Category Archives: reptiles

Alligator Violations Soar in Louisiana

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The number of alligator related hunting violations has jumped from 60 five years ago to 98 just this year, says an article in Houma Today. Most of the violations are for hunting out of season and for hunting without a license. The article says that most of the violations are in the Terrebonne-Lafourche region, as well as in the parishes of Assumption, St. James, St. John, St. Mary and St. Martin — areas that did not see many violations five years ago. (Parishes are the Louisiana equivalent of counties.)

The article fingers the reality TV show “Swamp People” as the culprit in the rise in scofflaws. The show features alligator hunting, and some of the suspects have admitted to mimicking the behavior of the show’s subjects, while clearly missing some of the, erm, finer details.

If that theory is true, the risk for an increase in alligator hunting violations extends beyond Louisiana to just about everywhere there are alligators in the wild and television sets that get cable channels.

Read the whole article in Houma Today.

Photo: Alligator, courtesy of US Fish and Wildlife Service

Swine vs. Alligator

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Back in the ’70s, ’80s ad ’90s studies showed that feral swine were not major predators of alligator nests, says a paper in the current issue of Southeastern Naturalist. More recently, however, alligator farmers have been complaining that a regional increase in feral swine has lead to an increase in alligator egg predation.

About 590 alligator nests were destroyed on 36 different properties, the paper says. The paper also mentions that trying to reduce the number of feral swine on a property does seem to help alligator nest survival rates.

A PDF on feral swine from the US Geological Survey also includes this statistic as well as a photo of an alligator nest after predation by feral swine.

Read the Southeastern Naturalist article here.
Read the US Geological Survey article here.

Photo: Alligator nest after predation by feral swine. Photo by Jeff Donald, courtesy US Geological Survey

Swine vs. Alligator

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Back in the ’70s, ’80s ad ’90s studies showed that feral swine were not major predators of alligator nests, says a paper in the current issue of Southeastern Naturalist. More recently, however, alligator farmers have been complaining that a regional increase in feral swine has lead to an increase in alligator egg predation.

About 590 alligator nests were destroyed on 36 different properties, the paper says. The paper also mentions that trying to reduce the number of feral swine on a property does seem to help alligator nest survival rates.

A PDF on feral swine from the US Geological Survey also includes this statistic as well as a photo of an alligator nest after predation by feral swine.

Read the Southeastern Naturalist article here.
Read the US Geological Survey article here.

Photo: Alligator nest after predation by feral swine. Photo by Jeff Donald, courtesy US Geological Survey

Non-native Turtle Numbers Up Again in AZ

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Turtles from Phoenix Zoo pondThe Phoenix Zoo has been trying to get rid of the non-native turtles in the pond in the park near its entrance since 1999. The number of turtle species not native to Arizona found in the pond had declined over the last 13 years, but this year there was an increase. 142 non-native turtles were trapped, including 139 pond sliders, one spiny softshell, one painted turtle, and one eastern redbelly turtle.

Biologists believe that the turtles are released pets, saying that the turtles show signs of captivity.

The non-native female turtles that are trapped are brought to a turtle sanctuary for adoption, while the males are released back into the pond.

Read a brief story at CBS5 TV, here.
Read a more detailed release from the Arizona Fish and Game Department, here. (Second story from the bottom.)

Photo courtesy Arizona Fish and Game Department

Rattlesnakes and Grizzlies: Endangered?

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Face to face with an eastern rattlesnake or a grizzly bear, you might not feel that it was the animal that was endangered. However, the eastern rattlesnake came closer to a possible Endangered Species Act listing earlier this month when the US Fish and Wildlife Service began a 12-month review of the species’ status.

Read more in the Chicago Tribune.

Meanwhile, in Canada, the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada found no solid evidence of decline in the nation’s grizzly bear population overall, so it denied the species endangered species status, instead designating the western population a species of “special concern.”

Read all about it in the Ottawa Citizen.

Rattlesnakes and Grizzlies: Endangered?

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Face to face with an eastern rattlesnake or a grizzly bear, you might not feel that it was the animal that was endangered. However, the eastern rattlesnake came closer to a possible Endangered Species Act listing earlier this month when the US Fish and Wildlife Service began a 12-month review of the species’ status.

Read more in the Chicago Tribune.

Meanwhile, in Canada, the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada found no solid evidence of decline in the nation’s grizzly bear population overall, so it denied the species endangered species status, instead designating the western population a species of “special concern.”

Read all about it in the Ottawa Citizen.

March Roundup of New Research

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Spring is here and a bunch of wildlife surveys are underway around the country.

In Delaware:
-It’s the fifth and final year of the Delaware Breeding Bird Atlas.
-A special effort is being made in 2012 to tally owls as part of the atlas.
–Horseshoe crabs are being tallied again, and volunteers are being trained.
-The annual osprey count is offering a volunteer training for the first time since 2007.

Maryland is two years in to four years of surveys for an amphibian and reptile atlas and is looking for volunteers.

In Kansas, they are searching for lesser prairie chicken breeding areas, or leks, from the air with helicopters. Field crews will train on March 29-31 and conduct official survey work across all of western Kansas until the middle of May. The Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism is also asking people to report leks. The survey is part of a five-state effort, and the survey technique will be evaluated.

In North Dakota, the Game and Fish Department has launched a two-year study of white-tailed deer in intensely farmed agricultural areas.

In Maine, biologists at the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife have visited up to 100 dens each winter for 37 years, making the survey in the nation’s oldest radio-collar monitoring program for bears. This year the Maine Sunday Telegram wrote a story about it, with lots of pics. Read it here.

And in Washington, commuters have been reporting wildlife sightings for over a year on the I-90 corridor in anticipation of road improvements. The project’s first annual report was released recently, generating articles in the Everett Herald  and The Seattle Times, and coverage other media.

Photo of I-90 Wildlife Watch billboard by Paula MacKay/Western Transportation Institute, used by permission.

Ranavirus Hits Maryland

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An “alarming number” of tiny box turtles have been found dead in Maryland during a highway-construction relocation study, The Washington Post reports. The cause of death for 26 of the 31 turtles found dead is ranavirus, which shows measles- or herpes-like symptoms in reptiles and amphibians, the article reports.

The virus has also effected local frogs and salamanders, but turtles are the big concern because they breed much more slowly, the article says.

Scott Smith, a wildlife ecologist for Maryland’s Department of Natural Resources, is quoted in the article twice, including:

Smith of the Natural Resources Department said state wildlife officials are so concerned that they have applied for research funding from the Association of Reptile and Amphibian Veterinarians. State budgets are too strapped to fund the necessary research, he said.

Read the entire Washington Post article, here. It includes a link to a video of a gasping box turtle. Seriously.

This Extinction Countdown blog post from Scientific American from 2010, points to these journal articles on ranavirus:
2010 – Animal Conservation
Archives of Virology
Journal of Wildlife Diseases

Photo: Box turtle by Laura Perlick, courtesy of US Fish and Wildlife Service

Rethinking Rattlesnakes

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coiled timber rattlesnake

Courtesy Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries

In 1967 a young man was bitten by a rattlesnake in Evans County, Georgia, and survived. Despite the happy outcome, the locals still thought there were just too many rattlesnakes in the region. In February 1968 a Rattlesnake Roundup was organized, and 48 rattlesnakes were turned in. There’s been an annual Rattlesnake Roundup in Claxton, Georgia ever since.

This year, however, there is a change. It’s no longer the Rattlesnake Roundup, but the Rattlesnake Festival, according to the Claxton-Evans County Chamber of Commerce website and WTOC.

Rattlesnakes will be celebrated, but not bought and sold. Part of the reason is that pharmaceutical companies no longer buy rattlesnakes to milk for venom antidotes, says an article on the Care2 website. That article helpfully includes a link to a list of rattlesnake roundups nationwide (with a rattlesnake race and rattlesnake derby thrown in for good measure, find it here).

This is good news for rattlesnakes, whose numbers have been declining.

A 2009 paper in the journal Herpetological Conservation and Biology found that rattlesnake roundups do indeed impact local rattlesnake population levels. The Claxton roundup was one of those studied.

Rethinking Rattlesnakes

Posted on by
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coiled timber rattlesnake

Courtesy Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries

In 1967 a young man was bitten by a rattlesnake in Evans County, Georgia, and survived. Despite the happy outcome, the locals still thought there were just too many rattlesnakes in the region. In February 1968 a Rattlesnake Roundup was organized, and 48 rattlesnakes were turned in. There’s been an annual Rattlesnake Roundup in Claxton, Georgia ever since.

This year, however, there is a change. It’s no longer the Rattlesnake Roundup, but the Rattlesnake Festival, according to the Claxton-Evans County Chamber of Commerce website and WTOC.

Rattlesnakes will be celebrated, but not bought and sold. Part of the reason is that pharmaceutical companies no longer buy rattlesnakes to milk for venom antidotes, says an article on the Care2 website. That article helpfully includes a link to a list of rattlesnake roundups nationwide (with a rattlesnake race and rattlesnake derby thrown in for good measure, find it here).

This is good news for rattlesnakes, whose numbers have been declining.

A 2009 paper in the journal Herpetological Conservation and Biology found that rattlesnake roundups do indeed impact local rattlesnake population levels. The Claxton roundup was one of those studied.