Reptiles Magazine
Fern was found on Fernandina Volcano during an expedition to locate the species.
May 28, 2021
Fern is the last known tortoise of her species.
A giant tortoise that was found in 2019 and thought to be an extinct species, is actually the species and is not extinct. Fern, the Fernandina giant tortoise (her founding is chronicled in the May/June 2019 issue of REPTILES magazine) that was found in 2019, was the first sighting of the species in more than 100 years.
At the time of her discovery, it was thought that her species was extinct, but genetic testing of a blood sample sent to Yale University and tested against a male that was found in 1906 confirmed she is the last known tortoise of her species. She is related to the
Reptiles Magazine
Poison Frog Poison Defense Differs Based on Prey Location/Consumption
Poison frogs of the family Dendrobatidae get their poison from the leaf litter ants and mites that they eat
May 27, 2021
Dendrobates sylvaticus
Poison frogs of the family Dendrobatidae get their poison from the leaf litter ants and mites that they eat. They aren’t born poisonous. Researchers with Stanford University, Harvard University, Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School in Cambridge, MA and Centro Jambatu De Investigación Y Conservación De Anfibios, Fundación Jambatu, San Rafael, Quito, Ecuador;
Departamento De Biología, Escuela Politécnica Nacional, Quito, Ecuador examined how habitat fragmentation is impacting the capability of poison frogs and other animals generate a chemical defense via the leaf litter ants and mites that they consume.
Reptiles Magazine
The researchers attribute the decline of the reptiles to the introduction of cats and mongoose.
May 19, 2021
The Terre-de-Haut racer (Alsophis sanctonum). Photo by Xavier Heckmann/Wikipedia
A new study of how European colonization impacted the Guadeloupe Islands in the French Caribbean details how the arrival of Europeans caused half of the islands lizard and snake populations to go extinct.
Dr. Corentin Bochaton and Professor Nicole Boivin of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Jena, Germany along with researchers with the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle (MNHN), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD) and the Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE), looked at 43,000 bone fragments from fossil and archaeological assemblages on six of the islands in the archipelago and found that 50 to 70 percent of reptiles
Reptiles Magazine
New Restrictions Proposed On Box Turtles, Native Herps In Virginia
The department is trying to close a loophole that enables individuals to keep up to five herps of a single species in their possession.
May 10, 2021
An eastern box turtle. Photo by J.D. Kleopfer/Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources
The Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources has proposed new restrictions on the keeping of native reptiles and amphibians, and would ban the keeping of box turtles completely, according to a report on Virginiamercury.com.
While the proposal is targeted at poachers, if it becomes law, it would be illegal for anyone , child or adult to acquire a wild box turtle and take it home to keep as a pet. Larry Mendoza, former president of the Virginia Herpetological Society told Virginiamercury.com that the proposal is controversial, and he believes that a box turtle ban would push children further away from nature.