Odatria_14_NOV13 - Victorian Herpetological Society

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It struck me that we had something here that was quitelarge -- and unique,” said Head, an assistant professorof earth and atmospheric sciences at UNL and a curatorin the University of Nebraska State Museum of NaturalHistory’s Division of Vertebrate Paleontology.future,” Head said. “And that, obviously, bears directly onour own health.”Science DailyJune 2013Turtles Watch For, Snack On GelatinousPrey While SwimmingLoggerhead turtles use visual cues to find gelatinous preyto snack on as they swim in open waters, according toresearch published June 12 in the open access journalPLOS ONE by Tomoko Narazaki and colleagues from theUniversity of Tokyo, Japan.The cast of a fossil piece (right) is part of the jaw bone of Barbaturexmorrisoni and is only about a quarter of the entire jawbone. At leftis the tip of the jaw bone. The lizard was researched by a teamled by Jason Head, assistant professor of Earth and AtmosphericSciences at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The lizard roamedthe earth 40 million years ago, was six feet long and weighedupward of 60 pounds.He noticed another telltale sign -- ridges on the undersideof the jaw that strongly suggested it supported soft tissues,much like the multicolored chin flaps and dewlaps that givesome modern lizards a bearded appearance. The giantlizard’s genus name, Barbaturex, means “bearded king.”“I was listening to The Doors quite a bit during the research,”Head said. “Some of their musical imagery includes reptilesand ancient places, and Jim Morrison was of course ‘TheLizard King,’ so it all kind of came together.”Tracking underwater movements with 3D loggers andNational Geographic Crittercams, the researchers foundthe turtles relied on sight, rather than sound or smell, toidentify and move toward gelatinous, floating prey likejellyfish and other organisms; one turtle even swam towarda floating plastic bag. Turtles in this study foraged for suchfoods approximately twice every hour, suggesting theymay rely on such gelatinous prey for energy more thanpreviously thought.Previous studies have shown that turtle diets vary with theirage, habitat and other factors, but adult turtles dependon deep-sea hard-shelled animals like mollusks for food.The gelatinous prey studied here are low-energy, easilydigestible foods that are unlikely to replace these otherprey. However, the authors suggest that opportunisticforaging on such prey may benefit loggerhead turtlesduring oceanic migrations, when prey at the bottom of thesea is harder to reach.Head said the discovery of B. morrisoni now leads toother big questions: For how long do these giant lizardspersist in the fossil record? How far and wide did theydisperse across the planet? What are the relationshipsof the evolution of reptile body sizes to changes in globaltemperature throughout history? And the obvious question-- does a warming climate mean giant reptiles will somedayreturn?He said if we were to raise global temperatures at a naturalpace and preserve natural, healthy habitats, we could endup with the evolution of giant lizards, turtles, snakes andcrocodiles.“But we’re changing the atmosphere so fast that the rateof climate change is probably faster than most biologicalsystems can adapt to. So instead of seeing the growth andspread of giant reptiles, what you might see is extinction,”he said.Meanwhile, the researchers will consider how the cluesprovided by B. morrisoni can be used to reconstruct globaltemperature over geologic time periods.“That becomes very important in modeling what temperaturechange will be like across the surface of theplanet in the38This is a loggerhead turtle in the study equipped with a 3-D logger.The study also offers insights into the foraging habits ofthese turtles, listed an endangered species by by theInternational Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).The authors add that the methods used here could bedeveloped to map areas with higher foraging opportunitiesalong oceanic migratory routes for loggerhead turtles.Science DailyJune 2013
By George, It’s A Royal CrocFirst there were William and Kate, and now comes George,making it a royal flush - of crocodiles.The Northern Territory government has announced itsofficial gift for George Alexander Louis, the Prince ofCambridge, and it fits the NT to - well, a T.Chief Minister Adam Giles on Thursday announced that afive-month old baby saltwater crocodile would be namedGeorge in honour of the royal baby.“(It’s) a fitting Territory gift for a future king,” Mr Giles saidin a statement.“I’d be surprised if it didn’t put a smile on their faces, andif it brings them to the Territory that would be absolutelybrilliant,” he told AAP.Crocodile George will have his own Facebook pagecharting his development, and Mr Giles said that eachyear Prince George would be sent a card updating him onhis counterpart’s progress.“It would be very opportune at some point down the trackfor Kate and William to come to Darwin and bring PrinceGeorge to see his very own unique little crocodile,” MrGiles said.NEDA VANOVACAAP NewsJuly 2013Why Can’t The Snakes Cross The Road,Secret Lives Of Baby Snakes And OtherQuestionsWhy can’t the pine snakes cross the road? Hint: NewJersey traffic might have something to do with it.The NT government has announced a baby crocodile would benamed George in honour of the royal baby.Crocodile George will be kept on display at CrocosaurusCove in Darwin along with two other crocs namedWilliam and Kate, in honour of the Duke and Duchess ofCambridge’s engagement.“We’ve decided to give a unique gift from the NT, a littlebaby croc whose egg was hatched on December 12, thesame day that Kate and William announced to the worldthat they were expecting a child,” Mr Giles told reportersin Darwin.Crocodile George hatched 80 days later on February 21this year, and currently weighs 410 grams and measures51cm long.He could grow up to five or six metres long and weigh upto a tonne.Crocodiles in captivity can live for more than a century,which could make Crocodile George one of the longestlivingroyals - outpacing even Queen Elizabeth II.“We know they’ll be receiving gifts and congratulationsfrom all over the world but this is something unique to theNT and signals what the NT is all about,” Mr Giles said.Wade Huffman, Activities Manager at Crocosaurus Cove,said it was “one heck of a gift”.Drexel students will bring to light these and other findingsabout the plight, perils and peculiarities of the NorthernPine Snake in several presentations and posters at theEcological <strong>Society</strong> of America annual meeting next week(ESA 2013), based on their research with Dr. Walt Bien’sLaboratory of Pinelands Research in the New JerseyPinelands.Northern pine snakes are charismatic ambassadors forthe Pinelands National Reserve, an ecologically importantregion -designated as a U.S. Biosphere Reserve byUNESCO and as the first National Reserve in the UnitedStates. The pine snakes are large, nonvenomous, docileand beautiful (at least to the non-phobic).The population in New Jersey is threatened, and thenext-nearest population of northern pine snakes is inNorth Carolina. Protecting these snakes from the humangeneratedperils in the most densely populated U.S. statecan go a long way toward protecting the entire ecosystemthey are a part of.SNAKE SURGERY IS A SPECIAL SKILL FORCONSERVATIONDane Ward has a rare talent for a graduate student inconservation biology: He is an adept snake surgeon. Manyanimals are studied using radio telemetry by attaching aradio transmitter to the outside of the body. Radio telemetryis useful for tracking pine snakes because their movementsare hard to see through simple observation. But placing atransmitter on the surface of a pine snake’s skin wouldinterfere with the animal’s slithering movements andfeeding via constriction. So Ward has learned to surgicallyimplant the transmitters in snakes instead, through a tinyone-inch incision.39
Page 2 and 3: Odatria2012 VHS Committee:President
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Page 8 and 9: In New Guinea, however, many people
Page 10 and 11: Michael and Mike (Swan) were in rad
Page 12 and 13: HUSBANDRYCunningham’s skinks are
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Page 16 and 17: BEHAVIORAL CHARACTERISTICS ANDCOMPA
Page 18 and 19: TAMING THE SAVAGE RAINBOW BEASTGrah
Page 20 and 21: INDONESIA REMAINS EPICENTER FOR ILL
Page 22 and 23: HERP HAPPENINGSFlexible Snake Armor
Page 24 and 25: snake in Kurri Kurri, near Maitland
Page 26 and 27: HUMAN FETAL HEARTSThe studies show
Page 28 and 29: The state government has said it is
Page 30 and 31: on the location of the species they
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Page 42 and 43: the pectoral girdle to the region o
Page 44 and 45: “To do this we focused our effort
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