Famous Reptiles

[unable to retrieve full-text content] Rainy Rambles: For goodness, snakes    Discover Our Coast

Dave Golowenski  |  Special to The Columbus Dispatch Taxidermists, who in the quiet of their shop typically make art and memories in the form of animal mounts, at times can also make a stand. Jeremy Bennett, who runs New Creations Taxidermy and Deer Processing in Logan, caused a small stir for the Ohio Division of Wildlife over what he, and at least one important ally, deemed a not-small constitutional issue. At stake was Bennett's right to be free from unwarranted government searches under the Fourth Amendment of the Bill of Rights. So asserted The Institute for Justice, an organization headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, which advocates for limited government. The institute summarized in a news release the events that triggered its involvement: "During the peak of the hunt in December 2020, Bennett shut down the taxidermy portion of his shop to process deer. A wildlife offi...

Aug. 9 (UPI) -- Animal rescuers on the island of Guernsey said they were called out for a report of a toad in an airport parking lot and arrived to find the animal was actually a monitor lizard. The Guernsey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said in a news release that rescuers were dispatched Tuesday on a report of a toad wandering loose in the Guernsey Airport's parking lot, but they arrived to find a "very different animal." "The call was to go and help a poorly toad but when I got there it wasn't a toad at all but a very black water dragon," GSPCA rescuer Neil Hughes said in the news release. Black water dragons are a type of monitor lizard. "The lizard is now back at the GSPCA in one of our vivariums," Hughes said. The reptile is believed to be an escaped pet and officials are now attempting to find the owner.

[unable to retrieve full-text content] 3000 Chinese giant salamanders released to nature in east China    Xinhua

Connor Gillian of the Cortez Water Dragons competes in the 18U 200 yard freestyle mixed relay Saturday at the Scottie Aschermann Memorial Season Club Championships in Cortez. (Cody Olivas/Durango Herald) More than 300 swimmers from around Colorado compete The Cortez Water Dragons hosted the Scottie Aschermann Memorial Season Club Championships at the Cortez Municipal Swimming Pool on Friday through Sunday. "We're super excited about it," said the Water Dragons' club president, Mara Baxstrom. "We love filling up the pool." Baxstrom called the event the "Super Bowl" of the summer season for the swimmers, noting that they had to qualify to attend. About 20 clubs from around the state competed at the meet with 303 swimmers...

W hen Allison Baker moved to what she calls "snake heaven," a home on 2.5 acres just outside of Dallas–Fort Worth, Tex., her greatest fear was a dangerous encounter between her young children and one of heaven's residents. Baker's anxiety was understandable. After all, Texas is one of the snakiest states in the nation, with more than 80 species, 11 of them venomous. And the previous homeowners had found venomous snakes on the property, including a cottonmouth coiled by the pool. It wasn't long before she had her own run-ins with the slithering creatures—including a bite she received from a copperhead while doing yardwork. Yet despite her initial trepidation, Baker, 44, has undergone an attitude change since moving into the new place. "I knew better than to dig in a pile of leaves," she says of her brush with the copperhead. "I didn't blame the snake for it and got a shovel and flipped the snake out of there," relocating the animal rathe...

A rubber boa seen on a tree in Hardy Falls Provincial Park, Aug. 6, 2022. Image Credit: SUBMITTED/Michelle Richardson August 06, 2022 - 6:03 PM The world's most northerly boa snake was spotted by a Peachland woman last night while in Hardy Falls. Michelle Richardson and her sister were walking along the Hardy Falls Regional Park main trail last night, Aug. 5, at around 7 p.m. when she spotted the rubber boa on a tree. "I've only ever seen the common garter snake, so we were really surprised to see it but now I know where I saw it every time I go there I'm going to see if it's there," she said. READ MORE:  What you need to know about the northern Pacific rattlesnake in ...

[unable to retrieve full-text content] Avian influenza H5N1 detected in several birds in the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge    KTXL FOX 40 Sacramento

The Amazon, being the largest rainforest in the world, is a famous tourist destination. Over 700 million travelers tour the forest annually, and the number is expected to grow steadily. Tourists are fascinated by the Amazon River, which is among the largest in the world. Moreover, the Amazon basin harbors a variety of other ecosystems, such as swamps and natural savanna. Many plants and animal species are found on Amazon. However, the steady increase of the human population and the introduction of mechanized agriculture has threatened the continued prosperity of the Amazon rainforest. Here is how the famous rainforest is endangered. 10 Commercial Fishing The Amazonian residents' primary source of food and income is fishing from the Amazon River. However, with the growing population, demand for more food leads to overfishing. In addition, big companies harvesting fish for export use destructive gill nets, which scoop up the whole school of fish where 60% of the ca...

[unable to retrieve full-text content] Two-thirds of sturgeon species now Critically Endangered with one confirmed Extinct    WWF Heavily poached sturgeon slip toward extinction | Stories | WWF    World Wildlife Fund Chinese Paddlefish Officially Declared Extinct - China    Newsweek Extinction of Chinese paddlefish and wild Yangtze sturgeon announced by IUCN    Global Times Chinese Paddlefish and wild Yangtze Sturgeon extinct - IUCN    Reuters View Full Coverage on Google News

Abstract Evolutionary theory suggests that polymorphic traits can be maintained within a single population only under specific conditions, such as negative frequency-dependent selection or heterozygote advantage. Non-venomous turtle-headed sea snakes ( Emydocephalus annulatus ) living in shallow bays near Noumea in New Caledonia exhibit three colour morphs: black, black-and-white banded, and an intermediate (grey-banded) morph that darkens with age. We recorded morph frequencies during 18 consecutive years of surveys, and found that the numbers of recruits (neonates plus immigrants) belonging to each morph increased in years when that morph was unusually rare in the population, and decreased when that morph was unusually common. Thus, morph frequencies are maintained by negative frequency-dependent selection. We interpret the situation as Batesian mimicry of highly venomous sea snakes ( Aipysurus, Hydrophis, Laticauda ) that occur in the same bays, and range in colour from black-and-wh...