January 1998
Happy New Year! To all readers from your loyal scrivener. This column marks the 12th year
of columnification on news of interest to herpetologists from around the world. It functions as a
reader-supported column by using only those items received from readers. You can contribute,
too. Merely send whole pages of newspaper/magazines/etc. or clip the article being sure to
attach the date/publication slug and your name to each page. All contributors are acknowledged either with their
story or at the end of each column.
Lost and found in Wisconsin
A 4-foot iguana known as "Sweet Pea" disappeared from a third story balcony in September
and was found ten miles away in a tree. "We got her in the nick of time, especially with the
weather getting cold," said the lady in whose care the animal was when it disappeared. The
Wisconsin State Journal reports: "It is unknown how a lizard could travel that far from a busy
downtown location... A big lizard is not the sort of animal to which a motorist would offer a
ride..." [October 18, 1997 from Dreux Watermoelen]
A three foot ball python vanished in a University of Wisconsin - Madison dormitory.
Authorities are not amused and have instituted a search even though residents seem undismayed.
Some speculate that Merlin did not slither away solo, but was taken from its cage in a female
student's room in Sellery Hall. One resident said that officials were "acting like it's some kind of
national emergency." [Wisconsin State Journal, October 7, 1997 from Dreux Watermoelen]
At least they're consistent
"Two Japanese men headed to a reptile breeders show in Orlando are in the Seminole County
Jail this weekend after their arrests on animal-smuggling charges... at Orlando International
Airport by agents from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service with help from the U.S. Customs
Service and Orlando police. Agents found eight snakes thought to be from Southeast Asia in
[one man's] suitcase. Two turtles were in [the other man's] suitcase... thought to be worth up to
$70,000." wrote The Orlando Sentinel [August 17, 1997, from Alan Rigerman]. The story added
that one of the men arrested in this incident had been charged by an Orlando grand jury only ten
days previously for the smuggling of 64 Fly River turtles and 113 snakeneck turtles in April of
1996. A spokesperson for the Orlando Reptile Breeders Expo said that the group requires all
live merchandise to be captive bred and does not condone smuggling.
Regular readers will recall news stories from 1995 when a man in Prince William County,
Virginia was envenomed by a pet cobra. At that time, authorities seized 22 venomous snakes
and seven tarantulas from his apartment. He said he would buy no more cobras while he lived in
the County and avoided punishment for violating the law of possessing wild or exotic animals in
the county. The December 5, 1997 Roanoke Times reports: "A man who was bitten as he milked
venom from his pet cobra required a double dose of lifesaving antivenin to save his life doctors
said. [it] was the second time in two years he had been attacked by one of the deadly snakes he
kept in his Prince William County apartment. After he was bitten, police removed 10 poisonous
[sic] vipers, including Indian cobras and a water moccasin, said Prince William County police
spokeswoman... In 1995 [the same man] was bitten on the hand as he reached for a cobra that
had started to leave its cage... No charges had been filed... relative to the snakes seized this
week..." [from Mark T. Witwer]
Wander Indiana safely
The Indiana state Department of Natural Resources issued an emergency regulation prohibiting
the sale of any native or dangerous snake, frog, crocodile, turtle or other reptile or amphibian in
direct response to the numbers of sales of native reptiles and amphibians. The director of the
Department said that over-collection of native animals would upset the ecological balance. In
addition he said that the regulation protects the public by prohibiting the sale of dangerous
reptiles and amphibians. Possession of the animals remains legal. "Dangerous" is defined as
including any venomous or poisonous snake, frog, toad, lizard or other species that can seriously
injure a person or animal. Crocodiles over 5 feet and lizards over 6 feet are not permitted to be
sold and no portion of the animal, eggs or offspring of a dangerous animal can be sold. To
receive the full text or to comment on their intention to enact permanent rules on this subject,
contact: DNR, Division of Fish and Wildlife, 402 W. Washington Street, Room W273,
Indianapolis, Indiana 46204. [The Chesterton Tribune, December 9, 1997 from Chuck Keating
and The Courier-Journal, December 17 from E.A. Zorn]
Your traffick hot spots
Over a thousand animals about to be smuggled into the U.S. were found by Peruvian
authorities. Anacondas, water snakes, black crocodiles, iguanas and rare species of frogs, lizards
and turtles from Peru's Amazon jungle, were packed in crates marked "ornamental fish" bound
for Los Angeles, California. Nearly a third of the animals were dead when discovered,
apparently killed by sedatives given them by the herpetotrafficantes. [The Albuquerque Journal,
August 26, 1997 from J.N. Stuart] The story continues in the Little Rock, Arkansas Democrat-
Gazette [August 28, 1997 from Bill Burnett], "While the exact number of exotic animals
captured and sold in Peru is unknown, they can be easily purchased in downtown Lima. Until
city authorities swept through Ayacucho Street last month, the animal market resembled a
sidewalk zoo... The World Wildlife Foundation estimates global trade in illegal animal
trafficking at more than $5 billion a year." One wonders how much the legal trade is worth.
A Kansan and a Louisianan were indicted in Topeka, Kansas on charges of illegally buying
and selling more than 1,000 box turtles. "Kansans view [the turtles] as cute curiosities, with
their small dark shells marked with yellow and orange-yellow lines. But to those who engage in
the illegal business of capturing and shipping them abroad, they look more like four-legged
dollar signs," according to the Houma, Louisiana Courier [October 26, 1997 from Ernie Liner].
The story adds a quote from Joe Collins, herpetologist emeritus of the University of Kansas
Museum of Natural History, that while American collectors get about $5 to $10 for each turtle,
Japanese collectors pay $300. Most of the animals are put in ornamental gardens and cared for
carefully, however mortality rates between capture and final sale are "inordinate," he
commented. If convicted, the two men face sentences of up to eleven years in jail.
"Brazilian authorities have saved about 8,000 freshwater turtles and other wild animals that
were destined to be served up as illegal delicacies in the Amazon region, an environmental
official said... police arrested four people aboard a boat carrying the animals on... one of the
Amazon River's main tributaries... Traditional Amazonian dishes include grilled turtle steak, a
stew of turtle innards and brains and a turtle roast served with manioc flour piled in the animal's
shell," according to The Chicago Tribune [August 13, 1997 from Scott Keator and Ray Boldt].
UV-B determined cause of salamander decline
"Biologists have shown for the first time that excess ultraviolet rays from natural sunlight kill
amphibians, an ominous sign of the dangers of solar radiation leaking through a thinning ozone
layer... natural sunlight contains enough ultraviolet-B radiation to kill most embryos of the long-
toed salamander in mountain lakes of the Cascade Mountain range... [one scientist] cautioned
that the result applies to only one animal species and does not prove that UVB is the cause for
all of the declines of frogs, toads and salamanders [worldwide]," as reported in The Chicago
Tribune, December 9, 1997 from Claus Sutor and Ray Boldt]
Adam Smith at work in the bayou
The skins of Louisiana alligators have fluctuated over the last 25 years. For those who like this
sort of things, the raw numbers are:
| Year | US$/foot |
|---|
| 1972 | $8.10 |
| 1982 | 13.50 |
| 1992 | 23.00 |
| 1993 | 23.00 |
| 1994 | 37.00 |
| 1995 | 41.00 |
| 1996 | 25.00 |
| 1997 | 18.00 |
Wildlife officials speculate that the large catch in the last few years may have driven skin prices down, but also point to world market conditions and farm-raised alligators as factors in the price changes. [The Times-Picayune, New Orleans, Louisiana, September 10, 1997 from Ernie Liner]
More numbers
Another interesting factoid is U.S. state spending on endangered species by type and in percent
| Type of Endangered Species | Percent of spending |
|---|
| Birds | 37 |
| Mammals | 33 |
| Fishes | 13 |
| Plants | 8 |
| Invertebrates | 5 |
| Reptiles and Amphibians | 4 |
| Source: Endangered Species Survey, 1996 from the International Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies reprinted in Audubon, September-October 1997 from J.N. Stuart |
Farm bites state
A judge has ruled that the state of Louisiana must pay more than $4.6 million in damages to an
alligator farm raided by the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries in 1991. Agents had
seized 358 alligator skins and issued summonses to the company and one employee for alleged
violations of alligator tagging and skinning laws. Charges were dropped in 1992, and the
company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The judge ruled that the company "proved that the
outrageous actions of the defendant (DWF) caused serious damages," and the state plans to
appeal, noting that Louisiana does not maintain insurance for this type of situation and would be
forced to spend tax funds to fulfill the court order. [The Times-Picayune, July 4, 1997 from
Ernie Liner]
The following not suitable for more sensitive readers
From Clifton, New Jersey comes the story of a man "attacked by his pet 8-foot python... rescued
by his sister, who heard his screams and cut off the snake's head with a butcher knife. The snake
sprang up and bit [the 28-year-old man] on the cheek after he opened the top of its tank to give it
a drink Monday. It curled around his neck as it hung onto [his face] police said... [his sister] cut
off the python's head. When the snake would still not let go, she cut off another chunk of its
body, which fell to the floor and slithered under a bed, police said. She then pulled the head off
her brother's face... He was treated at a hospital and released. [CNN, September 2, 1997 and UPI
September 3, 1997 both from Wes von Papineäu and Kimberley Heaphy, and Orlando Sentinel
from Bill Burnett]
An ode to amplexus and a plea for the horny toad
From the Sonoran Herpetologist [10(8) 1997] comes the following with apologies to Paul Simon
and to the tune of "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover." "The problem is all inside you head, she
croaked to he. It's been ten long months; the answer's plain to me. So let me feel your thunder
while it's raining, see, you got fifty days to breed your lover. She croaked, `It's really not my
habit to be bold. But your song's so nice and your colors green and gold, (sigh) have me wanting
you; love has taken hold. You got fifty days to breed your lover... [chorus] Just slip on the back,
Jack. Amplexus' the plan, Stan. Don't need to be coy, Roy - sing your night songs to me!... "
There's more (probably from the inimitable pen of Roger Repp), but - as the CHS has always
been a "family" herpetological society, I leave you to search the THS herp society page for the
rest and their update on conservation of the flat-tailed horned lizard lawsuit.
Not limited to North America
From Rod Douglas of the National Museum at Bloemfontein South Africa comes two clippings
of advertisements not beneficial to reptiles. The first shows a rock python and is captioned "Its
53 degrees in the shade, and you haven't eaten for seven days. You have three choices, Braii it.
Fry it. Grill it (on our advertised gas grill)... rumour has it that when cooked on the global range,
a choice cut of rock python will melt in the mouth. But even we find that a little bit hard to
swallow." Please remember that the temperature is in Celsius. The second ad shows a cooler
being held by an alligator skeleton. The caption reads: "The Nile crocodile's tenacity is
legendary. So is its stupidity." Both appeared in Getaway magazine, September 1997. Rod
wrote the manufacturer and received a reply: "I can assure you that these advertisements are not
intended to encourage any harm... we understand and appreciate your discomfort however, in our
pretesting of the advertisement, we confirmed that most people fear snakes especially larges
(sic) ones and would do their level best to avoid any close contact with a snake... We have
nevertheless passed on your letter to our advertising agency for their comments and a
response..."
Florida environmentalist dies
Marjorie Carr, the widow of Archie Carr, and a passionate environmentalist in her home state,
died at the age of 82. She served on numerous committees, testified, wrote letters and lobbied
legislators and was instrumental in the preservation of Florida habitats. Expressions of
sympathy may be made by donations to Florida Defenders of the Environment, 4424 NW 13
Street, Suite C-8, Gainesville, FL 32609, according to a family spokesperson. [The Gainesville
Sun, October 11, 1997 from Kenneth C. Dodd, Jr.]
Quote of the month
From the Arizona Tribune: An East Valley lawmaker wants colleagues to honor something with
a small brain. An no, it isn't a politician... introduced legislation to make the Dilophosaurus the
official state dinosaur... it is the only known dinosaur unique to Arizona." [December 12, 1997
from Tom Taylor]
Letters:
"Your snippets of information are always most interesting and HerPet-pourri is most popular.
As Chairman of the, unfortunately, now defunct Free State Herpetological Association, I
reprinted many items from your column in our Newsletter. I know that sometimes you most
probably feel the task is rather thankless, but remember that there are people all over the world,
like myself, who read your column and appreciate it, but perhaps never have reason to write and
tell you so - keep up the good work. Rod Douglas" Bloemfontein, South Africa. Thank you for
writing. I sometimes wonder if there's anybody out there, but then along comes a letter like this
to remind me that we really do have over 1,000 members around the world!
"Sorry to hear about your misfortune. Hope you are able to get your household back to normal
- as is possible - after such a disaster. Ray Boldt" Chicago, Illinois. We're getting there.
December was the month of living out of the half-bath and the kitchen sink while the regular
bathroom was getting new walls and floor. The tub is laying on it's back in the living room with
it's four little feet pointing straight up. It looks like it died or something. We hope to finish
everything by about May this year.
"Hope your e-mail situation is resolved soon... E.A. Zorn" Yup. It is now.
"Best wishes for the holidays, like `Have a toadally herpy New Year'. Claus Sutor." We did
have a very merry hiss-mus and a hoppy New Year. Thanks for thinking of ussss.
February 1998
A really big thank you! to all the folks who wrote sympathizing with our house-disaster and its
ongoing "Home Improvement" nightmare. I always thought I was busy before, but working and
having one's house worked on combined, don't leave much time for other things - like writing.
The other day when I sat down to start to write, my computer kept going "ping" and putting up
messages like "out of memory - unable to run Windows." I had too much stuff on my hard-drive,
so instead of writing, I started moving files to a zip disk. Several hours later in the process, I
found a story that I wrote a couple of years ago. Hope you enjoy it! We'll return to clippings
next month, so please keep sending herp stories with date/publication slug attached to me.
It's turtles all the way down...
Growing up in the heart of New York, on Manhattan Island, I rarely saw any wildlife except for
the ubiquitous roaches, rats, mice, pigeons, and drunks. But one day, my friend Daria-Jean
Sullivan bought a baby turtle (probably a red-eared slider) at the five and dime. She bought a
little plastic bowl with a palm tree and she fed the turtle hamburger meat and lettuce. We would
take the turtle in our hands and marvel at its aged and knowing features. One day, by accident, I
dropped the turtle on a rug. I was mortified, ashamed and embarrassed. I was sure it would die.
I confessed to Daria and she wasn't worried since she'd dropped it too, and it had survived. So
we started to let the turtle roam in the apartment while we watched carefully and found that baby
turtles are very hardy little creatures capable of climbing draperies and facing down pet cats. It
particularly liked to sit on the window sill and hiss at pigeons. It was growing quite nicely, but
one day it just died. I was disconsolate; Daria more pragmatic. She bought another turtle but
this one had no personality and no appetite and it soon perished.
That summer, we went to camp and were able to watch wild turtles in the small pond near our
tents. We also tried to catch frogs and ended up in rather dirty mud and a lot of trouble for not
being "team players" and knotting lanyards or whatever "happy camper" the grownups had
organized. I don't recall ever catching any frogs. I always liked just sitting quietly on the edge
watching to jumping in the water, anyway. Daria-Jean always insisted in jumping in after them;
but that was her way in most everything.
We also visited my family in southern New Jersey often. They lived on a barrier island north of
Atlantic City. The only turtles down there were diamond back terrapins which glided among the
grasses and reeds of the inland waterway where we also went fishing for flounder and crabs. I'll
never forget the first terrapin I saw out of the water - it was so huge and cumbersome compared
with how gracefully they swam in the brackish waters of "the bay." My grandfather told me that
they used to get sea turtles in the inlet in early winter. He said they were "football sized," what I
now know to be juvenile turtles, and that they all left right before the bad weather set in. He
encouraged me to beach comb for shells, sea week and sargasso and taught me to see the
migrations of the ancient horseshoe crabs in the Atlantic by counting the strandings. But no sea
turtles, except at the Aquarium at Steel Pier where they looked rather pitiful, swimming round
and round in tanks.
I saw my first box turtle on Long Island. I don't remember why we went out there, but we
stopped at a farm stand for something and the man had a box turtle as a pet and said that they
lived in his strawberry fields. He showed us a turtle's burrow next to one of his fence-posts, but
my mother wouldn't let me go exploring out in the field - even though he said it was o.k. because
she didn't want me to get dirty. (Did she know me or what?)
An unforgettable early childhood experience is when I saw my first snapping turtle in the bottom
of a fisherman's boat. It had come up on one of his freshwater crab traps and he was taking it
home for dinner. He showed me how hard the jaws snapped shut by teasing it with the end of a
pole. I was extremely impressed. To this day, I have never touched, nor ever intend to touch, a
snapping turtle with a shell longer than six inches. About the same time, we went to Florida and
saw one of the famous alligator wrestling shows out along the Tamiami Trail in the Everglades.
Back in the City, Daria-Jean and I went to the American Museum and looked at the
herpetological exhibits, dreaming of trips to the Galapagos and Komodo Island. I was so
interested in all this stuff that one day my nurse took me to the Bronx Zoo. We were waiting in
line for something when a man came up to Bridie and asked if I could pose with their Galapagos
Tortoise for a picture. It was later published in The New York Times and shows a much younger
me wearing a Mickey Mouse hat riding the back of the tortoise.
A photo of me from about 1962 from The New York Times.
Perhaps it was a prophetic
picture for turtles and tortoises have provided several turning points in my life. My reputation as
a turtle-ophile probably started from the newspaper picture which I kept pinned up in my room.
It's not every day you get your picture in The Times!
Then we moved away from New York and after a bunch of moving around finally ended up in
Chicago. The latter had even less wildlife since the downtown was, in the late 1960s, practically
deserted. Surrounding the city was a small ring of postwar suburbs, then miles and miles of
corn. My grandparents came out to visit us and we took them to all the museums and the
Aquarium and one day we drove on North Avenue all the way to the Mississippi River. There
was no nature outside Chicago, at least not of the type I recognized from the east coast, just
miles and miles of flat land given over to mechanized agriculture. There were no hedgerows, no
contour plowing. I remember my grandfather saying that the farmers didn't remember the Dust
Bowl and were going to have it again when the weather changed. We stopped at a restaurant
along a river which was built in an old mill. The mill pond was full of ducks and one algae-
covered turtle. It looked at me with wise-old eyes, decided I was not to be trusted, and plopped
into the millpond.
The next turtle I met changed my life. I had married, had a child, and divorced. I was living in
an old building in downtown Chicago and decided to plant a garden in a tiny patch of bare dirt
behind the house. One day, I dug a pond. Knowing nothing of aquaculture, I decided I needed
water lilies for this 500-gallon hole and got some bags, a shovel, my daughter, and a large
cardboard box into the car and headed for "nature." In 1985, "nature" was still to be found in
Lake County; the huge building boom of the late 1980s had not yet turned every patch of bare
dirt into corporate plazas, shopping malls, residential subdivisions or parking lots.
We drove along until we saw a sign for "Lily Lake." That sounded promising, but when we got
to the lake we saw speedboats going around and around in circles (which is all they can do in
Illinois' tiny lakes) and no lilies. A young man on a bicycle said that there had been lilies, but
the speedboats had wrecked them and they were no more. However, he described some lilies in
a farm ditch some distance ahead; so we drove on. I braked to a sudden stop when I saw a turtle
crossing the road. We took the turtle, which immediately baptized us, the car and everything. We plopped it in the cardboard box.
Now, fellow herpers, this was a really stupid thing for me to do. I knew nothing about keeping
turtles and it was very irresponsible to just drive off with a living being for whom I had no
facilities and no clue. But it was done and cannot be changed. At the time, I thought nothing of
it, but that I had a turtle for my pond. After all, you can feed them lettuce and hamburger, can't
you?
We did get the lilies, just where the youth had said, and returned to Chicago. The lilies and the
turtle were dumped in the pond and I went to the local bait shop and bought a box of night
crawlers for the turtle. Within a few days, the turtle was hand-feeding. I'd dangle my fingers in
the water, and she'd come swimming over, eat her worms and disappear. This went on for all of
July and all of August, but I was getting worried about what to do with her over the winter.
One day, I saw a notice in the free paper for turtle races sponsored by the Chicago
Herpetological Society to be held at a big, fancy downtown hotel. We went, but Rosie didn't feel
like racing - she just stayed on the bottom of the hotel's reflecting pool and reflected. I think it
was all too much for her. I did get some information on the C.H.S. from Mike Dloogatch and
went to their next meeting with my daughter. The speaker was Michael Lannoo (now with
DAPTF). His topic was "Cannibalistic Morphs of the Tiger Salamander." My daughter and I
really enjoyed the talk and I later asked Dloogatch what I could do to get involved with the
group. He invited me to his home for the next "stuff the newsletter" party and board meeting.
It was at that meeting that I met Ken Mierzwa. Our first conversation was about mouse traps
and how to catch the wild mice which had invaded my house and were driving me nuts. Eloise
and I went to the next few meetings; by January, Ken and I were seeing each other every day. I
had started going to Mike Dloogatch's office to type in parts for the C.H.S. Newsletter. In December, I
replied to a letter received from a reader - this was the start of my "Her-pet-pourri" column in
1986. I also started researching captive care of amphibians and reptiles. The C.H.S. had a looseleaf collection of "Care-in-Captivity" pages which everyone said were good but "needed updating."
Rosie, meanwhile, had disappeared. I had planned to take her inside to a playpool I set up in the
living room, but she was nowhere to be found. I muddled the whole pond, dug up half the yard
and - to this day - have never seen her again. All I can assume is that she was taken. The local
kids swore up and down they'd not seen her walking away, so I had to assume she was carried. I
was very sad, but soon I was getting pets of all kinds from other C.H.S. members and other
people because they knew I'd take care of them. The playpool had a few too many turtles that
winter; in spring, I gave them to people with bigger gardens because I didn't want another garden
turtle if people were going to steal pet turtles out of my yard.
About this time, the Newsletter was merged with the Bulletin and Mike asked me to summarize
newspaper clippings for a regular column in the new, monthly bulletin. I was later appointed
editor of new "Care-in-Captivity" pages. After much work with the original care sheet authors,
three different C.H.S. members to review for each page and the three really involved
veterinarians then active, "Care-in-Captivity" was published in 1989. I have continued to collect
revisions, additions and accounts of other species and hope someday to be able to produce a
newer version for the Society. Curiously, both the booklet and the bulletin were being desktop
published long before there were programs for publishing. What Mike figured out was how to
use "command characters" to control our printers, so our documents looked like alphabet soup -
but printed beautifully. It was this early experience with computers that would later prove so
helpful.
In fall, 1989 I was given the opportunity to attend the first World Congress of Herpetology in
Canterbury, England. I had attended Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles meetings
and so knew some of the attendees, but I was pleased and privileged to meet some of the most
famous herpetologists in the world at the Congress. Many knew of C.H.S. and I was able to
encourage some of them to write for our bulletin.
A year later I was contacted by our state's department of conservation to do a frog survey of the
Illinois Chorus Frog (Pseudacris streckeri illinoensis). To be completely honest, I think they called me
because nobody else in the state was dumb enough to say "yes" to the project specifications. So
I said "yes" and spent the next month of my life driving around corn fields, at night, in 30 degree
weather, with the windows down, in the middle of nowhere, listening to frogs. There were
moments of pure terror like when I buried my Buick up to the door handles in a sand road and
was later shot at by a paranoid farmer; but all-in-all the experience was very positive and
formative.
That fall, I went back to school. I had two years of work to finish an environmental biology
degree. I'd been out of school for 17 years and was plunked right down in 300 level biology and
science courses. I don't think I ever worked so hard in my life as I did that first semester.
Meanwhile, I started writing for the American Federation of Herpetoculturists' magazine, the
Vivarium, as well as continuing to write for C.H.S. I was elected editor-in-chief of the student
newspaper - that early desktop publishing experience was now translated into production on a
roomful of Macs and other "all-pro" equipment. Then I received a contract from the state to do a
baseline survey for the Massasauga Rattlesnake (Sistrurus catenatus), a potential endangered
species, as well as to continue to the frog work which I did on spring break.
Massasaugas were hot that year. In spring, a conference was held at Toronto Metro Zoo and I
submitted a paper I had done on historical Massasauga distribution in North America for
presentation. Was I ever surprised to find out I was third on their program, behind Keith Corbett
and Francis Cook! I was also scared to death. I'd given nature center programs and class
presentations, but never something like this. Thank heavens they had a microphone, or I don't
think anyone would have heard me more than two feet away.
That fall, I was on a field trip to the Fox River led by Gene McArdle of NEIU. One of the
people whose property we visited described seeing a snapping turtle lay eggs on the bank of the
Fox earlier that year. She asked Dr. McArdle if he would consider digging up the nest to "see if
the babies were alright," even though he had explained to her that some nests overwinter and
actually emerge in spring. He suggested that since I was the herpetologist in the bunch, that I
should be the one to dig up the nest. I told him that I knew zip about nests except from models I
had seen in museums or drawings in books and he told me to start digging. The depression the
female had made was still somewhat visible along the edge of the ornamental plantings, so I
made a small hole in the turf with a teaspoon and started digging down by hand. After about
eight inches, I found the first egg. It was shriveled and at first I feared the worst - that all the
babies were dead. I should have known better. These were snapping turtles after all. As I held
the first egg up for the other students to see and photograph, the shell split open, and the turtle's
head poked out. He slid out of the egg on his yolk sac. We carefully removed all the eggs and
had 53 live turtles and 14 dead ones. The dead ones were mostly on the bottom of the nest. The
lady wanted to keep some of the babies to show her friends, and the professor suggested that the
students should each take one home and feed it over the winter. In spring, we returned to the
Fox and compared our turtles, then had an impromptu turtle race as the babies scrambled for the
water.
All this herpetological field work had an unexpected effect. While flipping rocks, I became
interested in rocks. While studying a sand-dependent frog, I got interested in sand. Finding that
massasaugas like a particular type of clayey soil got me interested in learning more about Illinois
glacial deposits. One of the long-time C.H.S. members, Ron Humbert, had shown me his rock
and mineral cases one time at a board meeting and only a little bit had stuck. I bought some
rock books and tried to teach myself, but it was too complicated. So I signed up for a geology
class (which would count towards my degree). Just the one class, and I was hooked for life.
I got my undergraduate degree, and reentered
NEIU in the fall as a graduate student in Earth Science.
That winter, my husband and I went to the island of St. Lucia which had rainforest for him, and
an active volcano for me. Although we did see the endangered St. Lucia parrot in the wild, the
herps of the rainforest eluded us. Probably had something to do with the line of loud tourists to
which we were attached. Back at the hotel, we went frog hunting at night in the ornamental
landscaping. I think the staff thought we were nuts, but it was really neat to see tropical
treefrogs in nearly natural habitat! We also had geckos stuck to all the walls in the hotel. The
same gecko usually was in the same place each night and carefully defended its territory against
invaders. Ken thought I was off the wall when I gave them all names including Gordon and Ivana.
The only turtle we saw on the island was in a batik, but members of the St. Lucia
Naturalists Society count sea turtle nests "in season."
I found out one thing in graduate school. Most geologists hate snakes. It is a very valuable thing
to have a grad student who is not afraid of snakes to remove said snakes from the area
surrounding the professor who is afraid of snakes. I also found that residents of former
Gondwanaland are more afraid of snakes than descendants of people from Laurasia. Perhaps it
is because more Southern Hemisphere snakes are venomous? Field camp in Wisconsin was a
blast. I found about 35 reptiles and amphibians and carefully noted each one in my field
notebook while taking great care that my fellow students and my professor never saw any of the
snakes. I got every species of snake in the county except rattlesnakes (which may be extirpated).
What I didn't know was that I had to hand in the notebook! I'll give the prof. credit, though. He
got a field guide and looked up all the Latin names (I can never remember the "common" names)
and when he returned the book to me, there was a "post-it" that read "I am very glad I did not see
all these snakes. Do you have pictures?"
My major professor was terribly afraid of snakes and he had a really naughty habit of playing
practical jokes on students. So, for his birthday, I gave him a present. It was a critter cage, with
newspaper, a water dish, a hide box, a branch and a rubber snake just peeking out of the
hidebox. As soon as he pulled the paper off, he blanched! He went "Oh, oh, oh. There's a snake
in there. What shall we do? I cannot keep this!" It was a full two minutes before he noticed that
the snake didn't move much and a long time before he would even touch it! We thought it was
hilarious. He was unamused. We never saw the rubber snake again.
He and I went to New Orleans and I presented my graduate work to the Geological Society of
America annual meeting. There were lots of herps in New Orleans. They sell freeze-dried
"voodoo rattlesnakes" and preserved baby gator heads as well as gator skulls and skeletons.
Worse was the ubiquitous shrimp that every chef in the city insisted on stuffing into every meal.
My vegetarian herpetological friends Dez and David Crawford came to my rescue at this point -
showing me that Cajun does not have to be cruel (or too hot!) to be good.
I came home from this trip to find that the excavator for the new building next door had caused
severe damage to my house and had undercut our foundation. We spent that winter on one
heated floor - the engineers didn't want the downstairs heated for fear we'd slip off our
foundation into the hole! I gave away most of my turtles at this point because it was too cold to
hibernate them downstairs and too cold to keep them active upstairs. My last baby went to John
Archer - a C.H.S. member who also took one of my classes at the Arboretum. I hear she is
plump and happy and lives in a walk-about larger than my kitchen.
Looking back, I see that I have some very special turtles (and other herps) to thank for the
wonderful way my life has turned out, for my education, my husband, my hundreds of
correspondents and contributors, and my vocation.
March, 1998
Olympic speed slithering?
New contributor Kelli Swayne sent a calendar page from Bayer Pharmaceuticals for January 2,
1998 which reads: "The black mamba, a snake from southern Africa, has been said to move 25
to 30 miles per hour while chasing a man on horseback." She wrote, "Most of my snake books
tell me that the average snake moves at a top speed of five to six miles per hour on land. Is the
Black Mamba an exception? Also why would a snake chase a man on horseback? I know those
snakes are aggressive, but why would they chase non-prey animals that could kill them?" Well,
I'm no expert on this topic, but I think what Bayer has reprinted here is what we call an "urban
legend," except in this case it's more like a "countryside legend." How about it, readers? How
fast can a black mamba slither, with or without the man on horseback?
New turtle excluder
Science News reports that researchers have developed turtle excluder devices for crab traps in an
effort to reduce mortality of diamondback terrapins. The researchers found that, on average, one
terrapin is killed every five crab trap days, although one trap killed 49 turtles in a single day.
Diamondback terrapins used to be very common in brackish water along the Atlantic coast of
North America, but were decimated by overcollecting for the restaurant trade around the turn of
the century. Researchers in this study found that 15 to 78 percent of local turtle populations can
be killed in a single year by shallow water crabbing operations. [Volume 152, November 1,
1997 from Karen Furnweger]
Tick tick tick
Veterinarians are finding large African ticks on imported reptiles and warn that tick-borne
diseases may spread to Florida livestock and wildlife. The African ticks grow up to about the
size of a 5-cent piece and carry heartwater, a disease which can spread to deer and cattle - but
not to humans. One imported tortoise taken to a vet was found to have 50 ticks tucked under its
shell. If you have imported reptiles, please check them carefully for ticks or take them to your
vet for a check up, advises the United States Department of Agriculture. [Orlando Sentinel,
November 10, 1997 from Bill Burnett]
When the weather acts like a child
Humans are not the only species affected by El Nino, the odd weather system caused by
warming of the Southern Pacific Ocean by underwater volcanos. Turtles in the Mazunte,
Mexico center for sea turtle studies had the roof of their center blown off by hurricanes Pauline
and Rick which whipped the coast of Mexico in November. Hurricane Pauline tore up the
Escobilla nesting beach on October 8 and destroyed up to six million sea turtle eggs. Turtles
returned to the beach immediately after the storm and laid more eggs. Volunteers estimate that
another 100,000 turtles laid eggs after the beach was storm damaged. A local biologist said that
they don't believe the storm damage will cause a long-term problem for the nesting beach or
turtle populations. [November 13, 1997: Orlando Sentinel from Bill Burnett; UNM New Mexico
Daily Lobo from J.N. Stuart]
Do unto others...
A Bay Lake, Florida man claims he wasn't poaching alligators last June 12, merely making the
lake safe for his stepsons who wanted to go frog-gigging. The Circuit Court judge was
unamused and the man was sentenced to a year of probation, fined $500 and ordered to pay $800
in court costs. In addition, he was banned from using firearms off his property; but his guns
were returned to him. The man claims his legal fees cost him $4,500. The charges arose from
the discovery of a dead 6-foot alligator in a 20-gallon garbage can in the man's pickup truck by an
officer with the Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission. [Daily Commercial,
Leesburg, Florida, October 22, 1997 from Bill Burnett]
Get involved if it involves you
The "Proposed Rule for the Humane and Healthful Transport of Live Reptiles and
Amphibians" has been put forward by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Contributor Joseph Jannsen writes: "Everybody agrees there is a need to regulate the transport of
herps into this country. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's job is to protect reptiles and
amphibians being imported into the U.S., not draft regulations to make it easier to do so.
However, with the input of parties on both sides of this issue, perhaps the Service can insure the
herp you buy at your local pet shop reached there healthy and humanely, while allowing herp
importers to continue to do business." January 28, 1998.
The Indiana Department of Natural Resources goes to all the local reptile shows and
conservation officers set up a public information booth to educate consumers and keep an eye on
dealers. One officer has been part of the scene since the early 1980s when he says that there
were only three professional dealers in the whole state. In 1995, there were more than 250 -
business is booming. An emergency rule enacted on December 3 prohibits the sale and
transportation for sale of dangerous reptiles and amphibians, and other reptiles and amphibians
native to Indiana. This rule expires November 30, 1998 and the state is taking comments at this
time. [The Times, Porter County, Indiana December 28, 1997 from Jack Schoenfelder]
Life in reptile land
- "Scientists hope the bog turtle's designation [as a threatened species] will help stem a decline
in the reptile's numbers, a reduction blamed primarily on an illegal pet trade. Only a few
thousand of the species remain." [Chicago Tribune, November 5, 1997 from Ray Boldt]
- A video, titled "The Reptile Dude" by Scott Davis includes his original reptile songs and is
supposed to be available through Blockbuster or at Tachell Films. [Los Angeles
Daily News, August 7, 1997 from E.A. Zorn]
- Houma Courier, January 2, 1998: "Alligator wrestler vows return." A 27-year old Florida man
plans to return to his job after a 10-foot, 350-pound alligator "clamped down on [his] head and
wouldn't let go for about two minutes." [from Ernie Liner]
- An applicant for a job "arrived with a snake around her neck. Said she took her pet
everywhere." [Managers Intelligence Report, January 1998 from Jack Schoenfelder]
- A man in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia who raises tortoises on a farm awoke recently and saw a car
and a van parked near his ponds. Four suspects escaped, although police did catch one apparent
thief loitering near a van full of piles of tortoises and terrapins, according to Sheikh Mustafa
Sheik Ahmad, the police chief for the district. [The Courier, Houma, Louisiana, December 27,
1997 from Ernie Liner]
One tale from two newspapers
"Incredibly lucky" was the comment of officials at the Long Island Reptile Museum about the
recovery of their colleague after being bitten by a West African gaboon viper. He was rushed by
helicopter to the regional center for snakebite treatment at the Bronx's Jacobi Medical Center;
antivenin was provided by the Bronx Zoo. Within an hour, the man had been treated with
antivenin and was also receiving oxygen, antibiotics and tetanus shots. It is also believed that the
snake did not inject a full load of venom. "Minor surgery" was performed to reduce swelling in
the forearm, but the actual bite site on the hand was still intact. The manager of the museum
was asked why the snake had struck its keeper and replied, "It's hard to figure what went through
the mind of this reptile, which has a brain the size of a grain of rice. We'll never know, of
course, but maybe it felt some sense of danger. It certainly wasn't hungry." The last person in the
U.S. who nearly died from a gaboon viper bite was a 16-year-old boy who stole two gaboons
from the National Zoo in 1983. [Newsday, December 30, 1997 from Joseph Jannsen] The New
York Times, December 29, 1997 wrote: "The establishment refers to itself as a museum, but
visitors and neighbors called it a commercial showplace that attracted tourists, people wanting to
buy pets and parents wanting an exotic venue for children's parties." [from Mike Dloogatch]
While on the other side of the mountains...
"A 38-year-old man passed away in Jenkins Township, Pennsylvania, in November, a couple of
hours after going to the home of a friend to see his snakes. According to the friend, the man had
playfully reached into a cobra's tank, picked up the snake, and was bitten. Refusing a ride to the
hospital, the man said `I'm a man, I can handle it,' and instead went to a bar, where he had three
drinks and bragged to patrons that he had just been bitten by a cobra. An hour later he was
dead." Chuck Shepherd. [News of the Weird, Reader, January 9, 1998 from Ray Boldt]
A tale of two states
"A boa constrictor and a python are believed loose around Makawao [Maui]" reports the
Honolulu Star Bulletin. The daily searches began when shed skins were found at a ranch. It has
been said time and again that an isolated island ecology like Hawaii's is very fragile and alien
escapes usually lead to ecological damage if not outright catastrophe, so the hunts continue even
though some have suggested the skins might have been only a prank. "Hawaii, as a virtual snake-
free state, is vulnerable to these kinds of alien species. I want to remind all our residents to be
vigilant," said the snake expert for the state Department of Land and Natural Resources who
added that species at risk include the nene and other ground-dwelling native birds that have no
defenses against snakes. Boa constrictors are native to South America and Burmese Pythons
belong in India, Sri Lanka, Indochina, southern China and Indonesia. "Officials said they will
try to capture the snakes alive." [January 9, 1998 from Sean McKeown and January 11, 1998
The Maui News and the Haleakala Times January 21-February 3, 1998, from Erik Frye] These
arrived from his dad who wrote: "These articles detail what may be a humongous hoax and are,
with the insight of herpetological experience, rather humorous. After reading them, I
immediately thought about you and your monthly column. Enjoy! By the way, not only are sea
snakes native to the Hawaiian Islands; tiny "blind" worm snakes, Rhamphotyphlops bramina,
were brought to the island years ago in potted plants. They are now very commonly found
almost everywhere the soil is sufficiently moist to support a population of tiny ... invertebrates
upon which it feeds. Many people seeing these four to six-inch (parthenogenetic, all-female)
creatures exposed during digging in their gardens, mistake them for earthworms. I can well
imagine what people thought when they came across that 17-foot shed python skin! Fredric L.
Frye"
Brown Cuban Anoles (Anolis equus????) are displacing native green Florida anoles (Anolis
carolinensis). "Floridians have heard the invasion story before. Hydrilla weeds plug the rivers.
Medflies destroy the oranges. Love bugs splatter windshields. Florida is the most invaded
territory in the continental United States," writes Tyler Gray in the Orlando Sentinel, September
14, 1997. The researcher working on the native and alien anoles marks his study specimens with
numbers in Sharpie marker. Gray says, "they look almost like tiny race cars - minus the
corporate sponsors and STP decals." The marker wears off at the next shed. [contributed by Bill
Burnett]
Good news for a change
The Shedd Aquarium new master plan for Galleries I and II includes flooded Amazonian
forest, Phillipine coral reefs and presettlement Illinois wetlands. A new outdoor building under
the south terrace will house a series of large habitats and the coral reef in the center of the
Rotunda will be remodeled. If you've ever dreaded cleaning a tank, consider this: "After Labor
Day, the 90,000 gallon exhibit will be closed to repair the ravages of saltwater on its systems
since the last overhaul 12 years ago." It will reopen to the public by Thanksgiving. New video
monitors will permit everyone in the Rotunda to both see and hear the diver more clearly.
[WaterShedd, January/February/March, 1998]
"On 30 October, approximately 1,800 Ramsey Canyon leopard frogs/larvae, headstarted at the
Phoenix Zoo, were reintroduced to historic localities. Zoo staff, volunteers, and agency
biologists backpacked the frogs to suitable sites in ... southeast Arizona... less than 25 adults
[now] inhabiting an artificial pond on [The] Nature Conservancy property... survivorship of
these head-started frogs will be closely monitored by agency biologists for one year before
additional releases are scheduled." [American Zoo and Aquarium Association, January 1998
both from Karen Furnweger]
Instant replay
Lake Okeechobee, Florida: "Researchers have found young alligators along Lake Okeechobee's
northern shore have very low levels of hormones controlling reproduction, growth and resistance
to disease. `Our results raise a very large red flag,' said Louis F. Guillette Jr. of the University of
Florida. `Something is clearly causing dramatic changes in the environment for these alligators,'
he said." [The Chesterton Tribune, February 10, 1998 from Chuck Keating] Didn't somebody
find out that it was pesticides mimicking hormones already?
Outer space all over again
A four-year-old newt is making its third journey aboard the spacecraft MIR, arriving on a cargo
ship with eight other newts and 120 snails, according to the ITAR-Tass news agency. It made its
first space journey in 1995. Scientists are studying if it retain skills from previous missions and
whether it gets accustomed to space faster than its newbie companions. The Russian-American
team will film the animals to study movement in weightlessness. [Albuquerque Journal,
December 25, 1997 from J.N. Stuart]
Isn't Conservation Biology nice?
Anolis lizards transported onto previously lizard-less islands in the Bahamas in 1977 and 1981
have been found to have adapted to the vegetation of their new homes. "On those experimental
islands with shorter vegetation, the lizards had shorter limbs... The amount of morphological
change we found, given that it had only been a decade, was remarkable," said a Washington
University (St. Louis) biologist. [Popular Science, September, 1997 from Alan Rigerman]
Studies on the Panamanian golden frog reveal that not only do the frogs hear with their lungs
(as do other species from torrential streams) but use a form of sign language by waving their
forearms. Researchers played calls to their study subjects in the frogs' natural habitat and
recorded their response. They then observed the forearm waving. [National Wildlife, June/July,
1997 from Mark T. Witwer]
Tadpoles go deaf from two to four days before metamorphosis, other than that, they hear just
fine according to researchers at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. This was the
first study that measured hearing in water; previous workers had only measured hearing in air.
It's nice to know I wasn't dreaming all those years I kept my pig frog. Bought as a tadpole
after a CHS show in 1987, Taddie became a frog I thought was a bullfrog until my husband
pointed out the toe webs and proclaimed it a pig frog. This might explain why the poor animal
was so shy that it spent all its fully grown time hiding by remaining motionless adjacent to cover
in the aquarium. I used to sit with my back to the tank and do homework for school, or write
this column. Every so often I'd hear a kind of a "groink" but it was not the same as the call,
being very low pitched and hard to hear. Sometimes it was a sharp call about one third as long.
But try as I could I never got to see Piggy making the noise until he was very old in 1995. What
I thought I was seeing was the noise being made by his just clicking the typanum, but I was
never close enough to be sure. Now a researcher at the University of California has found that
the loud "jug-o-rum" call of the mature Bullfrog comes mostly through the ears. He
demonstrates this by covering the ears with his fingers during the croak. The cry then becomes
muffled and quieter. During the study he made little frog earmuffs out of bits of foam and a
spring. Ever since other workers tried to prove that most of the sound of a frog cry comes
through its vocal sac by placing the frog in helium (and it didn't work), scientists have been
trying to find where the volume for the cry originates. [Science News, Volume 153, January 3,
1998 from Mark T. Witwer] Perhaps somebody will see the second call of the Pig Frog,
vibrating their ears at each other in the canebreak someday.
Thanks to everybody who contributed the articles above and to Ray Boldt, E.A. Zorn, Mark T.
Witwer, Claus Sutor, Garrett Kazmierski, J.N. Stuart for stuff they sent that I heartily enjoyed
but which my poor, tired fingers and tweaky tendons are tired of typing. You can contribute,
too. Send clippings with date slug/publication and your name firmly attached to each piece
(address labels rule!) to me. O.k.,
so I'm a dinosaur, but letters only to my email.
April 1998
Spring Snake Stories
An unidentified resident of South Dade, Florida was bitten by a black mamba and taken to the
emergency room by ambulance. Bill and Nancy Haast were contacted by the poison control
center, but had no black mamba antivenin. They called a private collector who quickly sent nine
vials of antivenin. Haast said, "I heard that the man did not receive a very serious bite, that
perhaps it was only one fang." [The Miami Herald, March 14, 1998 from Alan Rigerman] The
average cost of medical treatment for a venomous snake bite is $11,000.
Researchers videotaped rattlesnakes striking and found that the snakes' struck perfectly on
target in 20 of 21 attempts. In addition to heat sensing, it appears that the snakes use touch.
Slow motion analysis of the tapes showed that the rattlesnakes modified the position of their
fangs after first touching the prey item. [Science News, March 14, 1998 from Mark Witwer]
Little Rock, Arkansas fire fighters used a metal bar to pry open the mouth of an 8-foot-long
Burmese python which tried to swallow his owner's hand in a feeding accident. The 23-year old
man told police he was getting ready to feed the snake a rabbit, but put the rabbit down to move
the snake when he was struck. The python then coiled around his arm and began to squeeze.
{Finally enlightenment among the authorities! E} The fire fighters put the snake back in its cage
and it ate the rabbit. [Little Rock Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, January 1, 1998 from Bill
Burnett]
China Daily reports: "In a cave near a village named Recaoka (Kangba Plateau in Sichuan
Province), snakes are frequently seen crawling out from the cracks in the cave. Some of them
even slide into the spring to swim with the local people. It is said that these snakes will no hurt
good people, attacking only those who are evil." [February 28, 1998 from P.L. Beltz]
"... A male golden retriever recently killed a ball python in the area of the backyard where 2
1/2 year old [child] of Medford, New York plays. At first Sundance tried to get [the family's]
attention by barking through the window, but they ignored him... [they] later found the dead
python in the yard and realized that Sundance had been trying to warn them of the snake."
[Suffolk Life Newspapers, February 11, 1998] Contributor Joe Jannsen writes: "Practically in my
own backyard! Although the evidence of Sundance the Savior seems pretty circumstantial."
Where the laws come from...
Their teenage owners reportedly got "a thrill" taking exotic pet snakes and iguanas out in public.
Fed up with complains from people in malls, schools, churches and even the town hall, the San
Juan (Manilla), Philippines town council unanimously passed a law banning residents from
taking exotic animals out in public. They stopped short of an outright ban because some of the
councilors have exotic pets at home. [South China Morning Post, November 28, 1997 from P.L.
Beltz]
Easter "Ribbets" 1998
- Frog calls http://www.oit.itd.umich.edu:80/bio108/Chordata/Lissamphibia/frog_calls.html
[Popular Science, December 1997 from Mark Witwer]
- FROGLOG, the newsletter of the Declining Amphibian Populations Task Force http://acs-
info.open.ac.uk/info/newsletters/FROGLOG.html. Incidentally, DAPTF car or window stickers
($2 US) and sew-on patches ($5 US) postpaid. Order from: John W. Wilkinson, Department of
Biology, The Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA, United Kingdom.
- Abstracts of the Declining Amphibian/Deformed Amphibian conference March 20 and 21,
1998 at the Milwaukee Public Museum http://www.mpm.edu/collect/vertzo/herp/daptf/Midwest.html.
- North American Amphibian Monitoring Program http://www.im.nbs.gov/amphibs.html.
- North American Reporting Center for Amphibian Malformations
http://www.npsc.nbs.gov/narcam. [National Wildlife, February/March,
1998 from Mark Witwer]
- New terrestrial salamander monitoring program site http://www.im.nbs.gov/sally/.
- Deformed amphibian conference proceedings http://www.im.nbs.gov/naamp3/naamp3.html.
- Interactive Frog Dissection Site http://teach.virginia.edu/go/frog/menu.html
- Researchers analyzing new county records for North American amphibians noted that some
species are moving northward in response to gradually warming temperatures. [FROGLOG,
January 1998 from John Wilkinson]
- Wood frogs were reintroduced into Cunningham Park, Queens, New York City, NY. They are
part of the "Project X" experiment, an attempt to restore plants and animals once native to New
York which have disappeared. Most of the translocations have been plants, but box turtles were
moved into Staten Island's High Rock Park, but they aren't breeding. Over a thousand eggs of
the Fowler's toad were released in Canarsie Park, but no one has seen a toad yet. [The Miami
Herald, January 4, 1998 from Alan Rigerman]
- "In September in Cormierville, New Brunswick, [a man] peeled an orange and an inch-long,
orange Pacific tree frog leaped out. A local zoo official said the frog must have entered the
orange through a tiny hole and then survived on the juices." [Chicago Reader, January 16, 1998
from Ray Boldt]
- Thinning ozone is blamed for the death of embryos of high altitude long-toed salamanders in
mountain lakes in the Cascades in Oregon. Eggs shielded from UV developed normally [The
New Orleans Times-Picayune, December 9, 1997 from Ernie Liner]
- A tourist to Isla de Ometepe, Nicaragua, reported seeing numerous dead frogs lying on the
shore of a crater lake. There are two volcanoes associated with the site. [FROGLOG,
November, 1997 from John Wilkinson]
- A Field Guide to Australian Frogs, by John Barker, Gordon Grigg and Michael Tyler has
"been designed for use by both amateur and professional naturalist, and by students at all
levels... an asset on any naturalist's bookshelf," according to Surrey Beatty and Sons, Australian
natural history publishers.
- Mountain yellow-legged frogs have had a rapid decline since the 1970s when they were
relatively abundant in the Sierra Nevada mountains in California. Researchers have found that
state sponsored trout-stocking programs may be responsible for in ponds with fish there are no
frogs and the reverse. A California Department of Fish and Game fish biologist said that he
plans to use this new data to "modify the agency's fish stocking program in the region,"
according to National Wildlife. [February-March, 1998 from Ray Boldt]
- A series of deformed frogs from a lake in Minnesota examined by researchers from the
University of California-Irving have a particular series of extra legs and other characters. The
deformities are consistent with those seen in other vertebrates deliberately exposed to retinoic
acid in experiments during development. Retinoids are vitamin A compounds. Excess amounts
of retinoic acid have been shown to produce birth defects in humans. The work was presented at
The DAPTF/Declining Amphibian conference in Milwaukee. [Chicago Tribune, March 17,
1998 from Claus Sutor]
- The Frogeye Car Company will begin production on a new series of the Frogeye Supersprite.
The new Frogeyes will comply with emission requirements, but otherwise look like the popular
sportscars, made between 1958 and 1961. The company has made 25 cars so far, all for export
to Japan, where they sell for 25,000 pounds. [Financial Times, July 27, 1997 from P.L. Beltz]
- The Financial Times reports: "... Compassion in World Farming staged a graphic
demonstration in London's Trafalgar Square against the growing trade in frogs' legs. The
organization said the 16 tons of legs sold in Britain each year would require the slaughter of 1
million frogs. Its action mirrored a similar protest in Paris by Protection Mondiale de l'Animal
de Ferme." There's times I wish we could reproduce photos and this one is the best so far. The
picture shows three guys in wet suits, masks and flippers (all brightly colored) with protest signs
that read, "Say `Non' to Frogs' Legs ... CIWF." The photo catches the men in motion. One is
crouched like a frog, the other two are in the process of hopping up and down! [Financial
Times, December 10, 1997 from P.L. Beltz]
Volunteers needed
Do you like frogs? Like to drive around slowly on back roads at night with the windows down?
If so, Chris Phillips of the Illinois Natural History Survey wants you for frog surveying! Contact
him at 607 E. Peabody Drive, Champaign, IL 61820.
Landscaping ideas
A columnist with the Chester County Living insert in the Daily Local News described how he
puts out boards and metal in his yard to see the amphibians and reptiles which live in his
subdivision. Scott Shalaway wrote "Backyard habitat improvements to encourage snakes, toads
and salamanders are probably not for everyone, but if you're so inclined, you now know what to
do with those scraps of plywood and sheet metal cluttering the garage." Incidentally, his wife
thinks he's wierd.
Thanks to the contributors!
Michael W. Klemens, Director of the Turtle Recovery Program of the Wildlife Conservation
Society, Bronx, NY sent a copy of their newest Turtle Recovery Program. They've had some
successes and some setbacks, but the part I really enjoyed was reading the names of the 1997
donors. It's a real who's who of turtles and you can help, too. Write TRP-WCS, 2300 Southern
Boulevard, Bronx, NY 10460-1099; http://www.wcs.org.
News of the truly weird
Researchers installed temperature-sensing radio-tracking devices in gila monsters and have
learned a lot a more than they expected. Some of the surprises include the distance the animals
move, the number of shelters they occupy, that each fork of the tongue gets independent scent
reception used for navigation and that the gila's venom is for defense against coyotes, hawks, and
owls and is not injected into food items. Gila monsters have an unusually low metabolic rate,
but oxygen consumption can zoom to produce highly active aerobic mating behavior. "The
scientists retrofitted a motorized treadmill with a cardboard enclosure designed to measure the
creatures' oxygen intake," reports National Wildlife. [February-March, 1998 from Ray Boldt]
Science News ran a feature on tuatara, the only members of the order Sphenodontida to
survive whatever killed all their immediate relatives and the dinosaurs. Tuatara have been
protected since 1895 in New Zealand where they had gone extinct on the mainland in the middle
of that century. In this century it has been learned that the animals mature after 15 years, mate
cloaca to cloaca like birds, then the female takes about 8 months to shell the dozen or so eggs.
Incubation takes another 12 to 15 months. Tuatara moms need four years to recharge from a
mating, but all the adults may live to one hundred years old or more on this slow and poky
lifestyle. Tuatara have been reintroduced to islands where they had been driven to extinction by
introduced rats. They are hard to find, being totally nocturnal, the growth in refound individuals
shows that they are thriving. [November 8, 1997 from Mark Witwer]
Save the Salamanders, Round II
Two scientists claim that pool-maintenance procedures at the Barton Springs attraction are
killing endangered salamanders in violation of federal law. They filed formal notices of intent
to sue the City of Austin and the Federal Interior Department under the Endangered Species act.
The videotape they released showed a salamander perched on a rocky section of the pool,
isolated by falling waters during "routine" pool maintenance. More than two dozen salamanders
died last year when a spring adjacent to the pool dried up while water levels were lowered in the
swimming area for cleaning. Since the city has only filed for an incidental take permit, and not
obtained it, the scientists claim that the city is in violation of the Endangered Species Act.
However, a lawyer for the Save Our Springs Alliance said that the worst threat to the species is
development in the 354-square-mile watershed of Barton Springs. [Austin American-Statesman,
January 21, 1998 from William B. Montgomery]
And the toads, too
The Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club and the Southwest Center for Biodiversity gave Texas
Parks and Wildlife, the National Park Service and the Secretary of the Interior notice of intent to
sue under the Endangered Species Act on behalf of the Houston Toad. Apparently federal funds
are being used to build nine more holes on a golf course in Houston Toad habitat. The
settlement reached to expand the golf course included acquisition of mitigation habitat by
August, 1997 and that has not yet occurred. [Elgin Courier, Texas, February 4, 1998 from
William B. Montgomery]
Home sweet home
"My cat was not sad to see `Snappy' [a much too large pet snapper] go back to the exact place
where he hatched on the Fox River. She had lost part of an ear a few years ago when she got too
curious and tried to investigate his tank. My dogs were smarter; when I let him walk the kitchen
floor for exercise, they followed him as a group (safety in numbers?) from a respectable distance
of three feet. Perhaps the cat told them something? I'm sure Snappy is buried deep in the mud
now waiting for the first warm days of Spring to emerge and terrorize his immediate
neighborhood! Margo Milde"
Do unto shippers?
The Caymanian Compass reports "Willemstad, Curacao - Hundreds of tropical lizards suffocated
in cardboard boxes without ventilation on a flight from the Caribbean Dutch island of Bonaire to
Amsterdam, KLM Dutch airlines said... the airline... halted shipments of unaccompanied
animals from Bonaire while it investigates... Eight hundred lizards arrived dead at Amsterdam's
Schipol Airport ... after a nine-hour flight... It was not the first time the lizards... had been
exported ... to Amsterdam, but it was the largest shipment yet... [A] local government official...
said the reptiles were not protected and no export license was required." [February 13, 1998
from L.W. Reed]
Herp Watchers Wanted
Earthwatch Institute has the following opportunities for herpetological volunteers who also pay a
share of expedition costs and transport: (1) Radio track and census Mohave desert tortoises in
Joshua Tree National Park in southern California; (2) Monitor nesting and success of
Leatherback Turtles in the Virgin Islands; (3) Study population dynamics of bug-eating lizards of
Baja Island in the Gulf of California; and/or (4) Monitor loggerhead turtles in Baja, California.
For more information, visit their website http://www.earthwatch.org.
Mikey does not like it
"[The] Argentine ant is forcing a dramatic change in the diet of the horned lizard, once common
but now declining in Southern California... researchers studied lizards both in the lab and in the
field. They offered caged lizards a choice of native or Argentine ants... [which] are either
unappetizing or too small to be worth much effort... horned lizards always prefer native ants over
exotic ants..." Horned lizards switch to beetles if Argentine ants displace native ants. [Science
News, August 23, 1997 from Mark Witwer]
Thanks to everyone who contributed this month and to R.G. Schmitt, Frederic Frye, Ray
Boldt, Dreux Watermoelen, Bill Burnett, Karen Furnweger, Jack Schoenfelder, Mark Witwer,
Joseph Jannsen, Garret Kazmierski, and Ardis Allen for repeats and other stuff. You can
contribute, too. Take whole sheets of newspapers/magazines with herp stories, or cut out the
clippings being sure to attach the date/publication slug and your name to each page. Fold a
minimum number of times and please, no staples! Send to: Ellin Beltz, 1647 N. Clybourn
Avenue, Chicago, IL 60614-5507. If you've been sitting on stuff, this would be a good time to
send it in as the file folder is extremely skinny right now!
May 1998
Long-term data on frog populations
Researchers in Switzerland have released data from their quarter century-long studies of the
common grass frog (Rana temporaria) in three areas of farmland outside of the town of Bern.
Two of the three populations showed a pattern of several years of decline, followed by rebound.
That the third population continued to decline was blamed on invading goldfish eating tadpoles.
[Science News, April 4, 1998 from Mark Witwer]
Up close and personal with the Wyoming Toad
The four-year-old Wyoming Toad breeding program uses several techniques in an effort to
simulate in-the-wild breeding conditions for the endangered toads. While the aquariums are
flooded with water from Mortensen Lake (their last known breeding pond), and stereos play toad
calls, males and females do what researchers keep hoping they'd do - lay eggs. Wyoming toads
are actually relatively easy to keep and breed in captivity say researchers. Despite intense
efforts, no one knows why the toads, once common around Laramie, Wyoming, have become so
rare. The last two dozen were taken from the wild in 1994 and put into the captive breeding
program. Only six pairs of toads bred, but then had about 10,00 tadpoles. The tadpoles began to
die and only a couple of hundred were saved. Water analysis showed high copper levels in the
local water, so water from the lake was trucked in. By 1995, one-year-old toads were breeding
at the center and successful breeding occurred in Zoos in Toledo, Cincinnati and Omaha. More
than 3,500 tadpoles and toadlets were released into children's wading pools covered by fiberglass
screen, but not restrained. The baby toads made their own way into Mortensen Lake, Lake
George and Rush Lake. They were later found at all three lakes. Three age-classes were found
last year at Mortensen Lake so this may be the first year that Wyoming toads will again breed in
the wild. "We're violating the first law of reintroduction - you're supposed to solve the problem
of what drove them to near extinction. And we don't know... The species isn't by any means
secure," said a biologist involved in the program. [Wyoming Wildlife, March, 1998 from Mark
Witwer]
Unclear on the concept at the [Jesse] helm?
U.S. Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt signed a novel conservation agreement between federal,
state and Native American governments in an effort to avoid legal battles over endangered
wildlife. Later, he was taken on a tour of a manmade marsh which is intended to provide habitat
for frogs. None were found as they were all still hibernating, with usual emergence around tax
time. The Raleigh, NC News and Observer reports, "... a staffer gave Babbitt a plastic frog after
he had jokingly wondered why the wildlife agency hadn't planted a few live ones for his trip."
[April 3, 1998 from Wes and Kim von Papineäu]
Silent spring, 1998
Alligators in lakes in Florida are showing some curious mortality and non-hatching egg
patterns. Most affected are gators in lakes which are surrounded by agricultural, urban or
commercial users. Least affected are gators in lakes in wildlife refuges, parks and other
preserves. It could be a bloom of blue-green algae, or pesticides, or sewage or any of a dozen
other nasties like no food, nutrient excess or something completely different. We don't know.
But all the researchers agree that the problem requires immediate attention. Gators and people
have a lot in common - we're both at the top of our food chains. [News Press, April 1, 1998
from Ardis Allen]
For the first time in a four year project at McHenry County Conservation District, all the eggs
taken from female Blanding's turtles failed to develop. Researcher Sue Hayden said, "This was a
bad year, all the eggs were infertile." She continues to pit tag and enlist the aid of the Shedd
Aquarium's turtle staff to help headstart baby Blandings from previous years. Several adult
turtles are radio-tagged and all collected by district staff are pit tagged for positive identification
purposes. [WaterShedd, 19(1), 1998 from Karen Furnweger]
The Indiana Department of Natural Resources reports that deformed amphibians have been
found four counties. The deformities included misshaped legs, missing eyes, missing limbs and
split forelimbs. Katie Smith, of the Division of Fish and Wildlife said, "There are always a small
percentage of deformed amphibians in a population. I'm hesitant as a scientist to make anything
of this." She later states that the IN-DNR cannot do a population survey of frogs to help put the
deformity data in a statistically significant framework as there are only three biologists in the
field for the agency and none is an expert on reptiles and amphibians. [The Chesterton Tribune,
March 27, 1998 from Jack Schoenfelder] Does anybody have data on the small percentage of
amphibians that are "always deformed" or is the lady just outside her field of expertise here?
High water on a part of U.S. 441 over Paynes Prairie near Gainesville, Florida has resulted in a
killing field for alligators, snakes, turtles, frogs and birds. The state Department of
Transportation has been patrolling to keep the floating orange barrel lane markers in place and
have pushed wayward animals back into the flooded prairie. The agency now wants to put 3-
foot high barriers parallel to 441 across the prairie. [Gainesville Sun, April 2, 1998 from
Kenneth C. Dodd, Jr.]
About two dozen mutilated sea turtles have washed up on Texas beaches this spring, but two
Kemp's Ridley turtles have nested on South Padre Island. [The New York Times, April 27, 1998]
Meanwhile, National Marine Fisheries is not only requiring Turtle Excluder Devices on all
shrimp trawls, now they require a finfish excluder to be mounted in the nets as well. [Water
Shedd, 19(2), 1998 from Karen Furnweger] And the World Trade Organization used some
twisted logic to overturn the U.S. policy that rejected imports of shrimp from countries which do
not require the use of Turtle Excluder Devices. [Financial Times, April 7, 1998 from P.L. Beltz]
News of the truly weird
Contributor Bill Burnett sent one of those round-up articles of the oddest stories of 1997. He
circled "The Clouseau Award for Alertness by a Customs Officer: In Lima, a man was arrested
for trying to smuggle 35 animals out of Peru in his suitcase. The contents of the bag included 17
monkeys, two boa constrictors and five crocodiles." On the opposite page was an hysterically
funny photo of the crash of the Sinclair dinosaur balloon. When it came to rest on a house in
Tulsa, Oklahoma, it looked as though it was eating the garage, while laying on the house!
[Arkansas Democrat - Gazette, January 4, 1998] If only life truly imitated art.
Nice guys don't eat
China Daily reports: "HAIKOU - Fisherman Wang Mutang is happy that he was able to return a
100-year-old sea turtle to the sea, even though some of his friends are sorry that he turned down
a chance to make money. Wang captured the turtle - 1.9 meters long, 1.1. meters wide and
weighing more than 250 kilograms on March 9 while deep sea fishing. Some buyers had
contacted him with an offer as high as 4,000 yuan ($481.92 U.S.). However, upon learning that
the turtle is a rare species under second-grade State protection that rarely survives life in
captivity, Wang immediately decided to set it free." [March 27, 1998 from P.L. Beltz]
Imports ok, native commercialism not ok
A California Fish and Game Commission voted four to nothing not to ban importation of live
bullfrogs and turtles used for food and medicinal purposes by members of California's Asian
community. Some of the arguments against importation was that some of the non-native
animals were being released in Buddhist ceremonies and that introduced reptiles and amphibians
could carry disease or outcompete local animals. Curiously, the bullfrogs are mostly imported
from Taiwan and China. The turtles - spiny softshells and red-eared sliders - come from Texas,
Arkansas and Florida. A spokesperson for the Fund for Animals said, "You can't catch hundreds
of thousands of them and keep up with demand." [April 2, 1998: Contra Costa Times and The
Los Angeles Times, from Wes and Kim von Papineäu]
The owner of a Zoological supply house in Warren, Michigan said that the proposed new U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service regulations on humane shipping of amphibians and reptiles would
"hurt the livelihoods of pet store owners as well as the people who catch exotic animals... [he]
picked up a chameleon, tortoise and a Sumatran python at Detroit Metropolitan Airport... [and]
said restrictions on the trade of birds is already hurting the pet business," according to The
Herald-Palladium. Teresa Telecky of the Humane Society of the U.S. said, "They're depleting
their own resources anyway. Eventually there will be no more of these animals for them to
catch... they're paid only pennies... it would be smarter to promote ecotourism. Many travelers
are enjoying trips around the world to see wildlife, even reptiles." [April 12, 1998 from Claus
Sutor]
My gator is purple, your gator is green
After coming face to face with an alligator, a New Bedford, Massachusetts detective said,
"[Criminals] have graduated from pit bulls to alligators," and added that law enforcement
officials are increasingly finding big reptiles during busts of suspected drug houses. A public
health veterinarian pointed out "you can't train a caiman to attack," and added, "I'd rather face
one than a Rottweiler." [Fox News Network, March 18, 1998 from Wes and Kim von Papineäu]
Nearer my golf to thee
Don't lick your balls, warns the medical establishment. Seems golfers are getting a dangerous
chemical-induced liver condition in disproportionally high numbers because they lick their golf
balls, thus ingesting fertilizers and pesticides used in abundance on the courses. [Self Magazine,
May 1998 from I. Canreadtoo]
As if that was not enough, The Tribune from Tempe, Arizona warns "if playing golf on a
desert course, don't reach for a ball that has landed in bushes or scrub. Snakes [especially
rattlers] often seek shelter there. Instead, use a golf club or ball retriever to get the ball out."
[April 2, 1998 from Tom Taylor]
Not just snake oil anymore
An ad for Lawson Software company shows a
coiled rattlesnake, a rattlesnake head with the fangs and tongue out and reads, "It charms it prey,
strikes quickly and disappears. It's your typical business software company." The snake is
identified as "Smoothus Talkus Reptilius." [from P.L. Beltz]
Range extension
An alligator was rescued by a fisherman from the Great Miami River near Middletown. After
occupying his family's bathroom for four days, it was taken for relocation by a member of the
local Herpetological Society. The rescuer's wife said, "I'm glad it's gone. [He] did the right thing
by not leaving it down there, but I'm happy it's out of my house." [Telegraph-Forum, Bucyrus,
Ohio, December 21, 1997 from Bill Burnett]
Oregon Herpetological Society rises again
"Herpetoculture and herpetology are under attack in the United States. Hobbyists are going to
prison, and spending massive amounts of time and money in court battles while super-collectors
suck our ponds and lakes dry of turtles for the Asian food market. Raids on hobbyists look like
assaults on crack houses. Inane state laws are being utilized to entrap hobbyists into committing
federal offenses. The battles are being fought in the press... Shipping regulations are being
proposed that will literally shut this hobby down... We can't wait around for PIJAC (Pet Industry
Joint Advisory Council) to do something. They don't even have a web page." Unfortunately, the
article in the latest Oregon Herpetological Society Newsletter (March 1998) forgot to put the
web address, but you can contact OHS at P.O. Box 1518, Eugene, Or 97440-1518 or by e-mail
webmaster@kingsnake.com for more information and the site address.
Much better than LD-50, guys...
The Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles has put out a brochure on "Conserving
Amphibians and Reptiles." It suggests that "research must focus on causes and solutions, and
conservation programs need to be on guard against `half-way' technologies that provide a false
sense of accomplishments." You can visit their website
http://falcon.cc.ukans.edu/~gpisani/conservation.html. The debate on amateurs versus
professionals has also apparently been rethought by this kinder, gentler bunch of herpetological
researchers. The only citation provided in the brochure is for CHS member John Levell's
excellent Field Guide to Reptiles and the Law. [Brochure from Ken Dodd]
Signs of our times
Rather than the freeze-dried rattlesnake souvenirs first suggested when the Arizona
Diamondbacks franchise baseball team was founded, the newest promotional tie in is a bottled
beverage called the "Rattle Shake." It will be available at the ball park and convenience stores.
[The Tempe, Arizona Tribune, March 30, 1998 from Tom Taylor]
Ann Landers is now running positive snake stories which is quite a switch from a few years
ago. Perhaps all the cards and letters helped change her mind. On the other hand, material
published lately is likely to contribute to "snakes on the loose" media coverage in future. One of
the suggestions she published read: "Snakes make great pets because you don't have to exercise
them. If you live in an apartment, you can let them loose, and they will wriggle around on their
own and enjoy themselves." Another read: "Snakes are cool. Anybody can have a cat or a dog,
but having a snake makes you a celebrity. All the kids at school want to come to your house and
look at it. I got an albino Burmese python from a kid at school whose mom wouldn't let him
keep it..." [March 16, 1998: The Chicago Tribune and The Halifax Daily News from Ray Boldt
and K and W Herp Haven respectively]
"Dear Santa: I want a snake!! I want a turtle! I want a big pair of socks. I want a clueless
telephone. C.F., age 7" [The Herald-Times, December 11, 1997 from E.A. Zorn]
Iguanas are the latest "in" pet in Hollywood. Thousands were given as living Christmas gifts
and there is a Winged Iguana shop in Burbank where many of the glitterati come and go for stuff
for their pets. One actor even hired a cook for his iguana on the movie set - saying that iguanas
take so much time and he wanted to make sure his was well kept. [Chicago Tribune, December
16, 1997 from Claus Sutor]
One summer = 150 feet
"I have two three-toed box turtles (Terrepene carolina triungis). Last year, I built a new outdoor
enclosure, and on the first day of spring, September 21st, I put most of my collection, including
my box turtles in the new pen. At the end of that day, I took stock, and found one box turtle was
missing. I frantically searched... eventually I gave up and gradually resigned myself to the loss,
though, all through the summer, I peeked under the odd shrub, just in case... In April, my other
box turtle went into hibernation. I should mention that, here in the central North Island, we get
heavy frosts, minus 8C sometimes. Eight months later and in mid winter (July), my wife and I
went away for a couple of weeks. On our arrival home, our daughter proudly announced that the
missing box turtle had been found... Some cattle... were just outside [our] fence. They came to a
patch where the neighbor tipped grass cuttings and garden waste, munched up anything edible
and must have disturbed one hibernating box turtle. Somehow, the turtle ended up in a pile of
cow dung. [Our daughter] was walking the dog when she noticed a movement, and immediately
recognized the culprit! The turtle had managed to walk about 50 meters during the entire
summer!... [it] has been renamed `Pat'." [Nick Webb in Moko, the newsletter of the New
Zealand Herpetological Society, Spring (our Fall), 1997 website]
Thanks to this months' contributors and to Ernie Liner, Karen Furnweger, Bill Burnett, Tom
Taylor, Mark Witwer, Martin Felix, and Brian Bankowski for stuff I enjoyed reading but couldn't
figure out how to summarize. You can contribute too. And I hope you will as I am down to just
three articles for next month's column. Send whole pages of newspaper, or clippings with the
date/publication slug firmly attached to me. Letters only to my Jurassic-e-mail.
June 1998
First the frogs, then the rest of us
The April 21 Washington Post reported that a Louis Harris poll of 400 scientists from the
American Institute of Biological Scientists ranked extinction of species as one of the planet's
gravest concerns. "The speed at which species are being lost is much faster than any we've seen
in the past - including those [extinctions] related to meteor collisions, said [a] University of
Tennessee ecologist. Most Americans are unaware that the rate of present-day extinction of
plants and animals is greater than during any other known extinction event in the past.
[GREENLines #610, April 21, 1998 from Roger Featherstone]
Tale of two CITES...
U.S. Department of Justice - United States Attorney, Southern District of Florida, February 3,
1998, News Release: One of the nation's largest reptile import companies, Hollywood,
Florida-based Strictly Reptiles Inc., yesterday had its export-import license revoked for five
years for smuggling more than 1,500 rare reptiles into the United States, the federal government
announced. In July 1997, the company and it's owner pled guilty to charges of conspiring to
violate the Lacey Act, a federal law that protects endangered wildlife, by purchasing Indonesian
reptiles between 1993 and 1995. Yesterday, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service revoked the
company's license in connection with the plea. --- The company's owner and President, Michael
J. Van Nostrand, is currently serving an eight month prison sentence followed by eight months
of home confinement as part of his guilty plea. Under the plea agreement, Van Nostrand also
had to pay nearly $250,000 to the World Wildlife Fund to implement a government supervised
restitutionary program to protect specific habitat in Indonesia that is home to the very creatures
that were illegally trapped and smuggled. Additionally, the agreement bars the company and its
owner from trading, selling or handling any endangered or threatened wildlife, as well as, certain
species specifically identified in the agreement for five years. ---"This case shows that those who
rob a nation of its rare and endangered wildlife out of personal greed will be brought to justice,"
said Lois Schiffer, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Justice Department's
Environment and Natural Resources Division. "Trafficking in endangered wildlife is prohibited
under U.S. law and international treaty, and will not be tolerated." --- Thomas E. Scott, United
States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, where the case was prosecuted, said "this
case represents the finest in international environmental enforcement: cooperation among
enforcement agencies to protect irreplaceable species, effective and timely punishment of the
violators of conservation laws, and a creative effort to mitigate the harm from the criminal
conduct. I commend the agents, both here and abroad, who contributed to this resounding
success." --- Van Nostrand and his company conspired to purchase Frilled Dragons and Fly
River Turtles they knew were exported in violation of Indonesian law. Van Nostrand and his
company also pled guilty to purchasing Argentinean reptiles, including Argentine Boas, Chaco
Tortoises, Rainbow Boas, Red-footed Tortoises, Tegu Lizards, and Yellow-spotted Amazon
Turtles, all of which they knew were smuggled into the country in violation of the Convention
on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), an international
treaty designed to protect wildlife from over-exploitation. --- The Indonesian chapter of the
World Wildlife Fund will be responsible for operating the restitutionary program, which will
focus on initiating, expanding, improving and maintaining wildlife projects in the Lorentz Strict
Nature Reserve located on Irian Jaya--the Indonesian portion of the Island of New Guinea. The
Lorentz reserve is home to the Frilled Dragon and the Fly River Turtle and other protected
species often imported by Strictly Reptiles. --- Because all Indonesian national parks and nature
reserves suffer from funding shortages, the restitutionary funds will be used for practical
programs such as training and certifying park guards and conservation bureau staff, providing
critical equipment, and setting up "mobile awareness teams" to work with communities near the
project sites to increase awareness about habitat protection and the illegality of poaching reptiles
and other species. A portion of the funds also will be used to help communities, which often
depend upon the income from wildlife poaching, to develop alternative means of earning money
which are consistent with conservation goals. --- The investigation was conducted with the
cooperation of authorities in the Netherlands, including the Netherlands National Police and the
District Office of the Public Prosecutor at Breda. The Netherlands National Police helped spur
the investigation by providing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service with audiotapes from
electronic surveillance of Dutch reptile dealers revealing that protected Indonesian reptiles were
being laundered through the Netherlands and shipped to Strictly Reptiles Inc., falsely labeled as
captive bred to give them the appearance of lawful imports. [From Bruce J. Weissgold, February 6, 1998 forwarded by Steve Grenard and James N.
Stuart]
More sea turtles
"A Sierra Club press release condemned a World Trade Organization [WTO] ruling against a
US ban on the sale of shrimp caught without endangered sea turtle protection. To reduce the
number of sea turtles killed while catching shrimp, the United States Endangered Species Act
[US ESA] requires shrimp sold in the US be caught using Turtle Excluder Devices [TEDs]..
[which] could save 97 percent of the 150,000 sea turtles killed in shrimp nets each year.
Malaysia, Thailand, India, and Pakistan challenged the US ESA through the WTO. `Three
unaccountable trade bureaucrats sitting behind closed doors in Geneva should not have the
power to make up rules that sabotage global environmental protection,' said Carl Pope of the
Sierra Club. `Americans will not submit to the unaccountable power of the World Trade
Organization.' [GREENLines #584, March 17, 1998 from Roger Featherstone] Newspapers covered this story from sea to sea and even overseas.
Thanks to Ernie Liner, Alan Rigerman, P.L. Beltz and Herp Haven for other copies!
A scary 523 dead sea turtles of all species washed up on Texas beaches last year. Of the total,
180 were Kemp's ridleys; 21 of these were adult. Sea turtle strandings dropped 90 percent
during the eight weeks shrimp fishing closure from May 15 to July 15. [Naples Daily News,
March 21, 1998 from Alan Rigerman]
But what happened to the animals?
"A federal judge in Miami showed leniency in sentencing a Slovenian caught smuggling... 49
Hermann's tortoises into the United States... [the] public defender... argued that the tortoises had
been bred in captivity and were not, technically, wildlife... [the man] was sentenced to two year's
probation that can be served in his home country." He could have gotten five years in jail. [The
Miami Herald, March 29, 1998 from Alan Rigerman]
Babe is blue, but salamanders smile
"Associated Press reported [that] California gubernatorial candidate Lieutenant Gov. Gray Davis
says he would ban old-growth logging. Davis told the Planning and Conservation League
Foundation he would ensure `wetlands are preserved, rivers are clean, and all old-growth trees
are spared from the lumberjack's ax.'" [GREENLines #584, March 17, 1998 from Roger
Featherstone]
The last word on the Wisconsin Conference
"About 300 people attended the two day Midwest Declining Amphibians Conference in
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA, hosted by the Milwaukee Public Museum on March 20-21, 1998.
This was a joint meeting of the Central and Great Lakes Division Working Groups, of the
Declining Amphibian Populations Task Force. The conference was organized by Gary Casper,
chair of the Great Lakes Working Group, with assistance from Christopher Phillips (chair of the
Central Division Working Group), and Michael Lannoo (US DAPTF Coordinator). There were
42 papers presented, and a panel discussion on amphibian malformities. Topics included survey
and monitoring reports, population biology and ecology, and malformity causes and statistics.
Abstracts are available through the Great Lakes Declining Amphibians web site at
http://www.mpm.edu/collect/vertzo/herp/Daptf/daptf.html. Publication of a proceedings is
being investigated. --- The new research presented by scientists investigating potential causes
of frog deformities attracted national attention, including network television. There is increasing
evidence implicating pesticides as causal agents, with retinoids or retinoid-like compounds
suspect. The evidence now suggests that of the three leading hypotheses, chemical contaminants
should now be considered the most likely (more so than either parasites or UV light). [The
conference was attended and covered by] Reporters and camera crews from NBC Nightly News
(Chicago), ABC (New York), National Public Radio (WUWM), Outdoor Wisconsin, The Green
Bay Press-Gazette, The Minneapolis Star Tribune, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinal... The
Washington Post... [and] CNN attended. --- The mix of scientists, natural resource managers,
and students attending came from as far away as Maryland, California and Guatemala.
Participating agencies included seven state DNRs, the US Environmental Protection Agency, the
Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, the Illinois Natural History Survey, the US Geological
Survey, the Salk Institute, many universities and colleges, the Nature Conservancy, the National
Wildlife Health Center, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the Pacific Northwest National
Laboratory, the Patuxtent Wildlife Research Center, the National Institute of Environmental
Health Sciences, and the Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center. Gary S. Casper, Vertebrate
Zoology Section, Milwaukee Public Museum, April 29, 1998."
Timber rattlers protected in Wisconsin
Rattlesnakes get a bum deal. Harvested, blasted out of dens, killed on sight, collected for
science and venom extractions - it's no wonder they're on the decline and need protection. The
newest state to join the ranks of the brave and protect this symbol of earliest patriotism is
Wisconsin which officially listed it as a "Protected Wild Animal" as of April 1, 1998. "This
designation... [makes] collecting, killing or possessing the rattler illegal except in situations
involving an immediate threat to people, pets or livestock." [Tomah Monitor Herald, April 13,
1998 from Tom Zaremba]
Paradise lost
From Robert W. Hansen, editor of Herpetological Review (SSAR): "For those of you planning
on flying for fun or field work this summer, watch out for those airport X-ray machines!... new
`Film-killer X-ray' security equipment being used in [some] airports ... destroys film, exposed
and otherwise... new equipment is InVision Technologies CTX-5000 baggage scanner...
$900,000 each... an InVision official acknowledged that the `rate of scanned films that are
damaged is 100 percent.' Apparently David Attenborough and crew found out this was too true.
He and a BBC film crew spent five weeks in New Guinea filming on location and passed
through the Manchester airport and lost everything... three options (1) insist on having your film
hand inspected, (2) buy your film with you get there... (3) [find a shipper] who will guarantee no
x-raying... These new x-ray machines are programmed to respond to anything mysterious [like a
lead lined film bag] by re-scanning just that area with a high power narrow beam CAT scan
which will penetrate anything, so the lead bag guarantees your film is ruined...[for security
reasons] the FAA will not give out the list of the airports with these new x-rayers..." [from Bill
Love and March 14, 1998 Democrat-Gazette from Bill Burnett]
Lizards zap Lyme disease
Ever wonder why Lyme disease is such a big thing in the east and no real problem in the west?
Researchers found that the host cycle in each place was different. Out east, it's the white-footed
mouse in which Lyme disease bacteria multiply until sucked up by a tick and passed along to the
next meal. In the west, however, it's the common Western fence lizard which provides the tic-
cafeteria; and something in the lizards' blood is killing the bacteria. [April 19, 1998 The Courier
Journal, Louisville KY from Gary H. Kettring and Democrat-Gazette, Little Rock AR from Bill
Burnett]
Miscellaneous things
Genetic engineers at the University of California, San Diego announced that they had
introduced foreign genes from a fluorescent jellyfish protein into African clawed toads. Frogs
are preferred subjects for this kind of transgenic work because of their large eggs and embryos.
And, one researcher pointed out that they're cheaper than mice. Researchers noted that the
process worked right up to the tadpole stage. The tadpole does not glow in the dark, but the
fluorescence can be seen under the microscope in the cells. [Reuters, February 26, 1998 from
Kimberley and Wes von Papineäu]
Back in February, a teenage girl was mauled by a crocodile along a storm water drain in
Brisbane, Australia. Now a six-foot long crocodile has been spotted in this antipodean suburbia.
It was seen sunning on the banks and fled after a man threw a rock at it. [The Times Standard,
Eureka, CA April 20, 1998 from Bradford Norman]
The director of the Polish Academy of Sciences announced that scientists are studying a lizard
which was preserved in Baltic Amber for 40 million years. It is only the second Baltic lizard
ever to be found. The first was found by a Gdansk jeweler who gave it to the museum. [Fox
News Network, February 3, 1998 from Kimberley and Wes von Papineäu]
Read the Ridley Turtles newsletter on HEART's new web page http://www.ridleyturtles.org
or more information snailmail from Box 681231, Houston, TX 77268-1231.
Volunteer for any of three sea turtle research projects this fall with Earthwatch, http://www.earthwatch.org.
A woman from Germantown, Maryland wrote The Chicago Tribune: Last year I wrote to the
Museum of Science and Industry regarding the museum's hatchery exhibit. I was referred to the
Lincoln Park Zoo in response to my inquiry about the disposition of [the Museum exhibit]
chicks... the zoo's general curator... [wrote] that the majority of the chicks are fed to the
collection's reptiles... nothing is said [in the exhibit] about the eventual destination of these
birds... The hatchery exhibit misleads the public to think that chickens do not have mothers or
the need of a family life. It is a desensitizing display that should be eliminated... [the exhibit
apparently] prevents them from patronizing the museum." [May 4, 1998 from Ray Boldt]
If ignorance is bliss, why aren't there more happy people? [Bumper sticker in NEIU parking
lot May 2, 1998 at ReptileFest]
Are they alive? What do they eat?
We were trying to think what you give highly successful ReptileFest co-chairs Lori King-Nava
and Gary Fogel. Hugs? Hisses? A round of two handed clapping? A month recovery? Free
tickets to a psychiatrist if they start talking about "next year?" An original Don Wheeler tattoo?
If you were there you saw the fabulous spaces, displays, layout, petting area, Klingon security
(hey, like no problem, dude you know), photo booth with python, membership, giant crocodile,
white crocodilian, zillions of fruit flies, waxworms and crickets, iguana trees and cages, turtle
petting pens, wild frogs, odd lizards, placid turtles, green iguanas, and snakes everywhere. If
you weren't there - you missed it. See you at the next one?
Thanks to everyone who contributed to this month's column and thanks to all the CHS
members who stopped by at ReptileFest to say "hi" including John Levell, daughter Jenny with
his new granddaughter (how time flies!), Bob Bavirsha, Steve Barten, Ben Entwistle, Jack
Schoenfelder, Ron and Dottie Humbert, Lori King-Nava and Gary Fogel, Jim Nesci, Ilene
Sievert, George and Sara Richard, Gino Martinez, Bob Applegarth, Larry Marshall, Dave
Bishop, Audrey VanderLinden, Don Wheeler, Gary Kostka, Brian Jones, Mike Dloogatch and
Kimberley Smith. Don't forget to send clippings
with date/publication slug (or whole pages of newspapers) to me for future columns! Letters only to my email. What happened to my email, to answer one contributor, is that my school
cancelled all alumni accounts, so I had to go get a private account and the address changed.
Why I can't load files is a post-crash software problem - so please, just letters electronically!
Thanks.
July 1998
Duct tape is metal, guys
Agents of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service charged two men of smuggling more than 8,000
animals and a third man was charged as the Miami buyer of the alleged exotic reptile smuggling
scheme. The animals had been ordered from the Amazon by a Miami tropical fish store.
Included in the ten illegal shipments named in the charges were 3,836 tree frogs, 1727 mata
mata turtles, 1,145 poison dart frogs, 418 Surinam toads, 15 dwarf caimans, eight rainbow boas,
four black caimans, two caiman lizards, four fish and one green anaconda. Usually the
shipments were packed in such a way that casual examination would show only legal manifested
tropical fish. However, in one shipment, the turtles legs were secured with duct tape. I presume
this showed on some type of x-ray scan even though the article doesn't say. Officials intercepted
the box, and the 48 other boxes that went with it. All the animals are protected by Peruvian laws
and many are protected by international treaty. The animals were taken to be cared for while the
case proceeds and may eventually be sent back to Peru. [May 27, 1998: The Sarasota Herald-
Tribune from Esther Lewis; and The Fort Myers News-Press from Ardis Allen]
Forty indictments in four countries
Following a three-year undercover operation in the U.S. and Australia, Canada, New Zealand
and Panama, 40 people were indicted for involvement in illegal animal smuggling. "Pound for
pound, there is more profit for smugglers in exotic birds than there is in cocaine," said an
assistant customs commissioner. The seized animals were placed in zoos in Texas where some
of the arrests occurred. Thousands of animals and millions of dollars are alleged to have
changed hands as part of the scheme. [The Chicago Tribune, May 30, 1998 from Ray Boldt]
Media busted closer to home
The federal government created a sting operation called "Operation Arachnid" and charged a
local exotic pet shop owner with smuggling 27 adult spiders along with a declared shipment of
juvenile tarantulas from Germany four years ago. [The Chicago Tribune, June 4, 1998 from Ray
Boldt] This story was "big news" for about one day here and the pet shop owner's name was
repeated over and over again on TV and radio. In print, he questioned why it took the federal
government four years to prepare the charges and then run a media circus around the him for 27
spiders.
Ribbit in Chinese
Pottery produced in China 6,000 years ago has frog images. Three newly discovered pots show
unmistakable "totemic frog images" according to Chinese archaeologists. China Today reports
"... frogs are among the most prominently featured figures - a decorative element common to all
early civilizations... painted in a variety of styles. One type of frog pattern looks like the image
of real frogs while another is rendered with vivid expression and in bold outline... some of the
geometric frog figures on this pottery evolved into varying shapes of the Chinese character "mi,"
[frog]... Rainfall was especially important for agriculture in ancient times. Frogs frequently
croak prior to the fall of rain. Since early people could not account for natural phenomenon in
any kind of scientific way, they accepted that frogs had induced the rainfall. Also, frogs breed
prolifically, and this presumably appealed to primitive people, to whom a high reproductive rate
was necessary for survival... although frog totems no longer existed in the mainstream culture
after the Zhou Dynasty (1100-221 BC) the vestiges of frog worship can still be found even today
among rural people... Today, the deep attachment to frogs is still strong among several ethnic
minorities... [some hold frog festivals]... and [some] paint patterns of frogs on the bodies of the
deceased before they are buried." [Qi Huabian, March 12, 1998 from P.L. Beltz]
Amphibian environments
Articles on decline and recovery of spotted frogs, boreal toads and the Amargosa toad are
included in the Proceedings of the Desert Fishes Council, (28:1997) available from
phildesfish@telis.org. [Froglog (26:1998) from John W. Wilkinson]
Save a tree, reduce dioxin; read Froglog on the web at http://acs-
info.open.ac.uk/info/newsletters/FROGLOG.html and save a tree.
Science reports: "Amphibian experts are hopping to the defense of a Utah frog population that
they believe is going to suffer from a controversial wildlife policy introduced by Interior
Department Secretary Bruce Babbitt. Since 1992, Interior has encouraged states to craft
conservation agreements on threatened species to avoid sanctions under the Endangered Species
Act. Early last month Babbitt announced that the spotted frog, which probably numbers in the
low thousands... would not be listed as endangered because state and U.S. wildlife officials had
agreed on measures to help the frog bounce back. But herpetologists say... [that the] plan doesn't
adequately estimate the frog's population trends and historical habitat and lacks a scientific basis
for frog relocation plans... the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, the
Herpetologists' League, and the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists - are
drafting a letter asking Babbitt to reconsider. The herpetologists say the spotted frog is only one
of many cases in which conservation plans have been drawn up with inadequate scientific input."
[280:22 May 1998 from Eloise Beltz-Decker]
Karen Furnweger sent in a clipping from the June 6, 1998 New York Times which discusses
the declining amphibian issue all the way from the 1989 Canterbury, England World Congress to
the present day. Apparently the problem is now so noted and so widespread that last week the
National Science Foundation got together a group of environmental scientists to discuss what
might be killing the formerly ubiquitous amphibians. Bruce Babbitt attended the seminar and
"initiated an interagency task force to monitor the frog decline," according to The Times. Karen
pointed out in her note that such an entity already exists. The Declining Amphibian Task Force
grew out of the 1989 meeting. I remember the beginning of the discussion. The few, lonely frog
researchers had been trilling gently to each other in an amphitheater that would have seated
dozens more and as each rose to discuss frogs, the comment was made that "There used to be
more frogs when I started." Or "There were more frogs when I was a kid." It got kind of eerie
during the Q and A when every member of the audience (myself included) was able to name at least
one species from our home area that was no longer as commonly found. Since then,
amphibianology has grown (not always for the better) as a group of researchers from other fields
with no practical knowledge of the species involved (I kid you not, see Froglog 26:1998). So
I'm not really surprised that NSF is going to add to the DAPTF alphabet soup.
"The spread of sex-change chemicals in the environment could soon be tracked with a test that
uses tadpoles and liver cells of frogs. The... chemicals... mimic female hormones... are present
in many pesticides and plastics. They are causing increasing concern because they have been
implicated in breast cancer and declining [human] sperm counts, and may also interfere with
fetal development." [The Courier, Houma, Louisiana, June 8, 1998 from Ernie Liner] The
organism being used is the Xenopus, the African clawed frog.
Speaking of hormone mimics, last year, U.S. Geological Survey biologists reported inducing
frog deformities in a control study comparing two widely used mosquito suppressants.
Amphibian deformities were found after spraying wetlands with methoprene. They plan to
replicate the study this year. [South Bend Tribune, May 4, 1998 from Garrett M. Kazmierski]
A sample of Florida lakes shows that almost no baby alligators hatched in the last nesting
season. "The reptiles' lack of fertility in certain lakes isn't linked to pesticides this time. And it
might have ramifications for people," reports The Orlando Sentinel. [March 31, 1998 from Bill
Burnett]
Somebody sent me a copy of a fantastic newsletter Herp-line which is being produced by the
Froglife and the Herpetofauna Groups of Britain and Ireland. It provides a forum for articles
about local herps in a non-technical but not difficult fashion. They offer an "enquiry service" for
the general public. In six months they received about 700 calls, most were for "frog advice"
followed by questions about "excess spawn" and "snake identity." Contact Froglife, Triton House,
Bramfield, Halesworth, Suffolk IP19 9AE, fax 01986-784579.
Records we could live without
The world began keeping records of temperature and weather in 1856. The World
Meteorological Organization released a report which says that the global average air temperature
is 1.35 degrees high than normal. They blamed the weather on El Nino a weather system driven
by a large pool of abnormally warm water in the eastern Pacific Ocean. Indonesia, parts of the
Americas, Mexico and Southern Africa are in drought conditions, while extra wet conditions
continue over Ecuador, Peru and southern Brazil. Heavy rains fell over the Indian Ocean and
east Africa where flooding has lessened for the first time since October. [The Orlando Sentinel,
April 16, 1998 from Bill Burnett]
Indirect temperature sampling provides proxy evidence of temperature and climate far before
the 150 years of direct thermometer sampling available to researchers. Using tree rings, ice
cores, sediment samples and other proxy methods, temperature variations in the Northern
Hemisphere since the middle ages have been compiled, then recent actual records have been
added. The resulting graph shows a nice up and down motion of about six degrees from 1400 to
about 1920. After 1920, the line still goes up and down a lot, but the trend of the line is up until
the 1950s, then a slight drop in the 60s (but still not back to the average) followed by another
sharp spike to the late 1990s. Researchers then analyzed the contributing factors of climate
change, solar radiation, volcanic activity, carbon dioxide and methane emissions and so forth.
Like most "Global Warming" work, this one will generate hot debate. [The New York Times,
April 28, 1998] Curiously, the sidebar points out that El Nino weather systems are caused by
warming of the Southern Pacific Ocean by the action of underseas volcanos which release
mantle heat and create new sea floor. Just remember that the plants and animals will try to
move to their optimum zones depending on the new climate. Are we ready for alligators,
caimans and turtles in the Chicago River?
They may not survive the fires in Mexico
Many U.S officials fear that a major environmental disaster awaits in southern Mexico. Parts of
the Chimalapas biological reserve, one of the most important tropical rain forests in the
Americas were burning for weeks. Most of North America's migratory birds stop in the area,
and thousands of plants species in the reserve are otherwise completely endangered. The fires
started from lightning or agricultural arson and spread because of El Nino influenced drought
according to U.S. climatologists. [The Chicago Tribune, June 6, 1998 from Ray Boldt and P.L.
Beltz]
While Florida also burns
Flatwoods salamanders in the pine woods of northern Florida are being considered for the
Federal Endangered Species Act. Logging remains the biggest threat to the salamanders. Pine
tree farming is highly mechanized and bulldozers are used to clear the fields for replanting
which totally destroys the tiny microhabitats favored by the salamanders. Federal officials are
working with the forestry industry to study the salamanders and find ways to log and save the
species. [Gainesville Sun, April 13, 1998 from Ken Dodd, Jr.]
In his own words
Signing himself "Proud to be a San Diego City Firefighter," the man who responded to the call of
a snake biting a pregnant woman wrote his side of the story to Ann Landers. As printed in the
May 4, 1998 Chicago Tribune he wrote: "... I am the San Diego city firefighter who responded
to that snake attack. Four adults, two children and one 10-foot Burmese python were residing in
the downtown San Diego hotel room where the attack took place. When the fire engine crew,
paramedics and police entered the room, it was an immediate rescue situation. The snake had a
full open bite on the pregnant woman's inner thigh and was constricting around her stomach.
The woman's husband was straddled above her, trying desperately to yank the snake off. When I
grabbed the snake behind its head, the husband passed out and hit the floor. The snake was
constricting so hard that I could pick up the woman by pulling on the snake. I had no option but
to cut off the head using a knife that I always carry with me. I have since received many
complaints and threats from animal rights groups and activists for killing the snake. To them, I
do not apologize. This was a vicious attack, and the woman was eight months pregnant. I
wonder what these people would say if the attack happened two month later and the snake went
after a defenseless infant..." [from Ray Boldt]
But the times they are a changing...
The police chief of a town in Louisiana was driving along one of those highways that parallels
a canal. He saw a 10-foot gator in his lane, swerved to miss it and landed his police cruiser in
the canal. The officer "has since had alligator nightmares," and promises to find the giant reptile
for questioning. [The Times Picayune, New Orleans, Louisiana from Ernie Liner] Most of the
media has made this a "stupid human tricks" story. Please note however, that the times have
changed. The Southern law enforcement officer deliberately did not run the gator over, did not
shoot the gator, did not harass the gator; instead he tried to drive around the gator and in the
process got himself a bruised knee and a sore back.
Animal Control workers in Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana captured a 12-foot, 95-pound
Burmese python they found sunning itself on a sofa in the window of a vacant mobile home.
The officer said the home was apparently abandoned with all its contents, including the snake.
[The Courier, Houma, Louisiana from Ernie Liner]
A 4.5 foot alligator strolled out of the Bayou Lafourche and visited the local Walgreens
drugstore drive through. The cashier said, "It was cool." The Manager said, "We' stay open 24-
hours, and even serve alligators." Officers from the Thibodaux Police Department came and
kept an eye on the alligator until she slipped back into the ditch. [The Courier, May 26, 1998
from Ernie Liner]
News and notes
Chicago Wilderness has established a delivery system for copies of their Atlas of Biodiversity.
It includes some pictures of herps and an interesting perspective on the state of our wildlife and
areas. For free individual copies, visit Volo Bog, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, Fullersburg
and Willowbrook Nature Centers in DuPage and the Nature Conservancy office in downtown
Chicago. [from Stacy Miller]
The second International Symposium and Workshop on the Management of the Eastern
Massasauga Rattlesnake will be on October 1, 2 and 3, 1998 at the Toronto Zoo. Contact Bob
Johnson.
Thanks to everybody who contributed this month and to Ernie Liner, P.L. Beltz, Bill Burnett,
Ray Boldt, Kathy Bricker, Esther Lewis, Jon Covell, and Philip Drajeske for stuff I enjoyed
reading, but didn't use this month. Become a contributor, too! Send whole pages of newsletter
(or clippings if you prefer) with the date/publication slug and your name on each piece to me.
August 1998
Do cane toads eat Asian longhorned beetles?
Perhaps the top news story in all Chicago area media is the discovery of Asian longhorned
beetles, mature and breeding in trees in a heavily forested residential neighborhood in the City.
Quick surveys revealed the extent of the infestation to include two beautiful cemeteries
(Rosehill and Graceland) and an area from the Clark Street beach ridge west to the Chicago
River. The beetles apparently arrived as larvae in wooden crates shipped from their native
China. Infested trees will have to be cut and burned as soon as the beetles go into hibernation.
Homeowners and residents of the area are (of course) quite upset and concerned. Introductions
of non-native plants and animals have been reported regularly in this column. Readers are
strongly urged never to release an animal that has been taken into captivity - especially not one
that doesn't even come from the area! Otherwise environmental disruption is caiman soon to a
neighborhood near you, too. Entomologists have also recorded two new species of termites in
Florida and Hawaii. The Times-Picayune reports" If the spread of these termites, major pests in
their home territories, is anything like that of the Formosan [termites], the Gulf Coast, Hawaii
and perhaps other parts of the country will be waging termite wars on multiple fronts. With
infested wood being transported freely... invasions of new foreign termites [may] become
routine in Miami and other Southern ports." Researchers suggest that the bugs may be arriving
on pleasure boats, on firewood, or crates. [July 2, 1998 from Ernie Liner] Meanwhile, brown
tree snake experts held a three-day symposium in Hawaii where they discussed new trap
strategies, snake baits and snake-detecting dogs. Since the terriers were first used on Guam to
check outgoing cargo in 1994, only one brown tree snake has been confirmed arriving in Hawaii
compared with five snakes, one in each of the previous five years. About 10,000 snakes are
captured a year on Guam, and the snakes have eliminated nine of the island's 11 species of
endemic birds. [Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, July 25, 1998 from Bill Burnett] Don't forget
American red-eared sliders and bullfrogs terrorizing Britain, eating the fauna of France and
themselves becoming the cuisine of Asia; they were originally shipped as pets, and when the
novelty wore off, were released. What we're seeing before our very eyes is the ends of our
ecosystems and the development of a cosmopolitan world flora and fauna - a world,
unfortunately where only the adaptable may survive.
70 years ago...
On June 26, 1926 a 3.5 foot long snake native to eastern Asia and Australia was found on the
pavement in College Road, Cork Ireland. It was believed to have come from a bunch of bananas
left in a fruit importer's car at a grocer's shop. [The Irish News, June 26, 1998 from from Wes
and Kim von Papineäu]
Turtles and frogs at school
About 100 Ohio high school Environmental Club and science students worked together on a
natural history catalog of plants and animals on a 10 acre site near the school. In addition, they
studied turtle movements and plotted their data. It looks something like a football play-by-play
chalkboard. Art classes, French language classes and even the math department have been using
the turtle data. The last use turtle movements to teach algebra and trigonometry. [Box Turtle
Research and Conservation Newsletter, Edition 7, June 1998 from Heather Kalb] Read the rest
of it on their website http://www.bio.tamu.edu/users/heather/boxturt.htm.
Students at a Larkspur, California school discovered that they couldn't release 60 Xenopus
frogs they had raised from tadpoles ordered from a Wisconsin biological supply house since the
African clawed frogs present both a disease and predation risk to native and endangered species.
The whole thing has been quite a lesson for the kids who have been turned into ardent
conservationists. One parent took the frogs home while the school, students and parents debate
what to do with them. Another parent suggested sending them back to the supply house!
[Times-Standard, Eureka, California from Bradford Norman]
"Mad Salamander Disease" limits cannibals
It's been known for a while that if you crowd young tiger salamanders, they may develop into
"cannibal morphs." They're larger, widebodied and widemouthed versions of the regular tiger
salamander with the usual engaging tiger salamander personality and feeding habits. And they
swim. I've always been really glad they stop at 10 inches. Larger and yuppies might have some
competition. Now comes a new study on just why all salamanders don't turn cannibal since
those that do grow so large, so fast. Turns out that a serious hemorrhagic disease is transmitted
by cannibalism and salamander eggs from areas where the disease is endemic are less likely than
others to develop into cannibals. [Science News, May 9, 1998 from Mark Witwer]
Not all gloom and doom on the amphibian front
Arizona frogs are disappearing at an alarming rate. Researchers and legislators fear that the
dying frogs and salamanders may be sending us a message about our environment. Proposed
causes of decline specific to Arizona include acid rain from copper smelters, introduction of
non-native crayfish, a virus from non-native fish, and predation from introduced bullfrogs and
bass. These or other human-influenced environmental changes are often implicated in global
frog declines. Species gone or in decline include Tarahumara frogs, Sonoran tiger salamanders,
Barking frogs, Mountain tree frogs, Lowland leopard frogs, Chiricahua leopard frogs, and
Sonoran green toads. Ten of the 25 species of Arizona amphibians species are of "special
concern" to the state's Game and Fish Department. [Tribune, May 5, 1998 from Tom Taylor]
"The Arizona Daily Star reported a newly discovered fungus appears to be the cause of an
epidemic killing frogs and toads in rainforest in Australia and Central America, and may be the
reason amphibians are in decline around the world. The large numbers of dead frogs found as
part of an international study were `just stunning' said David Wake of the University of
California at Berkeley." [Greenlines #658 from Roger Featherstone] The fungi are usually found
in the soil, where they assist in the breakdown of rotting material. [The San Diego Union
Tribune, July 7, 1998 from Claus Sutor] As the story proceeded around the world, The Arizona
Tribune reported that the chairman of the biology department at Arizona State University said,
"Chytrids have always been around. We need to look at why frogs are getting infected now."
[July 27, 1998 from Tom Taylor] Meanwhile the New Scientist provides the full tale. It seems as
though the fungus covers animals' bellies and legs and ends up suffocating the amphibians by
blocking through-skin respiration. It has been found to be a new genus of a group of fungi
related to the earliest life on earth. Chytrid fungi have never before been found to cause disease
in vertebrates. The fungus was first noticed in a captive colony of arroyo toads (Bufo
microscaphus californicus), but has been confirmed from specimens collected in western
Panama, captive poison-dart frogs at the National Zoo, in ten species in Australia and three other
American zoos, including the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago. An experimenter put healthy frogs
in water with skin scrapings from infected frogs. The formerly healthy frogs died. | |