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CHRISTIANNA SILVAJanuary 2019

The story of how Phoenix became an unlikely hotbed of Galápagos tortoise breeding, thanks to one dedicated matchmaker.

Tortoises aren’t very romantic.

So when Jerry Fife brought home a 17-year-old male Galápagos tortoise he purchased from a fellow breeder in Las Vegas to mate with his two female tortoises, he wasn’t sure how it would go over.

Then, he started hearing their rearing groans.

Fife could tell the male tortoise had a preference, “because, well, he was breeding with that one a whole bunch,” he says, pointing to one of his female tortoises going to town on a piece of prickly pear cactus. “And the other, not so much.”

This is how Fife has bred more than 200 Galápagos tortoises on his property, a sprawling acre of land in Laveen, just southwest of Phoenix – basically, by letting them eat and socialize. It sounds simple, but it often isn’t. Notoriously tricky to breed, the Galápagos has found an unlikely but prolific spawning ground in the Valley of the Sun, some 2,500 miles from its natural habitat. But the tortoise’s amenability to backyards in Arizona is itself part of a larger international controversy over the trafficking of exotic animals – one that splits lovers of these slow-moving, long-living giants into equally passionate camps.

To be sure, the reptiles – which weigh around 600 pounds as adults and grow to the size of a small coffee table – have made Fife’s desert property their own, guarding the gate into the backyard like lion statues. They graze on his huge plot of grass, and saunter over to a place just for them – it looks like a dog run, but has bushes, trees and plants shading the area. And that’s just for the five full-grown Galápagos tortoises currently in his care – the other dozens of reptiles include baby and adolescent tortoises, snakes, lizards and plenty more, finding their home in man-made structures throughout his yard.

Continued

Out cold: unseasonal temperatures litter south Florida with stunned iguanas

The weather forecast warned it would be raining reptiles and Floridians recorded encounters with lizards feeling the chill

Lauren Aratani in New York

Wed 22 Jan 2020 23.19 GMTLast modified on Thu 23 Jan 2020 02.22 GMT

It truly was the night (and day) of the iguana.

After the National Weather Service (NWS) sent an unusual alert to south Florida residents on Tuesday night warning them of possible “falling iguanas” in light of unseasonably low temperatures, residents were indeed treated to a show of rigid reptiles out of the sky (or, actually, the trees).

The not-so-small creatures were seen motionless in the middle of sidewalks and backyards. While they looked dead, they were actually just too cold to move. Iguanas start becoming sluggish when temperatures drop below 50F (10C) and are susceptible to freezing once temperatures drop to around 40F (4.5C). When frozen, they easily fall out of the trees they call home, appearing lifeless even though they aren’t dead.

Floridians shared videos of the phenomenon, giving Twitter an up-close look at the green-scaled reptiles that are probably dreaming of warmer climates, or at least spring.

Continued

Gray wolves, once nearly extinct, could be coming back to Colorado

Conservationists are applauding a ballot measure to reintroduce the gray wolf to the state. But ranchers and hunters are putting up a fight

Josiah Hesse

Thu 23 Jan 2020 11.00 GMTLast modified on Thu 23 Jan 2020 11.02 GMT


The gray wolf, once numbering in the tens of thousands throughout North America, have faced public vilification and extermination programs that drove it to near extinction in the US. Now Colorado will vote on whether to reintroduce them into the wild after an 80-year absence, thanks to an effort that has cattle ranchers outraged but which conservationists say could restore an ecosystem that has long suffered without the apex predator.

The species was systematically exterminated by controversial, US government-backed programs in the 19th and 20th centuries. This was primarily due to wolves’ attacks on the cattle, a booming industry that has been integral to the expanding west economy. By 1940, wolves were almost completely gone.

Their inclusion on the 1973 Endangered Species Act, along with a 1995 effort to build a home for them in Yellowstone national park, has helped bring their numbers back up to 5,500 in the lower 48 states.

This year, a ballot measure in Colorado will let voters decide whether a home should be built for the gray wolf in the state. Polling indicates the measure is likely to pass, though segments of both the ranching and hunting communities are strongly opposed.

Conservationists argue that eradication of wolves threw the ecology of the Rocky Mountains into disarray, with elk and deer excessively grazing in open lands where they otherwise would have been targets for wolves, created a domino effect that has harmed a variety of species.

Continued

Millions of monarch butterflies killed on Texas highways

NOVEMBER 5, 2019

by Texas A&M University

Monarch butterflies are moving south through Texas on their annual autumn migration to overwintering sites in Central Mexico, but millions die in collisions with vehicles while flying low across Texas highways. Monarch numbers have declined about 82% over the last 23 years, and road mortality can significantly contribute to their dwindling numbers.

The monarch butterfly, Texas' state insect, was petitioned for protection under the federal Endangered Species Act in 2014. In response, many individuals, agencies and organizations, including Texas A&M's Department of Entomology, have been working to understand why the monarch population is so diminished and find solutions.

The problem for monarch butterflies in Texas

The early spring and closing autumn monarch migratory events occur in Texas. Some monarchs travel 3,000 miles from Canada to Mexico in the autumn, then return another 1,0000 miles back to Texas and Oklahoma in the spring to lay eggs. This gives the monarch the distinction of the longest migration of any insect.

On their journey North in the spring, monarchs lay eggs on milkweeds and pass through two generations in Texas before dispersing throughout the Midwest and Eastern U.S. Later generations reach as far north as Canada by the end of summer. On the return journey south during the autumn, the butterflies move through narrowing areas on their migration to Mexico. They basically go through a geographic funnel during their return to Mexico in the Fall.

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An Innovative Underpass Keeps Turtles Off The Highway. It's Saved Dozens From Becoming Roadkill. – via Herp Digest

Study Shows Portage County's Turtle Crossing Works

Wisconsin Public Radio, 7/10/19 By Rob Mentzer

The problem with the turtle underpass, at first, was that the turtles didn’t know it was a tunnel. Rather than a safe passage under the busy highway, turtles just saw a dark hole. It wasn’t very inviting, and few of them wanted to walk into it. 

Biologist Pete Zani had the idea of adding shiny aluminum flashing at either end of the tunnel. The metal would reflect light that would show the turtles what they were looking at was, in fact, a way under the highway.  

"From the turtle’s-eye view," Zani explained, "when they’re looking across they see sky, not dark green vegetation."

Zani and others installed the flashing, as well as grates above the tunnel on either side of the road to let some additional sunlight through. It worked. Turtles started to make their way under the road and have been using it ever since. 

The tunnel, on the outskirts of Stevens Point, offers the creatures safe passage between a wetlands area and the Jordan Pond under the busy Highway 66. Installed in 2016, it’s the first of its kind in Wisconsin, a joint project of the state Department of Transportation, state Department of Natural Resources and the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.  

The installation of the underpass and a short fence on either side of the highway has saved the lives of dozens of turtles, maybe hundreds. And it’s made the road safer for humans, too.  

The speed limit on the highway is 55 mph. It’s trafficked by logging trucks, commuters and family cars on their way to the pond. Five years ago, it was a hotspot for turtle mortality, with 66 of them killed in one year. The DNR defines any place with more than 50 deaths to be a hotspot for turtle mortality. And this particular spot, a busy intersection next to a hydroelectric dam, presented additional safety risks. 

"There are a lot of (traffic) conflicts without turtles being added to the mix," Zani said. "Now you add a 30-pound snapping turtle sitting in the middle of the roadway, not budging, and you have a problem.” 

Zani, a herpetologist and professor at UW-Stevens Point, got a call in 2014 about launching the turtle crossing project. With biologists from the two state departments, he helped design not just the tunnel and the fencing but also a study that would track turtle mortality on the road.  

The results are in. In April, Zani submitted his report to the state. It found that since 2016 construction, a total of 40 turtles have been killed on the road. 

"We went from a really high number," Zani said of the 66 turtle deaths in 2015, "to something that in some years is barely reaching double digits.” 

Leah Egan, 22, is a biology student at UW-Stevens Point. For a summer job a couple of years ago, she worked as a professional turtle wrangler.  

With a $25,000 grant from the state, Zani established the turtle-wrangling program. Students worked part-time during the summer checking the fences and roadway for turtles. Turtles' nesting season in Wisconsin is roughly from late-May to mid-July, but they are on the move later in the summer, too.

Another job of the turtle wranglers — the official job title — was to review trail camera images of the tunnel for evidence turtles were making the crossing.  

"You got into a rhythm, just looking for any changes" in the photos captured by the trail cams, Egan said. "Sometimes you’d just see a leaf and think, 'Oh, it’s a turtle!' but it’s just a leaf blowing in the wind.” 

The cams captured something else, too. The underpass was a highway not just for turtles but also for small mammals of all sorts. There were rodents and house cats, mink, skunks, raccoons and other mammals. Beneath the highway, the underpass became another highway for wildlife.Egan said she enjoyed being able to work with the wildlife and help the project succeed. It was humans, she said, who got in the way in the first place.

"The turtles are crossing the highway because they’re trying to get to the river or to the pond or vice versa, and we built a road right in the middle of their path of travel," Egan said. 

Herpetologist Zani has been fascinated by reptiles for his whole life. He grew up in eastern Ohio, just across the border from West Virginia. He recalls being out at his grandfather’s farm one day when he was 4 or 5 years old. His parents and his older siblings were ahead of him on the path. 

"I caught — caught, not just found — an adult female snapping turtle that was on her nesting journey," Zani said, pausing before adding dryly, "My grandfather proceeded to make soup out of it.” 

The soup did not make an impression. He doesn’t think he ate any. His fascination with scaly animals, though, stuck. Today, Zani does his academic research on lizards in the high desert of eastern Oregon, where he spends his summers. He’s taught in Stevens Point for about seven years. 

Zani’s role in the turtle crossing project was to design and oversee the scientific study that would show whether or not the tunnel was working. But he also tinkered with its design elements, adding features that would help the turtles. There was the addition of the reflective flashing. He also created a kind of loop or cul-de-sac at one point in the fence, designed to turn turtles who had missed the tunnel around. 

He called it "turtle psychology." His task was to try to figure out what turtles want to do.  

Turtles' eyes can see the polarization of light reflected off of open water. They see a kind of glow in the direction of a lake or a river and use it to navigate. That’s why, Zani said, simply turning them around with the fence’s cul-de-sac can prompt them to try the tunnel. 

"They know the water’s that way," he said. "They can’t or don’t want to go away from the water, so that little loop of fencing is a turnaround designed just to get them back going in this direction. It works perfectly." 

Another finding of the study: Though plenty of turtles use the tunnel, it doesn’t seem to be the case that more of them learn to use it from year to year. 

"About 30 percent of the snapping turtles make it through, and something around 20 percent of painted turtles successfully make it through the tunnel," Zani said. "That hasn’t changed from year to year, so it doesn’t look like the turtles are learning the tunnel is the way to go. …They either get it or they don’t."

The state said the Portage County project was a pilot project. It also combined some unusual factors. 

Wisconsin DOT biologist Alyssa Barrette, who has helped coordinate the project, said she doesn’t know of any plans to replicate the turtle tunnel elsewhere in the state. But she said her department is pleased with the results of the study. 

"(Zani) noted an 85 percent reduction in mortality the first year, and no hatchlings were killed. No baby turtles were killed on the road in the first year, and that's a huge success for us," Barrette said. "And then from a transportation standpoint, that means there's fewer turtles on the road and less risk to the public.” 

Egan said working as a turtle wrangler was one of her favorite summer jobs. And she's always heartened, she said, when she sees people looking out for turtles. 

"Since having this turtle wrangler job, even just driving on other highways or other trails, I see signs for turtle crossings (or) Facebook posts about helping turtles cross the road," Egan said. "It's great that people are spreading the word about not just hitting the turtle if it's in the middle of the road. ... We have to be more aware of their population.” 

New York man charged in largest seizure of illegal reptiles in state history, officials say – via Herp Digest

BY ABC News Radio | July 5, 2019

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation

(ALLEGANY, N.Y.) — A 71-year-old New York man faces a slew of charges after officials seized hundreds of turtles and three king cobras from his home, authorities said.

The seizure is believed to be the largest illegal reptiles bust in New York state history.

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Basil Seggos announced Wednesday that William Engelder, 71, of Allegany, was charged with reckless endangerment, illegal sale of wildlife, overdriving, torturing and injuring animals, illegal possession and transportation of venomous reptiles, illegal possession of wild animals as pets and possessing an endangered species without a permit, among other offenses.

State wildlife officers seized the reptiles while conducting a search warrant at Engelder’s home last August after receiving a tip about a man harboring illegal animals, according to a press release from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.

Among the reptiles authorities say were illegally housed at the residence were three king cobras, the longest venomous snake in the world, and six Gila monsters, a species of venomous lizard.

There were also 184 spotted turtles, 53 wood turtles, 28 Blanding’s turtles, 17 bog turtles, which is a critically endangered species native to New York, six snapping turtles and two painted turtles.

If convicted on all charges, Engelder faces up to a maximum fine of $104,000 and up to 33 years in prison.

Reptiles, Amphibians in Need of ‘Urgent Conservation’ in Rhode Island – via Herp Digest

May 30, 2019, ECO Rhode Island

Northern leopard frog about to disappear from Rhode Island

By Todd McLeish,  ecoRI News contributor

When Scott Buchanan was hired as a wildlife biologist at the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management last year, he became the first full-time herpetologist on the state payroll. It’s a sign, he said, that reptiles and amphibians are in need of management and conservation in the state.

“To be in herpetology is to be on the front lines of the global biodiversity crisis,” he said. “We’re at risk of losing, globally, roughly half of the reptile and amphibian species on Earth in the next 100 years. Turtles and frogs are in a neck-and-neck competition for the unfortunate title of being the most endangered wildlife taxa.”

While Rhode Island’s reptiles and amphibians haven’t experienced the level of habitat loss and disease that occurs in Southeast Asia or the tropics, Buchanan said “the crisis is very real in New England. The mission is very urgent, and we need to do everything we can here in Rhode Island.”

About 40 species of turtles, snakes, frogs, toads, and salamanders call the Ocean State home. All face issues of habitat loss, road mortality, and disease, but turtles are also faced with high demand from collectors for the pet trade.

While monitoring a rare population of wood turtles this spring, herpetologist Lou Perrotti, director of conservation at the Roger Williams Park Zoo, observed a small specimen he estimated to be 5 or 6 years old.

“I love to see the little ones,” he said, “but I worry that someone would put this one in their pocket and take it home.”

It’s such a concern that Buchanan is co-chair of a collaborative group of biologists, law enforcement officials, and legal experts from up and down the East Coast working to combat the illegal trade in native turtles. The objective, he said, is to raise the profile of the issue and encourage the law-enforcement community to be aware that a black market in native turtles exists in the region.

The illegal trade in wildlife is valued at about $19 billion annually, according to the World Wildlife Fund’s TRAFFIC program, a network of organization that monitors the trade.

“It’s something I worry a lot about,” said Buchanan, who conducted research on spotted turtles for his doctorate at the University of Rhode Island. “If you know where they are, turtles are pretty easy to pick up, take home, keep alive, and get them into the black market. 

All of our native species are vulnerable, though some are more prized than others.”

A Pennsylvania man was arrested last year for smuggling 3,500 rare diamondback terrapins from marshes in New Jersey and selling them online. Although no cases have been adjudicated in Rhode Island, Buchanan said there is evidence of the illegal turtle trade in the state.

Buchanan is also involved in region-wide efforts to study spotted turtles and box turtles, two species that are considered to be of significant conservation concern. He is conducting surveys of both species in Rhode Island this spring to gather as much data as possible about their distribution, abundance, demography, and population genetics.

In collaboration with Roger Williams Park Zoo and Brown University, he is also investigating the presence of disease in local populations of reptiles and amphibians.

“We need to improve our understanding of where the diseases are and what species are harboring them to get a sense of their susceptibility,” Buchanan said. “There’s chytrid [a common amphibian disease in the tropics] in our environment, though our frogs don’t seem to be susceptible, but there hasn’t been a lot of testing. And there’s a similar disease for salamanders that has had bad outbreaks in Europe, and we’re worried about it coming overseas.”

Two species of amphibian — the eastern spadefoot toad and northern leopard frog — are on the verge of disappearing from Rhode Island. Both have only one known population. The toad is only found at one site in Richmond, though efforts are under way to create habitat to establish additional populations.

The northern leopard frog is found only on the border of Bristol and Warren, and Buchanan said there is little that can be done to help it recover.

“The northern leopard frog might be the best example of a species that’s about to disappear from the state,” he said, noting that the species faces multiple threats from habitat loss, pollution, and invasive species. “It could happen this year, next year, or in five years, but all indications are it’s going to happen soon. And there’s not a tool in my toolbox at the moment that I can use to confront the situation.”

California: Weathermen puzzled over sudden migration of millions of ladybugs

The San Diego office of the National Weather Service noticed the phenomenon on their radar. It was not rain but a swarm of ladybugs moving out.

by Prabir Ghose (article) and Anne Sewell (video)

June 7, 2019 at 8:08 AM

A 'bloom' of millions of ladybugs show up on radar in California - VIDEO

The meteorologist who first noticed the strange sight on his radar presumed it to be raindrops. However, there was no rain in the area. The office then got in touch with volunteer weather spotters in the area to clear up the mystery. One of them mentioned about seeing “a lot of ladybugs around.” Other weathermen in the office tried to confirm that but were not lucky. Alex Tardy, who first noticed it, says, “It’s definitely not birds, and it’s not bats.

But we’re still not sure if it’s ladybugs.” The radar did pick up something the size of large raindrops but it was nighttime and it was happening at a height of more than 5000 ft. Hence, no one could say for sure what it really was.

The Guardian says in the opinion of an entomologist at the University of California, if there was a plane in the air at the time, it would have helped. It would have had dead insects on its wings. The entomologist is Lynn Kimsey who has worked with NASA and Boeing and is familiar with these sights. She went on to add that these insects do migrate in clusters but the timing appears odd.

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Georgia DNR Asking You To Be On The Lookout for Argentine Tegu Lizard – via Herp Digest

May 2, 2019, TOOMBS COUNTY, GA (WTOC) - In March, we told you to be on the lookout for the Argentine black and white Tegu Lizard in Toombs and Tattnall counties. 

The species is not native to our area, but the Department of Natural Resources says they have possibly been released by pet owners, or they escaped from owners. Since last month, DNR says one of the lizards has been hit by a car, one has been trapped, and several have been killed.

Last week, a Tattnall County woman posted to social media that she found a Tegu in the road in Collins. It had been hit by a car, but was still alive when she found it.

“We’ve gotten quite a few records from Toombs; starting to get more from Tattnall. We really aren’t completely sure where all they range to right now, and that’s part of what we are trying to find out,” said John Jensen, Senior Wildlife Biologist, Georgia DNR.

Jensen says the animals are inactive from fall to early spring. Since it’s warming up outside, the lizards are starting to come out more.

“We are definitely trying to get a handle on it,” said Jim Gillis, Georgia DNR. “We are using Havahart traps, which are live traps. We are setting them with chicken eggs. We are trying to get into locations where we have recent sightings, where we have seen signs. We are not just randomly going out and trapping them.”

DNR is trying to get the lizards, dead or alive, to go genetic tests on them, and to see how many are living in our area.

“We will take genetic tissue samples so we can determine their relatedness. Did these all come from one female that had a bunch of eggs and started a population and therefore inbreeding and not very successful, or did it start with a bigger founder population?”

One big concern is if the Tegu is harming other animals and endangered species.

“There is one species, the state reptile, the gopher tortoise - also a burrowing animal. These use burrows and they also use gopher tortoise burrows, but they also eat the eggs of gopher tortoise and their young, and that species has plenty of threats. It certainly doesn’t need another one,” Jensen said.

While the lizards may cause a threat to some animals and their eggs, they don’t often hurt people.

“They are not going to come after you. They can bite. It can be a painful bite, but they are not going to bite you unless you pick them up or corner them, so they aren’t really a threat unless you threaten them.”

DNR is asking that if you see one of these lizards, please report it. You can so at https://bit.ly/2NZ0Z29 . 

Half-faced amphibians found in Jupiter Farms: possible mutation (Florida, U.S.) – via Herp Digest

Go to https://yhoo.it/2L2s46x complete video version of story      

A woman who lives in Jupiter Farms says she sees all kinds of wildlife, but when she found a frog with half of its face missing, she turned to social media.

Scientists warn bloodsucking worms found in Florida rattlesnakes may spread – via Herp Digest

 DELAND, Fla. — 4/18/19 WESH2

A biology professor at Stetson University has discovered bloodsucking worms inside three dead rattlesnakes and there is concern the worms could spread to the rest of the country in a matter of years.

Dr. Terence Farrell said that while he was examining a dead rattlesnake, live, parasitic worms began crawling out of its mouth. He described the situation as “pretty alarming.”

The worms have been found in pythons in South Florida – but now that they are in Central Florida there are increased worries for the rest of the country.

The DNA sequences of the parasites found in the pygmy rattlesnakes were consistent with the parasite species from southeast Asia, which is normally found in Burmese pythons.

Farrell and his team of researchers have found the parasites in Central Florida, which is more than 100 miles away from where the Burmese pythons reside in the southern portion of the state.

“Our research shows that the parasites are moving north rapidly along the peninsula and appear to have some major health effects on pygmy rattlesnakes,” said Farrell.

The major concern is the potential impact on the ecosystem if too many of snakes are killed by the parasite.

“This parasite isn’t just a Florida problem. We have no idea how much of the U.S. this parasite will spread and move into, which may cause it to become a nationwide problem in a few years,” Farrell said.

A Rare White Whale Has Been Filmed Off the Coast of Mexico

By Brandon Specktor, Senior Writer | April 5, 2019 10:20am ET

A whale-watching guide struck white gold last month when he encountered a rare, albino gray whale breaching off the west coast of Baja California, Mexico.

Footage of the whale, which tour guide and scuba instructor Manuel Gonzalez posted to Facebook in March, has drawn comparisons to Moby Dick, the white whale of literary legend described by Herman Melville in 1851. Unlike Moby, who was a gargantuan sperm whale with an appetite for New England mariner limbs, the gray whale recorded here was probably just chilling in the area for its annual mating season.

Likewise, the whiteness of this whale is not some overwrought metaphor — it's just genetics. [The 10 Weirdest Medical Cases in the Animal Kingdom]

Albinism is a genetic abnormality caused by an absence of the skin pigment melanin, which is responsible for dark coloration in hair, skin and fur. The condition is considered rare in most animals, though it has been observed in many different species, including zebras, snakes, gorillas and dolphins.

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The butterflies that could stop Trump’s wall

Anthony Zurcher North America reporter

3 April 2019

The obstacles to President Donald Trump's border wall are not confined to the four walls of Congress. As areas are cleared to start building new sections, some landowners, including a butterfly sanctuary, have sued to stop the construction.

Marianna Trevino Wright sits on a bench near a wooded section of the National Butterfly Center and begins identifying animals.

Scissortail flycatchers, green jays, olive sparrows and clay-coloured thrushes swoop by, pecking at oranges set out as a snack and splashing in a bubbling fountain. From the tree branches above, great-tailed grackles screech and whistle like avian car alarms.

Closer to the earth, a menagerie of butterflies flit among the nearby flowering bushes. Zebra Heliconians and large orange sulfurs; queens and red-bordered pixies.

Then there are the other sights and sounds at the centre.

The hum of a US Department of Homeland Security helicopter high overhead. Border Patrol agents buzzing by on motorcycles and ATVs, their faces obscured by masks and goggles, pistols at their side.

The rumble of trucks dragging tyres behind them, smoothing dusty roads so the footprints of interlopers can more easily be spotted.

A government powerboat, with menacing .30-calibre machine guns on its deck, roaring down the river.

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Wild bees flock to forested areas affected by severe fire

Date:  April 3, 2019

Source:  Oregon State University

A groundbreaking two-year study in southern Oregon found greater abundance and diversity of wild bees in areas that experienced moderate and severe forest fires compared to areas with low-severity fires.

The study, published today in the journal Ecosphere by researchers in the Oregon State University College of Forestry, is the first to demonstrate that wildfire severity is a strong predictor of bee diversity in mixed-conifer forest.

Bees are the most important among the Earth's pollinators, which combine for an estimated $100 billion in global economic impact each year. Oregon is home to more than 500 species of native bees.

Animal pollinators enhance the reproduction of nearly 90 percent of the Earth's flowering plants, including many food crops.

The pollinators are an essential component of insect and plant biodiversity. Bees are the standard bearer because they're usually present in the greatest numbers and because they're the only pollinator group that feeds exclusively on nectar and pollen their entire life.

Scientists led by OSU forest wildlife ecologist Jim Rivers in 2016 began trapping bees at 43 sites in forests burned by the 2013 Douglas Complex fire that scorched nearly 50,000 acres north of Grants Pass.

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'Mission Jurassic' dinosaur hunt to get under way

By Jonathan Amos BBC Science Correspondent

25 March 2019

British scientists are about to undertake one of their biggest dinosaur hunts in decades.

They are joining US and Dutch institutions in exploring what is expected to be a treasure trove of fossils in the "Badlands" of Wyoming.

The US state has yielded some of the most famous specimens ever found, and the international group will excavate one square mile (260ha) of ground.

"It's an incredible site, mind-blowing," said Prof Phil Manning.

"In the UK, we rarely see anything like this - whole dinosaurs coming out of the ground. But that's what we've got here," the University of Manchester palaeontologist told BBC News.

"And the funding we have in place permits us to open up football pitch-sized areas at a time, if need be."

Continued

Hungry moose more tolerant of wolves' presence

Date:  March 13, 2019

Source:  University of Wyoming

Driven by the need for food, moose in western Wyoming are less likely to change their behavior to avoid wolves as winter progresses, according to new research by University of Wyoming scientists.

The findings, published today (March 13) in the journal Ecology, provide new insights into the interactions of the region's apex predators and their prey. The results also highlight the complexity of the relationships between wolves and big-game species, making it difficult to reach general conclusions about whether and how fear of wolves has impacted the ecosystem, the researchers say.

"We have known for some time that hungry animals will tolerate the presence of predators in order to forage and avoid starvation, and that phenomenon, called the 'starvation-predation hypothesis,' is supported by our research," says Brendan Oates, now with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, who conducted the research as a UW graduate student. "In this case, close proximity of wolves does cause moose to move, but not enough to drive them from their preferred habitats -- especially late in the winter."

Oates is the lead author of the Ecology paper. Co-authors include his UW advisers: Jake Goheen, associate professor in UW's Department of Zoology and Physiology, and Matt Kauffman, a U.S. Geological Survey researcher based at UW. UW's Jerod Merkle, assistant professor in the Department of Zoology and Physiology, also was involved with the research, as were agency personnel from the National Park Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The scientists tracked movements of dozens of GPS-collared moose and wolves in Grand Teton National Park and the Bridger-Teton National Forest over a five-year period, detecting 120 unique encounters among 25 individual moose and six wolf packs. An encounter was defined as when moose and wolves were within about 1,600 yards of each other.

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Large lizard from South America has Georgia on its mind (So far four adult Argentine black and white tegus seen) – via Herp Digest

March 16, 2019 SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) 

A South American lizard could be establishing a breeding population in south Georgia, state wildlife officials say.

The lizards — known as tegus — can grow up to 4 feet (1.2 meters) long.

Talk of large, odd-looking lizards has been circulating in eastern Toombs and western Tattnall counties, The Savannah Morning News reported.

People have reported seeing the reptiles crossing dirt roads, and they've shown up on trail cameras.

The Georgia Department of Natural Resources has documented at least four adult Argentine black and white tegus in the state. Also, there have been 20 sightings in the stretch of forest, farmland and streams from the south Georgia town of Lyons to Reidsville.

The agency is encouraging residents to report sightings as biologists investigate their possible expansion into Georgia.

"We think there's something going on. But we need to know more," said John Jensen, a senior wildlife biologist with the Department of Natural Resources.

Argentine black and white tegus are an invasive species that grows large, reproduces fast and eats lots of things, from fruit to eggs, birds and small mammals, the Savannah newspaper reported.

Tegus would pose a threat to native wildlife, including gopher tortoises, a candidate for Endangered Species Act listing. Tegus have been documented using gopher tortoise burrows and eating tortoise eggs and the young. Tegus will also eat vegetables, pet food and chicken eggs.

If tegus are reproducing in the wild in south Georgia, catching them early is crucial.

Once the lizards are established — as they are in Florida's two known populations — the only effective response is to try and stem their numbers and spread, officials said.

Translocation of bighorn sheep in Arizona has positive genetic outcomes

Date:  March 6, 2019

Source:  University of Wyoming

Translocation is an important management tool that has been used for more than 50 years to increase bighorn sheep population numbers in Arizona and to restore herds to suitable habitat throughout their historical range. Yet, translocation also can alter the underlying genetic diversity and spatial structure of managed wildlife species in both beneficial and detrimental ways.

A University of Wyoming researcher led a seven-year study to evaluate the long-term impact of translocation actions on bighorn sheep. From 2005-2012, the research group characterized statewide genetic structure and diversity by using microsatellite and mitochondrial DNA data in 16 indigenous and translocated bighorn sheep populations in Arizona.

"Our study showed that it is possible to re-establish bighorn sheep populations without a reduction of gene diversity over a short period and without erosion of ancestral lineage," says Holly Ernest, a UW professor of wildlife genomics and disease ecology, and the Wyoming Excellence Chair in Disease Ecology in the Department of Veterinary Sciences and the Program in Ecology.

Ernest was the senior and corresponding author of a paper, titled "Genetic Outcomes of Translocation of Bighorn Sheep in Arizona," that was published today (March 6) in the Journal of Wildlife Management. The journal publishes manuscripts containing information from original research that contributes to basic wildlife science. Suitable topics include investigations into the biology and ecology of wildlife and their habitats that have direct or indirect implications for wildlife management and conservation.

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Florida moves to ban anacondas, raccoon dogs, gigantic bats – via Herp Digest

By Kimberly Miller, Daily Commercial, 2/26/19

With invasive pythons running rampant in the Everglades, the state is trying to keep additional exotics from gaining a foothold with new rules approved this week.

Invasive pythons run rampant in the Everglades and imported iguana burrow into canal banks with abandon, but Florida is trying to keep additional exotics from gaining a foothold in the state with new rules approved this week.

Critters, including several species of anaconda, the raccoon dog and a freaky fruit bat called the flying fox were added to the state’s prohibited species list by the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission on Thursday in Gainesville.

The animals are already on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s list of “injurious” species, meaning they can’t be imported into the country. But because they aren’t on Florida’s list of prohibited species, they can come into the state from other states, be used for commercial purposes, and kept as pets.

“I think there could be a case for educational purposes, but for the guy on roller blades at the beach with a snake around his neck, does he really need a yellow anaconda?” said Audubon Florida Executive Director Julie Wraithmell, who supported the ban. “Floridians are with you on this and so is Florida’s wildlife, they just can’t speak here today.”

Yellow anacondas, one of the three species of anaconda put on the prohibited list this week, can grow to 15 feet long, according to a University of Florida research paper. In the wild, they could also eat just about everything they find, including “nearly all fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals native to Florida,” the paper notes.

“This is what we are trying to prevent,” said FWC spokesperson Carli Segelson.

In 2015, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed three anaconda species and the reticulated python as “injurious reptiles” noting that it was criticized for waiting until 2012 to escalate the Burmese python threat.

It’s unknown how many Burmese pythons roam the Everglades, but estimates are in the tens of thousands. Hunters with the 2-year-old water management district’s python elimination program had killed 1,985 snakes as of Tuesday.

“Every python removed from the system gives native animals down there a fighting chance,” said Mike Kirkland, a South Florida Water Management District scientist and project manager for its python elimination program. “Our program is the most successful management tool to date, but it’s just one tool in a large toolbox.”

Segelson said there are no reports of raccoon dogs — a fox-like animal indigenous to East Asia — in the wild in Florida. Also, no flying foxes — giant fruit bats with wing spans of up to 6 feet — have been spotted. But they are considered high-risk species that could make a home in the state.

Other animals on the list for prohibition include the brown tree snake, mongoose, brushtail possum and Java sparrow.

Several speakers Thursday urged commissioners to put anacondas in a less restrictive management category saying an outright ban will push people underground or cause them to release snakes that are no longer marketable.

“I don’t want people to get ticked off at the commission and go to the black market,” said Eugene Bessette, owner of Ophiological Services in Archer. “These snakes are valuable. They are worth hundreds of dollars as a baby and thousands as an adult.”

The new prohibition would grandfather in anacondas kept as a pet and give dealers a chance to sell their current snakes outside of the state. Other states don’t have the same restrictions on importation because the animals are less likely to survive in the wild. The rule also allows for the use of anacondas in zoos, and for research and educational purposes.

According to the FWC, more than 12 million wild-caught reptiles from elsewhere in the world were imported into the U.S. between 1999 and 2010. That included more than 9 million that came through Florida ports.

“The yellow anaconda is one of the few opportunities where you are at the very edge of the invasion curve where it hasn’t happened yet,” said Kipp Frohlich, FWC’s director of habitat and species conservation about the anaconda. “This is the time to put them on the prohibited list.”