HERP NEWS 207/2009
WINNIPEG FREE PRESS (Manitoba) 26
July 09 Columnist, spotted guy to take leap at stardom (Doug Speirs)
We don't have
a lot of time to spend thinking about today's column because we are in
training.
When I say
"we" I am referring, as you have probably already guessed, to myself
and my frog.
If you want to
be technical about it, I have not actually met my frog yet, but I know we are
going to be an unbeatable team. We will share a magical bond, kind of like
Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, except that one of us, as I believe I have
already mentioned, will be a frog.
My frog and I
will be taking a leap at stardom on Sunday Aug. 2 at 2 p.m. when we compete in
the Canadian Frog Jumping Championships, part of the 40th annual Frog Follies
Festival in St-Pierre-Jolys, a village about 30 kilometres south of Winnipeg
that is home to an estimated 900 people and an unknown number of amphibians.
I do not wish
to brag, but it is easily the most prestigious frog-jumping competition to be
held in that part of the province on the August long weekend.
So I cannot
begin to describe how excited I was (I assume my frog was equally excited) to
be invited to compete in the National Frog Jumping VIP Event, which will bring
together dozens of dignitaries, "outstanding local celebrities," and
an equal number of area frogs.
Sadly, I have
reached the age of 52 without spending a great deal of time touching frogs, so
in an effort to get "under the skin" of this event, I decided to call
the organizers in St.-Pierre-Jolys and ask insightful frog-related questions. I
spoke with Rachelle Tessier, the village's CAO and organizer of the VIP event.
Me: "When
do I get to meet my frog?"
Rachelle:
"Right before you go on, so you'll meet your frog around 2 p.m."
Me: "Is
it important for my frog and I to have a good working relationship?"
Rachelle:
"It's very important. You can't give it steroids. You have to be good to
your frog if you want it to jump."
Me: "I am
going to need an extra special frog."
Rachelle:
"It's a leopard."
Me:
"???"
Rachelle:
"It's a type of frog. They're the frogs around here. They're the ones with
dots on them."
Me: "Dots
are nice, but can they jump?"
Rachelle:
"They're the best. Sometimes they're very small; sometimes they're big. It
depends."
Me: "Do
we have to share frogs?"
Rachelle:
"No! You get your own frog."
Me:
"Good! What exactly do my frog and I have to do?"
Rachelle:
"They'll give you a frog in a pail with a bit of water. When they call you
up on the platform, pull the frog out of the pail and hold it by the legs. You
put it in the starting circle and, whenever you are ready, you let it go."
Me: "Is
this a race, or what?"
Rachelle:
"It's not a race; it's whoever jumps the farthest."
Me: "I'm
not a very good jumper."
Rachelle:
"Not you, the frogs."
Me:
"Oh!"
Rachelle:
"Somebody is there with a net and a tape measure and after the frog has
jumped three times, they measure how far it jumped."
Me:
"Sounds incredibly exciting."
Rachelle:
"It is. It could jump sideways; it could jump ahead; it could jump
backwards. You never know!"
Me: "I
could really use a few tips here!"
Rachelle:
"Well, you kind of blow on it."
Me: "I
beg your pardon."
Rachelle:
"You blow on your frog."
Me: "I'll
bet that gets the frogs pretty excited."
Rachelle:
"I guess it just tickles them. I don't know."
Me:
"Anything else?"
Rachelle:
"Some people slap their hands on the ground close to their frog to get
them to move."
Me: "I
can do that."
Rachelle:
"Just don't squish the frog."
Me:
"???"
Rachelle:
"You can bring a towel if you want. Some people dry off their frogs' legs
before they jump."
Me: "I
don't have a towel that small. What about threatening my frog?"
Rachelle:
"You can if you want, but don't be too loud."
Me: "I
was thinking something like: 'Hey, that's a nice pair of legs you've got there;
it would be a shame if somebody ATE them!!!' "
Rachelle:
"I think that would be excellent."
Me (coughing):
"Do you eat the frogs when it's all over?"
Rachelle:
"No, no, no! You don't get to eat your frog. You have to give it back.
They get to go home. We let them all go at the same time."
Me: "The
VIPs?"
Rachelle:
"No, the frogs."
Anyway, I will
write a dramatic blow-by-blow account describing how my frog and I make out.
We're still in training, but I think the other teams are going to be green with
envy.
Not that we
want to jump to any conclusions.
AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION 26
July 09 Frog breeding program reaches milestone
There has been
a major success in a breeding program to help the survival of the rare
corroboree frog.
The corroboree
frog breeding program in the ACT has successfully bred around 1,000 eggs in
captivity, which will be raised until maturity before being hopefully realised
into the wild.
Dr Murray
Evans says the breakthrough should help give the frogs a chance to grow
immunity against the chytrid fungus which has caused the population decline.
"Having
1,000 eggs bred in captivity is a major milestone for this project," he said.
"When we
look at wild populations we only have about 200 left ... in the ACT.
"So 1,000
eggs represents five times of what we have in the wild."
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/07/26/2636554.htm?section=justin
EL PASO TIMES (Texas) 26 July 09 Threatened
horny toads get home at El Paso Zoo (Pink Rivera)
El Paso: The El Paso Zoo's newest resident is no
bigger than 5 inches, but it can shoot blood out of its eye.
It's
classified as a threatened species in Texas, even though it is the state's official
lizard.
Meet the the
horny toad, or horned frog, officially known as the Texas horned lizard.
Its status as
a threatened reptile means that if anyone attempts to sell it or keep it as a
pet, the person would be fined at least $500, said Griselda Martinez, the El
Paso Zoo collections supervisor.
Martinez said
that keeping those lizards at home would kill them. Because of their
temperature and diet requirements, they could not survive indoors, she said.
The Texas
horned lizard mainly eats venomous harvester ants, which are rapidly declining
in many areas, including Central and East Texas. Horned lizards have
disappeared from those regions.
Still, the
lizard can be found in hot spots that do not get much rain. For this reason, El
Paso was the only zoo considered to house them, said Rose Janice, education
specialist at the zoo.
They were
captured by college students in the Houston and Austin areas, and then saved by
a conservationist.
Spotting these
lizards would be easy, even to the untrained eye. Their brown bodies are wide
and flat, like toads. But they have horns behind their heads and a
white-and-black stripe down the back.
If threatened,
scientists say, the Texas horned lizard runs a short way, then stops and
flattens itself. This pancake technique allows it to blend into the ground,
frustrating its predator.
If an attacker
faces it down, the lizard can shoot blood from its eye. It typically aims at
the predator's eyes and mouth.
The zoo has
big plans for at least one of the three lizards that flew in Saturday from
Austin on Southwest Airlines. It will be part of an education program for kids.
"These
are the first lizards of this kind for El Paso," Janice said. "The
most feisty one is going to be displayed in the new discovery room."
There,
teachers will outline the traits of the lizard and explain its vulnerability.
Two of the
lizards are female. They seemed healthier than the male, Martinez said.
She said he
looked thin and undernourished. Zoo staff members will monitor him closely.
"We're
going to keep them isolated so that we can make sure they're getting the proper
diet," Martinez said. "We'll be keeping a log of what they eat and
weigh and making sure they're doing alright."
The lizards
were in demand. They were first on a list of species desired by the El Paso Zoo
Conservation Committee.
It's likely
that these lizards have cousins in sandy areas around El Paso.
"They
belong in the desert, and it's not rare to see them around here and being
tempted to pick them up," Martinez said.
But she wants
people to leave the threatened reptiles alone, preferring that the zoo staff be
notified so it can pick them up.
http://www.elpasotimes.com/ci_12916341?source=most_viewed
TIMES-LEADER (Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania) 26 July
09 Cricket
frog a surprise find (Tom Venesky)
The amazing
thing about the Northern cricket frog is that Rick Koval and I were able to
find one period.
The cricket
frog is listed as a species of special concern and it is expected to be
submitted for consideration to be listed on the state’s endangered species
list.
So yes,
finding one wasn’t going to be easy.
Fortunately,
Koval found the largest known population in the state seven years ago while
doing work for the Pennsylvania Herpetological Atlas.
Cricket frogs
are typically found in the southeast and south-central parts of the state, so
Koval’s find in Luzerne County was a surprise.
“I was walking
a wetlands and saw one hop and realized it was a Northern cricket frog,” said
Koval, a naturalist with the North Branch Land Trust and Pennsylvania Outdoor
Life.
“I called the
director of the atlas program and he was in disbelief that they would be this
far north. He came up and verified the find. I had as many as 40 calling males
at this site.”
Because the
cricket frog is extremely threatened, the location of Koval’s find, as well as
where we found the frog for our herp search, can’t be disclosed.
Still, just
finding one and knowing they are still in the county is a relief.
According to
Koval, their population has declined by as much as 85 percent in the state.
“Most of the
decline is due to loss of wetlands, the use of herbicides and predation from
bullfrogs and several species of snakes,” he said.
The cricket
frog we found resembled a spring peeper in size and, like the peeper, is one of
three tree frogs in the region (gray treefrog being the other).
After we
filmed and photographed the cricket frog we released it back where it was
found, happy to check it off our list and even happier knowing that it still
exists.
What we are
searching for - The following is a list of the herp species in Northeastern Pa.
and the likelihood of being able to find each one:
Frogs (six
found, four to find)
American toad
- easy (found)
Fowler’s toad
- possible with effort
Green frog –
easy (found)
Wood frog -
easy (found)
Spring peeper
- easy (found)
Gray tree frog
- easy (found)
Northern
cricket frog - very difficult (found)
Pickerel frog
– easy
Northern
leopard frog - very difficult
Bullfrog –
easy
Salamanders
(six found, seven to find)
Red-spotted
newt - very easy (found)
Spotted
salamander - very easy (found)
Northern
two-lined salamander - very easy (found)
Northern red
salamander - possible with effort (found)
Red-backed
salamander - easy (found)
Northern slimy
salamander – easy (found)
Jefferson
salamander - very difficult
Marbled
salamander - very difficult
Northern dusky
salamander – easy
Mountain dusky
salamander - very easy
Long-tailed
salamander – difficult
Northern
spring salamander – easy
Four-toed
salamander – difficult
Turtles (five
found, two to find)
Spotted turtle
- very difficult (found)
Wood turtle -
possible with effort (found)
Eastern box
turtle – difficult (found)
Eastern
painted turtle - easy (found)
Common map
turtle - possible with effort (found)
Snapping
turtle – easy
Musk turtle –
difficult
Lizards
Five-lined
skink - very difficult
Species:
Northern cricket frog
Located:
Luzerne County
Status:
Species of special concern
Size: Up to
1.5 inches
Eggs: Up to 30
Food source:
Insects
Habitat:
ponds, lakes and vernal pools with weedy shorelines
Fact: The Northern
cricket frog is one of the smallest frog species in North America.
http://www.timesleader.com/sports/Cricket_frog_a_surprise_find_07-26-2009.html
METROWEST DAILY NEWS (Framingham,
Massachusetts) 26 July 09 State studying roads, highways with high
turtle mortality (Rob Haneisen)
On Wednesday,
the patient was brought to the New England Wildlife Center in Weymouth bloody,
dazed and cracked.
The eastern
painted turtle, a common Massachusetts species found in or near ponds and
lakes, met with a truck or car on Rte. 44 in Plymouth earlier that afternoon
and a passerby scooped him up to see what could be done.
Untold numbers
of turtles - some on protected species lists - are killed on Massachusetts
roadways each year while looking for a place to lay their eggs, searching for
food or simply getting from one place to another.
A
collaborative project between the state Division of Fisheries and Wildlife's
Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program and MassHighway might put an
end to some of the road kill.
This spring,
the state began collecting information from area wildlife scientists, advocates
and motorists about areas where they see high rates of turtles killed by
vehicles. When possible, the species of turtle killed is logged to see if it is
endangered or protected.
When the study
is complete, MassHighway and the NHESP hope to have a statewide priority list
of turtle road-kill hot spots. Some of those locations could see immediate
improvements, including fencing or other barriers to protect the turtles, and
others would be flagged for the future when construction projects in the area
might allow for more expansive measures, including wildlife tunnels.
"We know
already that there are a number of very low cost design implementations that
make roads safer for wildlife," said Mike Jones, endangered species review
biologist at the NHESP. "We are interested in having available as a
resource where these problem crossing sites occur."
"These
are pretty small fixes that can really provide a great benefit to the traveling
public and wildlife," said Kevin Walsh, director of environmental services
for MassHighway.
Walsh said
turtles in the road can be hazards to drivers who try to avoid them and get
into wrecks or endanger people who run into the road to help the reptiles,
"beside the fact that it's killing the turtles. Even a small number of
deaths can decimate a local population."
The surge of
federal stimulus money to pay for transportation projects in part made the
study possible.
Walsh said
Jones' position at the NHESP is paid by MassHighway's budget through an
interagency agreement. The stimulus money caused a significant increase in the
number of transportation projects, which all need environmental review.
Jones, who
works out of the MassWildlife field office in Westborough, operates
independently of MassHighway but his position "helps us have them focus on
our projects and identify areas where we can improve the environment while we
are out there," Walsh said.
Ron McAdow,
executive director of Sudbury Valley Trustees, praised the collaboration
between the two state agencies.
"I
applaud this very much," McAdow said. "With turtles, it's extremely
important (to protect them) because they have a very slow reproductive
strategy. They lay a small number of eggs and many of those eggs can be eaten
by predators. The accidental death of an adult turtle really makes a big
difference in the population."
According to
Jones, protected species such as wood, box and Blanding's turtles are of
particular concern as well as common species such as painted and snapping
turtles, which are probably declining in population.
There are two
ways turtles get into trouble on roads, Jones said.
Some turtles
are actually looking for nesting areas on the shoulder or median. Others are
crossing the road to get to nesting areas or back to water.
In areas where
turtles wander on the shoulder looking for nesting sites, a simple low barrier
would keep them safer. In areas where turtles are crossing roads from
waterways, a culvert or tunnel under the road might be what's needed, Jones
said.
Locally, roads
around the Concord, Sudbury, Assabet and Nashua rivers are being targeted,
though site-specific data is not complete.
This is not
the first time the state has helped turtles near roads.
Two years ago,
MassHighway improved fencing along Rte. 2 in Lancaster because Blanding's
turtles - a threatened species in Massachusetts - were crawling under a fence
and not making it across the busy highway. There are also wildlife tunnels
under Rte. 2 in Concord.
According to
Dr. Greg Mertz, CEO of the New England Wildlife Center, turtles most often get
hit by cars in May (when females are searching for nesting sites) and late
September (when hatchlings head to water), but road kills can happen at any
time.
Last week,
three painted turtles hit by cars had to be euthanized at the center, Mertz
said. Fifty-five turtles were brought to the Wildlife Center last year.
Those that can
be saved are eventually returned close to where they were found, said
herpetologist Joe Martinez, director of education at the Wildlife Center.
"But if
the (pond or lake) is surrounded by roads and heavy traffic, we might look for
a better location," he said.
Wednesday's
patient came in with a visible crack down the middle of its shell. It appeared
slightly impaired neurologically and had blood stains on its underside, Mertz
said, but it might be saved.
The woman who
found it, Morgan Guiliano of Manomet, said she's a big fan of turtles and this
was not her first road rescue.
According to
staff veterinarian Dr. Maureen Murray at the wildlife clinic at Tufts Cummings
School of Veterinary Medicine in Grafton, about 80 turtles are brought in each
year. A vast majority of those were injured on the road and only half survive.
Common
injuries, such as shell fractures, are fixed with orthopedic wire and the
turtles are released back into the wild soon after even though the bone of the
shells may take a year or more to fully heal, Murray said.
With each
adult turtle killed, the effect on local populations can be devastating, Murray
said, because it takes 15-20 years to reach adulthood.
"Road
mortalities are really a huge threat to turtle populations," she said.
"Collecting data on road crossings is really important for these turtle
species. I think it's a great idea."
To report
areas of where turtles are killed by vehicles, e-mail Jones at
Michael.T.Jones@state.ma.us or Tim Dexter at MassHighway at
Timothy.Dexter@state.ma.us. Provide directions to the site or a GPS location,
as well as the number and species of turtles seen.
NAPLES DAILY NEWS (Florida) 26 July 09 Money
python: Hunters seek deadly snake in Everglades for kills, not dollar bills
(Whitney Bryen)
Everglades: Seven men with snake hooks and pocket knives
will not cure the problem of pythons in the Everglades, but that doesn’t stop
Shawn Heflick from trying.
Heflick, a
reptile breeder from Palm Bay, waded through knee-high swamp water in the
middle of the Everglades on Saturday, hoping to add another notch to his belt
of python kills.
“They can’t
hear anything,” Heflick yells to his son from a patch of bug-infested shrubs.
“They can only feel vibrations, so holler if you see anything.”
Heflick’s
14-year-old son, Thorn, flat on his belly with his head upside down peering
underneath a dock, waves his hand in the air in acknowledgment.
No sign of
pythons yet, but it’s early and this pair is just getting started.
Heflick,
president of the Central Florida Herpetological Society, is one of seven
reptile experts licensed by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation
Commission to hunt Burmese pythons and other exotic wildlife on state-managed
lands south of Lake Okeechobee.
State
officials started the three-month trial program in hopes of controlling the
spread of pythons, which prey on native Florida mammals, birds and reptiles.
The state estimates tens of thousands of the snakes live in South Florida.
But nine days
into the program, it’s off to a slow start with only one reported python killed
and that was by Heflick after a press conference in the Everglades on the first
day the permits were issued.
Heflick didn’t
get as lucky Saturday. After three hours of searching, stormy weather cut the
hunting party’s time short and the two returned with nothing to show.
Heflick’s not
the only one having a hard time locating the powerful constrictors, which can
grow to 26 feet and 200 pounds.
“I’ve been out
three times this week and haven’t found anything,” permit holder Michael Cole
said. “I’m just not seeing anything. I’m not even seeing signs of anything.”
Cole, a
reptile breeder in Haines City in Central Florida, said the other hunters have
reported similar findings: nothing.
On Saturday,
an airboat guide took Heflick and his son to four islands in the Everglades,
the perfect spot for the semi-aquatic snakes.
Prepared to
wrestle a python with his bare hands, Heflick treks through the muddy islands
-- alert and ready to pounce.
“I’ll just
grab it behind the head with my bare hands,” Heflick said. “That’s the way I
prefer to do it.”
A pocket knife
plays a small role in the plan, to kill the snake instantly with one quick jab
behind the base of its head.
He talks
continuously about the nature of pythons, taking his eyes off the ground only
to check the occasional tree limb.
The first
sight of lightning sends Heflick back to the airboat. One more island to try
before the storms force them to leave.
The airboat
captain suggests taking a shortcut to avoid the chances of getting stuck in the
rain. They all agree.
The airboat
moves through the vegetation, making its own path, taking down stems of saw
grass with every turn.
They stop at a
large, rundown campsite. Three structures and several headstones under the
shade of a tree are the only signs that the island was once occupied. The
graves are of former owners who didn’t want to be separated from their secluded
home.
Heflick
doesn’t rush this time. Carefully stepping along the bank, he looks at every
blade of grass. He knows this is his last chance for success today.
Still no luck
and the thunder rumbles louder by the minute.
“I guess
that’s it,” Heflick said. “Let’s head out.”
Heflick and
Cole agreed that the summer heat wasn’t making it easy to find the pythons,
which retreat to cooler areas that are usually out of sight. The hunters said
October, the last month of the trial program, should be much more successful.
They expect the cooler weather to bring the snakes toward the roads and open
spaces, looking for sun and warmth.
These trial
permits are the first step in the Conservation Commission’s plan to eradicate
the snakes and protect native wildlife throughout the Everglades.
If the program
is successful, the Conservation Commission will consider expanding it so that
anyone who holds a reptile-of-concern license can apply for a similar permit.
The state licenses are required by anyone who owns a reptile that has the
potential to affect the environment, such as a python or Nile monitor.
The seven
permit holders in the trial program were hand-picked by the Conservation
Commission.
The temporary
permits will expire Oct. 31. Details about the permanent program will not be
finalized until the effectiveness of the trial program can be assessed.
Conservation Commission staff members said they hope to begin the new program
Jan. 1.
The hunters
are required to collect data from each snake, including GPS coordinates, size,
weight and stomach contents. The snakes must be killed on site and can be sold
by the hunters for profit.
The Conservation
Commission doesn’t pay the hunters a bounty or reimbursement for any expenses,
so a bounty will only be collected if the hunter is able to sell the skin or
meat of the snakes.
However,
trying to find a market for the product could take some work since the business
of python harvesting is so new to the state.
That’s OK with
Heflick and Cole, who said they aren’t in it for the money.
But the
success of a permanent program could depend on a reliable way to hunt the
snakes and a market for the skins and meat.
Heflick said
he doesn’t see the trial program as a solution to the problem, but as a way to
gather research and information to help combat the snakes.
He said he
expects a full program with more hunters will be more successful.
http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2009/jul/26/money-python-hunters-seek-deadly-snake-everglades-/
NEW INDIAN EXPRESS (Chennai,
India) 26 July 09 Common wolf snake, not cobra in Assembly
Bhubaneswar:
The ‘cobra’ that stalled the Assembly proceedings on Thursday has been found to
be a non-poisonous Common Wolf Snake, locally known as ‘kaudia chiti’. The
serpent that made a vanishing act after it was detected by a sweeper of the
Assembly during routine cleaning reappeared today just after the House was
adjourned for the day.
Interestingly,
the same House staffer who saw a snake inside the Assembly on Thursday detected
the serpent today near the Speaker’s podium.
The snake was
found shortly after the House was adjourned after passing of the Appropriation
Bill. By that time, most of the members had left barring a few Opposition members
including Opposition Leader Bupinder Singh and Congress chief whip Prasad
Harichandan.
The House
staff saw the snake while entering the House through the first door on the left
side of the Speaker’s podium and raised an alarm. He brought a chair used by
the support staff of the House and put it on the snake checking its movement.
Subhendu
Mallik of Snake Help Line who was present in the Assembly rushed to the spot
and captured the reptile. Several members present in the lobby and other
Assembly staff rushed in after hearing the reappearance of the snake. But that
was not the end of the story since ample confusion prevailed over the
Thursday’s and today’s snake. Mallik told this paper that the snake’s description
given by the sweeper on Thursday matched features of a cobra but the one
captured today was different. The sweeper said the first snake had a hood when
it was encountered but today, it did not have any.
KNOXVILLE NEWS SENTINEL (Tennessee)
26 July 09 Hellbenders collected to test for fungus linked to amphibian decline
(Morgan Simmons)
Townsend: It would be several hours before the first
wave of tubers floated by.
On this summer
morning, researchers had the Little River all to themselves. They were in the
Great Smoky Mountains National Park looking for hellbenders, the largest
salamander in North America, an amphibian whose size is exceeded only by the
giant salamanders of China and Japan.
Wearing wet
suits, they snorkeled against the current, turning over rocks in the
crystal-clear water. A 4-inch crayfish - a favorite hellbender snack - scooted
across the bottom, and in some places, the snorkelers had to struggle to hold
their position.
This summer,
investigators with the University of Tennessee and the Knoxville Zoo are
collecting hellbenders to test for a pathogenic fungus linked to the sharp
decline of frogs and other amphibians throughout the world.
The fungus, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, was
first identified in 1998 after it caused widespread frog deaths in Australia
and Central America. Scientists now believe it may have entered North America
as early as the 1970s, and likely was introduced by infected African clawed
frogs sold in pet stores and used in research.
The fungus
causes a disease that infects not just frogs, but salamanders, too. So far, it
has only been identified in the Ozark hellbender, a subspecies of Arkansas and
Missouri.
In Tennessee,
hellbenders are listed as a species of special concern. They're found in clean,
cool streams throughout the Eastern U.S., and they're considered an indicator
species thanks to their sensitivity to siltation and other stream impairments.
Marcy Souza,
assistant professor in the Department of Comparative Medicine at the UT College
of Veterinary Medicine, said there is no evidence at this point that the fungus
has spread to hellbenders in the Southeast.
"At this
point, we don't think they're susceptible," Souza said. "It's a
unique species, and if we don't look, we won't really know."
The project's
goal is to collect 50 hellbenders from the Little River in the Smokies and the
Hiwassee River in the Cherokee National Forest over the next three summers. So
far, they have captured and released 22 specimens, most of them from the
Hiwassee.
An hour into
the survey, one of the snorkelers caught a juvenile hellbender 5.4 inches long.
An inflatable raft carried all the lab equipment. A microchip was inserted
under the skin to identify the hellbender in case of a recapture, and they
swabbed its skin to test for the fungus.
They also took
a tiny skin sample to test for a virus that is contributing to the global
amphibian decline.
After they
were finished, the research team released the hellbender and resumed their
search.
In 2004, an
international convention of amphibian experts determined that 32 percent of all
amphibian species - frogs, toads, salamanders, newts - are threatened with
extinction. By comparison, 12 percent of birds and 23 percent of mammals are
threatened.
Biologists say
the decline has occurred worldwide over the last three decades. In addition to
disease, a range of causes including habitat loss, pesticides, climate change
and increased ultraviolet radiation are believed to be involved.
Just before
lunch, Michael Ogle, a herpetologist at the Knoxville Zoo, nabbed what turned
out to be the largest hellbender collected this summer. Through his face mask,
he spotted about two-thirds of the body hidden beneath several rocks, with the
rest of the hellbender barely exposed.
Hellbenders
have earned their share of colorful nicknames, including mud devil, water dog
and walking catfish. Grabbing the hellbender, Ogle immediately understood why
they've also been called "snot otters."
"It was
real slippery," Ogle said.
A full-grown
adult, the hellbender weighed just more than 1 pound and measured 16 inches
long. It had blotchy skin and small, beady eyes with starburst pupils similar
to a snapping turtle's. From its flat head to its long, powerful tail, every
anatomical detail suggested a creature adapted to life on the bottom of
fast-moving streams.
One of the
team members that morning was Phil Colclough, curator of herpetology for the
Knoxville Zoo, who ranks hellbenders among his favorite critters.
"They're
unlike any amphibian in the U.S.," Colclough said. "Their size alone
sets them apart. They're unusual, rare and so weird looking, they're kind of
cute."
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2009/jul/27/hunting-for-hellbenders/
BRADENTON HERALD (Florida) 25 July 09 Wildlife
expert captures 14-foot python in East Manatee pipe (Tiffany
Tompkins-Condie)
East Manatee: A local wildlife expert crawled into a
two-foot-wide drainage pipe and, after an hour and a half struggle, dragged out
a 14-foot Burmese python Saturday afternoon.
Justin
Matthews said the snake was so angry at being messed with that he had to bang
its head to subdue it. Matthews’ son and four firefighters stood by to assist,
and motorists on 33rd Street East, who stopped to see what all the activity was
about, were told to stay back because of the danger.
Wearing his
trademark straw cowboy hat and covered in mud as he emerged from the concrete
pipe, Matthews said he’d had to crawl about 15 feet into the concrete pipe to
engage the hissing python. He said the snake, bloodied on the head, might be
too dangerous to use for education, so he might have to euthanize it.
Matthews is
executive director of Matthews Wildlife Rescue, a non-profit that saves and
nurses wild animals, and uses them to teach others about nature.
He and the
firefighters from Southern Manatee Fire Rescue stretched the unhappy python and
measured it at about 14 feet.
The location
of the capture was near the intersection of 33rd Street East and 53rd Avenue
East, within sight of a Sweetbay Supermarket and in the neighborhood of a
Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club on State Road 70 in East Manatee County.
Matthews said
he had been tracking the python for some time, and he had focused when, two weeks
ago, the state of Florida approved the hunting of the invasive snakes that in
many cases have been illegally freed by pet owners.
http://www.bradenton.com/847/story/1599405.html
UNION-TRIBUNE (San Diego, California) 25
July 09 Zoo makes a leap in fight to save frogs - Conservation institute raises
egg to adulthood (Scott LaFee)
As jumping
amphibians go, the mountain yellow-legged frog is a lump on a log compared to
its famous red-legged cousin, the celebrated subject of Mark Twain's 1867 tale.
But two recent encounters with yellow-legged frogs near San Jacinto Mountain,
northeast of San Diego, suggests its own short story.
The frog
sightings, made by independent teams from the U.S. Geological Survey and the
San Diego Natural History Museum, are the first in almost a half-century in the
region.
Once abundant
in California, the mountain yellow-legged frog (Rana muscosa) crouches on the
verge of extinction. The total known number of adult frogs remaining in the
wild is estimated to be 122 – all living in a handful of small, isolated
pockets of the Sierra Nevada, San Gabriel, San Bernardino and San Jacinto
mountains.
On the upside:
The San Diego Zoo's Institute for Conservation Research has just announced it
successfully nurtured a yellow-legged frog egg to young adulthood. That's never
been done before in captivity.
Zoo
conservationists hope to eventually produce scores of eggs and tadpoles for
reintroduction into the wild. “Perhaps as early as 2010,” said Jeff Lemm, a
research coordinator. In the meantime, the two wild frog sightings suggest
there may be more suitable places to put them. And more frogs to welcome them
back.
“Discovering
the (wild) frogs could be huge,” said Adam Backlin, a USGS scientist. “Not
because it's two more frogs, but because the frogs were found in habitat that's
much larger than any of the other known populations. That means there might be
a lot more frogs in the area. We might be looking at more animals here than all
of the other known populations together.”
Backlin discovered
the first frog – a single adult – while hiking along Tahquitz Creek in the San
Bernardino Forest's San Jacinto Wilderness in early June while scouting
potential reintroduction sites.
He passed the
news to the museum team, which is retracing a 1908 museum expedition to the
region. Museum researchers are comparing modern vertebrate numbers and species
in the area with observations taken more than a century ago.
Drew Stokes, a
museum biologist, found the second frog sunning itself on a tributary of Tahquitz
Creek. “It helped knowing where to look – and how to look – because these frogs
are hard to find. If they see you first, they're gone before you see them.”
Backlin and
Stokes say it's reasonable to assume the frogs are distinct individuals because
the species tends to stick close to a water source. The frog sightings were
roughly 2½ miles apart.
That
relatively lengthy distance encourages biologists because it suggests the creek
habitat where the frogs were sighted might house a lot more of them.
“Assuming that
entire stretch is occupied, it's a larger piece of (yellow-legged) frog habitat
than anywhere else known,” said Stokes.
Like
amphibians around the world, mountain yellow-legged frogs (and a northern
version known as the Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frog) are in steep decline.
The species is classified as critically endangered on the World Conservation
Union's Red List.
There appear
to be multiple reasons for the frog's disappearance. Chief among them are
predatory fish. A century ago, yellow-legged frogs lived in fish-free lakes and
streams at high elevations. Trout and other non-native fish were subsequently
introduced to boost recreational fishing. Trout are voracious consumers of
tadpoles.
But predatory
fish are just the most obvious threat. Perhaps more devastating is a fungus
called Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis,
which has spread around the world, often wiping out entire amphibian
populations. It is believed to be a major driver in the global decline of
frogs.
Yellow-legged
frogs have been impacted by other factors too: habitat destruction, pesticide
poisoning, pollution, drought and ultraviolet radiation.
The USGS, U.S.
Forestry Service and U.S. Wildlife Service are coordinating efforts to restore
the frogs to some of their original range. The challenge has been to find
suitable habitat and, naturally, frogs to fill it.
In 2006, a
USGS team led by biologist Robert Fisher rescued 82 tadpoles from a pond drying
up in Dark Canyon in the San Bernardino National Forest. The tadpoles were taken
to the San Diego Zoo, where Lemm and colleagues managed to raise 62 of them to
adulthood.
“That's a huge
number because amphibians are always tricky in captivity. You never know what
might happen with them,” said Lemm. “These frogs live at high elevation in
crystal clear cold water. Trying to emulate that environment has been a
challenge.”
When some of
the surviving frogs produced eggs late last year, researchers were stunned and
ecstatic, especially since no one yet understands the optimum conditions necessary
for yellow-legged frog reproduction. Indeed, herpetologists are not sure where
the frogs go during winter hibernation.
Most of the
eggs proved to be infertile, a common phenomenon among juvenile frogs. But one
egg did hatch and has matured into a froglet. It won't reach sexual maturity,
however, for perhaps two more years.
Lemm said zoo
workers are busily experimenting with environmental cues to hopefully prompt
more egg-laying and tadpole hatchings next spring. In time, he believes the zoo
– and other zoos that will receive some of the original 62 frogs – will be able
to produce as many eggs and tadpoles as needed for reintroduction programs.
These frogs,
it's safe to say, won't be named like the very first one.
“He's called
Han, as in the Star Wars character, Han Solo.”
DAILY GRAPHIC (Portage la Prairie, Manitoba)
24 July 09 A slower year for salamanders (Laura Shantora Nelles)
Unlike in
years past, Portage la Prairie has seen very few salamanders out and about this
year, according to Dave Green, parks manager for the City of Portage.
In the past,
there has been salamanders spotted wandering around Portage, and being fished
out of the pool at Splash Island.
"There's
been a few, not like in the past though. We've probably had about a half dozen
we've taken out of the pool this year," said Green.
The
salamanders migrate from the lake, and can become a nuisance.
"They do
it every year, and they get on people's nerves," Green explained.
While
salamanders may appear creepy, they are not harmful to humans. "They're
just a pest. People don't like them because they're slimy and kind of ugly.
They're kind of like a small lizard."
The
salamanders in Portage are small — usually about five to six inches in size —
and appear either a muddy grey or grey with yellow spots. They prefer cool,
damp places, such as basements and cellars. They tend to stay along the banks
of the lake, but sometimes wander away. Green said he is unsure why the
salamanders do this, but it happens each summer.
"I
remember years back, there used to be a lot of them. The road would be covered
with thousands of salamanders. In the last 15 or 20 years, we haven't seen
that. Two years ago, we did have the numbers up, and we pulled about 40-50 of
them out of the pool," Green said.
http://www.cpheraldleader.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1671392
WINDSOR STAR (Ontario) 24 July 09 Editorial:
Antivenin shortage
The chances of
being bitten by the Eastern Massasauga rattlesnake -- Ontario's only venomous
snake -- aren't great. It happens about six times a year, and the most recent
victim was Eunja Soo, who encountered one of the snakes while picking chives in
her LaSalle garden.
Fortunately
Soo is fine, but it wasn't easy getting the antivenin needed to counter the
poison. There's no local supply, and the closest Canadian source is in Parry
Sound. Fortunately, Windsor Regional pharmacy director Christine Donaldson
acquired some from the Detroit Zoo.
However,
supplies at the West Parry Sound Health Centre are described as
"critically low," just when the Eastern Massasauga is heading into
mating season and is more likely to attack. The problem is that there isn't a
provincially run antivenin program. Right now treatment depends on the goodwill
of West Parry Sound, which buys the medication and then attempts to meet
requests -- something it really doesn't want to do.
Ontarians who
live with the Massasagau rattlesnake should at least have the comfort of
knowing that there's a system in place to ensure there's a ready supply of
antivenin. Today, that's very much in question.
http://www.windsorstar.com/opinion/Antivenin+shortage/1822832/story.html
MIAMI HERALD (Florida) 24 July 09 Letter:
Head count
I suggest that
The Miami Herald report the number of pythons eliminated as a result of
the new hunting program. The count could be published daily along with the
lottery results.
Diana Carlson,
Miami Beach
http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/letters/story/1151884.html
THE STATESMAN (Kolkata, India) 24 July
09 A
rare breach of privilege
Bhubaneswar: The state wanted Counter Insurgency Battalion
for Resolute Action or COBRA and it got a ‘cobra’ and that, too, on a day when
the Assembly was to discuss budgetary grants of the home department!
Well, that’s
one of the jokes made as everybody was enjoying a big laugh over the snake
holding the centre-stage in legislators’ domain and stalling the House for the
entire day by its presence (actually absence), something which even the
Opposition often fails to achieve.
Only two
people ~ a sweeper and a staff had seen the snake for a brief while , yet, it
was enough to keep the mighty and most powerful at bay for the entire day.
Hopefully, the COBRA has the same deterrent effect on the Left wing extremists
as and when it is established in Koraput district.
As hordes of
experts, sniffer dogs launched a combing operation to catch the snake,
legislators had a nice time gossiping about the rare incident unprecedented in
the annuals of Orissa Assembly.
The youths
from a snake help-line organisation who were called said they had earlier
caught snakes within the premises of the Assembly but never had the reptiles
ventured into the privileged Assembly Hall. It is a breach of privilege !.
Nobody had an
answer to how the slippery cobra had managed to give a slip to the security in
this high security zone. Thankfully, a probe ~ by the vigilance, crime branch
or a commission of inquiry was not ordered, remarked a few while cutting jokes
over the issue.
Even chief
minister Mr Naveen Patnaik spent sometime with his colleagues chatting in a
lighter vein in the lobby of the Assembly. He called a few, who had ventured
into the Hall out of curiosity, out saying those at work in searching for the
snake should not be disturbed.
He reportedly
took a dig at his revenue and disaster management minister Mr SN Patro saying
this is your domain as it relates to disaster management.
Call in the
traditional snake charmers, they will do a better job, remarked one member only
to get a prompt response from his colleague who said why not play the ‘nagin
dance music number cassette instead’ to lure the snake out !.
We demanded
more Central paramilitary forces to combat Left wing extremism and the UPA
government dispatched the ‘cobra’ quipped another.
Is it a good
omen or a bad one, was the other point of discussion. The ruling party members
were sure that it was a good omen as the cobra had moved towards the CM’s chair
~ this means Lord Shiva has blessed the CM.
Even the snake
preferred to side with the treasury benches rather than the Opposition !.
The leader of
Opposition Mr Bhupinder Singh also came up with his own theory that it was a
bad omen. His offer for resumption of House was ~ if the treasury bench is
scared because the snake moved in that direction why don’t they exchange seats
with us we are prepared to go to that side and they can come to our side, he
remarked.
Where is the
snake ~ it is only a ploy to defer the home discussions, it could be that
disgruntled forest and police staff had enlarged a snake as they are unhappy
over delay in promotions, said another opposition member as the hiss continues
for hours.
http://www.thestatesman.net/page.arcview.php?clid=9&id=294549&usrsess=1
BILD (Hamburg, Germany) 24 July 09 Kreuzotter-Alarm
1. Haustier tot gebissen - Sachsens einzige Giftschlangen-Art griff ein Alpaka
an (Andreas Harlass)
Angeblich ist
sie scheu und laut Naturschützern so selten, dass sie sogar vom Aussterben bedroht
ist.
Deutschlands
einzige Giftschlangen-Art, die Kreuzotter (lat. Vipera berus). Aber nehmen Sie sich lieber in Acht, wenn Sie am
Wochenende durch hohes Gras spazieren gehen.
Denn in diesem
Druckluftsommer mit hoher Luftfeuchtigkeit beißen die Schlangen ziemlich
schnell mal zu. Mit verheerenden Folgen. Ein Alpaka (Lama-Art) von Züchter
Jürgen Hebert (52) aus Zinnwald verendete jetzt an einem Kreuzotterbiss.
Hebert: „Ich
kam morgens auf die Weide, da lag Anton und röchelte nur noch. Kurz darauf war
mein zahmer Liebling, den ich per Hand und Flasche aufgezogen habe, tot.“ Bis
5000 Euro kostet so ein Alpaka.
Das tote
Alpaka ließ Hebert in der Dresdner Landesuntersuchungsanstalt obduzieren.
Ergebnis: „Tod durch Schlangenbiss.“
Die Attacke
war kein Einzelfall! Revierförster Eckhard Walde: „Ein Labrador wurde gebissen,
der konnte aber schnell behandelt, noch gerettet werden. Auch ein Waldarbeiter
wurde schon gebissen.“ Tierärztin Susanne Kujus (29) aus Dippoldiswalde: „In
unserer Praxis wurden mehrere Hunde behandelt, die von Kreuzottern gebissen
wurden.“
Wie kommt es,
dass die Schlangen derart massiv – und aggressiv – in Sachsen auftreten? Birgit
Seeber (49) vom Landesumweltamt in Dresden erklärt: „Wie alle Schlangen lieben
Kreuzottern Wärme. Es herrscht ideales Wetter. Besonders für Alte, Kranke und
Kinder sind ihre Bisse lebensgefährlich.“
Die Vergiftung
ruft im Körper allergische Reaktionen, wie bei einem Wespenstich, hervor. Es
kann zu Erstickungen kommen. Birgit Seeber rät deshalb: „Beim Wandern festes
Schuhwerk anziehen!“ Am gefährlichsten sind Kreuzottern morgens, wenn sie noch
in ihrer Kältestarre verharren und deshalb leicht erschrecken und schneller
zubeißen.
In Schweden
sterben pro Jahr übrigens im Durchschnitt vier Kinder an den Bissen dieser Schlange!
THE STAR (Toronto, Ontario) 23 July 09 Serum scarce for rattler bites (Daniel
Dale)
Hannah Boyd
was 13 when an Eastern Massasauga rattlesnake bit her left ankle as she
attempted to relieve herself behind a tree at a campsite near Georgian Bay in
2002.
She is 20 now,
so the story is now funny – a showstopping yarn to break out during Horrible
Things That Have Happened to You conversations with friends.
She found the
bite rather less amusing when it happened. Her foot "felt like it was on
fire." She screamed in pain and in fear.
"I
thought for sure I was going to die," she said yesterday.
Like almost
every other victim of a bite from Ontario's only venomous snake, Boyd, now a
University of Western Ontario student, did not come close to dying. At a
Midland hospital, she received 13 vials of an antivenom called CroFab.
In part
because of the existence of such medication, Eastern Massasauga bites are
rarely fatal.
But CroFab,
which costs more than $1,200 per vial, is in short supply at Ontario hospitals
as the late July-early August peak season for rattlesnake bites approaches.
Because
hospitals in the province have already treated six bites requiring antivenom in
an unusual 2009 – about the number they usually treat in an entire year – the
cottage country facility that sees the most bite victims, the West Parry Sound
Health Centre, has merely 18 vials on hand. A typical bite victim requires 12.
Though West
Parry Sound infection control manager Lorraine Vankoughnett called the
situation a "crisis," she says the shortage does not put Ontarians at
risk.
The Indian
River Reptile Zoo near Peterborough has 40 vials of rattlesnake antivenom, the
Toronto Zoo 10, and Canadian and American hospitals dozens more.
Vankoughnett
said West Parry Sound will obtain vials from another institution should its
stock dwindle further before mid-August, when it is scheduled to receive
another delivery.
Still, the
existence of a shortage so soon before the August long weekend, when local
hospitals typically treat the most bites, calls attention to the absence of a
provincial antivenom program.
Until 2008,
West Parry Sound operated a central antivenom depot that allocated CroFab to
other hospitals.
While the
provincial government no longer provides funding for the depot, hospitals loath
to spend money on a rarely used medication that expires after three years have
continued to rely on the generosity of West Parry Sound, which bought 60 vials
this year.
That
arrangement, said Vankoughnett and hospital chief executive Donald Sanderson,
is both unsustainable and undesirable.
"There
needs to be a depot system," said Bob Johnson, Toronto Zoo curator of
amphibians and reptiles. "If the province doesn't want to do it, it needs
to empower somebody else to do it."
The province
has met with West Parry Sound and the North East Local Health Integration
Network to attempt to negotiate a long-term solution, spokespeople for the LHIN
and Health Minister David Caplan said yesterday.
"In the
immediate term, along with the LHIN, we're certainly committed to ensuring the
hospital has enough antivenom to ensure that any Ontarian who does suffer from
a bite does get the treatment they need," said Caplan's spokesperson Neala
Barton.
http://www.thestar.com/article/670447
TELEGRAPH HERALD (Dubuque, Iowa) 23 July
09 Frog-jumping
event really hoppin - About 70 children and their captured amphibians
participate. (Andrew Brunner)
For the past
few weeks, children of the tri-state area have been on the hunt for frogs.
Every year,
the Dubuque County Fair celebrates Kids Day with a variety of kid-focused
activities. One of the most popular is the World Famous Frog Jump.
About 70
children brought their captured amphibians to this year's event. Some found
them in the backyard or at the family farm. Other frogs were found near the
Mississippi River or just on the side of the road. The children caged them in
ice cream pails, de-icer buckets, aquariums and coolers.
On Wednesday,
the frogs jumped ... and jumped ... and jumped.
The rules of
the contest are simple. The kids put their frogs in the center of a large
circle and see how far they make it in three jumps. Every child seemed to have
a different strategy for getting his or her frog to jump the greatest distance.
Some poked them in the back. Some just ran at them and screamed. Zach
Freiburger gave his frog a friendly pat on the back.
Zach and his
family traveled all the way from Minnesota to take part in the event. He and
his brother, Max, always liked playing with toads, and when they heard about
the frog jump in the newspaper, they were excited to take part. Their dad
brought home a monster frog his friend found. His body was almost the size of a
baseball. They named him, "Fat Albert."
Albert may
have had the legs for the jump, but his weight might have been a little too
much for him to leap to the top of the standings. He only jumped a few feet.
But that didn't bother the Freiburger boys.
"It was fun,"
Zach said. "I like him cause he's fast and fat."
When the last
frog had leapt across the pavement, 4-year-old Titus Begle, of Farley, Iowa,
was declared the champion. His frog jumped 9 feet, a full foot farther than any
other competitor.
As Titus picked
up his trophy with a smiling frog on the top, he had a big smile on his face.
While 9 feet
seems a great distance for a frog to leap in just three hops, Paul Coats,
director of the Fair Association, said he has seen longer jumps.
"Several
years ago, one jumped close to 30 feet," said Coats, who has helped
organize and run the event for more than two decades. "Usually, the big
ones aren't best, they are too lumbersome. The best are around 1 to 2 inches
long."
http://www.thonline.com/article.cfm?id=250777
SLATE (Washington, DC) 23 July 09 "These
Dirty Filthy Mud-Turtles" - From a continuing series of revolting
creatures. (Constance Casey)
We may think
of snapping turtles as hissing, lunging, and biting beasts, but that's because
we tend to meet them on land. In water, they're more shy than hostile, swimming
away from threats and retreating into the mud.
They're shy
but not beautiful, these creatures of the mud, and I have seen them up close. A
couple of summers ago, I was swimming in my upstate New York pond and saw, a
few yards away on the surface of the water, a curious combination of moving
body parts. There was a glossy, ridged back, then another glossy back, a scaly
paw with bearlike claws, and part of a thick, thorny tail.
Breaking any
previous pond freestyle record, I swam to shore.
Through
binoculars I could see that the mélange of shells, claws, and tails was
Shakespeare's beast with two backs—a pair of snapping turtles locked in an
embrace that went on for another half-hour. When the coupling had finished and
the male unfastened his grip on the female's back, the two stayed floating near
each other awhile longer. Then one gave the other (I'd lost track of which was
which) a little nudge on the shell with its blunt snout, and they went back to the
bottom of the pond.
Two years have
passed, and we haven't seen those lovers again. We haven't seen any snapping
turtles at all. Yet there are people who refuse to swim in our pond because,
over twilight gin and tonics, we have told this charming tale of reptile love.
After some
research I realized I could have shared the water with the amorous turtles. For
one thing, those two were preoccupied, in the most basic sense of the word.
They were also on their home turf: According to various trustworthy Web sites,
snappers are benign in water and defensive unto aggressive on land, when
provoked.
"I have
never heard of anyone being attacked or injured by a snapping turtle in water,
unless they were trying to catch it or restrain it," says J. Whitfield
Gibbons, University of Georgia professor of ecology and co-author of Turtles of
the Southeast. Gibbons did recall, vividly, being bitten on the finger by a
Potomac River snapper when he reached down and grabbed the shell. At any rate,
it was a laceration, not an amputation. (The old
bite-the-broomstick-in-two-with-its-powerful-jaws thing is greatly exaggerated,
he says. And please don't try it—the turtle can suffer a broken jaw.)
I asked
Gibbons and other herpetologists whether they'd rather have a swimming hole with
a snapping turtle in it or one without. The answer was definitely with. It's
like having a small dinosaur in your pond, said Michigan State University
herpetologist James Harding. (And who wouldn't want that?) In fact, it's like
having a particularly useful little dinosaur, one that consumes dead fish and
rotting vegetation and controls the frog, snail, and leech populations. Despite
their frightening appearance—30 to 80 pounds of muscle and shell, carapace a
foot long, and hooked jaw—many snapping turtles have a diet that's 65 percent
vegetation.
These animals
are not merely misunderstood by most of us—they're often demonized. The
protagonist of Edmund Wilson's brilliant story "The Man Who Shot Snapping
Turtles" drains his pond (after his shooting campaign has failed) and
beheads the snapping turtles he believes have eaten baby ducks. Here's the
title character sermonizing: "If God has created the mallard, a thing of
beauty and grace, how can He allow these dirty filthy mud-turtles to prey upon
His handiwork and destroy it?"
The image of a
reptile rising from the depths to pluck a straggling duckling is certainly
frightening, and there's no question which side the human observer takes.
Still, this predation on cute little water birds does occur, but not often, and
definitely not often enough to have a detrimental effect on waterfowl
populations. The turtles, of course, came before the birds; snapping turtles
have barely changed shape in the last 200 million years.
Turtles
occasionally consume a lovely little duckling, but so do human beings. We eat
turtles, too. In Pentimento, Lillian Hellmann writes of taking an ax to a
snapper with the help of her lover, Dashiell Hammett. While they're off looking
up Cajun soup recipes, the creature, its head dangling from a tiny piece of
neck, climbs off the stove and out the kitchen door, leaving a trail of blood.
Note to Hellman's fact-checkers: She says, mistakenly, that the turtle's head
can be retracted into its shell and also that the mother snapper sits on her
eggs.
Snapping
turtles, like sea turtles, can't pull their heads, tails, and legs in under
their shells the way the familiar hinged box turtle can. The shell on the
snapper's underside (called, for all turtles, the plastron) is shaped like a
Celtic cross—an adaptation that aids flexibility for bottom walking but leaves
the creatures' legs exposed. Flip a snapper over to expose this insufficient
armor and he or she is finished, thus the turtle's belligerent tactics. There's a French proverb that applies: Cet animal est
méchant; il se défend.
Mother Snapper
does not sit on her eggs. She buries her clutch of 30 or so—some female
snappers can lay 100—in a sandy bank and takes off. The deal at the beginning
of life is extremely harsh; in the first year, only a few out of 1,000 would-be
snappers survive. First, almost every snapping turtle egg is eaten. Raccoons
are the primary consumers, followed by skunks and foxes. Then the remaining
hatchlings, only about the size of a quarter when they emerge with shells still
soft, fall prey, as they scuttle toward water, to a large and varied cast of
predators—herons, crows, bass, pike, coyotes, and bullfrogs, along with the
egg-eating raccoons, foxes, and skunks.
The snappers'
very bad odds at the start of life have been balanced by very good odds of
living a long time upon reaching maturity. Most snappers live to between 50 and
100. As recompense for all that infant mortality, snapping turtles spend all of
their lives in the fertile years. They go through puberty at the age of 8, and
their reproductive organs keep working right up until their last breath. (In
fact, a matronly snapper lays a larger clutch of eggs than a young female.)
More
astounding is that turtles' other organs do not age. Display the organs of a
50-year-old turtle beside those of an 8-year-old, and there's no difference.
The creatures can get sick, but an aged turtle is no more vulnerable to disease
than a youngster. A snapping turtle has no aching joints, no hardening
arteries, no loss of lung capacity, no need for a liver transplant, no
deteriorating vision, and no more wrinkles than he or she was born with.
(Dementia? "How could you tell?" said Harding, who admires turtles
but admits they're pretty much on automatic pilot, not doing a lot of deep thinking.)
As adults,
snapping turtles are not only admirably resilient; they have very few
predators. Gibbons reports he once saw an alligator eat a snapping turtle, but
we're the primary foe. Though a few states have banned commercial trapping,
it's still common and profitable to catch turtles and ship the meat off to
China, where some believe that eating a long-lived creature will endow the
diner with long life.
We also squash
turtles with our cars. The victims are primarily the females traveling a mile
or two to lay their eggs in a sandy bank and colonize a new pond.
Wildlife-loving friends have recounted misadventures when they tried to rescue
a snapping turtle in the road. The creature is invariably unappreciative.
If you do see
a turtle on the blacktop, herpetologist James Harding proposes blocking traffic
with cones or a flare (taking your own safety into consideration) until the
turtle has gotten itself off the road. An alternative is to get the turtle to
bite an old jacket or towel and then pull it off the road in the direction it
was traveling. (Don't pick the turtle up by the tail; you can actually hear the
vertebrae snapping.) In whatever sort of on-land encounter, it's worth
remembering that the common snapping turtle's Latin name, Chelydra serpentina,
refers to its snakelike neck—which can reach back at least two-thirds the
length of its body.
Turtle
trapping and turtle highway fatalities threaten the balance that keeps the
turtle population stable. In his first lecture of the year, Harding tells his
students that the most important thing to remember about turtles "is not
that they can live long lives but that they must live long lives."
http://www.slate.com/id/2223403/?from=rss
LE SOLEIL (Québec, Québec) 23 July 09 Une tortue fait du camping (Sylvain Fournier)
Photo: Normand Tondreau a trouvé la plus grosse
tortue canadienne d'eau douce. (Sylvain Fournier)
Montmagny: Normand Tondreau a
fait une découverte pour le moins inusitée, mardi soir, au camping de la
Pointe-aux-Oies de Montmagny. Une Chélydre serpentine, la plus grosse tortue
canadienne d'eau douce, a été retrouvée dans ce secteur de villégiature situé
en bordure du fleuve.
Par mesure de sécurité, M. Tondreau, responsable de l'entretien au
camping, a transporté ce spécimen de 40 cm pesant environ 10 kilos dans la cour
arrière de sa résidence.
Mercredi, des techniciens du ministère des Ressources naturelles et de
la Faune sont venus récupérer le reptile. Histoire d'éloigner la tortue des
zones habitées, elle a été déplacée en fin d'après-midi vers la rivière Boyer,
à Saint-Vallier, dans Bellechasse. Le ministère recommande de ne pas déplacer
les tortues et d'éviter de les manipuler, car elles sont porteuses de maladies
transmissibles à l'humain, dont la salmonellose. Certaines espèces sont aussi menacées.
Au bureau des agents de la faune de Montmagny, c'est la première fois
qu'on recevait un appel pour signaler la présence d'une tortue. Cette espèce
pouvant atteindre jusqu'à 50 cm a une durée de vie de 30 à 40 ans et peut
pondre jusqu'à une quarantaine d'oeufs. On la retrouve surtout en Estrie, donc
très rarement en bordure du fleuve.
FULDAER ZEITUNG (Germany) 23 July 09 Klesberger
Weiher gehört dem NABU
Sannerz/Steinau: Vor ihrer Jahreshauptversammlung trafen sich
die Mitglieder des Naturschutzbundes Deutschland (NABU), Ortsgruppe Steinau, um
den alten Ramholztunnel zu besichtigen, der nach dem DB-Tunnelneubau verfüllt
wurde und jetzt als Fledermauswinterquartier dient.
Thomas Mathias
erläuterte das durch die Bahngleisverlegung neu installierte
Amphibienleitsystem. Dass viel passiert sei, berichtete Vorsitzender
Franz-Josef Jobst zu Beginn der Jahreshauptversammlung im Jugendhilfezentrum
Don Bosco. Im ersten Quartal habe man Grundpflegearbeiten am Auberg
durchgeführt und den Abschluss mit der Marborner Waldmausgruppe am Lagerfeuer
begangen und dabei Stockbrot zubereitet. Aus
Anlass „10-Jahre-Nabu-Kindergruppen“ fand ein Benefizkonzert des gemischten
Chores der Chorgemeinschaft Vorwärts Steinau statt.
Vorausgegangen
war eine Ausstellung in der Markthalle des Rathauses. Nach der Tagung der
UN-Vertragsstaaten zur Erhaltung der Biodiversität (biologische Vielfalt) in
Bonn, startete der Nabu Steinau nun ebenfalls ein Projekt zur Artenvielfalt. Am
Auberg pflanzte man aus heimischen Züchtungen Eiben. Fledermausfreundliche
Häuser wurden ausgezeichnet und Gespräche mit Behörden geführt, insbesondere
auch mit dem Bürgermeister der Stadt Steinau, Walter Strauch. Das Aufhängen von
neuen Nistkästen beschäftigte die NABU-Helfer, ebenso deren Reinigung. Mit der
Stadt Steinau konnte vereinbart werden, dass der Klesberger Weiher in
NABU-Eigentum übergeht. Eine 26-Tonnen-Rekord-Apfelernte habe die Naturschützer
bezüglich der Vermarktung vor ein logistisches Problem gestellt. Insgesamt
wurden 4400 Arbeitsstunden geleistet.
Abschließend
dankte der Vorsitzende allen Mitgliedern für ihren überdurchschnittlichen
Einsatz, den passiven Mitgliedern für ihre langjährige Unterstützung und den
Behörden für die gute Zusammenarbeit. Vogelexperte Horst Basermann berichtete
über die bundesweit durchgeführte Vogelzählung „Adebar“, an der auch der
NABU-Steinau beteiligt war. Elmar Ellenbrand stellte die Situation bei den
Schleiereulen und Turmfalken vor. Ellenbrand betreut speziell angefertigte
Nistkästen, die in fast allen Kirchen der Kommunen Sinntal, Schlüchtern und
Steinau aufgehängt sind. Amphibien-Betreuer Rolf Weber sagte, dass 2008 am
Klesberger Weiher 1505 Erdkröten, 52 Frösche und 1448 Molche, und am Steinauer
Stausee 968 Erdkröten eingesammelt wurden, um sie vor dem Überfahren von Autos
zu retten. Das sei aber nur ein Teil der Tiere, da nicht die ganze Nacht
hindurch gesammelt worden sei. Für das laufende Jahr nannte Vorsitzender Jobst
als Vorhaben eine Mitgliederwerbeaktion, Auszeichnungen „Lebensraum Kirchturm“
und Grundstückserwerbe.
http://www.fuldaerzeitung.de/newsroom/kinzigtal/dezentral/kinzigtal/art14187,909359
THE STAR (Toronto, Ontario) 22 July 09 At 90, call tortoise papa George
Quito
(Reuters): Lonesome George, the last
remaining giant tortoise of his kind, may soon be a father to the delight of
conservationists.
Unhatched eggs
have been found in his "bachelor" pen in the Galapagos Islands, his
keepers said yesterday. For decades, the last known Pinta island tortoise had
shown little interest in reproducing. But at age 90, George is said to be in
his sexual prime. Galapagos tortoises were among the species Charles Darwin
observed to formulate his theory of evolution.
Scientists
have been trying to get George to mate since 1993, when they introduced two
female tortoises of a different subspecies into his pen. The Galapagos National
Park said the five eggs found Monday have been placed in an incubator.
"Now we have to wait for the incubation period of 120 days to find out
whether they are fertile," it said.
The
90-kilogram George stunned conservationists last year by mating for the first
time in 36 years of captivity. Those eggs turned out to be infertile.
http://www.thestar.com/article/669849
THE GUARDIAN (London, UK) 22 July 09 Lonesome
George, the last Galápagos giant tortoise, may become a dad (Mark Tran)
Lonesome
George, the last remaining Galápagos giant tortoise, may soon be a father after
years of efforts by scientists trying to get him to mate.
Ecuadorian
officials are keeping their fingers crossed for Lonesome George, aged between
90 and 100 and described by the Guinness book of world records as the
"rarest living creature", after one of the two female tortoises kept
with him laid five eggs.
George, said
to be at his sexual peak, is the only known living Geochelone abigdoni
tortoise. His companions are of a similar but different species. Scientists at
the Galápagos national park have been trying for years to get George to avail
himself of his female companions to ensure that his line does not peter out.
Lonesome
George, weighing 90kg (14st 2lb) was a native of Pinta, an isolated northern
island of the Galápagos. By the late 1960s, it was noted that the tortoise
population on the rarely visited island had dwindled close to extinction.
George, discovered in 1972, was immediately brought into captivity at the
Charles Darwin research station on the island of Santa Cruz .
Scientists
have been trying to get George to mate since 1993, when they introduced two
female tortoises of a different subspecies from the neighbouring island of
Isabela into his pen, but he has been in no hurry to procreate.
George
astounded conservationists last year by mating for the first time in the 36
years he has been in captivity. But the eggs laid by one of his female
companions turned out to be infertile.
The national
park has said that the latest eggs, described as being in perfect condition,
are being cared for in an incubation centre. It will be November before
scientists know whether they are viable .
"Now we
have to wait for the incubation period of 120 days to find out whether they are
fertile," it has said..
Tortoises on
the Galápagos have been hunted for their meat by sailors and fishermen to the
point of extinction. Charles Darwin, when he arrived in the Galápagos in 1835,
described how he and the crew of the Beagle lived entirely on tortoise meat.
Also, the habitat of the tortoises has been eaten away by goats introduced from
the mainland.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jul/22/lonesome-george-galapagos-tortoise-father
WINDSOR STAR (Ontario) 22 July 09 Rattlesnake
bites LaSalle woman, antivenin fetched from zoo (Frances Willick)
Eunja Joo, 46,
stooped down to collect the herb on Thursday morning when she felt a sting on
her left hand.
“It felt like
a bee, but I saw something moving in the garden,” she said.
“I saw a tail
rattling.”
That rattling
tail belonged to an eastern massasauga rattlesnake, the only species of
venomous snake in the province.
“It was kind
of small, about 30 centimetres, not long and earth-coloured,” she said.
Joo, who lives
on Grillo Drive east of Malden Road, immediately called her husband, who was
inside the house. “He was very scared. He came and he killed it with a rake.”
Joo’s hand
became swollen and sore to the touch, but she didn’t immediately head for the
hospital.
“It was OK. I
didn’t feel the pain or anything. It was a little bit swollen, but nothing
happened.”
Joo first went
to work at a nearby convenience store and didn’t go to the hospital until later
in the evening. “Around six o’clock, my husband looked on the Internet and saw
a picture of it, and it said go to the hospital right away.”
The couple
went to Windsor Regional Hospital only to find that it doesn’t stock the
necessary treatment.
The hospital's
pharmacy director Christine Donaldson said the nearest Canadian supplier of
antivenin — the treatment for rattlesnake bites — was in Parry Sound.
That’s when
the Detroit Zoo stepped in as an unlikely medical supplier.
“Knowing that
Parry Sound was five or six hours up the highway, we went and got the antivenin
from the Detroit Zoo. They have a reptile world, so they have some on hand for
their own staff.”
Donaldson said
the Poison Control Centre, which gives advice regarding treatments of poison,
advised the hospital staff to administer a half-dose of the serum.
Joo was
required to spend the night in hospital, but was discharged the next morning.
She said she
feels fortunate that she survived the experience.
“I’m lucky
because I have a five-year-old kid. For a kid, it could be very dangerous and
life-threatening.”
Joo said she’s
more cautious now when she’s in her garden, and only allows her child to be on
the pavement or bricks in the backyard.
After the
offending reptile was quickly dispatched by Joo’s husband, the couple snapped
photos of the rattlesnake.
“Then we left
it for a couple days and put it in the garbage. It was kind of dry after two
days,” said Joo.
Essex County
naturalist Tom Hurst said rattlesnake bites are uncommon.
“It’s actually
difficult to get them to bite you. Usually if you’re walking by, you won’t even
notice them. They’ll just freeze. It’s not like they leap at you. You pretty
much have to step on them.”
Donaldson said
the last time anyone was treated for a rattlesnake bite in the Windsor area was
about eight years ago.
Hurst said the
eastern massasauga rattlesnake is on the endangered species list. “They are
concerned about the numbers declining, with all the residential development in
that part of LaSalle. Quite a bit of the habitat is being built upon.”
In Ontario,
the snakes are most often found on the Bruce Peninsula and along the eastern
shoreline of Georgian Bay.
PALM BEACH POST (Florida) 22 July 09 Hard to
find pythons in the Everglades? Locals find one in Sunshine Park (Barbara
Marshall)
Perhaps the
python hunters should look closer to home.
The day after
the first state-sanctioned Burmese python hunt in the Everglades failed to
locate a single snake, two West Palm Beach men say they spotted a python in the
Sunshine Park neighborhood, just south of downtown.
Rob Thompson
and Joe Turchetti were driving home from dinner about 10 p.m. last night when
they spotted a large snake coiled in the middle of Ardmore Road. Thompson hit
the brakes.
"At first
we thought it had been run over, but then it started moving its head,"
said Thompson, who lives two blocks away.
"It had
to be four, maybe four-and-a-half feet long and about four inches around,"
Turchetti said. "It would have made a pair of size 12 boots."
This wasn't a
pink elephant kind of snake, either, Thompson says.
"I only
had one glass of wine."
After rushing
to Thompson's house and checking the snake's markings against internet photos,
the men realized they'd spotted a Burmese python, the same species as the pet
snake that killed a two-year-old Central Florida girl and prompted Gov. Charlie
Crist to order the serpent hunt. The snakes can grow to 23 feet long and up to
200 pounds.
Turchetti
called police, who connected him to the Florida Fish and Wildlife office in
North Palm Beach.
Then Thompson
and Turchetti headed back to the 500 block of Ardmore to track their prey.
"I cannot
deal with snakes but kept thinking, we can't have kids playing around
this," said Turchetti, who has three teenagers.
By then, the
serpent had slithered to a clump of bushes growing around discarded flower
pots, stalked by a fascinated black-and-white cat.
They men
shooed the cat away and waited for about 15 minutes to see if anyone would show
up and snag their snake.
They had gone
home by the time Turchetti got a midnight call.
A Fish and
Wildlife officer was on the scene. But alas, the snake was not.
"It's
probably an escaped pet," said Captain Dave Walesky of Palm Beach Animal
Care and Control, who said his officers don't generally respond to residents'
snake calls. "We recommend that they get it into a garbage can or
Tupperware container, then call us. They can bring it in or we'll pick it
up."
Thompson said
he's learned more than he ever wanted to know about pythons, including their
penchant for climbing trees.
"This
morning while walking my dog, I kept looking around and wondering if it's up
there."
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2009/07/22/0722urbanpython.html
THE LEADER (Alicante. Spain) 22 July 09 Rare
Toad In Murcia
A colony of
one of the rarest species of toads has been found in Sierra Espuña, in Murcia.
The Partero
Betico toad or “Alytes Dickhilleni”
is only found in six other places in Spain.
This species has a curious form of reproduction. The males look after the eggs when they are
laid by the females. They carry the eggs
on their backs, looking after them with great care, until the tadpoles are
ready to be born.
Amphibians are
the group of vertebrates which are suffering the biggest losses in their
population on a world scale, due to global warming, the appearance of new
illnesses, and the destruction of their habitat.
http://www.theleader.info/article/18283/rare-toad-in-murcia/
ORLANDO SENTINEL (Florida) 22 July 09
What you need to know if you see a
Burmese python - Central Floridians have Burmese pythons on the brain.
Some suspect
the giant constrictors are preying on pets. And many learned of a 12-foot-plus
python captured in south Orange County's Cypress Creek community last week. All
this comes as state wildlife officials organized a plan to capture and
euthanize the pythons in South Florida and prosecutors try to determine whether
charges should be filed against a Sumter County man whose pet Burmese is
suspected of killing a 2-year-old girl early this month.
But folks
should know a few facts about dealing with these snakes.
First, Florida
Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officials say they have no indication
that thousands of the nuisance snakes have migrated north from the Everglades,
where tens of thousands of pythons are thought to be thriving.
Snakes spotted
locally are likely to be pets dumped by owners who can no longer handle the
hungry predators. Or ones who have heard all the negative publicity and decided
the snakes are passe, experts say.
On the rare
occasion that a homeowner does spot a Burmese python, there are a few options,
wildlife officials say.
"They may
euthanize it in any way they want, as long as it's legal under local
ordinances," wildlife spokesperson Pat Behnke said. "They could use a
club and hit it on the head. They could use a machete."
But none of
that is meant to say that state wildlife officials recommend exercising the
right to dispatch the animal on your own.
"We're
not encouraging people to go out and do it, but they have a right to do it, if
legal," Behnke said. Another way to handle the encounter would be to call
the Wildlife Alert Hotline -- 1-888-404-3922 -- and explain your situation.
Behnke said
the officials will make decisions case by case. The commission could send out
someone to deal with the snake if it is especially large or stuck in a spot
that presents a danger.
If that threat
does not exist, officials can help find nuisance-wildlife trappers licensed to
handle state-designated "reptiles of concern."
Burmese
pythons that are legitimate pets should be embedded with microchips, but Behnke
said a python found in someone's backyard in Orlando or Sanford was more likely
dumped by an irresponsible owner who didn't bother to get a $100 annual license
for the snake.
Another
resource for nervous Burmese python spotters is Howard Riley, director of
Snakes Alive -- 407-591-2050.
His team of
volunteers can usually help with snake concerns quickly. They handled the south
Orange case last week. And they are usually cheaper than a trapper.
SHANGHAI DAILY (China) 22 July 09 Girl,
12, hurt by turtle (Wang Xiang)
A 12-year-old girl
was rushed to hospital in Chongqing Municipality after a turtle fell on her
head.
The pet turtle
fell from a 17-story building at around 9:10am when the girl was walking home
with her aunt after breakfast, the Chongqing Morning Post reported
yesterday.
The girl
initially could not remember anything, including her name or where she lived, Zhai
Xuan, the girl's doctor, told the newspaper.
Her memory was
slowly returning after spending time with her family. A CT scan showed that her
brain was undamaged although she had a 5-centimeter by 3-centimeter gash on her
forehead.
Zhai said the
girl would have a permanent scar.
The girl's
aunt said the girl dropped to her knees after a loud bang and she saw a turtle
bouncing on the ground as her niece's head began to bleed.
The turtle,
about the size of a man's palm, smashed open on impact. The building's property
management company is trying to find out who owned the turtle.
Liu Xingbing,
the girl's father, said he would sue every apartment owner if the turtle's
owner could not be found.
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/?id=408210&type=National
THE LONDON PAPER (UK) 22 July 09 Rare
white turtle found in Yellow River (Kris Mullin)
Photo:
The white turtle resembles a plucked turkey (China Foto Press)
It may look
more like your Christmas turkey just before it goes into the oven, but this
milky white creature is actually a rare white turtle.
The creature,
whose creamy colour is offset by a few hints of pink, was discovered by the
bank of the Yellow River in Henan province, China.
White turtles
have a special place in Chinese culture, as the classic novel Journey from the
West features an entity from Heaven who is turned into one of the animals after
performing ill deeds.
However,
unlike the character in the tale, this white turtle won't be ferrying any
people across rivers: it is just 40cm long and weighs only 6.5kg.
Still, it's a
shell of a story.
http://www.thelondonpaper.com/thelondonpaper/weird/rare-white-turtle-found-in-yellow-river?image=0
LIFE (Moscow, Russia) 22 July 09 В
квартиру
московской
многоэтажки
заползла
экзотическая
змея
Маисовый
полоз
переполошил
семью москвичей,
внезапно
появившись
ранним утром
из-под
подвесного
потолка в
ванной.
У
нас в
квартире
змея, -
позвонил в
МЧС обеспокоенный
глава
семейства, -
она выглянула
и тут же
спряталась
обратно.
Прибывшие
на
Северодвинскую
улицу спасатели
возмутительницу
спокойствия
так и не
нашли. Они
оставили
семье
приспособление
для ловли
змей, и, как
оказалось, не
напрасно.
Уже
на следующее
утро
ползучая
гостья снова
показалась
из-под
потолка.
49-летний
Александр,
находившийся
в это время в
ванной,
схватил оставленное
устройство и
с размаха
ударил им по
рептилии.
Когда же
оранжевая
змея упала на
пол, мужчина
прижал ее к
кафелю и
снова позвонил
спасателям.
Оказалось,
что это -
маисовый
полоз, -
рассказали в
МЧС, - он не ядовит,
поэтому его
часто
содержат в
террариумах
любители
экзотики.
Вероятно,
змея сбежала
от хозяев и,
пробравшись
в отверстие
около трубы,
заползла в
соседнюю
квартиру.
Поместив
рептилию в
специальный
мешок, спасатели
отвезли ее в
Московский
зоопарк. Там
полоз
останется до
тех пор, пока
не объявятся
его хозяева.
Маисовый
полоз
Некрупная
змея,
достигающая
длины 1,2-1,5
метра. Вид
распространен
на
территории
США и Мексики.
В природе
ведет в
основном
ночной образ
жизни,
проводя день
в укрытиях.
Маисовый
полоз - одна
из самых
популярных для
содержания
змей.
Экземпляры
этого животного
в природе
практически
не отлавливаются,
так как
благополучно
размножаются
в неволе на
протяжении
многих
десятков лет.
Продолжительность
жизни до 9-12 лет.
http://www.life.ru/news/184256