Taxonomy: The spy who loved frogs

To track the fate of threatened species, a young scientist must follow the jungle path of a herpetologist who led a secret double life.

Before leaving for the Philippines as an undergraduate in 1992, Rafe Brown scoured his supervisor's bookshelf to learn as much as he could about the creatures he might encounter. He flipped through a photocopy of a 1922 monograph by the prolific herpetologist Edward Taylor, and became mesmerized by a particular lizard, Ptychozoon intermedium, the Philippine parachute gecko. With marbled skin, webs between its toes and aerodynamic flaps along its body that allow it to glide down from the treetops, it was just about the strangest animal that Brown had ever seen.

Brown learned that Taylor had collected the first known example, or type specimen, near the town of Bunawan in 1912, and had deposited it at the Philippine Bureau of Science in Manila. But the specimen had been destroyed along with the building during the Second World War, and the species had never been documented again in that part of the country. “What are the chances I'm going to see one of the rarest geckos in the world?” he wondered.

Continued

Hundreds Of Malagasy Tortoises Seized In Malaysia (Via HerpDigest)

Hundreds Of Malagasy Tortoises Seized In Malaysia
Article from Traffic

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 16 July 2010-Malaysian Customs Department officers on Wednesday foiled another attempt to smuggle hundreds of Critically Endangered Madagascar tortoises into Malaysia and arrested two women in whose bags, the tortoises were hidden.

The Malagasy women had filled two bags with 369 Radiated Tortoises Astrochelys radiata and five Ploughshare Tortoises Astrochelys yniphora. Apart from the tortoises, the duo had also hidden 47 Tomato Frogs Dyscophus antongilii and several chameleons in their luggage.

This is the second case in just over a month involving the smuggling of these rare tortoises into Malaysia. In early June, Customs officers at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, discovered 285 Radiated Tortoises, 14 Spider Tortoises Pyxis arachnoids and a Ploughshare Tortoise in two unclaimed suitcases that also contained a stash of drugs. No arrests were made in that incident.

The reptiles and amphibians seized in both cases have been handed over to the Department of Wildlife and National Parks (Perhilitan).

Perhilitan Director-General Datuk Abd. Rasid Samsudin told press that the two suspects were being investigated under Section 10(A) of Malaysia's International Trade in Endangered Species Act 2008, which came into force this month.

This section of the law provides for a total fine of up to MYR 1 million or a maximum jail sentence of seven years, or both, if a person is convicted of importing or exporting any scheduled species without a permit.

These cases confirm links between criminal elements in Southeast Asia and Madagascar. TRAFFIC Southeast Asia urges enforcement agencies within the ASEAN-WEN to collaborate in shutting these syndicates down, especially in international airports, as these are truly the hubs of the trade.

Investigations to find the masterminds behind the trade in Madagascar's tortoises in Southeast Asia should be initiated. It is these people, and those that continue to buy these illegal animals that are driving Malagasy wildlife towards extinction.

The second seizure of Madagascar tortoises comes hot on the heels of several Perhilitan successes this month.
"Malaysia's enforcement officers are to be congratulated on their crackdown on wildlife crime," said James Compton, Director of TRAFFIC's Asia-Pacific Programme.

"These efforts send a strong deterrent signal to those involved in the illicit trade that this global problem is being tackled in an increasingly systematic manner by effective law enforcement action."

On 11 July, Perhilitan's Wildlife Crime Unit (WCU) raided the premises of a flea market trader in the state of Selangor and seized several wildlife trophies including five Tiger claws, the casks and beaks of two Rhinoceros Hornbills, Sambar and Barking Deer antlers, bags and shoes made of python and cobra skins and 96 items made of elephant ivory.

On 13 July, the WCU and Malaysian Police raided a car workshop in Kuala Lumpur and discovered over 600 birds, many of them protected under local legislation and/or by international conventions, including three Straw-headed Bulbuls Pycnonotus zeylanicus a Blue-and-Yellow Macaw Ara ararauna, nine Sulphur-crested Cockatoos Cacatua galerita, three Palm Cockatoos Probosciger aterrimus and a pair of Twelve-wired Bird of Paradise Seleucidis melanoleucus.

Two men linked to this case are still at large, police told press on Tuesday when announcing the seizure.

New species discovered in Indonesian mountain region

From the Bloomington (IN) Herald Times: May 18, 2010
By Randolph E. Schmid Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Finding a new animal species is a special moment for scientists and even better when one hops into their mountain camp and volunteers to be discovered.

An international team of researchers was camping in the Foja mountains of Indonesia when herpetologist Paul Oliver spied a frog sitting on a bag of rice in the campsite.

On closer look it turned out to be a previously unknown type of long-nosed frog. The scientists dubbed it Pinocchio. When the frog is calling, its nose points upward, but it deflates when the animal is less active.

"We were sitting around eating lunch," recalled Smithsonian ornithologist Chris Milensky. Oliver "looked down and there's this little frog on a rice sack, and he managed to grab the thing."

"Herpetologists (experts in snakes, lizards etc.) have good reflexes," Milensky observed. "He also caught a gecko; he managed to just jump and grab the thing" off a tree.

And mister long nose isn't all they found.

Overcoming torrential rain and floods, the researchers report finding the smallest kangaroo yet, a big woolly rat, a three-toned pigeon and a gargoyle-like, bent-toed gecko with yellow eyes.

The Foja Mountains are in the western side of the island of New Guinea, a part of Indonesia that has been little visited by scientists over the years.

So the environmental group Conservation International, with the support of the National Geographic Society and Smithsonian Institution, began investigating the area.

The results of their 2008 expedition were announced Monday.

Milensky said the expedition was incredibly difficult.

"It was extremely wet, heavy downpours every day," he said. "The camp just turned into a complete mud bog."

Kristofer M. Helgen, curator of mammals at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, said one of the most amazing animals the researchers observed was the rare golden-mantled tree kangaroo.

Most people think of kangaroos as creatures that live on the flatlands of Australia, he said, but this one has adapted to forest life.

"It can jump into a tree and scurry right up it," Helgen said. "But on the ground it hops around like any kangaroo."

While that kangaroo had been observed, rarely, before, Helgen also discovered what may be the smallest known member of the kangaroo family, a tiny wallaby that also has adapted to forest life.

New Guinea and Australia were once connected and so have similar life forms, but they have adapted differently in each place, he explained.

The researchers say another big surprise was made by ornithologist Neville Kemp who spotted a pair of new imperial pigeons that have feathers in different parts of their body that appear rusty, whitish and gray. Other finds included a dozen new insects.

The research, which also included Indonesian scientists, was part of Conservation International's Rapid Assessment Program, in which teams come together to spend three or four weeks making surveys of the biology of selected areas.

A feature on this expedition appears in the June issue of National Geographic magazine.

"While animals and plants are being wiped out across the globe at a pace never seen in millions of years, the discovery of these absolutely incredible forms of life is much needed positive news," Bruce Beehler, a senior research scientist at CI and participant on the expedition, said in a statement.

"Places like these represent a healthy future for all of us and show that it is not too late to stop the current species extinction crisis," he said.

Photos: http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/slideshow/photo//100517/ids_photos_wl/r3095475424.jpg/

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100517/ap_on_sc/us_sci_new_species_4

Herpdigest - More articles on Pythons in Florida

HerpDigest.org: The Only Free Weekly Electronic Newsletter That Reports on the Latest News on Herpetological Conservation, Husbandry and Science
Volume # 10 Issue #12 2/26/09 - Florida Freeze Continued (Affect on Pythons)
Publisher/Editor- Allen Salzberg
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"BIOLOGY OF THE BOAS AND PYTHONS"
Edited by R.W. Henderson and R. Powell
2007,Eagle Mountain Publishing,
448 pages, 30 chapters by 79 authors, over 200 color photographs, maps, figures, and drawings, Table of Contents available, $100.00 PLUS $7.50 For S&H.

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Table of Contents

1) Cold Snap Killed Many Pythons In Everglades
2) South Florida Cold Snap Puts Squeeze On Pythons
The Snakes And Other Nonnative Animals Are Dying By The Thousands As Temperatures Drop, Highlighting The Debate Over Intruder Species.
3) Florida Officials Create Season To Hunt Pythons, Other Reptiles
4) Constrictor Snakes Bill In Senate - Florida Legislators are trying to pass a bill that would prohibit importation, breeding, sale and possession of Burmese pythons and other dangerous large constrictor snakes as pets.
5) 'Pythons 101': Hunters Learn How To Catch Critters In Everglades
A Small Army Of Hunters Is Ready To Hit The Everglades To Kill Or Capture Dangerous And Nonnative Snakes
________________________________________________________________________
1) Cold Snap Killed Many Pythons In Everglades
By David Fleshler and Lisa J. Huriash
Sun Sentinel
Updated: 02/14/2010 12:02:47 AM EST

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - Vultures circled over Everglades National Park's Anhinga Trail, where thousands of dead non-native fish floated in the marshes.

About half the Burmese pythons found in the park in the past few weeks were dead.

Dead iguanas have dropped from trees onto patios across South Florida. And in western Miami-Dade County, three African rock pythons - powerful constrictors that can kill people - have turned up dead.

Although South Florida's warm, moist climate has nurtured a vast range of non-native plants and animals, a cold snap last month reminded these unwanted guests they're not in Burma or Ecuador any more.

Temperatures that dropped into the 30s killed Burmese pythons, iguanas and other marquee names in the state's invasive species zoo.

Although reports so far say the cold has not eliminated any of them, it has sharply reduced their numbers, which some say may indicate South Florida is not as welcoming to invaders as originally thought.

"Anecdotally, we might have lost maybe half of the pythons out there to the cold," said Scott Hardin, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's exotic species coordinator. "Iguanas definitely. From a collection of observations from people, more than 50 percent fatality on green iguanas. Green iguanas really got hit hard. Lots of freshwater fish died; no way to estimate that."

The cold snap has played into a highly politicized debate over how to prevent non-native species from colonizing the United States. Reptile dealers and hobbyists strongly oppose a proposal by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to ban the import of and interstate trade in Burmese pythons and several other large snakes. They say South Florida's cold snap shows these species don't threaten to spread north, as some claim, and a federal crackdown is unnecessary.

"Pythons are tropical animals," said Andrew Wyatt, president of the United States Association of Reptile Keepers. "When temperatures fall below a certain level, they are unable to survive. It reinforces the idea that the pythons can't exist more than a short period of time north of Lake Okeechobee. Even the pythons in the Everglades are dying during the cold snap."

Wyatt said scientists are downplaying the effect of cold weather on the pythons because that would undermine their ability to win grants to study a problem that has received international publicity.

"It's all about money," he said. "It's very little to do with the truth of fundamental problems on the ground."

But federal and state wildlife officials say the cold weather has not solved the problem. Not only did pythons survive, but so did other invasive species, even if the cold set them back a bit.

Along the park's Gulf Coast, where old-world climbing ferns lay dense mats over native trees, the cold snap inflicted frost damage on these invaders from Asia and Australia, said David Hallac, chief biologist at Everglades National Park. But it didn't kill them, he said, and they continue to spread.

And although they receive less publicity than pythons, non-native fish have infested the Everglades. The cold weather apparently killed them in the thousands, including the Mayan cichlid, walking catfish and spotfin spiny eel, Hallac said. But at the bottom of canals and other water bodies, pockets of warm water allowed some of these fish to survive, he said, giving them a chance to repopulate the park once the weather warms up.

No one knows how many Burmese pythons live in the Everglades, where they were released as unwanted pets or where they found refuge after hurricanes destroyed their breeding facilities. But what's certain is there are a lot fewer today than there was a month ago.

Greg Graziani, a police officer who owns a reptile breeding facility, is one of several licensed python hunters who stalk the snakes in the Everglades. In four days of snake hunting, he found two dead snakes, two live ones, and one snake on the verge of death.

"Vultures had pecked through 12 inches by 4 inches down the back of this animal's body," he said. "I thought it was dead and we reached down to pick it up and it was very much alive."

In cold weather, Graziani said, pythons go into a catatonic state, and if they don't make it to a safe place to ride out the weather, freeze to death. "We're finding the smaller pythons are handling it better than the large ones - the smaller ones can get into different cracks and crevices to maintain the temperatures they need."

Joe Wasilewski, a wildlife biologist who hunts pythons in the Everglades, said on a single day in late January he found seven live snakes and seven dead ones.

"You don't see dead ones like that for no reason," he said. "And they were laid out like they were caught by the onslaught of the cold, the way the carcasses were lined up."
______________________________________________________________________
2) South Florida Cold Snap Puts Squeeze On Pythons
The Snakes And Other Nonnative Animals Are Dying By The Thousands As Temperatures Drop, Highlighting The Debate Over Intruder Species.
February 15, 2010|By David Fleshler and Lisa J. Huriash, LA Times

Reporting from Fort Lauderdale, Fla. - Vultures circled over Everglades National Park's Anhinga Trail, where thousands of dead nonnative fish floated in the marshes.

About half of the Burmese pythons that have turned up in the park recently have been dead.

Dead iguanas have dropped from trees onto patios across South Florida.

And in western Miami-Dade County, three African rock pythons -- powerful constrictors that can kill people -- have turned up dead.

Although South Florida's warm, moist climate has nurtured a vast range of nonnative plants and animals, a January cold snap reminded these intruders that they're not in Burma or Ecuador anymore.

Temperatures in the 30s have apparently killed Burmese pythons, iguanas and other marquee names in the state's invasive species zoo.

"Anecdotally, we might have lost maybe half of the pythons out there to the cold," said Scott Hardin, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's exotic species coordinator. "Iguanas definitely. From a collection of observations from people, more than 50% fatality on green iguanas. . . . Lots of freshwater fish died; no way to estimate that."

Nonnative fish that have infested the Everglades are turning up dead in the thousands, including the Mayan cichlid, walking catfish and spotfin spiny eel, said David Hallac, chief biologist at Everglades National Park.

No one knows how many Burmese pythons live in the Everglades, where some were released as unwanted pets and others found refuge after hurricanes destroyed their breeding sites. But there are a lot fewer today than there were a month ago.

Greg Graziani, a police officer who owns a reptile breeding facility, is one of several licensed python hunters who stalk snakes in the Everglades. In four days, he found two dead snakes, two live ones and one on the verge of death.

"Vultures had pecked through 12 inches by 4 inches down the back of this animal's body," he said. "I thought it was dead, and we reached down to pick it up, and it was very much alive."

In cold weather, Graziani said, pythons go into a catatonic state, and if they don't make it to a safe place to ride out the weather, they freeze to death.

"We're finding the smaller pythons are handling it better than the large ones," Graziani said. "The smaller ones can get into different cracks and crevices to maintain the temperatures they need."
___________________________________________________________________________
3) Florida Officials Create Season To Hunt Pythons, Other Reptiles
February 22, 2010|By Anthony Colarossi, Orlando Sentinel

State wildlife officials are offering hunters a special opportunity to capture and remove several types of pythons and other reptiles of concern from state-managed lands near the Everglades.

Folks with hunting licenses and $26 management area permits will be allowed to take the reptiles from March 8 to April 17, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Reptiles on the list include the Indian python, the reticulated python, the northern and southern African rock pythons, the amethystine or scrub python, the green anaconda and the Nile monitor lizard. They can be taken on Everglades and Francis S. Taylor, Holey Land and Rotenberger wildlife management areas.

The special season was established by executive order and it follows the end of small game season in the three wildlife management areas. The hunting will be allowed during a period when the snakes, which are non-native species, are likely to be found in those areas, officials say.

During cooler weather, the reptiles, which are cold-blooded, sun themselves on levees, canal banks and roadways in those areas.

"We are once again engaging our stakeholders, in this case, the hunting community, to help us reduce the number of reptiles of concern in the Everglades," FWC Chairman Rodney Barreto said. "Our hunters are on the front lines, and we hope, by tapping into their knowledge of the Everglades, we can make significant progress in this effort."

Today, hunters are getting training on how to identify, stalk, capture and remove reptiles of concern. FWC officials and reptile industry experts will provide the training.

Reptiles of concern can be taken by all legal methods used to take game animals. That means hunters can use shotguns, rimfire rifles and pistols. The most commonly used rimfire rifle is a .22.

Hunterss are not allowed to use centerfire rifles.

Reptiles may not be taken out of the wildlife management areas alive. Their deaths must be reported to FWC within 36 hours by calling 1-866-392-4286 or by completing an online form at MyFWC.com/ROC.

The python population in Florida became a particular concern last summer after reports that tens of thousands of the non-native reptiles may be thriving in and around the Everglades.

The death of a young Sumter County girl, who was attacked by a pet Burmese python, last summer further focused attention on the snakes.
________________________________________________________________________
4) Constrictor Snakes Bill In Senate - Florida Legislators are trying to pass a bill that would prohibit importation, breeding, sale and possession of Burmese pythons and other dangerous large constrictor snakes as pets.
2/24/10Reporter: Alyssa Orange
For video of story
http://www.wctv.tv/home/headlines/85210047.html#

Florida's recent snake problem is making its way to the state Senate.

Florida Legislators are trying to pass a bill that would prohibit importation, breeding, sale and possession of Burmese pythons and other dangerous large constrictor snakes as pets.

However, if you already own one, you won't be affected.

Activists say they are asking for the community's support in order to help make Florida's residents and wildlife safer.

"Get behind that effort and say, we understand that people can have them, the ones that are here now, but we really need to close the barn door, stop what's going on, and ban some of these snakes as personal pets," says Laura Bevan of the Humane Society of the United States.

Bevan says that these snakes aren't a problem until they get too big for people to take care of, and they release them into the wild.

These snakes don't have a natural predator in Florida, which is keeping their population alive, and hurting other animals native to Florida.

________________________________________________________________________
5) 'Pythons 101': Hunters Learn How To Catch Critters In Everglades
A Small Army Of Hunters Is Ready To Hit The Everglades To Kill Or Capture Dangerous And Nonnative Snakes.
By Susan Cocking ,2/26/10
Video at http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/02/22/1494647/hunters-learn-how-to-catch-pythons.html

Joe Mennine and Ismael Vasquez, co-workers from Jupiter, were tooling down an Everglades canal in an airboat Monday when Vasquez saw a distinctive black-blotched snake, about five feet long, on the levee.

Having completed a ``Pythons 101'' crash course given by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission less than an hour earlier, Vasquez recognized it as a Burmese python. He pointed it out to Mennine, who jumped out and grabbed it.

``It tried to bite me, but it bit itself,'' Mennine said. ``I grabbed it by its head and threw it in a bag.''

The two returned to the boat ramp and turned the snake over to their FWC instructors.

``I can't wait to do it again,'' a breathless Vasquez said. ``I'm a newbie -- my very first time. The training definitely helped me know what to look out for.''

The two hunters were among about 50 who gathered at the Everglades and Francis S. Taylor Wildlife Management Area off the Tamiami Trail on Monday for the FWC announcement of a special hunting season for reptiles of concern on state lands.

From March 8 through April 17, anyone with a hunting license and a $26 management area permit may kill exotic, invasive snakes -- including the Indian python, reticulated python, northern and southern African rock python, amethystine or scrub python, green anaconda and Nile monitor lizard.

The hunting grounds are the Everglades and Francis S. Taylor, Holey Land and Rotenberger wildlife management areas. Legal weapons include pistols, shotguns and rifles, but no centerfire rifles.

Exotic snakes -- especially the Burmese python -- have become a big problem in the Everglades. Growing up to 26 feet long, the Burmese is a constrictor that preys on native Florida mammals, birds and reptiles, including the endangered Key Largo wood rat. No one knows how many live in the Glades, but more than 300 were removed from Everglades National Park in 2008 alone. From the park, the snakes have spread north to the Big Cypress National Preserve and south to Key Largo.

Hunters said they would be happy to help stop the spread.

``We feel we have the knowledge, responsibility and technical ability to take care of this problem,'' said Bishop Wright Jr., president of the Florida Airboat Association. ``We are the best tool in the toolbox in this situation.''

To give hunters their best shot, the FWC brought in some of its own officers, plus local breeders and trappers, for Monday's news conference and training session. Biologist Shawn Heflick and reptile breeder Michael Cole provided a rundown on the reptiles' biology, behavior, diet and habitat.

They even brought along two ``demo'' snakes -- a large, pet male named Fluffy and a smaller, rambunctious wild python caught recently in the Everglades -- for lessons in safe handling and capture.

Heflick said the best time to hunt snakes is during the cooler months, when the cold-blooded reptiles sun themselves and ambush prey -- such as rabbits and rats -- along canal levees, in tree islands and in brush and debris piles.

He said they are not aggressive, but will defend themselves if threatened.

``You don't want to end up with a Burmese necktie,'' he said, only half-jokingly.

Cole was adamant that snakes be dispatched humanely.

``The quickest and easiest way to euthanize them is with a sharp instrument like a machete,'' Cole said. ``The veterinary association recommends swift decapitation or a bullet. Don't club these snakes to death.''

Hunters learned there are some financial incentives to harvesting pythons.

Brian Wood, operator of All American Gators in Hallandale Beach -- a reptile processor -- said he would pay $5 per foot for a whole snake. He showed off a pair of jumbo snakeskin trousers valued at $900 and touted the flavor of snake meat, although tests on samples from the Everglades show it's high in mercury.

``The meat is very excellent,'' Wood said. ``It's like chicken, but it does taste like snake.''

Several of the hunters couldn't wait to get started.

Said Rich Andrews of Pompano Beach: ``We'll take care of the problem here for sure. We truly care about the environment. It's our playground. If the snake problem is as bad as they make it out to be, who better to be out there than us?''
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At Fort Worth Zoo, a world-class collection is given a world-class home

Posted Saturday, Feb. 27, 2010
By CHRIS VAUGHN
cvaughn@star-telegram.com

FORT WORTH -- For years, Fort Worth Zoo Director Michael Fouraker and his top curator of coldblooded animals felt that many of nature's masterpieces weren't getting their due.

Creatures as artistically and evolutionally marvelous as the green mamba, Utila Island iguana and Chiricahua leopard frog lived in a plain-Jane box, a half-century-old building crumbling slowly from overuse by millions of energetic children and cramped keepers.

Fouraker and curator Diane Barber knew that a new "snake house" was needed for plumbing and electrical reasons alone. But they also imagined a place that elicited less screaming and more awe from children who have made the reptiles and amphibians some of the most popular animals at the park.

"If you take those same kids to a museum, they are quieter and more attentive," Fouraker said. "We kept thinking, 'How do we create that museum atmosphere where the kids look at the scales, the colors and the patterns of the animals, to where they stop and look and see what is really there in front of them?'"

Their answer was just to simply call it a museum, the Museum of Living Art.

What neither of them anticipated then, in the early 2000s, was that selecting that name would launch the zoo on a course no other zoo in North America had yet charted -- raising millions of dollars to build an architecturally significant and striking herpetarium for animals that have long lived in the shadows of the great apes, elephants and big cats.

"The building is extraordinary -- the feel of it, the shape of it, the concept we initiated," said Ramona Bass, who leads the zoo's board and is largely responsible for pulling off the exhibit. "I don't think there is a herpetarium like this on Earth. This building is a piece of architecture that stands up with the great works in Fort Worth."

Covering new ground

The $19 million Museum of Living Art -- MOLA, in shorthand, a riff on MOMA in New York -- opens to the public Saturday after more than two years of construction on the site of the old aquarium. It serves as the first significant exhibit addition since Texas Wild in 2001.

The world-renowned collection of reptiles and amphibians, enhanced with several major acquisitions in recent months, has been off-exhibit since August, when the zoo permanently closed the old herpetarium, the last vestige of the park before the Fort Worth Zoological Association took over management in 1991.

The 17,000-square-foot building will have large exhibits with multiple animals to give people a sense of what a desert or rain forest ecosystem looks like, as well as significantly larger exhibits for snakes such as the Burmese python and king cobra. The building also has an area where visitors can see hatchlings and tadpoles and get very close to the world's largest species of salamander.

Outside, an additional 13,000 square feet features a 15-foot saltwater crocodile, giant tortoises and more animals selected for their particular beauty: macaws, ring-tailed lemurs and golden lion tamarins. The zoo has also installed a 90,000-gallon tank and stocked it with turtles, fish and gharials, which officials hope will use the sandy beach to lay eggs.

Behind the public area, but equally important to zoo staff, are climate-controlled rooms for breeding, some for endangered species destined for release in the wild.

"They are treading new ground," said Kristin Vehrs, executive director of the Maryland-based Association of Zoos and Aquariums. "A lot of that goes to the specific interests of the staff at the Fort Worth Zoo, who have been working diligently for years on the global amphibian crisis. The zoo world expects great things from this exhibit."

No 'square box'

When the original herpetarium opened in 1960 -- with snake-handle doors -- it started charming youngsters immediately. The collection of animals was already impressive, one of the world's largest gathered under the new directorship of Lawrence Curtis.

Over the decades, Fort Worth solidified its reputation with coldblooded animals. But despite the growing diversity and prominence of the collection and the zoo's increased efforts to conserve and protect species in the wild, the building was going the other direction.

The plumbing was collapsing, the electrical system was overworked, and the walls and floors had developed cracks and holes -- where escaped animals could hide. Additionally, there were no quarantine areas, and the holding areas were cramped.

Fouraker told the Fort Worth City Council in 2001 that the zoo would build a new herpetarium on the site of the demolished aquarium because it was no longer feasible to keep either building functioning.

"Every day, we're putting more money into a sieve," Fouraker said then.

The zoo had $1.3 million in city bond money available. It had just completed the $40 million Texas Wild exhibit and wasn't planning on hitting the fundraising trail in a big way, so plans for the herpetarium were scaled back to a building roughly the size of the original.

"It was about a $5 million exhibit," Fouraker said. "We were going to build a plain box and hide it with bamboo."

But Bass was having nothing to do with it.

"I just wasn't going to be able to raise money for a square box," she said. "It wasn't going to happen."

The zoo had gone "native" with exhibits such as the World of Primates and gone "cultural" with exhibits such as Texas Wild, which features windmills, wagons and other Western touches.

Bass wanted something different, and jumping off the name Fouraker and Barber gave her, she started dreaming big.

"That led to the idea of building an art museum," Bass said. "Let's do something architecturally significant."

Lake/Flato of San Antonio started out as the architectural firm, but about four years ago, the zoo switched to Gideon Toal, a firm in downtown Fort Worth.

Michael Bennett, Gideon Toal's chief executive officer and the lead designer of the project, said he basically started over with a cardboard model of what he envisioned for the space. Only later did the architectural drawings come.

The zoo had already commissioned Gary Lee of CLR Design to design the animal exhibits, so the architecture came last.

"We didn't want to mess with the exhibits because they had spent a lot of time on those," Bennett said. "So we were left with putting the skin around the exhibits."

Unique to Fort Worth

Bennett's first design was intended to look more like the rolling hills of Texas, he said. From there, with Bass' suggestions, the concept transitioned to an aluminum-covered, undulating roof that gives the appearance of a scale-covered snake, which, not surprisingly, was tricky to pull off when it came time for construction.

"We had to figure out a system that could be built and keep the rain out," he said. "That was the hardest thing to do on the building. It was a very unique and customized feature."

Bass said she is particularly pleased with the selection of the West Texas limestone on the building because it is reminiscent of the Kimbell Art Museum and because the rough-cut stone in one section calls to mind the stone gates at the corner of Forest Park Boulevard and Park Place Drive.

"It fits in a natural setting," Bass said. "It's a piece of contemporary architecture that still fits within a zoo."

Originally, zoo leaders hoped to make the building "green," perhaps even LEED-certified. But that idea was scrapped because caring for coldblooded animals requires generous amounts of heat, humidity and sunlight.

Bass said the zoo switched to "eco-realism" for the building, such as collecting rainwater in cisterns, using recycled rubber for the floor and recycled plastic for the benches, and installing motion sensors on electric fixtures. The design of the roof, Bennett said, will also cut down on cooling costs.

"What we've tried to say is, 'Do what you can to be environmentally responsible,'" Bass said.

Some zoos are already looking at what Fort Worth has done, Fouraker said, and he expects more visibility in zoos from some of the smaller animals, particularly given the worsening crisis of disappearing turtles in Southeast Asia and amphibians worldwide.

But the Museum of Living Art, he said, may be unique to Fort Worth and its long history of reptiles and amphibians.

"I don't know that we would have taken this leap if we did not have the legacy here," Fouraker said. "We had the collection. We had the conservation programs in place. We know how popular it has been with our visitors.

"We might not have convinced the board, without those foundations, to make this large of a commitment to coldbloodeds."

http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/02/27/2002590/at-fort-worth-zoo-a-world-class.html

HerpDigest Volume # 10 Issue #9 2/23/09 Bibliographies Major Herp Publications

HerpDigest.org: The Only Free Weekly Electronic Newsletter That Reports on The Latest News on Herpetological Conservation, Husbandry and Science
Volume # 10 Issue #9 2/23/09 - Bibliographies Major Herp Publications
Publisher/Editor- Allen Salzberg
__________________________________________________________________.
Table of Contents

1) Herpetological Monographs, Vol. 23, Issue 1, Dec 2009 (Bibliography)
2) Herpetologica Vol. 65, Issue 4, Dec 2009 (Bibliography
3) Journal of Herpetology Vol. 44, Issue 1, Mar 2010 (Bibliography

______________________________________________________
1) Herpetological Monographs (Bibliography
Vol. 23, Issue 1, Dec 2009

Articles
Philippine Frogs of the Genus Leptobrachium (Anura; Megophryidae): Phylogeny-based Species Delimitation, Taxonomic Review, and Descriptions of Three New Species
Rafe M. Brown, Cameron D. Siler, Arvin C. Diesmos, and Angel C. Alcala
Pages: 1-44

The Spatial and Reproductive Ecology of the Copperhead (Agkistrodon contortrix) at the Northeastern Extreme of Its Range
Charles F. Smith, Gordon W. Schuett, Ryan L. Earley, and Kurt Schwenk
Pages: 45-73.

Reproductive Biology of Agkistrodon piscivorus Lacépède (Squamata, Serpentes, Viperidae, Crotalinae)
Dustin S. Siegel, David M. Sever, Justin L. Rheubert, and Kevin M. Gribbins
Pages: 74-107.

Selected Body Temperature and Thermoregulatory Behavior in the Sit-and-Wait Foraging Lizard Pseudocordylus melanotus melanotus
Suzanne McConnachie, Graham J. Alexander, and Martin J. Whiting
Pages: 108-122.

Two New Species of Cnemidophorus (Squamata: Teiidae) from Islands of the Northeastern Coast of Venezuela
Gabriel N. Ugueto, Michael B. Harvey, and Gilson A. Rivas
Page: 123-155
_______________________________________________________________________
2) Herpetologica (Bibliography
Vol. 65, Issue 4, Dec 2009

Articles

Sexual Dimorphism in Leposternon microcephalum and L. wuchereri (Squamata: Amphisbaenidae) from Minas Gerais, Southeastern Brazil
Renato Filogonio, Conrado A. B. Galdino, Daniel P. R. Cabral, Alexandre F. Righi, Marcelo F. Lopes, and Luciana B. Nascimento

Effects of Radio Transmitter Burdening on Locomotor Ability and Survival of Iguana Hatchlings
Charles R. Knapp and Juan G. Abarca

Age, Size and Growth in Two Populations of the Southern Crested Newt, Triturus karelinii (Strauch 1870) from Different Altitudes
Nazan Üzüm and Kurtuluþ Olgun

Testing Species Boundaries within theAtractus occipitoalbus Complex (Serpentes: Dipsadidae)
Paulo Passos, Altagratia Chiesse, Omar Torres-Carvajal, and Jay M. Savage

A New species of Coniophanes (Squamata: Colubridae), from the Coast of Michoacán, Mexico
Oscar Flores-Villela and Eric N. Smith

A New species of Microcaecilia (Amphibia: Gymnophona: Caeciliidae) from Suriname
Mark Wilkinson, Ronald Nussbaum, and Marinus Hoogmoed

A Revision of the Fish Scale Geckos, Genus Geckolepis Grandidier (Squamata, Gekkonidae) from Madagascar and the Comoros
Gunther Köhler, Hans-Helmut Diethert, Ronald A. Nussbaum, and Christopher J. Raxworthy

A New Species of Mesobaena Mertens, 1925 (Squamata: Amphisbaenidae) from Brazilian Guiana, with a Key to the Amphisbaenidae of the Guianan Region
Marinus S. Hoogmoed, Roberta R. Pinto, Wáldima Alves da Rocha, and Emiliane G. Pereira

A New Limb-Reduced, Loam-Swimming Skink (Squamata: Scincidae: Brachymeles) from Central Luzon Island, Philippines
Cameron D. Siler, Edmond L. Rico, Mariano R. Duya, and Rafe M. Brown

New Species of Toxicocalamus (Squamata: Elapidae) from Papua New Guinea
fred Kraus

A New Species of the Scinax catharinae Species Group (Anura: Hylidae) from Minas Gerais, Southeastern Brazil
Ana Carolina Calijorne Lourenço, Luciana Barreto Nascimento, and Maria Rita Silvério
3) Journal of Herpetology (Bibliography)
Vol. 44, Issue 1, Mar 2010

Ecology
Sexual Size and Shape Dimorphism Variation in Caesar's Lizard (Gallotia caesaris, Lacertidae) from Different Habitats
M. Molina-Borja, M. A. Rodríguez-Domínguez, C. González-Ortega, and M. L. Bohórquez-Alonso
Pages. 1-12.

Morphology
Macroscopic Recognition of Nontraumatic Osseous Pathology in the Postcranial Skeletons of Crocodilians and Lizards
Bruce Rothschild
Pages. 13-20.

Ecology
Density-Dependent Processes during the Juvenile Stage in the Lizard Sceloporus virgatus
V. Mark Manteuffel and Martin Eiblmaier
Pages. 21-27.

Systematics
New Species of Cnemaspis Strauch 1887 (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from Southwestern ambodia
Jesse L. Grismer, L. Lee Grismer, and Thou Chav
Pages. 28-36.

New Forest Gecko (Squamata; Gekkonidae; Genus Luperosaurus) from Mt. Mantalingajan, Southern Palawan Island, Philippines
Rafe M. Brown, Arvin C. Diesmos, Melizar V. Duya, Harvey J. D. Garcia, and Edmund Leo B. Rico
Pages 37-48.

New Loam-Swimming Skink, Genus Brachymeles (Reptilia: Squamata: Scincidae) from Luzon and Catanduanes Islands, Philippines
Cameron D. Siler, Arvin C. Diesmos, and Rafe M. Brown
Pages 49-60.

Conservation
Anuran Calling Survey Optimization: Developing and Testing Predictive Models of Anuran Calling Activity
Charlotte K. Steelman and Michael E. Dorcas
Pages 61-68.

Interaction of an Aquatic Herbicide and Predatory Salamander Density on Wetland Communities
Robert Brodman, W. Dan Newman, Kristin Laurie, Sarah Osterfeld, and Nicole Lenzo
Pages. 69-82.

Ecology
Seasonal Patterns of Body Condition, Hydration State, and Activity of Gila Monsters (Heloderma suspectum) at a Sonoran Desert Site
Jon R. Davis and Dale F. DeNardo
Pages. 83-93.

Abundance and Sexual Size Dimorphism of the Giant Gartersnake (Thamnophis gigas) in the Sacramento Valley of California
Glenn D. Wylie, Michael L. Casazza, Christopher J. Gregory, and Brian J. Halstead
Pages 94-103.

Behavior
Vagility of Aquatic Salamanders: Implications for Wetland Connectivity
Christopher M. Schalk and Thomas M. Luhring
Pages 104-109.

Multiscale Influences of Landscape Composition and Configuration on the Spatial Ecology of Eastern Diamond-backed Rattlesnakes (Crotalus adamanteus)
Shannon K. Hoss, Craig Guyer, Lora L. Smith, and Gordon W. Schuett
Pages110-123.

Ecology
Seasonal and Site Variation in Angulate Tortoise Diet and Activity
Quinton I. Joshua, Margaretha D. Hofmeyr, and Brian T. Henen
Pages 124-134.

Physiology
Nutritional Quality of Natural Foods of Juvenile and Adult Desert Tortoises (Gopherus agassizii): Calcium, Phosphorus, and Magnesium Digestibility
Lisa C. Hazard, Danielle R. Shemanski, and Kenneth A. Nagy
Page 135-147.

Ecology
Diet and Reproductive Ecology of the Desert Nightsnake (Hypsiglena chlorophaea) in Central Washington State
Robert E. Weaver
Pages 148-152.

Systematics
Karyotypes of a Cryptic Diploid Form of the Unisexual Leposoma percarinatum (Squamata, Gymnophthalmidae) and the Bisexual Leposoma ferreirai from the Lower Rio Negro, Amazonian Brazil
Marcia M. Laguna, Miguel T. Rodrigues, Rodrigo M. L. dos Santos, Yatiyo Yonenaga-Yassuda, Teresa C. S. Ávila-Pires, Marinus S. Hoogmoed, and Katia C. M. Pellegrino
Pages 153-157.

Ecology
Altitude and Rock Cover Explain the Distribution and Abundance of a Mediterranean Alpine Lizard
Camila Monasterio, Alfredo Salvador, and José A. Díaz
Pages 158-163.

Conservation
Seasonal Variation in Survivorship and Mortality of Desert Tortoises in the Sonoran Desert, Arizona
J. Daren Riedle, Roy C. Averill-Murray, and David D. Grandmaison
Page 164-167.

Ecology
Population Structure and Growth of Immature Green Turtles at Mantanani, Sabah, Malaysia
Nicolas Pilcher
Page 168-171.

Age and Growth of a Subtropical High-Elevation Torrent Frog, Amolops mantzorum, in Western China
Wen Bo Liao and Xin Lu
Pages 172-176.

Morphology
Ventral Colored Patches in Tropidurus semitaeniatus (Squamata, Tropiduridae): Sexual Dimorphism and Association with Reproductive Cycle
Leonardo B. Ribeiro, Miguel F. Kolodiuk, and Eliza M. X. Freire
Pages 177-182.

Reviewers
List of Reviewers for the Journal of Herpetology, 2009
Pages 183-184.
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Still available:

THE ECOLOGY, EXPLOITATION AND CONSERVATION OF RIVER TURTLES
by Don Moll and Edward O. Moll. Considered by turtle scientists, and conservationists as one of the best books on turtle conservation. 420 pages; 90 halftones & 3 line illus.; 6-1/8 x 9-1/4; List price $80, now $30.00 plus $7.50 S&H.

AMPHIBIAN ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION: A HANDBOOK OF TECHNIQUES (TECHNIQUES IN ECOLOGY & CONSERVATION) (Paperback) by C. Kenneth Dodd Jr. (Editor) 556 pages, USA, Oxford Univ. Press. Available. $59.95 plus $7.50 S&H LIMITED NUMBER AUTOGRAPHED COPIES, By editor Kenneth Dodd
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THE TURTLES OF U.S. & CANADA by Carl Ernst and Jeffrey Lovich, 2009, 840 pp. 240 color photos, 11 line drawings, 52 maps, 8 ½" X 11
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($11.00 for S&H sent media mail, delivery confirmation, It's an 8 plus pound book)

"BIOLOGY OF THE BOAS AND PYTHONS"
Edited by R.W. Henderson and R. Powell
2007,Eagle Mountain Publishing,
448 pages, 30 chapters by 79 authors, over 200 color photographs, maps, figures, and drawings, Table of Contents available, $100.00 PLUS $7.50 For S&H.

SNAKES: A NATURAL HISTORY (ILLUSTRATED)
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USD $24.95, 220 pages, Over 100 color photos. Sterling;
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VENOMOUS SNAKES OF THE WORLD
by Mark O'Shea
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And soon three new books on amphibians, the "Salamanders of the Southeast".
"Ecological and Environmental Physiology of Amphibians" and "Extinction in Our Times-Global Amphibian Decline"

On how to order see below

(IF YOU ARE OVERSEAS -WHICH INCLUDES CANADA AND MEXICO-EMAIL US FIRST FOR SHIPPING COSTS.).
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HerpDigest Volume # 12 Issue # 8 2/13/10

HerpDigest.org: The Only Free Weekly Electronic Newsletter That Reports on The Latest News on Herpetological Conservation, Husbandry and Science
Volume # 12 Issue # 8 2/13/10
Publisher/Editor- Allen Salzberg
________________________________________________________________________
AMPHIBIAN ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION: A HANDBOOK OF TECHNIQUES (TECHNIQUES IN ECOLOGY & CONSERVATION) (Paperback) by C. Kenneth Dodd Jr. (Editor) 556 pages, USA, Oxford Univ. Press. Available. $59.95 plus $7.50 S&H LIMITED NUMBER AUTOGRAPHED COPIES, By editor Kenneth Dodd
Table of Contents Available, Chapter one available, free at http://fds.oup.com/www.oup.com/pdf/13/9780199541188_chapter1.pdf
_______________________________________________________________________
Table of Contents:

Updates

1) In The Last Issue I Printed The Abstract To The Paper Entitiled
"'Toadness' A Key Feature For Global Spread Of These Amphibians"
2) Petco Is Asked To Stop Adoption Of Exotic Pets Seized In Arlington (U.S. Global Exotics Case)
3) More Articles On Where The Animals Are Going:
A) Exotic Animals Rescued, Brought To Larimer Humane Society
Snakes, Lizards, Turtles, Red-Spotted Toads, Hamsters To Be Put Up For Adoption
B) Detroit Zoo Housing 1,100 Animals Seized In Raid
C) Lot of lizards lands in Longmont, CO (Blue Tongue Skinks and Uromastyx)
4) Bear Market in Boas: Proposed Laws Strangle Sales of Mutant Snakes
Premium Python, Once Worth $40,000, Now Sells for Half; 'It's Just Like Stocks'

(Next Issue "Turtles In Space" seriously.)
______________________________________________________________________
"BIOLOGY OF THE BOAS AND PYTHONS"
Edited by R.W. Henderson and R. Powell
2007,Eagle Mountain Publishing,
448 pages, 30 chapters by 79 authors, over 200 color photographs, maps, figures, and drawings, Table of Contents available, $100.00 PLUS $7.50 For S&H.
________________________________________________________________
Updates -

This Tuesday Feb. 16 2009, PBS will be airing a special hour long mini-doc on the pythons of the Everglades. (Check your local listing.) EST it's 8 P.M.

S373 The "Python bill" is supposedly scheduled for a vote on the U.S. Senate floor soon. Go to USArk and HSUS websites for exactly different points of view.
One correction in some of the USARK literature I've seen the HSUS doesn't want to ban all pets, that's PETA. HSUS wants to ban all exotic animals as pets, which, of course includes all herps. So your cats and dogs are safe.

And as USARK rightfully states HSUS is a totally separate organization from your local Humane Society. For that matter so is the ASPCA not connected in any way to your local SPCA.

See Article #4 for a related article on how the progress of bill has affected prices of large morph snakes. (From the Wall Street Journal no less.)

The SPCA of TX who confiscated the over 27,000 animals U.S. Global Exotics are now looking for homes for them. They have very strict rules about whom should get these animals. For example no institution that sells animals. Well the 20,000 animals still alive when they started to try find home are now winding up in some weird places. Article # 2 is an example of one place should never have been considered. The 3 articles under number 3 are more appropriate examples.

Also MATTS (Mid-Atlantic Turtle and Tortoise Society) and Turtle Rescue of Long Island have Facebook pages so join them if you are on Facebook. (And of course don't forget Herpdigest's Facebook page. Get herp news everyday, with photos, instead of waiting once or twice a week. And 90% of the time different stories than the newsletter.)

And finally the family of David M. Caroll, The MacArthur Genius Award Winner, naturalist, artist and author has opened their new on-line gallery at http://carrollartgallery.com/. There you can order not only David's prints, but prints from his the collections of the entire artistic family, Laurette his wife, Rianna and Sean two of his three Children (the third is an award winning children's author.). T-shirts, magnets and books are also for sale.
_______________________________________________________________________
1) In The Last Issue I Printed The Abstract To The Paper Entitiled
"'Toadness' A Key Feature For Global Spread Of These Amphibians"
Elizabeth Pennisi /Science 2/5/10/Vol. 327. no. 5966, p. 633

And asked what is "Toadness", and if anyone has a copy of the paper they could send me. Well thank you for the many pdfs, which I can now supply the rest of the readers of HD if interested. And telling me about the following article in Scientific American on the article, with slide show, defining "Toadness"

How Toads Conquered the World
By David Biello . 2/5/09 Scientific American on-line
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=how-toads-conquered-the-world&sc=WR_20100209 for slide show.
.
Cane toads are seemingly innocuous enough. First imported to Australia to control a beetle pest of sugarcane fields, they are now frog-marching their way across the island continent, wreaking havoc on in situ flora and fauna. The key to their domination has been protection from would-be predators and an ability to breed fast. But how were cane toads gifted with those traits in the first place?

A new study published February 5 in Science aims to answer that question. Biologist Ines Van Bocxlaer of Vrije University Brussels and her colleagues analyzed the kinds of traits that allow various toad species to thrive under many conditions and thereby expand their ranges: independence from constant access to water and humidity; glands that produce poison as protection from predators (which double as water storage); and an ability to lay large amounts of fast-hatching eggs in temporary waters, among others. Perhaps most surprisingly, at least in the case of toads, bigger body size is better. Unsurprisingly, the cane toad-and many of its 500 Bufonidae family brethren-shares most of these traits, including a propensity for quick adaptation and blitzkrieg-like range expansion.

The toad family originated in the tropics of South America before colonizing the rest of the globe. That initial colonization was set off, according to this new analysis, by the development of this set of traits, which has subsequently allowed most conquests of new territories, such as the expansion of toads from tropical niches in India to more diverse, drier habitats. In fact, this may explain why toads that are only distantly related genetically often share so many of the same traits: Conditions cause the various species to converge back on the traits of the same ancestral range-extending type of toad.

Those toads that do not share these traits, such as the harlequin, are not doing as well. Climate change is making life more difficult for specialized amphibians of all kinds, and amphibian chytrid fungus, an infection that is helping to wipe out populations around the globe, afflicts as much as 50 percent of extant amphibians.

That said, the cane toad may just be living up to its genetic legacy. "The origin of this range-expansion ability," Bocxlaer wrote, "appears to be rooted deep in the evolutionary tree of toads and may be a remnant of when toads colonized the world."
__________________________________________________________________
2) Petco Is Asked To Stop Adoption Of Exotic Pets Seized In Arlington (U.S. Global Exotics Case)
Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2010, by Susan Schrock, Fort-Worth Star Telegram

ARLINGTON -- The SPCA of Texas asked Petco stores to cease adoptions Wednesday of 2,000 animals seized from U.S. Global Exotics because the effort violated its agreement with a wildlife welfare agency.

The SPCA had given the hamsters, fancy mice, lizards and snakes to Wild Rescue Inc. of Texas, an agency partnered with the Petco Foundation, a nonprofit linked to the pet store chain.

The Star-Telegram reported Wednesday that Wild Rescue was making the animals available for adoption at 22 Petco stores in Dallas-Fort Worth and that the Petco Foundation, which provides supplies and support to animal welfare groups, was set to collect a nominal adoption fee.

The SPCA was aware of Wild Rescue's plans, but the agency stopped the effort Wednesday after learning that Petco required that the actual ownership of the animals be surrendered to the stores, which violated the agreement between SPCA and Wild Rescue, said Maura Davies, SPCA spokeswoman. "That gave the perception that the animals were going back into the pet trade industry," Davies said.

A Petco spokesman said the company was not seeking financial gain from the pet rescue. Wild Rescue, which works closely with Petco, is a separate nonprofit agency.

"They were concerned that ... Petco and/or the foundation are somehow gaining benefit by the partnership," said Kevin Whalen, a Petco spokesman, adding that the adoption fee would have helped the foundation cover the cost of housing the animals. "That's not true. That's not our intent. We're extremely disappointed."

The 2,000 animals were among the 27,000-plus that Arlington seized Dec. 15 because of inhumane conditions found at U.S. Global Exotics, an international pet wholesaler. This month, the city turned custody of the animals over to the SPCA, which has placed many of them with zoos, animal sanctuaries and welfare groups.

The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals also opposed the Petco adoption plans.

"These animals were destined for Petco shelves to start with," said Daphna Nachminovitch, vice president of PETA's cruelty investigations department. "If they weren't in the business of selling animals, there wouldn't be a U.S. Global to start with."

Arlington's animal cruelty case before a municipal judge relied heavily on testimony, photos and videos taken by undercover PETA investigator Howard Goldman, who worked at U.S. Global Exotics for seven months last year.

U.S. Global Exotics sold animals primarily to zoos, pet stores and other distributors, such as those that supply major pet chains like Petco and PetSmart.

Nachminovitch said turning over the animals to Petco would have been like giving the store free inventory.

The animals at Petco will be returned this week to the SPCA, which will continue working with Wild Rescue and other nonprofit animal welfare groups for permanent placement, Davies said.

"These animals will find loving homes," she said.
_________________________________________________________________________
3) More Articles On Where The Animals Are Going:

A) Exotic Animals Rescued, Brought To Larimer Humane Society
Snakes, Lizards, Turtles, Red-Spotted Toads, Hamsters To Be Put Up For Adoption
By Boggy Magill, The Coloradoan./ February 11, 2010

Hamsters, dragon agamas and red-spotted toads, oh my!

Those are just a few of the exotic animals - and yes, that includes exotic hamster species - delivered to the Larimer Humane Society on Wednesday as part of a massive rescue operation from a massive exotic animal dealer in Texas.

Arlington Animals Services raided U.S. Global Exotics in Arlington, Texas, in December, rescuing 27,000 exotic animals housed in a 5,000-square-foot building.

Hundreds of animals were found dead and dying in the building, most suffering from cruel confinement, overcrowding and a lack of food, water and veterinary care. The Larimer Humane Society offered to help rescue some of those animals, and soon, they'll be up for adoption to Northern Colorado residents, said society spokeswoman Cary Rentola.

The animals include 16 snakes, 26 lizards, five turtles, 10 red-spotted toads and 69 hamsters of four different species.

No adoption rates have been set yet, but the Humane Society is considering a $5 adoption fee for the hamsters, Rentola said.

"The first step is to unload and settle them," Rentola said. "The staff needs to observe them."

She said the Humane Society will start gathering names of prospective adopters. Society staff will call those interested in adopting the animals when they're ready.

The animals represent the largest delivery of rescued exotic animals in the society's history, she said.

"We felt it was a way to do our part in a national crisis," she said.

B) Detroit Zoo Housing 1,100 Animals Seized In Raid

Detroit, MI, AP-2/7/10- The Detroit Zoo is serving as a sanctuary to more than 1,000 mammals, reptiles and spiders seized from a Texas exotic animal dealer.

The Macomb Daily reports that the 1,100 animals now at the Detroit Zoo home were among nearly 27,000 animals seized Dec. 15 in the nation's largest exotic animal rescue effort.

After a judge ruled the animals will not be returned to U.S. Global Exotics, Detroit Zoo employees spent seven weeks helping care for the animals at a temporary site in Dallas.

On Thursday, 1,100 of the homeless animal were moved to the Detroit Zoo, including five wallabies, four sloths and hundreds of reptiles, spiders and amphibians.

Zoo official Scott Carter says zoo workers are now working to help place hundreds more of the seized animals with other accredited zoos and sanctuaries.

C) Lot of lizards lands in Longmont, CO (Blue Tongue Skinks and Uromastyx)

By Scott Rochat, 2/10/09, Longmont Times-Call
LONGMONT - The lizards have landed.

Sixty-three lizards seized from a Texas exotic animals dealer in December are now available for adoption from the Longmont-based Colorado Reptile Humane Society.

The animals were among 27,000 found in dirty, crowded conditions during a raid on U.S. Global Exotics of Arlington.

Several of the animals arrived in Denver on Tuesday, to be distributed to area humane societies. The influx has the CRHS looking for some foster help - its normal capacity is 150, and it already had 143 when the latest reptiles arrived.

"You're not going to have 50 empty spots with this economy in Colorado right now," said Ann-Elizabeth Nash, director of the reptile society.

The animals she claimed for the society are blue-tongued skinks and a type of spiny-tailed lizard called a uromastyx, both of which can live 15 to 30 years in captivity. The skinks are in good shape, she said, but the others will need a little more care before they can be adopted.

"We chose them because they're desert lizards that should do well in Colorado ... instead of something large and tree-climbing that likes the tropics," Nash said.

Those interested in adopting a lizard or helping provide a foster home can contact the agency at www.corhs.org.
__________________________________________________________________
4) Bear Market in Boas: Proposed Laws Strangle Sales of Mutant Snakes
Premium Python, Once Worth $40,000, Now Sells for Half; 'It's Just Like Stocks'
By Justin Scheck

Chico, CA-2/12/09 Wall Street Journal - The stock market is back on track, and bond markets are open for business. But now, another inflated financial market is facing collapse: mutant pythons and boa constrictors.

Premium pythons that could fetch $40,000 in 2007 now go for half that sum, breeders report. The price for a hypomelanistic boa constrictor, one with a mutation that lightens its skin tone, was $99 on Feb. 1, down from $5,000 in 2007, on Kingsnake.com, a classified-ad site that acts as a market-maker for snakes.

Ron Greenberg, a retired fiberglass-plant manager who keeps 1,000 snakes here in Chico, says demand has disappeared altogether for some boas he breeds. He can't find buyers anymore for "sunglow" boa constrictors, which sport an unnatural reddish-orange-and-off-white coloration, and fetched $3,000 two years ago.

The turning point: Senate Bill 373, which Florida Democrat Bill Nelson proposed in February 2009 to prevent situations like one in the Everglades, where escaped Burmese pythons have devoured native animals. The bill would ban importation and interstate transport of boa constrictors, anacondas and large pythons. A similar antisnake bill followed in the House.

Neither bill has passed yet, but "no one is willing to give me $10,000 for a snake when they think they may be added to an injurious-species list," says Mike Wilbanks, 41 years old, an Oklahoma python breeder.

The boa bear market comes after years of growing demand for constrictors with genetic mutations that result in abnormal colors. A normal ball python today typically sells for under $100; a "piebald" python-white with rare blotches of brown and green-can fetch $3,000.

The rarer the mutation, the more expensive the snake, and investors paid huge sums for snakes that could produce babies that brought big returns. Adam Wysocki, a Maryland computer programmer, sold his house in 2006 and spent $40,000 on a rare "lesser platinum" ball python. He had money to invest, he says, but he "wanted to do something with it that was more than investing in Microsoft or something." In 2007, he says, three of the prized snake's young sold for $18,000 each.

Last year, Mr. Wysocki's most expensive snake sold for just $7,000. While the relatively small ball python isn't on the Senate bill's trade-ban list, the market for it has been depressed, he says, because investors are afraid the snake will be added to the list.

The origins of the snake bubble harken back to the early 1980s, by many breeders' accounts, after Florida reptile breeder Tom Crutchfield recognized a photo of an albino Burmese python in National Geographic magazine.

Mr. Crutchfield, looking to breed the snake, convinced a New York reptile trader to import the albino python and two of its siblings. To pay the $21,000 for the snakes, Mr. Crutchfield took a second mortgage on his house. He rented out one python for a $10,000-a-year stud fee and says he later sold about 40 of the three snakes' young for $5,000 each.

The mutant-constrictor economy began to resemble the Dutch tulip mania of the 17th century, as snake speculators entered bidding wars for rare specimens, which they began calling "investment grade." Buyers would then breed their own young mutants, selling them at high prices to other speculators who hoped to breed and sell to still others. "It's always been a pyramid thing," says Mr. Crutchfield who, after pleading guilty to charges related to illegal reptile smuggling, is back in business at age 60. "The people at the top make the most money."

As rare-colored snakes reproduced and the mutation grew more common, sell-offs caused prices to drop. But there were always new mutations that sold for outlandish prices while scarce.

Tom Burke, a 55-year-old former tugboat driver in Long Island, expected his snake investments to be a fallback during the recession. Mr. Burke says his snake sales went up in late 2008, even as the rest of the economy crumbled.

Mr. Burke explains mutant-boa business economics thus: In 2008, an albino male boa and a motley female with an albino gene cost $1,000 for a pair. Within 30 months, the pair would likely produce at least five motley albino young, which sold for $1,500 each, at 2008 prices. Minus $1,000 or so in equipment and rats and mice to feed the snakes, profits would still be greater than 100%. "People who want to diversify their income or get a better income or a higher income, they do this," Mr. Burke says. "It's just like stocks."

Like stocks, the snake market proved susceptible to sentiment. After Sen. Nelson introduced the snake bill, Mr. Burke says, demand dried up. Mike Panichi, a Brooklyn homicide detective who in 2005 borrowed from his retirement fund to invest in boas, says he got frequent inquiries from prospective snake buyers until early 2009. But now, he says, there's "zero interest." The snake market took another hit last month, when Interior Secretary Ken Salazar separately proposed adding several constrictor species to the "injurious wildlife" list that cannot be imported or carried across state lines.

Ron Greenberg, who keeps 1,000 snakes in Chico, Calif., says demand has disappeared for some snakes, like this albino Burmese python.

Bryan Gulley, a spokesman for Sen. Nelson, says he feels for the breeders, but says big snakes can be dangerous. He points to a 12-foot anaconda that was found last month in a Florida pond with a goose in its gullet, and a pet Burmese python that allegedly strangled a Florida toddler to death in July.

Snake breeders counter that most pet constrictors are less dangerous than a large dog. Andrew Wyatt, president of the U.S. Association of Reptile Keepers, testifying on Capitol Hill against antisnake legislation, said that captive boas and pythons "are not the dangerous killers portrayed by activists in the media."

Mr. Wysocki, the Maryland breeder, has been selling his collection to fund a lobbying organization he calls the National Pet Association. The NPA is trying to rally people outside the snake community to oppose the Senate snake bill on the grounds that it could be a slippery slope toward restricting dogs and cats.

"What they don't realize is the economic impact this is going to have," says Mr. Crutchfield, the albino-python pioneer, who notes that the constrictor crunch will squeeze suppliers of snake food, too. "What about the guy who sells rats? Who's going to buy jumbo rats?"

Good question, says Bill Parker, owner of Feeder Mice Unlimited in Oroville, Calif. Mr. Parker, 76, raises about 40,000 mice and rats on a former catfish farm. His company brought in almost $300,000 in 2008, he says, mainly from reptile enthusiasts. But last year business was down about 30%, and he had to lay off three employees. If the Senate bill passes, he says, "that will kill us."
_____________________________________________________________________

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Still available:

THE COMPLETE NORTH AMERICAN BOX TURTLE
Carl J. Franklin, and David C. Killpack with foreword by C. Kenneth Dodd (who wrote the now classic "Natural History of North American Box Turtles"
Just published. 260 Pages Over 300 full color photos and illustrations.
Hardcover, Eco/Serpent's Tales
Only $49.95 plus $7.50 S&H, lowest price on net
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THE TURTLES OF U.S. & CANADA by Carl Ernst and Jeffrey Lovich, 2009, 840 pp. 240 color photos, 11 line drawings, 52 maps, 8 ½" X 11
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($11.00 for S&H sent media mail, delivery confirmation, It's an 8 plus pound book)

THE ECOLOGY, EXPLOITATION AND CONSERVATION OF RIVER TURTLES
by Don Moll and Edward O. Moll. Considered by turtle scientists, and conservationists as one of the best books on turtle conservation. 420 pages; 90 halftones & 3 line illus.; 6-1/8 x 9-1/4; List price $80, now $30.00 plus $7.50 S&H.

On how to order see below

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HerpDigest.org Volume # 10 Issue # 6 - 2/5/10

HerpDigest.org: The Only Free Weekly Electronic Newsletter That Reports on The Latest News on Herpetological Conservation, Husbandry and Science
Volume # 10 Issue # 6 - 2/5/10
Publisher/Editor- Allen Salzberg
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AMPHIBIAN ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION: A HANDBOOK OF TECHNIQUES (TECHNIQUES IN ECOLOGY & CONSERVATION) (Paperback) by C. Kenneth Dodd Jr. (Editor) 556 pages, USA, Oxford Univ. Press. Available. $59.95 plus $7.50 S&H LIMITED NUMBER AUTOGRAPHED COPIES, By editor Kenneth Dodd
Table of Contents Available, Chapter one available, free at http://fds.oup.com/www.oup.com/pdf/13/9780199541188_chapter1.pdf
_______________________________________________________________________
Table of contents
1) Invasion of the Giant Pythons - PBS, NATURE, Premiere Sunday Feb, 21, 2010 (check local listings)
2) IUCN's Species of the Day Program at www.iucnredlist.org/species-of-the-day today is Testudo kleinmani -
3) Indonesia Foils Attempt To Smuggle 3,500( Fly-River Turtles?) & 799 Indo-Chinese Rat Snakes
4) Effects of Roads on Animal Abundance: an Empirical Review and Synthesis -Special Issue of Ecology and Society, Volume 14, Issue # 1 2009. Open Access- Go to http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/issues/view.php?sf=41 abstracts and full papers are free
5) Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue Called on to Ban Rattlesnake Roundups
{Press Release from Center for Biological Diversity) 1/28/10
6) Dean E. Metter Award Grant Proposals Solicited For 2010
7) Forget The Rafts, Iguanas May Have Walked To Tonga, Fiji
8) The Legal But Troubling Practice Of Dealing In Protected Wildlife
9) Close Encounters With Japan's 'Living Fossil' (Japanese Giant Salamander)

__________________________________________________________________
"THE FROGS AND TOADS OF NORTH AMERICA" is an amazing book.
It contains:
A CD of all 101 species found in US & Canada./Almost 400 great color photos
101 color location maps /In just 344 pages.
Books this comprehensive usually go for at least $50.00.to &75.00. Or just $19.95 for the
CD. But the publisher is offering it JUST FOR $19.95 Plus 7.50 S&H.(See below on
how to order)
1) Invasion of the Giant Pythons - PBS, NATURE, Premiere Sunday Feb, 21, 2010 (check local listings)
(From PBS website)
Introduction
The Everglades' watery oasis has been invaded by giants.

As part of an ever popular international pet trade market, and incidentally along paths of human travel, many exotic animals have been removed from their native lands and landed where they are not necessarily welcome arrivals. Among these invasive species are a growing number of Burmese pythons, which have taken up residence in the wetlands of Florida, courtesy of overwhelmed pet owners and hurricane-hit animal warehouses.

Accidentally or intentionally released pythons and other exotic animals, such as parrots, reptiles, and lizards are inhabiting dry as well as wet habitats, and feeding on or competing with native species. Giant pythons are well-adapted for success in Florida, where the habitat is similar to their Asian home. Although they are non-venomous, pythons are among the largest snakes in the world, reaching up to twenty-six feet long. Their size and power makes them one of the top predators in Florida's Everglades National Park, taking on even the alligators, and posing a threat to many of the indigenous and endangered species.

NATURE follows teams of scientists and hunters as they use their vast knowledge of snakes and their prey to uncover the impact of the pythons on the park's fragile ecosystems. Herpetologist Shawn Heflick uses some innovative techniques to observe the mechanics of the snake's bite, while scientists Stephen Secor and Skip Snow employ advanced technology to analyze the ways in which pythons swallow and digest animals that can be more than half their own body size. Watch as a wild python ingests an alligator whole.

Journey with NATURE as it investigates what comes next in the story of the Invasion of the Giant Pythons.
________________________________________________________________________ 2) IUCN's Species of the Day Program at www.iucnredlist.org/species-of-the-day today is Testudo kleinmani -

From Announcement by Tortoise and FrestwaterTurtle Species Survival Commission
As part of the UN's International Year of Biodiversity, the IUCN and the SSC (Species Survival Commission) have developed a "Species-of-the-Day" campaign, with a new species featured every day on several websites, including the IUCN, SSC, and Red List sites. The TFTSG was asked to select several species for inclusion in this year-long campaign. Our first species, selected for us by the SSC, is Testudo kleinmanni, the Egyptian tortoise. Including a beautiful photo by Omar Attum and text by our Steering Committee. It is today's Species-of-the-Day (Feb 5).

Please check it out at www.iucnredlist.org/species-of-the-day. It is available as a downloadable pdf document ,also with a link to our TFTSG website and an IUCN donation page link. There is also an archive feature for browsing previous featured species. We will have at least 5 more species featured during the coming year. We will send out notices when they appear. We will also feature these species on our own website, planning on getting this one up later today or in the next day or so. Our other species that will be featured are Rafetus swinhoei, Batagur trivittata, Astrochelys yniphora, Pseudemydura umbrina, and Chelonoidis abingdonii. A few others may also appear, depending on scheduling availability and whether or not the campaign goes for longer than 365 days (which it might). these other potential inclusions in the campaign include Dermatemys mawii, Podocnemis expansa, Glyptemys muhlenbergii, and Cuora yunnanensis.

Checking out the other Species-of-the-Day postings is also valuable and I encourage you to check on a regular basis.

3) Indonesia Foils Attempt To Smuggle 3,500( Fly-River Turtles?) & 799 Indo-Chinese Rat Snakes

Jakarta, Feb 5 (Kyodo) Indonesian authorities have foiled an attempt to smuggle 3,492 pig-nosed turtles and 700 Indo-Chinese rat snakes out of the country, a state-run news agency reported.

Evi Suhartantyo, spokeswoman of the Directorate General of Customs, was quoted by Antara as saying that the turtles and snakes were earmarked for shipment to Hong Kong by air cargo on Tuesday.

Under the Red List of Threatened Species of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, the pig-nosed turtle is categorized as a vulnerable species.

Suhartantyo said the export notification document for the packages containing the snakes and turtles said they contained snake fruits.

Of the 63 packages bound for Hong Kong, 32 contained snake fruits, but 25 others had rat snakes inside and six contained turtles.

The sender was a jacket-exporting company, Antara said.

(Editor - OK, stories like this one brings up some questions..

1)What species is the pignosed turtle? Do They mean the Fly-River Turtle? Or are they softshell turtles which in some areas are called pig-nosed turtles..
2) Twenty-five packages for 800 Indo-Chinese rat snakes and only 6 for 3,500 turtles? Is that possible?
3) If yes, there were six boxes for the turtles, then they had to be baby turtles? Where do you get 3,500 baby pignoses?.
3) Were they all really ratsnakes? What species or subspecies? Or is that just a general term for a certain size of snake?

So I asked.

Pignosed is more and more being used instead of Fly-River turtle or New Guinea two-clawed turtle (the latter a new name to me.). Also they had to be baby turtles The poachers catch the females while nesting, take the eggs to incubate and then sell the hatchlings which are about 1.5" in size or the size of a baby slider hatchling.. This is a technique often used by turtle "farms" in the U.S, especially with snappers and Florida softshells.

What happens to the female I don't know, but I assume they are also collected..

So six boxes is possible. And where do the go from Hong Kong? Not the US or Europe since they have no CITES papers, but countries with more porous borders: S. Korea, China, Japan,, SEAsia to sell as pets.

One wonders if this continues some will be released in these areas and become a new invasive species like red-eared sliders?.

Ratsnakes (Ptyas spp.) are regularly collected in the Javanese ricefields etc. and are traded as on average 5-ft animals. So imagine how many boxes you need for 800 adult black racers. 32 per box is pretty realistic. How many of what different sub-species of Ptyas? They probably don't bother to count since they are meant for the food markets, not pet.
___________________________________________________________________
4) Effects of Roads on Animal Abundance: an Empirical Review and Synthesis -Special Issue of Ecology and Society, Volume 14, Issue # 1 2009. Open Access- Go to http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/issues/view.php?sf=41 abstracts and full papers are free

(Editor: Reprinting the Entire Tofc. Not Just Those On Herps -which are asterisked- Because Other Papers Look Like They Have Information Of Value To Conservationists Involved In Saving Herps From Cars in General, Also Because It Looks Like A Publication the Herp Community Should Be Aware Of It Is Not Already. And Of Course It Doesn't Hurt That It's Open Access.)
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Effects of Roads on Animal Abundance: an Empirical Review and Synthesis
Lenore Fahrig and Trina Rytwinski

Research
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Quantifying the Road-Effect Zone: Threshold Effects of a Motorway on Anuran Populations in Ontario, Canada
Felix Eigenbrod, Stephen J. Hecnar, and Lenore Fahrig

*Frogs Call at a Higher Pitch in Traffic Noise
Kirsten M. Parris, Meah Velik-Lord, and Joanne M. A. North

Road Zone Effects in Small-Mammal Communities
John A. Bissonette and Silvia A. Rosa

Impacts of Traffic Noise and Traffic Volume on Birds of Roadside Habitats
Kirsten M. Parris and Angela Schneider

Integration of Regional Mitigation Assessment and Conservation Planning
James H. Thorne, Patrick R. Huber, Evan H. Girvetz, Jim Quinn, and Michael C. McCoy

Wildlife Tunnel Enhances Population Viability
Rodney van der Ree, Dean Heinze, Michael McCarthy, and Ian Mansergh

Can Road-Crossing Structures Improve Population Viability of an Urban Gliding Mammal?
Brendan D. Taylor and Ross L. Goldingay

Cost-Benefit Analyses of Mitigation Measures Aimed at Reducing Collisions with Large Ungulates in the United States and Canada: a Decision Support Tool
Marcel P. Huijser, John W. Duffield, Anthony P. Clevenger, Robert J. Ament, and Pat T. McGowen

Reducing Moose-Vehicle Collisions through Salt Pool Removal and Displacement: an Agent-Based Modeling Approach
Paul D. Grosman, Jochen A. G. Jaeger, Pascale M. Biron, Christian Dussault, and Jean-Pierre Ouellet

* Behavioral Responses of Northern Leopard Frogs (Rana pipiens) to Roads and Traffic: Implications for Population Persistence
Julie Bouchard, Adam T. Ford, Felix E. Eigenbrod, and Lenore Fahrig

Modeling the Effect of Traffic Calming on Local Animal Population Persistence
Frank van Langevelde and Catharinus F. Jaarsma

Piloting a Non-Invasive Genetic Sampling Method for Evaluating Population-Level Benefits of Wildlife Crossing Structures
__________________________________________________________________
5) Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue Called on to Ban Rattlesnake Roundups
{Press Release from Center for Biological Diversity) 1/28/10

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz.- In a letter sent today to Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue, the Center for Biological Diversity is urging the state to outlaw rattlesnake roundups. Roundups are annual contests in which hunters bring in as many snakes as they can catch in a year. A recently published study shows that roundups have depleted populations of eastern diamondback rattlesnakes in the southeastern United States.

"Indiscriminate killing of wildlife has been banned for most animals for decades, but not for rattlesnakes," said Tierra Curry, a biologist at the Center. "This abhorrent practice is harming rattlesnake populations and should be stopped."

The eastern diamondback was once a common species, but is now being pushed toward extinction by hunting pressure, habitat loss, and road mortality. An analysis of 50 years of roundup data shows that both the total number of snakes and the size of individual snakes have declined over a 50-year time span, and that hunters must now drive hundreds of miles to find snakes for the event. The snake hasn't been seen in Louisiana since 1980, and is now uncommon throughout its range in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, and the Carolinas.

"Rattlesnakes serve an important role in the food chain by controlling rodent populations and should be respected," said Curry. "With populations in decline, rattlesnakes need protection."

Two Georgia towns still hold roundups. The Whigham Rattlesnake Roundup is Saturday, January 30. Some claim that the roundups protect public health, but eastern diamondbacks rarely bite, and more people are killed in the United States each year by dog bites, lightning strikes, or bee stings than by venomous snake bites. The roundups are not necessary to obtain antivenin, as major producers of antivenin only purchase it from approved suppliers under sterile conditions and have stated that they do not purchase it from roundups.

Contact: Tierra Curry, Center for Biological Diversity, (928) 522-3681
________________________________________________________________________
6) Dean E. Metter Award Grant Proposals Solicited For 2010

Dean E. (Doc) Metter (1932-2001) was a long-time member of the biology faculty at the University of Missouri-Columbia, where he taught zoology, comparative anatomy, evolution, and herpetology. A believer in putting knowledge to the test in the field, Doc provided frequent opportunities for students to engage in fieldwork. In addition, he frequently assisted his graduate students as they ventured out to collect data. Doc was a co-founder of the Bobby Witcher Society, the legacy of which is a scholarship fund. For many years, the interest earned served to reward outstanding herpetology students who intended to continue their education and seek a career in vertebrate biology. That fund now serves a similar purpose by honoring Doc's memory while helping to fund the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles (SSAR)- administered Dean E. Metter Memorial Award.

PURPOSE
The purpose of the Award is: (1) to honor the memory of Dean E. Metter; (2) to encourage students to pursue field research in herpetology; and (3) to facilitate field research in herpetology by providing funds for relevant expenses.

AWARD AMOUNT
Grants made from the award will be no less than $300 and no more than $1,000. Efforts will be made to fund as many eligible proposals as possible.

ELIGIBILITY
Applicants must be currently enrolled as an undergraduate or graduate student in an accredited college or university and be conducting field-based research in herpetology.

This research may occur anywhere in the world, but priority will be given to research conducted in the state of Missouri.

ELIGIBLE EXPENSES
Expenses eligible for funding include: (1) travel expenses (e.g., mileage, airfare) associated with the field research project; and (2) equipment for field-based research (e.g., materials for drift fences, traps, etc.). Funds may not be used for salaries or any other personnel expenses, travel to meetings, equipment or supplies for laboratory-based research (even if applicable to the project), or overhead or indirect costs.

CRITERIA FOR AWARDS
The following criteria will be used to make awards:
A. Scientific merit of the proposed project.
B. Nature of the proposed project; priority will be given, in order, to proposals that fall into the following categories:

Natural history studies (e.g., habitat utilization, life tables, demography, reproductive strategies, behavior).

Functional morphology (i.e., relationships between structure and function, particularly as these relate to natural history parameters).

Biogeographic studies, including elucidation of biodiversity in a given area (e.g., regional or national biotic surveys), efforts to determine historical events leading to current distribution patterns, and effects resulting from introductions of alien species.

Evolutionary studies (establishing phylogenies based on morphological or genetic criteria).
Other.

C. Relevance of the field component to the overall execution of the proposed project.

APPLICATIONS AND AWARDS
In keeping with the Society's goal of encouraging participation by the broadest possible community, preference may be given to individuals who might not have access to other funding sources. All applicants must be members of the SSAR. Past recipients of an SSAR GIH award in any category are not eligible for this award. Each proposal must include the
following:

(A) TITLE PAGE giving the title of the project, the name, mailing address, office and home telephone numbers and, if possible, fax number and e-mail address of the applicant. The title page should include a statement indicating that applicants will comply with all applicable permit regulations, and adhere to all appropriate animal care guidelines in the course of conducting funded projects.

(B) BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES of the proposed project.

(C) METHODS for carrying out the project.

(D) COMPLETE PROJECT BUDGET (indicating for which expenses support is being solicited), including a listing of all current and pending support for the project.

(E) BRIEF RESUMÉ of the applicant.

(F) LETTER OF SUPPORT from the research advisor, which also will serve to confirm enrollment at an accredited institution. The proposal must be typed, double spaced, and must not exceed 1,200 words, excluding title page, literature cited, CV (resumé), and budget.

Proposals should be submitted electronically as email attachments. Submit proposals or questions regarding application procedures to the Chair of the Metter Award Committee, Dr. Joseph J. Beatty (beattyj@science.oregonstate.edu).

NOTE
All proposals must be submitted no later than 30 March 2010 to be considered; SSAR dues
must be paid by the preceding 31 December. Failure to meet these guidelines may resultin
elimination of a proposal from consideration. Awards will be announced on or around 15
April 2010. Successful applicants are encouraged to submit the results of their research
for publication in the Journal of Herpetology or Herpetological Review, or to present their
findings at the annual meeting of the SSAR.

The Dean E. Metter Grant Recipients for 2009 were:

(1) Benjamin Jellen
Benjamin's proposal is entitled Pre-and Post-Copulatory Determinants of Reproductive
Success in Missouri Northern Water Snakes (Nerodia sipedon).
His research will attempt to show how these snakes communicate using pheromones and
how this relates to male and female reproductive success. Benjamin is a Ph.D. student in
the Department of Biology at St. Louis University and is working with Robert Aldridge

(2) Jeanine Refsnider
Jeanine's proposal is entitled Can Maternal Nest-site Choice Compensate for the Effects of
Global Climate Change on Reptiles with Temperature-Dependent Sex Determination? A
Common Garden Experiment using a Model Species.

It deals with Northern Painted Turtles (Chrysemys picta) and is designed to determine
whether local adaptations to nest site choice are more genetically or environmentally
driven. Jeanine is working in Fred Janzen's laboratory in the Department of Ecology,
Evolution, and Organismal Biology at Iowa State University.
　
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7) Forget The Rafts, Iguanas May Have Walked To Tonga, Fiji
By Sara Israelsen-Hartley
Deseret News, 2/1/10

PROVO, Utah -- They're 5,000 miles away from any relatives and only exist on two islands in the Pacific Ocean.

For decades, scientists didn't have a good answer as to how four species of iguanas native to North, Central and South America ended up on the Pacific islands of Fiji and Tonga.

"In the field of biogeography, this has been a puzzle for a long time," said BYU biology professor Jack Sites.

The prevailing theory was that iguanas from the New World floated thousands of miles to the Pacific islands on logs or reed rafts over several months.

It's not uncommon for iguanas to take to the ocean, after all, that's how they got to the Galapagos Islands from Ecuador, Sites explained.

But that was a 600-mile journey, where as Fiji and Tonga are nearly 5,000 miles and six months away -- too much for even the most robust sailing iguana.

So, Sites and his co-author, Bryce Noonan, a biology professor at the University of Mississippi, proposed that the scaly reptiles simply walked to the islands millions of years ago across a giant continental land mass called Gondwana, which was made up of today's Africa, Australia, Antarctica and parts of Asia.

Combining information about geology and the age of the Fijian and Tongan archipelagos, with fossil evidence and "molecular clock" DNA analysis of a large sample of iguana DNA, Sites and Noonan discovered that the Pacific island iguanas have ancestors old enough -- 50 million to 60 million years old -- to have existed on the Gondwanan land mass.

"We're pretty confident that we have at least put forth a very robust, credible alternative hypothesis compared to a 5,000-mile crossing of the Pacific on a raft," Sites said.

Their research was published in the January edition of American Naturalist.

8) The Legal But Troubling Practice Of Dealing In Protected Wildlife
Fort Worth Star Telegram
Thursday, Jan. 21, 2010
http://www.star-telegram.com/1021/story/1912260.html
By CHRIS JONES

Special to the Star-Telegram

The Texas wildlife industry supplies national pet stores, international public and private zoos and aquariums and private individuals who have money to spend. The rarer the species is in the wild, the higher its price.

Wildlife dealers network in Asia, South America and Indonesia, paying collectors to illegally hunt the most endangered species left on the planet, including Komodo dragons at $30,000 black-market price per juvenile and three-eyed Tuataras from New Zealand at $50,000 each.

Last month, the city of Arlington confiscated about 27,000 live, dying and dead animals from an international wildlife exporter near Dallas/Fort Worth Airport. Few people realize that many of these animals had been legally collected from the wild in Texas because they are classified as nongame animals by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

Unlike traditionally regulated game animals such as white-tailed deer, turkey, waterfowl and striped bass, animals listed by the department as "nongame" are subject to being collected from the wild in unlimited quantities for commercial resale.

TPWD has granted commercial nongame dealer's permits for the last 15 years, charging $63 per Texas resident and $252 per nonresident. Since 2000, the department has required nongame dealers to report the quantity and species they capture in Texas. The department has known that some species have been collected to the brink of extinction and that international forces will continue to pay collectors to illegally hunt any form of wildlife in Texas, especially if it is a protected, threatened species.

For example, the Cagle's map turtle (Graptemys caglei) only lives in the Hill Country's Guadalupe River. It became a state-level threatened species in 2000 as a result of collecting efforts by millionaire wildlife dealers who supply a burgeoning international trade. Buyers fancy the turtle's unique topographic maplike shell colorations so much they are willing to pay $300 per adult over the Internet.

Since the early 1990s, scientists have proposed the Cagle's map turtle for enlistment under the federal Endangered Species Act. Much of its habitat has been destroyed, its shallow rocky riffled streams flooded into lakes and water quality degraded. The insects the turtle eats only live in shallow water and die when the stream floor is buried by cold deepwater impoundments.
TPWD continues to oppose the turtle's protection as a federal endangered species even as stormwater pollution steadily increases from residential development in the Guadalupe watershed.

Sadly, Cagle's map turtles continue to be illegally harvested from Texas and sold interstate. It is often confused with species that are not protected in Texas and sports a green-black appearance similar to the common red-eared slider turtle (Trachemys scripta), which may be commercially harvested in unlimited quantities from private waters.

It is important to note that most, if not all, states have state endangered species acts, but these state laws do not protect the habitat of the state's enlisted species from being altered, destroyed or impounded. Landowners can do as they please with the habitat of any species protected under a state endangered species act.

It is time for TPWD to recognize the effects it has had on international wildlife by issuing nongame dealer permits to people who are in the business of exploiting wildlife solely for profit. The department should immediately revoke the other multiple nongame dealer permits that have been issued this year and allow city animal health inspectors to promptly investigate the living conditions and welfare of the wildlife collected by each licensee.

Nongame animals should be protected as permanent components of our Lone Star landscape, for all of us to enjoy, rather than be commercially collected for profit and extirpated from the wild.

For a complete list of the 84 species that are listed as nongame animals in Texas, go to http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/business/permits/land/wildlife/#nongame

Christopher H. Jones, M.S. of Waterwood is a federal conservation attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity in Texas and the Southeast United States. www.biologicaldiversity.org
9) Close Encounters With Japan's 'Living Fossil' (Japanese Giant Salamander)
By Richard Black, BBC News 2/4/09

It soon becomes clear that the giant salamander has hit Claude Gascon's enthusiasm button smack on the nose.

"This is a dinosaur, this is amazing," he enthuses.

"We're talking about salamanders that usually fit in the palm of your hand. This one will chop your hand off."

As a leader of Conservation International's (CI) scientific programmes, and co-chair of the Amphibian Specialist Group with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Dr Gascon has seen a fair few frogs and salamanders in his life; but little, he says, to compare with this.

According to Dr Takeyoshi Tochimoto, " The skeleton of this species is almost identical to that of the fossil from 30 million years ago; therefore it's called the 'living fossil'. "

Fortunately for all of our digits, this particular giant salamander is in no position to chop off anything, trapped in a tank in the visitors' centre in Maniwa City, about 800km west of Tokyo.
But impressive it certainly is: about 1.7m (5ft 6in) long, covered in a leathery skin that speaks of many decades passed, with a massive gnarled head covered in tubercles whose presumed sensitivity to motion probably helped it catch fish by the thousand over its lifetime.

If local legend is to be believed, though, this specimen is a mere tadpole compared with the biggest ever seen around Maniwa.

A 17th Century tale, related to us by cultural heritage officer Takashi Sakata, tells of a salamander (or hanzaki, in local parlance) 10m long that marauded its way across the countryside chomping cows and horses in its tracks.

A local hero was found, one Mitsui Hikoshiro, who allowed the hanzaki to swallow him whole along with his trusty sword - which implement he then used, in the best heroic tradition, to rend the beast from stem to stern.

It proved not to be such a good move, however.

Crops failed, people started dying in mysterious ways - including Mr Hikoshiro himself.

Pretty soon the villagers drew the obvious conclusion that the salamander's spirit was wreaking revenge from beyond the grave, and must be placated. That is why Maniwa City boasts a shrine to the hanzaki.

The story illustrates the cultural importance that this remarkable creature has in some parts of Japan.

Its scientific importance, meanwhile, lies in two main areas: its "living fossil" identity, and its apparently peaceful co-existence with the chytrid fungus that has devastated so many other amphibian species from Australia to the Andes.

"The skeleton of this species is almost identical to that of the fossil from 30 million years ago," recounts Takeyoshi Tochimoto, director of the Hanzaki Institute near Hyogo.

"Therefore it's called the 'living fossil'."

The hanzaki (Andrias japonicus) only has two close living relatives: the Chinese giant salamander (A. davidianus) , which is close enough in size and shape and habits that the two can easily cross-breed, and the much smaller hellbender (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis) of the south-eastern US.
Creatures rather like these were certainly around when dinosaurs dominated life on land, and fossils of the family have been found much further afield than their current tight distribution - in northern Europe, certainly, where scientists presumed the the lineages had gone extinct until tales of the strange Oriental forms made their way back to the scientific burghers of Vienna and Leiden a couple of centuries ago.

"They are thought to be extremely primitive species, partly due to the fact that they are the only salamanders that have external fertilisation," says Don Church, a salamander specialist with CI.

The fertilisation ritual must be quite some sight.

Into a riverbank den that is usually occupied by the dominant male (the "den-master") swim several females, and also a few other males.

The den-master and the females release everything they have got, turning incessantly to stir the eggs and spermatozoa round in a roiling mass.

Maybe the lesser males sneak in a package or two as well; their function in the ménage-a-many is not completely clear.

When the waters still, everyone but the den-master leaves; and he alone guards the nest and its juvenile brood.

It is not an ideal method of reproduction.

Research shows that genetic diversity among the hanzaki is smaller than it might be, partly as a result of the repeated polygamy, which in turn leaves them more prone to damage through environmental change.

But for the moment, it seems to work.

Outside the breeding season, the salamander's life appears to consist of remaining as inconspicuous as possible in the river (whether hiding in leaves, as the small ones do, or under the riverbanks like their larger fellows) and snapping whatever comes within reach, their usual meandering torpor transformed in an instant as the smell of a fish brushes by.

The adults' jaws are not to be treated lightly.

Among Dr Tochimoto's extensive collection of photos is one of bloodied human hands; and as he warns: "you may be attacked and injured; please be careful".

When the chytrid fungus was identified just over a decade ago, indications were that Japan would be an unlikely place to look for its origins.

With the discovery of chytrid on museum specimens of the African clawed frog (Xenopus laevis) , an out-of-Africa migration spurred by human transportation of amphibians once seemed the simple likelihood.

But just last year, a team of researchers led by Koichi Goka from Japan's National Institute for Environmental Studies published research showing that certain strains of chytrid were present on Japanese giant salamanders, and only on Japanese giant salamanders, including museum specimens from a century or so back; and that the relationship seemed benign.

Unravelling all that, says Don Church, might tell us something about the origins and spread of chytrid - and there is so much diversity among Japanese chytrid strains that the country is now being touted as a possible origin, as diversity often implies a long evolutionary timeframe.

More importantly, the discovery might also provide options for treating the infection.

"In the case of the North American salamanders, what was found was that they have bacteria living on their skin that produce peptides that are lethal to the amphibian chytrid fungus," says Dr Church.

"And those bacteria might be able to be transplanted to other species that can't fight off the fungus."

This is a line of research that is very much in play in laboratories around the world.

It appears likely now that studies of the Japanese giant salamander can expand the number of chytrid-fighting bacteria known to science, and so extend the options for developing treatments for an infection that currently cannot be controlled in the wild.

But that can only come to pass if the giant salamanders endure; something that is not guaranteed, with the challenges they face in modern Japan including, perhaps, new strains of chytrid itself.

There is as yet no modern hero able to still the pace of habitat loss or prevent invasion from rival species.
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