A huge asteroid that hit the earth in what is now Mexico led to the extinction of 75 percent of the flora and fauna on Earth, but also led to the diversification of snakes around the same time much of…
The poison of the Colorado River toad is a schedule 1 drug, and people have been licking the toads for more than 100 years, apparently to achieve a hallucinogenic effect. Now, actually smoking the toad toxin has become a thing,…
The iconic Komodo dragon (Varanus komodoensis), the largest lizard in the world and native only to Komodo National Park in Indonesia, has been reclassified as Endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species,…
The Asian flat-tail geckos ( Hemidactylus platyurus) is a lizard that is known to jump from tree to tree. But what was not known was how the little lizard landed. Until now. A team of researchers from the Max Planck Institute…
Researchers in Peru surveyed an area from the Río Huallaga Basin from 2011 to 2018 and discovered a new wood lizard species of the genus Enyalioides that sports a variety of colorations based on the sex. Males can be brownish…
Markhor, a 3 1/2 foot, 3 pound nile monitor (Varanus niloticus) that went missing in June from Little Rays Reptile Zoo and Nature Centre in Hamilton, Ontario Canada, has been found, inside the zoo. The nile monitor was thought to…
"Snake Road" in Shawnee National Forest in Illinois will close September 1 for the annual migration of reptiles and amphibians to their winter habitats in the limestone bluffs, across the road from their summer swamp stomping grounds. LaRue Road and…
Researchers in Australia have discovered an interesting trait in invasive cane toad (Rhinella marina) tadpoles in Australia not seen in their native South America; The Australian tadpoles cannibalize their younger counterparts, which the researchers say enhances their chance of survival.…
An oil seepage in Santa Barbara, California’s Toro Canyon Creek has caused more than 80 Baja California and California treefrogs and one western fence lizard to become soiled in oil. The Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network (SBWCN) was called to…
A microbiologist with the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wisconsin, looked at more than 500 preserved snakes in the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Zoological Museum and what was known as the Morehead State University Museum Collection, and…
The white-bellied frog (Geocrinia alba) has joined 25 other frog species in Australia on that country’s list of species at greatest risk of extinction, according to a researcher paper published in Pacific Conservation Biology. In the study, the researchers found…
Male olive sea snakes (Aipysurus laevis) in Australia’s Great Barrier reef have been documented pursuing scuba divers in cases of mistaken identity to breed with them, according to a new study published in the journal Scientific Reports. Researchers took a…
The United States Fish and Wildlife Service has designated more than 1,300 acres of critical habitat near Austin, TX for the Georgetown (Eurycea naufragia) and Salado Springs (Eurycea chisholmensis) salamanders. These amphibians were granted Endangered Species Act Protections in 2014,…
The Nashville Zoo, in partnership with the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency & Tennessee State University, last month released 29 zoo raised eastern hellbender salamanders (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis) into local waterways. The initial release of the 29 amphibians culminates a six year…
The leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) should be listed as endangered under the state of California’s Endangered Species Act, The California Department of Fish and Wildlife recommended in its status review released August 16. The review, which determines if an animal…
Frogs (and toads) are often the very first herp that keepers interact with. Mine were toads that I caught in the neighborhood canal near my school. We held the adults until they pee’d in our hands and even grabbed the…
Researchers have described a new species of snake of the genus Rhabdophis discovered in a forested region of Northeast India. The snake, Rhabdophis bindi, is similar morphologically to the Himalayan red necked keelback (Rhabdophis himalayanus), but lacks a nuchal groove…
Zoos Victoria has announced that 15 of 100 giant burrowing frog (Heleioporus australiacus) tadpoles have grown legs and have metamorphosed, a first for the zoo since launching a captive breeding program for the rare amphibian back in March. “We got…
Exo Terra announced it has donated $5,000 to Wildlife Preservation Canada in an effort to help WPC’s conservation efforts to save the Oregon spotted frog (Rana pretiosa). The amphibian, according to WPC, is the most endangered frog in Canada with…
Hundreds of northern leopard frogs (Rana pipiens) were released back into the wild in Washington’s Columbia National Wildlife Refuge as part of an effort to bolster the wild populations from threats such as habitat loss and degradation, disease, the introduction of…
The Smithsonian’s National Zoo announced that its resident European glass lizard (Pseudopus apodus) pair, which were hatchlings themselves in 1996, were successfully bred, and at 25 years old, hatched out glass lizard hatchlings of their own. The reptile is also…
Zoo Med Labs, which developed the first UVB lighting solution for reptiles in the early 1990s has pushed the envelope once again with the introduction of a UVB LED solution for reptiles. LED lighting solutions have been very popular with…
A 2018 study found that micro plastics and what is now called marine plastics have been found in all seven marine turtle species. That study looked at both stranded and bycaught marine reptiles in both the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean…
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is actively seeking any information leading to the arrest and conviction of perpetrators who painted the shell of a gopher tortoise. The tortoise is one of two which had their shells painted. The…
