A new study coming out the University of Queensland in Australia has found that certain snake species that are preyed upon by venomous cobras have become neurotoxin resistant, helping them to avoid (at least those that are larger) being eaten…
As one of his last acts as president, former President Donald J. Trump pardoned a man who was convicted of snake trafficking in the early 1990s. Robert Bowker was convicted of wildlife trafficking in 1993, after pleading guilty to trafficking…
Researchers in New Zealand studying the green barking gecko (Naultinus punctatus) have determined that releasing this species in a "soft pen" rather than a straight release into the wild, enhances their chances of survival in the wild. The researchers translocated…
The brown tree snake (Boiga irregularis) on Guam uses a newly described mode of snake locomotion, or movement, that enables it to climb up smooth, cylindrical surfaces. This mode, called lasso locomotion, gives the invasive species a new route to find…
A four decade study of Japan’s Okada's five-lined skink (Plestiodon latiscutatus) and its main predator, the Japanese four-lined rat snake (Elaphe quadrivirgata), shows that higher body temperatures of the skink helps them run faster and more efficiently to escape from…
Sixteen months after the last known female Yangtze giant soft-shell turtle (Rafetus swinhoei) died at the Suzhou Zoo in China, a female of this critically endangered species has been discovered in Dong Mo Lake in Vietnam. The Hanoi Department of…
Two thieves entered a Peabody, MA Petco and ran off with an albino cinnamon ball python (Python regius) that they falsely told the sales clerk that they would pay for. The man and woman entered the store last week and…
A subterranean snake that was collected in the Philippines in 2006 and 2007 was misidentified in the field and spent more than 10 years in the University of Kansas Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum before it was properly described,…
A 10 year University of Florida study on Australia’s yellow-spotted monitor lizard (Varanus panoptes horni) have concluded that these reptiles should be regarded as ecosystems engineers based on their capability create, modify, maintain and destroy a habitat. The research, led…
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission announced that its latest efforts to “sniff” out Burmese pythons on public lands in south Florida has logged its first success with the FWC’s new Detector Dog Team, locating an 8-foot male python…
The Peter’s rock agama (Agama picticauda), which was first introduced to the state of Florida in 1976 is the latest introduced species that the Sunshine State is monitoring. The state, home to more invasive and introduced species than any other…
Wild Florida, an Orlando, FL area safari park, announced on Facebook that an electrical fire destroyed the safari park’s snake exhibit, killing all the reptiles in the exhibit. No people were reported injured in the fire. “Sad to report a…
Construction of Tesla’s Gigfactory and car manufacturing plant near the city of Berlin in Germany was halted for the second time this week after a court issued an order pausing construction on the 300 acre property. The stop order was…
The Gulf snapping turtle, Elseya lavarackorum, so named in 1997, is actually a new species of turtle, and Elseya lavarackorum is probably extinct, scientists in Australia told ABC News Australia. The new turtle is named Elseya oneiros. “The fossil specimen…
The Saint Croix ground lizard (Pholidoscelis polops) was listed as endangered by the IUCN, and the government of St. Croix has been working on a reintroduction plan for the reptile one offshore cays adjacent to Saint Croix Island. In accordance with the National…
Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History researchers announced today that they have discovered and described a new species of burrowing snake from Vietnam's Ha Giang province. The snake, Achalinus zugorum, named in honor of George Zug, the Smithsonian’s retired curator…
Burmese pythons (Python bivittatus), vipers and cobras that were previously destined for the black market animal trade have found a refuge in the monastery of a 69-year-old Buddhist monk in Myanmar, formerly Burma. The monk, named Wilatha, keeps the reptiles…
A study published in Scientific Reports says that baby American alligators (Alligator mississippiensis) can regenerate up to 18 inches of their tails when they are lost due to predation, accidents or another means. The researchers, with the Louisiana Department of…
A carpet python (Morelia spilotes) that got hit by a car and died in Australia was gravid with 12 eggs, and Australia Zoo Wildlife Warriors were able to save the eggs. The snake was brought into the Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital…
Researchers in the Philippines have discovered and described a new species of Philippine false gecko whose genus cannot be found anywhere else in the world. The little lizard, Pseudogekko hungkag hails from the Bicol region of the Philippines, which is…
A study of the guttural toad (Sclerophrys gutturalis), an amphibian native to large swaths of the African continent, and introduced on the Mauritius and Réunion islands in the Indian Ocean, has shown that the introduced species are smaller than those…
Biologists with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), U.S. Forest Service (USFS), University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Endemic Environmental Services Inc., Citrus College and San Diego Zoo Global, announced that they have located…
Veterinarians at Hatteras Island Wildlife Rehabilitation in Frisco, NC were in for a big surprise, well three actually, when the cottonmouth snake (Agkistrodon piscivorus) they were treating regurgitated its meal(s) while it was under anesthesia. The large venomous snake, which…
Approximately 50 of 400 Pickersgill’s reed frogs were released into South Africa’s Buffeldraai, KwaZulu-Natal earlier this week. The release, which was a joint partnership with Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, The Endangered Wildlife Trust and the South African Biodiversity Institute, was the…
