days later.

A hotbed of sorts for bizarre health food, the main road in Mangga Besar is lined with stalls with large text and corny pictures advertising everything from cobra blood to biawak (a Malayan water monitor), squirrel and monkey meat. It’s like a macabre McDonald’s — McPsycho, if you will.

According to Uli — a cook at one of the stalls who did not want to use his real name — consuming snake meat is a good way to cure asthma, rheumatism, excess uric acid and other ailments.

This supported what Nur from Istana Raja Kobra had said when she told me snake meat could cure diabetes, jaundice, vaginal discharge and various allergies.

“I recommend eating snake meat two to three times a week if you are doing it for health reasons,” Uli said.

For those seeking sexual prowess, Uli said that for men, he will cook the snake’s penis — affectionately referred to as a “torpedo” — along with the meat. He also mixes in some of the snake’s bone marrow for this dish.

We ordered a plate of mixed snake meat (except python, as we had already tried that earlier), biawak meat and biawak soup.

Uli said that the meat he sold has already been butchered and prepared, it just needed to be cooked. The boxes of live, slithering snakes (there for their fresh blood) clearly visible behind the counter, however, didn’t make me feel comfortable.

The snake meat was served with satay sauce, as was the biawak. Each had a taste not unlike beef, if just a tad more chewy.

As we made our way along the numerous stalls, we encountered another married couple who have seemingly made it their life’s mission to track down the weirdest foods possible.

Mario, 28, has a clear lead on his wife in terms of the variety of odd meals he’s eaten.

“I’ve eaten alligator, camel, snake, dog, bat, kangaroo and also other things like deer,” he said.

He said alligators tasted like “a mix between chicken and fish,” and that dogs and bats — which are often served with spicy sauce or Chinese wine — had a somewhat similar flavor to beef.

“I don’t really know about the health aspects of it, except that I’ve heard of bats being good for asthmatics,” Mario said.

His wife, 23-year-old Stefanie, said she had eaten dogs and bats, too. But added that she has also sampled dry water snails and rats. Yes. Rats.

“The rats are white paddy field rats, not sewer rats,” she said. “In Manado [where she is from] they are cooked with a special sauce, so the taste of the sauce overtakes the taste of the rats. I’d describe the taste as like a cross between chicken and beef,” she said.

As we continued down the rows of food stalls, we asked various cooks and vendors about the alleged eating of monkey brains, which — if urban legends are to be believed — involves sucking down a live monkey’s brain with a straw. The unanimous answer was that such a practice no longer occurs and that the monkey meat for sale was mostly brought ready to cook from suppliers.

Hadi, a stall owner, added that most of the suppliers were in Bandung.

“Like for snake meat, they stock up and then deliver it to us,” he said.

We finally managed to persuade a food stall owner, Benny (not his real name), to tell us about the inhumane method of serving monkey meat “back in the day.”

He seemed reluctant at first — stressing that “we don’t do it anymore” — before becoming visibly excited as he detailed the practice.

“The monkeys are strapped into a wooden cage, where their heads pop out of a hole about the size of their neck [so that their heads are secured in position]. The cooks bring them out and either cuts the top part of their head in half, or drills a hole in it, so that the brain is exposed.”

That made my stomach turn, but I bravely continued and asked him how the monkey brain was served.

He said that sometimes the cook would scoop out the brain onto a plate and mix it with strong wine or herbs to hide the smell. But there was also another, even more grotesque, method.

“The cook pours some wine onto the brain, and then you take a straw and suck out the brain juices.”

He eagerly noted that while all of this happened, the monkey retains consciousness as it dies slowly.

It is worth mentioning, however, that this description of serving monkey brains seems very close to the urban legends promulgated by depictions in popular culture, with films such as “Indiana Jones” portraying it on screen.

But regardless of how monkey-related delicacies are prepared, a serving of monkey satay is on the menu in every one of these stalls.

What is interesting is that for every one of these exotic dishes, especially the snake meat, the most common selling point almost always involves virility enhancement — something that is yet to be proven by medical science.

Dr. Sutisna Himawan from the University of Indonesia said there is no medical proof of the health benefits of these exotic foods, whether for curing impotence, eczema or any of the other ailments they are used to treat.

But as Mario, who I met in Mangga Besar puts it: “If you eat it and it cures you, that’s good. If it doesn’t, then at least you’ve tried a different sort of meal. Either way, you really have nothing to lose.”

http://thejakartaglobe.com/home/take-a-bite-on-the-wild-side/352043

SOUTHERN COURIER (Coogee, Australia) 11 January 10 Snake man’s tail end (Nick Moncrieff-Hill)

The Cann family men, better known as the snake men, have charmed visitors to La Perouse for almost a century with their legendary reptile shows, but 2010 is likely to be the final year of the snake.

Last Wednesday, John Cann, 72, was wowing a captivated audience with his lizards, turtles and snakes let loose in the snake pit off Bunnerong Rd, a show he has conducted for more than 40 years.

Children looked on transfixed as disgruntled reptiles shot at the nonchalant and quick reflexed snake man with lethal intent while other creatures lay motionless in the enclosure heating their cold blood.

But unlike his father George, the original Cann family snake man from the whose shows, that dated back to the 1920’s, would incorporate actually being bitten by venomous snakes, John has never developed immunity to the poison.

In fact, he has been bitten six times and after each involuntary incident his body has accepted the venom less graciously.

It is for this reason, Mr Cann said, that he will soon bag the venomous creatures for the last time.

“I got the allergies, so I’ve been told to get out,” he said.

“When I was last bitten by a lousy black snake it put me in the hospital for eight days

“I was lucky to get away with that.

“My family is pushing me to get out within a few months and I said I would get rid of the venomous snakes, so that would mean I will finish here.

“It will be hard.”

While the search for the next La Perouse snake man has begun, he said the need to provide a proper home for the creatures would make it a difficult task.

“I’ve been looking for someone I can trust to do the show but there are a lot of cowboys out there (good showmen but the wrong people) and there’s not much money in it.”

As for his retirement, Mr Cann said he was looking forward to going bush to continue his research.

“I want to travel more around Australia. I like to get away in the bush and work mainly on freshwater turtles.

“I’ve had five books published, a few of those on turtles, and I’ve probably named 12 new ones, but there’s still a lot out there, so I want to get away and have a bit of a look,” Mr Cann said.

http://southern-courier.whereilive.com.au/news/story/snake-mans-tail-end/

PERTH NOW (Australia) 11 January 10 Cane toad 'red alert' issued for Kununurra (Narelle Towie).

A RED alert has been issued in Kununurra as rains cause cane toad numbers to explode and the pests move to within 27km of the rural Kimberley town.

Heavy wet season rains have created a breeding haven for cane toads and environmental action group Kimberley Toad Busters are urging people be on the look-out.

KTB field coordinator Ben Scott-Virtue says cane toad numbers are on the rise, with 60 found at Newry Homestead near the Northern Territory/WA border this week, up from three last week.

“Already this season we have seen some sites where the ground is a carpet of moving cane toad metamorphs,” Mr Scott-Virtue said.

“Unfortunately the Achilles heel between Newry Station and the WA border is the Keep River National Park.

"Permit issues and restrictions on access for KTB volunteers to this NT national park bring real fears that this area will be another Kakadu and a major uncontrolled breeding area for cane toads.

“With the recent rains there is an abundance of suitable sites for cane toad breeding.”

But Mr Scott-Virtue says there is some good news.

The relentless hard work of volunteers working at the border have kept front-line toad numbers to a minimum and Mr Virtue-Scott believes the pests won't fully established themselves in WA this wet season.

Cane toads were introduced to Queensland in 1935 wreaking havoc across Australia as they kill native animals with their poisonous glands.

A single female toad can lay up to 70,000 eggs per year.

People are being urged to record native species in their backyards to better document the imminent impact of toads in rural areas.

Species most likely to be seriously impacted are the northern quoll, ghost bat, dingo, freshwater crocodile, monitor/goanna, frill-necked lizard, small skinks, blue tongue lizard, carpet python, yellow tree snake, black headed python, blue winged kookaburra, rainbow bee-eater, birds of prey, owls and other night birds and frogs.

“Up to 90 per cent loss of the Bungarra or Yellow Spotted Monitor was recorded for the Daly River (in the Northern Territory),” education and biodiversity coordinator with KTB Ruth Duncan says.

“ It has been seven years since the cane toads arrived in the Daly and there has been no sign of recovery in their numbers.

“This can be expected to occur in the Ord River system. A loss of such a key predator has implications up and down the food chain."

http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/special-features/cane-toad-red-alert-issued/story-e6frg19l-1225818086118

MERCURY REPORTER (Durban, S Africa) 11 January 10 Snake bite boy recovers

A three-year-old boy from Kelso, on the South Coast, is in a stable condition at Parklands Hospital in Durban after he was bitten by a snake at the weekend.

The boy fell off his bicycle and on to a snake, said a Netcare911 spokesperson Jeff Wicks.

St Augustine's spokesperson Augusta Dorning said a man who worked at a Durban pet shop was also recovering in hospital after being bitten by a snake.

The man had been handling two snakes when he was bitten. - Mercury Reporter

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=139&art_id=iol1263242796529M626