Latest Reptiles of Australia Stories
'Heat-proof' eggs help turtles cope with hot beaches [ Watch the Video ] Sea turtles face an uncertain future as a warming climate threatens to reduce their reproductive viability. However, new research led by the University of Exeter and published this week in Proceedings of the Royal Society B shows that some turtles are naturally heat-tolerant. The study focused on green turtles nesting on Ascension Island, a UK overseas territory in the South Atlantic Ocean. Scientists from...
WASHINGTON, Sept. 19, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Last Friday, in a dramatic reversal of course, the National Marine Fisheries Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced its decision not to declare loggerhead sea turtles along the U.S. East and Gulf coasts to be "endangered" under the Endangered Species Act. As a result, these most abundant of all sea turtles will continue to receive protection as a "threatened" species - a lower level of caution consistent with their...
US agencies issued a final ruling on Friday changing the listing of loggerhead sea turtles under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) from a single threatened species to nine unique population segments, reports AFP. Scientists for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) believe the new ruling will help them focus conservation efforts on the specific needs of the distinct populations. NOAA and FWS share jurisdiction for...
Endangered leatherback sea turtles migrate and forage across vast areas of the Pacific Ocean and Indo Pacific seas and require greater international collaboration for their protection, according to a recent study conducted by NOAA Fisheries Service and western Pacific research and conservation scientists. The study, published today in the journal Ecosphere, is based on data from 126 leatherbacks tracked by satellite and supports continuing research to improve conservation efforts for this...
Small-scale fisheries could pose a more serious threat to marine life than previously thought. Research led by the University of Exeter, published today (19 July) in the British Ecological Society's Journal of Applied Ecology, shows that tens of thousands of turtles from across the Pacific are being captured through the activities of small-scale fisheries.Focusing on fisheries in Peru, the study suggests that thousands of sea turtles originating from nesting beaches as far away as Australia,...
Researchers have discovered the population of pig-nosed turtles has declined over the past 30 years. The turtles have become an international conservation icon, due to it having no close relatives and being considered the turtle most adapted to life underwater in freshwater ponds and rivers. The reptile faces a threat in Papua New Guinea because of a high demand for its eggs. "Pig-nosed turtles are considered unique and unusual among freshwater species of turtles in many facets of...
The Mary river turtle (Elusor macrurus), which is restricted to only one river system in Australia, will suffer from multiple problems if temperatures predicted under climate change are reached, researchers from the University of Queensland have shown.The scientists, who presented their work at the Society for Experimental Biology Annual conference in Glasgow on 3rd July 2011, incubated turtle eggs at 26, 29 and 32â°C. Young turtles which developed under the highest temperature showed...
A new low-cost snake antivenom could empower countries such as Papua New Guinea to produce their own antivenoms, putting an end to chronic antivenom shortages and unnecessary deaths.Researchers from the Australian Venom Research Unit (AVRU) at the University of Melbourne have collaborated with scientists from the University of Papua New Guinea and the University of Costa Rica, to develop new antivenom against the lethal Papuan taipan.The preclinical studies of this antivenom have been...
ORLANDO, Fla., June 30, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Animals in need and endangered species around the world will benefit from more than $1 million in grants awarded this year by the non-profit SeaWorld & Busch Gardens Conservation Fund. Since its creation eight years ago, the Fund has granted more than $8 million to protect wildlife and wild places. (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110630/FL28159 ) The Fund approved grants to more than 100 wildlife protection projects including...
In a pair of studies"”one recently published online* and the other soon-to-be published**"” researchers at the Hollings Marine Laboratory (HML), a government-university collaboration in Charleston, S.C., report that persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are consistently showing up in the blood and eggs of loggerhead sea turtles, that the turtles accumulate more of the contaminant chemicals the farther they travel up the Atlantic coast, and that the pollutants may pose a threat to the...
Latest Reptiles of Australia Reference Libraries
The Children's Python (Antaresia childreni), is a non-venomous python found in Australia. It is found mainly in the extreme north of Western Australia, the northern third of Northern territory, and in northeastern Queensland. It is also found on the islands of the Torres Strait. It was named in honor of John George Children, who was a curator of the zoological collection at the British Museum around that time. No subspecies are currently recognized. Adults grow to about 30 inches in...
The Arafura File Snake (Acrochordus arafurae), is an aquatic species of snake found in northern Australia and New guinea. This quite common snake is often hunted by the indigenous people of northern Australia. They simply catch a snake and toss it on the bank as the snake is quite immobilized without the support of the water. The skin of the Arafura file snake is used to make drums in New guinea. Adult Arafura File Snakes grow to 8.25 feet in length. Females are known to grow larger than...
The Fierce Snake, also known as the Small Scaled Snake and Inland Taipan, is a highly venomous snake that belongs to the Elapidae family. The Fierce Snake is the most venomous snake in the world. A single bite from this snake can kill as many as 100 human adults. It is 50 times more venomous than the Indian Cobra, and as much as 850 times more venomous than the Diamondback. The victim of an intravenous bite from the fierce snake will die in less than two seconds. The Fierce Snake is...
The Tiger Snake, Notechis scutatus, is a highly venomous species of elapid snake found in Australia. They most often found along inland waterways and around the lower lakes of the River Murray. There are two species recognized; The Common Tiger Snake and The Tasmanian Tiger Snake. As with most snakes color varies widely among tiger snakes and is an unreliable means of identifying the species. Colors can vary from jet black, yellow/orange with gray bands, and sandy gray with no bands....
The Brown Tree Snake, Boiga irregularis, is an arboreal colubrid snake native to eastern and northern coastal Australia, Papua New Guinea, and a large number of islands in northwestern Melanesia. This is a nocturnal snake and is rarely seen by humans in its habitat. The snake is considered a pest in Guam where it is not native. It was carried there on a US military transport at the end of WWII. The slightly venomous, but rather harmless, snake killed almost the entire native bird...
