08-29-2011, 01:12 AM
HerpDigest.org: The Only Free Weekly Electronic Newsletter That Reports on the Latest News on Herpetological Conservation, Husbandry and Science Volume # 11 Issue # 37/ 8/28/11 (A Not-for-Profit Publication)
Publisher/Editor- Allen Salzberg
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Table of Contents
1) SnapperFest Update
2) Possible Biological Control Discovered for Pathogen Devastating Amphibians
3) In Memoriam Findlay Ewing Russell (1919-2011)
4) Twenty endangered Siamese crocodiles hatch in Laos
5) TERMS OF REFERENCE - SHORT-TERM CONTRACT FOR A SEA TURTLE EXPERT
6) 6) Sea Turtle Andre Dead, Three Weeks After Florida Release
7) Zoo vet makes house calls for sick turtles
8) National Zoo’s Reptile Discovery Center adds endangered species, emphasizes preservation ____________________________________________________________________________
ON SALE - The Encyclopedia of Turtles of U.S. & Canada, by Ernst and Lovich. Over 800 pages, color photos of every species, a 200 page bibliography. The definitive book on these turtles.
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1) SnapperFest Update - HD will try to both continue to help people organize against Snapperfest as well as regularly report on it. A quick surf of the web found that there are Facebook pages I assume against Snapperfect popping up all over the place. A sample of the titles of the top ones (I am not endorsing any and their tactics, since I have not had a chance to read them)
1) Snapperfest
2)Boycott Campshore Campground in Indiana, Home of Snapperfest
3) Snapperfest
4) So Long Snapperfest
5) International Telephone Protest Against Snapperfest (Was last Friday)
All had on average 300-700 members. From Past experience Probably a lot were the same people joining all the groups.
With the New York Turtle & Tortoise Society we have drawn up a basic battle plan, one that involves lawyers, and as many legitimate NGO’s we can get across the spectrum (Not just ad-hoc Facebook groups or causes or websites.) with a constant drumbeat of media coverage.
From past battles the old cliche of “United we stand, Divided we Fall,” is true, and right one people are flawing around trying to find a place to funner their anger. We hope our plan would be the place people could unite behind. To win it’s a going to a long, expensive year until the next “Snapperfest.”, next year.
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2) Possible Biological Control Discovered for Pathogen Devastating Amphibians
ScienceDaily (Aug. 27, 2011) — Zoologists at Oregon State University have discovered that a freshwater species of zooplankton will eat a fungal pathogen which is devastating amphibian populations around the world.
This tiny zooplankton, calledDaphnia magna, could provide a desperately needed tool for biological control of this deadly fungus, the scientists said, if field studies confirm its efficacy in a natural setting.
The fungus, B. dendrobatidis, is referred to as a "chytrid" fungus, and when it reaches high levels can disrupt electrolyte balance and lead to death from cardiac arrest in its amphibian hosts. One researcher has called its impact on amphibians "the most spectacular loss of vertebrate biodiversity due to disease in recorded history."
The research, reported August 26 in the journal Biodiversity and Conservation, was supported by the National Science Foundation.
"There was evidence that zooplankton would eat some other types of fungi, so we wanted to find out if Daphnia would consume the chytrid fungus," said Julia Buck, an OSU doctoral student in zoology and lead author on the study. "Our laboratory experiments and DNA analysis confirmed that it would eat the zoospore, the free-swimming stage of the fungus."
"We feel that biological control offers the best chance to control this fungal disease, and now we have a good candidate for that," she said. "Efforts to eradicate this disease have been unsuccessful, but so far no one has attempted biocontrol of the chytrid fungus. That may be the way to go."
The chytrid fungus, which was only identified in 1998, is not always deadly at low levels of infestation, Buck said. It may not be necessary to completely eliminate it, but rather just reduce its density in order to prevent mortality. Biological controls can work well in that type of situation.
Amphibians have been one of the great survival stories in Earth's history, evolving about 400 million years ago and surviving to the present while many other life forms came and went, including the dinosaurs. But in recent decades the global decline of amphibians has reached crisis proportions, almost certainly from multiple causes that include habitat destruction, pollution, increases in ultraviolet light due to ozone depletion, invasive species and other issues.
High on the list, however, is the chytrid fungus that has been documented to be destroying amphibians around the world, through a disease called chytridiomycosis.
Its impact has been severe and defied various attempts to control it, even including use of fungicides on individual amphibians. Chytridiomycosis has been responsible for "unprecedented population declines and extinctions globally," the researchers said in their report.
"About one third of the amphibians in the world are now threatened and many have gone extinct," said Andrew Blaustein, a professor of zoology, co-author on this study and an international leader in the study of amphibian decline.
"It's clear there are multiple threats to amphibians, but disease seems to be a dominant cause," he said.
Although they have survived for hundreds of millions of years, amphibians may be especially vulnerable to rapid environmental changes and new challenges that are both natural and human-caused. They have a permeable skin, and exposure to both terrestrial and aquatic environments.
Because of this, OSU researchers said, other animals such as mammals, birds and fish have so far not experienced such dramatic population declines.
Story Source:
The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Oregon State University.
Journal Reference:
Julia C. Buck, Lisa Truong, Andrew R. Blaustein.Predation by zooplankton on Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis: biological control of the deadly amphibian chytrid fungus? Biodiversity and Conservation, 2011; DOI: 10.1007/s10531-011-0147-4 ____________________________________________________________________
3) In Memoriam Findlay Ewing Russell (1919-2011)
Herpetologist Findlay Russell died peacefully on 21 August 2011 in Phoenix, Arizona. Dr. Russell was born in San Francisco in 1919 to William and Mary Jane Russell. He leaves behind an extraordinary legacy in science, particularly in the fields of toxicology and toxinology. He received his medical degree from Loma Linda University in 1952 and served as an army medic in World War II where he received a Purple Heart and two Bronze Stars.
Findlay Russell was the first president and founding member of the International Society of Toxinology (Toxicon) and continued throughout his life to support the study of toxins and venomous animals. He is recognized as one of the pioneering scientists to progress polyvalent crotalid antivenom for the use of snakebite envenomation. He served as professor of neurology, physiology and biology at the University of Southern California for over 30 years. He authored numerous scientific articles and books. In addition to his medical degree, he held a doctorate in English and was awarded an honorary degree in law from the University of Santa Barbara. His best known herpetological work was "Snake Venom Poisoning," published in 1980 by J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia.
Findlay Russell was a renowned speaker and was well respected by his colleagues. He lived in Portal, Arizona, where he spent much time enjoying the high desert and collecting tarantulas, scorpions, spiders and rattlesnakes. Dr. Russell leaves five children, Christa Russell Cessaro, Sharon Russell Boyle, Robin Russell, Connie Lane, and Mark Russell.
To be able to live one's dream for a lifetime is a great thing. Findlay Russell did it.
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The Board of Directors of The Center for North American Herpetology and HerpDigest extends its deepest sympathies to the family and friends of Findlay Russell.
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4) Twenty endangered Siamese crocodiles hatch in Laos Aug 28, 2011 4:47 PM, By JERRY HARMER
VIENTIANE, Laos (AP) - One of the world's rarest crocodile species has moved a little bit further from extinction with the hatching of 20 wild eggs plucked from a nest found in southern Laos.
Experts believe there could be as few as 300 Siamese crocodiles remaining in the world's swamps, forests and rivers, so the discovery of the nest - the first found in the mountainous, jungle-clad country since 2008 - is a significant step in the rehabilitation of a species that was declared extinct in the wild in 1992.
Since then, tiny populations have been discovered in remote corners of its range, which used to include most of Southeast Asia. Still, the crocs remain critically endangered, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List, the acknowledged authority on the status of global biodiversity.
Under the soft red light of an incubator, the 20 baby crocodiles tapped and cracked their way into the world last week. Their nest was found in the southern province of Savannakhet in June by a team of villagers trained by the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society, which is working to save the species in landlocked Laos.
"The feeling was one of elation," Chris Hallam, who coordinates the organization's crocodile project in Laos, told The Associated Press about the hatching.
"When you look at the global population and the population in Laos it represents quite a significant number of individual crocodiles," he said.
The crocs were hatched at the Lao Zoo, just outside Vientiane, where they were moved to protect them from predators such as snakes and monitor lizards.
Hallam said the crocodiles will be raised in captivity for 18 months before being released back into the wild.
And it seems they won't be alone. Villagers recently found another nest in Savannakhet with 20 eggs inside. Because those crocs are so near to hatching, conservationists decided to leave them where they are with village teams keeping an eye on them.
The Siamese crocodile grows up to 10 feet (3 meters) in length but is generally docile. Their passive nature made them all the easier to hunt. In recent decades thousands were captured and sold to crocodile farms that sprung up across Southeast Asia, feeding a vogue for its renowned soft skin and a taste for its meat.
Several thousand of the crocodiles remain in farms and in zoos, though many have been crossbred with bigger species, reducing still further the numbers of pure Siamese crocodiles.
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5) TERMS OF REFERENCE
SHORT-TERM CONTRACT FOR A SEA TURTLE EXPERT Background and Objectives The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) (www.iccat.int), an intergovernmental organization whose Secretariat headquarters is based in Madrid, Spain, is seeking to contract an expert to assist in the assessment of the impact of ICCAT fisheries on sea turtle populations. The assessment will be conducted in 2013, with preparations starting in 2012.
Duties and Responsibilities
Under the overall guidance of the ICCAT Executive Secretary, the Sea Turtle Expert will work with the Chairs of the Standing Committee on Research and Statistics (SCRS) and the Sub-Committee on Ecosystems (SC-ECO) to assist scientists from CPCs in collecting, reviewing and identifying appropriate methods for the assessment of the impact of fisheries on the by-catch of sea turtles, in preparation for the assessment in 2013.
The duration of the contract will not exceed six months. Final deliverables are due no less than three months before the 2012 meeting of the Sub-Committee on Ecosystems. Deliverables are:
Deliverables
1) An SCRS paper identifying all fisheries (both ICCAT and others) within the ICCAT convention area that interact with sea turtles, including non-lethal interactions and identifying fisheries that do not report on sea turtle interactions.
2) An SCRS paper reviewing analytical techniques for use in assessing the impact of fisheries on sea turtles, including spatial and temporal interactions, and including the identification of the most suitable analytical techniques given the data available to ICCAT and SC-ECO.
3) A review of sea turtle mitigation measures across the five tuna RFMOs and other fisheries management organisations.
Specific duties include:
− Mitigation: Assist in a review of existing sea turtle by-catch mitigation measures and potential sources of by-catch information such as, and not limited to, peer-review publications, reports, working documents.
− Mortality: Collect information regarding the quantification of post-interaction mortality.
− Data: Help collate data sets on longline fishing effort with as much detail as possible (e.g., area fished, depth of fishing), as well as purse seine fisheries data.
− Database: Update the ICCAT by-catch database, as appropriate, with data on turtle by-catch and life history parameters.
− Modeling: Review methodologies available to assess the impact of fisheries on turtles,
including:
- data requirements and assumptions of each method;
- identifying appropriate models given the available data;
- assistance in recommending appropriate modeling approaches; and
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- interaction with scientists from CPCs and turtle experts and participation in multidisciplinary teams and committees.
The deliverables will be examined by the Secretariat, the SCRS Chair and the Convener of the Sub- Committee on Ecosystems, who may request additional information. The Contractor will then have an additional month to make the changes requested.
Copyright
All of the material produced by the Contractor will remain the property of ICCAT.
Contractor Qualifications and Experience (Essential) − Post-graduate degree in Marine Sciences, or a closely related field.
− Experience in population modeling and the development of management advice based on scientific studies.
− Demonstrated ability to make judicious choices as to the appropriateness of models based upon available data and knowledge and the use of fishery databases for use in assessments.
− Experience in participating in multi-disciplinary teams for ecosystem approach, fisheries biology and assessment.
− Demonstrated experience in computer modeling in relation to fisheries assessment and environmental database.
− Good knowledge of database management.
− Demonstrated capacity to conceptualize and quantify scientific problems associated with bycatch assessment and management and to communicate these orally and in writing.
Knowledge of the fisheries for tuna and tuna-like species within the ICCAT Convention area − Ability to work well under pressure and to work effectively and harmoniously with people of different national and cultural backgrounds.
− Excellent working knowledge of one of ICCAT’s three official languages (English, French and Spanish).
Request for bids
Interested experts should submit the following information to the Executive Secretary (info@iccat.int) on or before September 12, 2011:
− A Curriculum Vitae;
− A detailed proposal of the work to be carried out (i.e., the methodology to be followed to research available data, the language, timeline) and explanation of qualifications.
− A total budget, which must include a two-week trip to Madrid to present an interim report to SCRS in 2012.
A Steering Committee will select the Contractor based on the above information.
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Contractors can be either individuals or research institutions such as government laboratories, universities, or private consultancy firms.
Disbursements will be made according to the following schedule: 10% upon signing of the contract, 50% upon complete deliverables 1 to 3, and 40% upon incorporation of comments by the Secretariat, the SCRS Chair and the Convener of the Sub-Committee on Ecosystems.
Logistics
All documents provided by the Contractor must be in MS Office or Open Office or compatible format.
The documents should be in English, French or Spanish.
All databases should be in ACCESS or MS SQL.
The Contractor will be responsible for obtaining permission to reproduce copyrighted pictures or graphs.
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6) Sea Turtle Andre Dead, Three Weeks After Florida Release Posted by Kristeen Moore on August 27, 2011 11:04 AM
Sea turtle Andre was found dead on Wednesday, which was only three weeks after a team released the rehabilitated loggerhead back into the ocean, according to the Associated Press. Florida-based Loggerhead Marinelife Center had rescued Andre last June and rehabilitated the turtle before his release earlier this month.
Andre was located on Hutchinson Island, and was identified by a tag that the Center had placed on him prior to his release. David McClymont, president of the Loggerhead Marinelife Center told the Associated Press that the sea turtle was in such bad condition, that their staff could not determine the cause of death.
The green sea turtle was originally rescued by the Center on June 15, 2010, where he was found stranded on a sandbar. According to the Associated Press, two holes in Andre’s shell from boat accidents resulted in the sea turtle carrying around three pounds of sand in his body, as well as a few crabs. Andre also suffered a collapsed lung, pneumonia, an exposed spine and an infection.
Veterinarians with the Loggerhead Marinelife Center recognized that the turtle had good neurological function, an indication that he could be rehabilitated. His rehabilitation marked new advancements in the search and rescue of subsequent sea turtles.
Andre was 177 pounds and approximately 25-years-old upon his release, according to the Associated Press.
Sea turtles are an endangered species. It is currently nesting season along the coasts of Florida. Hurricane Irene is thought to have disrupted the nests of some sea turtles along Florida’s east coast.
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7) Zoo vet makes house calls for sick turtles by ALLAN TURNER, HOUSTON CHRONICLE August 26, 2011
GALVESTON - Eighteen years ago, a lunch plate-sized female Kemp's ridley sea turtle - one of thousands hatched and nurtured to save the species from extinction - was released off Galveston Island. This May, the turtle, weighing about 100 pounds and laden with dozens of eggs, returned to nest near Jamaica Beach.
It should have been a victorious return, an indication that the endangered species, reduced to only 300 known breeding females in 1985, was making a comeback. But this return was no success.
A boat's propeller had cleaved a 100-square-inch segment from the animal's shell, shattering much of what remained. Bleeding, oozing, its mangled rear quarters resembling hamburger meat, the turtle that would be designated LNH110528-01 seemed destined to die.
Discovered by a beachcomber, the animal was taken to the National Marine Fisheries Service's Galveston turtle hospital and a frantic call was placed to Dr. Joe Flanagan, veterinary chief at the Houston Zoo.
When it comes to sick or injured turtles, Flanagan, 53, is the region's go-to doc, a gray-haired, avuncular Dr. Oz, Marcus Welby and Dr. Ruth rolled into one. Ben Higgins, manager of the fishery service's sea turtle program, calls Flanagan's volunteer work key to his hospital's success.
"We can't afford a veterinarian," he says.
Up to 45 turtles a year - victims of infections, propellers or fishhooks - come under Flanagan's care. Most are treated at the Houston Zoo, where he oversees the 17-member team charged with caring for the facility's 6,000 animals.
Those requiring long-term care are kept in tanks at the Galveston hospital, an unfunded sideline of the federal program to test strategies to save turtles from commercial fishing operations.
Armed with a sophisticated pharmaceutical arsenal and skilled at delicate surgical maneuvers accomplished through tissues outside the shell, Flanagan modestly plays down his role in turtle health.
"Turtles," he says, "will survive."
Flanagan, a Nebraska native who took his veterinary training at Iowa State University, professes a fascination with turtles that dates to his childhood.
"They occur all over the world, from oceans to deserts. They all hatch from eggs, but some in less than two months and others in 18. The come in all sizes. Some fit in the palm of your hand, some are 6 to 8 feet. … They're just neat to look at."
This week, Flanagan's hospitalized patients included tiny hawksbill turtles whose flippers were severed by fibers of nylon bags in which they'd become entangled; a turtle that suffered bleeding after a fishhook was extracted from its neck; loggerhead hatchlings that inexplicably stopped eating; and LNH110528-01, which was to be examined for possible release.
Touch-and-go
The fate of the stranded ridley was touch-and-go after she was discovered May 28 while attempting to dig nest holes near Jamaica Beach. A boat's propeller had sliced away much of her shell, exposing muscle, fat and connective tissue.
"It was certain that a person couldn't go through that surgically without worry of totally contaminating the abdominal cavity," Flanagan says.
An ultrasound showed she was filled with eggs. Flanagan administered oxytocin, medication to induce laying, obtaining 68 eggs, most of which hatched. Systemic antibiotics were given, but the situation remained grim.
The turtle refused to eat, either because she was suffering intense pain or because other eggs remained in her body. X-rays showed she still carried more than a dozen eggs.
A "living tag" on the turtle's shell revealed it had been one of the ridleys hatched in a discontinued Galveston breeding program in 1993. Flanagan, who had worked as a volunteer in that program, feels a special tie to the injured animal. Recalling her fate "almost brought tears to my eyes."
In mid-July, broken shells were found in her tank. More oxytocin was given and the rest of the eggs expelled. At that point, the patient's health and prognosis improved. The open wounds have sealed and toughened.
Not quite ready to go
Although a final decision has not been made, it appears after Flanagan's examination of the turtle that the ridley is not ready to be released.
Protective bone eventually will grow beneath the damaged shell, but that process could take a year. Fractured parts of the remaining shell could be reinforced with braces, but there's no guarantee the patch would last.
"If we release her as she is," Flanagan says, "she never will heal."
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8) National Zoo’s Reptile Discovery Center adds endangered species, emphasizes preservation By Amanda Long, Published: August 18, Washington Post,
When you realize your home’s look hasn’t evolved much since its post-college phase, you put the Ikea bookshelves on Craigslist, start searching for a contractor who won’t drive you crazy, scrutinize endless tile samples and stop considering Pottery Barn too public a venue to fight with your spouse. Then you prepare the neighbors and pay the county.
When you realize your reptile house is “stuck in the ’80s,” as National Zoo biologist Matt Evans did last year, you put your aging non-endangered snakes, turtles and lizards on the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ “status list” (a Freecycle of sorts for curators), work the phones to find a new home for unwanted animals, and start cashing in favors from former colleagues whose zoos have just the gecko you gotta have. Then you prepare the neighbors: Tell the plant people you need new native plants, the commissary you need new meat, and the vet you need quarantine space. And you cross your fingers and hope no red tape keeps the Smithsonian’s Reptile Discovery Center from getting fresh, new cold blood.
Kinda makes your remodeling look less beastly.
When Dennis Kelly left his post at Zoo Atlanta to take over the National Zoo last year, he made species preservation his top priority. He enlisted Evans and Jim Murphy, a research associate, to do a massive remodeling of its “geriatric” inventory, while revamping its mission: more research, more species protection and more endangered animals.
The Smithsonian’s zoo wasn’t, as Evans says, “doing much in the way of science” or leading the country in species preservation, so the 71-year-old Murphy, a giant in herpetology circles, was called out of semi-retirement to head up the Reptile Discovery Center.
“Firing up the herpetologists is Jim’s forte,” said David Chiszar, an animal behaviorist and snake specialist at the University of Colorado at Boulder. In terms of research and journal contributions, Chiszar says, “Murphy is probably in the top five across all zoos and across all the years we have had zoos in the U.S.”
It was the conservation aspect that lured Murphy out of semi-retirement: “I am convinced that we are in the midst of the sixth mass extinction event of animals and plants, caused by humans,” he says. The fifth cleared the planet of dinosaurs. “I know hundreds of biologists, and not one is optimistic. It is incumbent upon me to alert others to this looming catastrophe.”
With every new endangered Malagasy leaf-tailed gecko now calling Woodley Park home, Evans and Murphy are shifting the Reptile Discovery Center from a static, but crowd-pleasing, collection that hadn’t turned over in decades to one that has 13 new species.
To make room for the 33 and counting newcomers, the reptile center team “deaccessioned” 57 animals. Deaccessioning is the right-sizing of the museum world. One day, you’re hanging out with the other leopard geckos munching on mealworms, the next you’re at the Bramble Park Zoo in South Dakota.
But think about it: It is not that easy to find a good home for a leopard gecko.
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Sale $10.00 off
Life in a Shell: A Physiologist's View of a Turtle Hardcover, Donald C. Jackson, Hardcover, 192 pages, Harvard University Press, $29.95 plus $6.00 S&H
Product Description
Trundling along in essentially the same form for some 220 million years, turtles have seen dinosaurs come and go, mammals emerge, and humankind expand its dominion. Is it any wonder the persistent reptile bested the hare? In this engaging book physiologist Donald Jackson shares a lifetime of observation of this curious creature, allowing us a look under the shell of an animal at once so familiar and so strange.
Here we discover how the turtle’s proverbial slowness helps it survive a long, cold winter under ice. How the shell not only serves as a protective home but also influences such essential functions as buoyancy control, breathing, and surviving remarkably long periods without oxygen, and how many other physiological features help define this unique animal. Jackson offers insight into what exactly it’s like to live inside a shell—to carry the heavy carapace on land and in water, to breathe without an expandable ribcage, to have sex with all that body armor intervening.
Along the way we also learn something about the process of scientific discovery—how the answer to one question leads to new questions, how a chance observation can change the direction of study, and above all how new research always builds on the previous work of others. A clear and informative exposition of physiological concepts using the turtle as a model organism, the book is as interesting for what it tells us about scientific investigation as it is for its deep and detailed understanding of how the enduring turtle “works.”
About the Author
Donald C. Jackson is Professor Emeritus of Medical Science, Brown University.
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FORBIDDEN CREATURES: inside the world of animal smuggling and exotic pets. by Peter Laufer, 2010. Lyons Press, Guilford, Connecticut. Hardcover $19.95 250 pages, plus $6.00 for S&H (Only one copy left)
THE ECOLOGY, EXPLOITATION AND CONSERVATION OF RIVER TURTLES by Don Moll and Edward O. Moll. Considered by turtle scientists, and conservationists as one of the best books on turtle conservation. 420 pages; 90 halftones & 3 line illus.; 6-1/8 x 9-1/4; List price $80, now $35.00 plus $7.50 S&H. )Since book is now out of print, available only through used book sites like Alibris where cheapest price for a copy is $121.00) (Only 2 copies left.)
AMPHIBIAN ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION: A HANDBOOK OF TECHNIQUES (TECHNIQUES IN ECOLOGY & CONSERVATION) (Paperback) by C. Kenneth Dodd Jr. (Editor) 556 pages, USA, Oxford Univ. Press. Available. $59.95 plus $7.50 S&H By editor Kenneth Dodd. (Only one copy left.)
“TURTLES: THE ANIMAL ANSWER GUIDE.” By Whit Gibbons and Judy Greene of the Savannah River Ecology Lab. © 2009 176 pages, 35 color photos, 64 halftones, Paperback., 7” x 11”-$24.95 PLUS $6.00 S&H - A book any nature center or science class should have. (Only have 1 copy )
ECOLOGICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL PHYSIOLOGY OF AMPHIBIANS Stan Hillman, Philip Withers, Robert Drewes and Stan Hillyard
464 pages; 105 line, 55 halftone illustrations; 6-1/2 x 9-1/4; softcover.
Price: $65.00 Plus $7.50 for S&H
EXTINCTION IN OUR TIMES-GLOBAL AMPHIBIAN DECLINE James P. Collins and Martha L. Crump Foreword by Thomas E. Lovejoy III
304 pages; 25 halftone and 3 line illus.; 6-1/8 x 9-1/4 Hardback, 304 pages, 25 halftone and 3 line illus.; 6-1/8 x 9-1/4
Price: $29.95, Plus $7.50 for S&H.
Here are two books on turtles and tortoises worth having.
New Book - Diamondback Terrapins: Gems of the Turtle World ($24.95 plus $6 S&H)Complete Owner's Guide to Keeping and Breeding Diamondback Terrapins. Chapters include Natural History, The Genus Malaclemys, Terrapins in Captivity, Health Care, Breeding, and Conservation. * The first book written on all 7 diamondback terrapin subspecies. * The only book with over 150 color photos of diamondback terrapins. * Book includes picture of the one and only albino diamondback terrapin. * Information and pictures on a possible 8th subspecies. 85 pages. by James Lee and Samuel Chew.
Overseas orders email first for S&H, but Europe is $15.00
STAR TORTOISES
By Jerry Fife
$14.95 + $300 s/h
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Photos and graphs that are part of the story like #9, the link to the original article with all the visual material is there. Ditto for interesting videos on Youtube.
Publisher/Editor- Allen Salzberg
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Table of Contents
1) SnapperFest Update
2) Possible Biological Control Discovered for Pathogen Devastating Amphibians
3) In Memoriam Findlay Ewing Russell (1919-2011)
4) Twenty endangered Siamese crocodiles hatch in Laos
5) TERMS OF REFERENCE - SHORT-TERM CONTRACT FOR A SEA TURTLE EXPERT
6) 6) Sea Turtle Andre Dead, Three Weeks After Florida Release
7) Zoo vet makes house calls for sick turtles
8) National Zoo’s Reptile Discovery Center adds endangered species, emphasizes preservation ____________________________________________________________________________
ON SALE - The Encyclopedia of Turtles of U.S. & Canada, by Ernst and Lovich. Over 800 pages, color photos of every species, a 200 page bibliography. The definitive book on these turtles.
List Price $95.00 plus $10.00 for S&H. Now $65.00 S&H only $5.00 Or pay part or all of the difference in price to help HerpDigest Stay Alive.
Anything you chose to do is appreciated.
How to order see below.
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1) SnapperFest Update - HD will try to both continue to help people organize against Snapperfest as well as regularly report on it. A quick surf of the web found that there are Facebook pages I assume against Snapperfect popping up all over the place. A sample of the titles of the top ones (I am not endorsing any and their tactics, since I have not had a chance to read them)
1) Snapperfest
2)Boycott Campshore Campground in Indiana, Home of Snapperfest
3) Snapperfest
4) So Long Snapperfest
5) International Telephone Protest Against Snapperfest (Was last Friday)
All had on average 300-700 members. From Past experience Probably a lot were the same people joining all the groups.
With the New York Turtle & Tortoise Society we have drawn up a basic battle plan, one that involves lawyers, and as many legitimate NGO’s we can get across the spectrum (Not just ad-hoc Facebook groups or causes or websites.) with a constant drumbeat of media coverage.
From past battles the old cliche of “United we stand, Divided we Fall,” is true, and right one people are flawing around trying to find a place to funner their anger. We hope our plan would be the place people could unite behind. To win it’s a going to a long, expensive year until the next “Snapperfest.”, next year.
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2) Possible Biological Control Discovered for Pathogen Devastating Amphibians
ScienceDaily (Aug. 27, 2011) — Zoologists at Oregon State University have discovered that a freshwater species of zooplankton will eat a fungal pathogen which is devastating amphibian populations around the world.
This tiny zooplankton, calledDaphnia magna, could provide a desperately needed tool for biological control of this deadly fungus, the scientists said, if field studies confirm its efficacy in a natural setting.
The fungus, B. dendrobatidis, is referred to as a "chytrid" fungus, and when it reaches high levels can disrupt electrolyte balance and lead to death from cardiac arrest in its amphibian hosts. One researcher has called its impact on amphibians "the most spectacular loss of vertebrate biodiversity due to disease in recorded history."
The research, reported August 26 in the journal Biodiversity and Conservation, was supported by the National Science Foundation.
"There was evidence that zooplankton would eat some other types of fungi, so we wanted to find out if Daphnia would consume the chytrid fungus," said Julia Buck, an OSU doctoral student in zoology and lead author on the study. "Our laboratory experiments and DNA analysis confirmed that it would eat the zoospore, the free-swimming stage of the fungus."
"We feel that biological control offers the best chance to control this fungal disease, and now we have a good candidate for that," she said. "Efforts to eradicate this disease have been unsuccessful, but so far no one has attempted biocontrol of the chytrid fungus. That may be the way to go."
The chytrid fungus, which was only identified in 1998, is not always deadly at low levels of infestation, Buck said. It may not be necessary to completely eliminate it, but rather just reduce its density in order to prevent mortality. Biological controls can work well in that type of situation.
Amphibians have been one of the great survival stories in Earth's history, evolving about 400 million years ago and surviving to the present while many other life forms came and went, including the dinosaurs. But in recent decades the global decline of amphibians has reached crisis proportions, almost certainly from multiple causes that include habitat destruction, pollution, increases in ultraviolet light due to ozone depletion, invasive species and other issues.
High on the list, however, is the chytrid fungus that has been documented to be destroying amphibians around the world, through a disease called chytridiomycosis.
Its impact has been severe and defied various attempts to control it, even including use of fungicides on individual amphibians. Chytridiomycosis has been responsible for "unprecedented population declines and extinctions globally," the researchers said in their report.
"About one third of the amphibians in the world are now threatened and many have gone extinct," said Andrew Blaustein, a professor of zoology, co-author on this study and an international leader in the study of amphibian decline.
"It's clear there are multiple threats to amphibians, but disease seems to be a dominant cause," he said.
Although they have survived for hundreds of millions of years, amphibians may be especially vulnerable to rapid environmental changes and new challenges that are both natural and human-caused. They have a permeable skin, and exposure to both terrestrial and aquatic environments.
Because of this, OSU researchers said, other animals such as mammals, birds and fish have so far not experienced such dramatic population declines.
Story Source:
The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Oregon State University.
Journal Reference:
Julia C. Buck, Lisa Truong, Andrew R. Blaustein.Predation by zooplankton on Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis: biological control of the deadly amphibian chytrid fungus? Biodiversity and Conservation, 2011; DOI: 10.1007/s10531-011-0147-4 ____________________________________________________________________
3) In Memoriam Findlay Ewing Russell (1919-2011)
Herpetologist Findlay Russell died peacefully on 21 August 2011 in Phoenix, Arizona. Dr. Russell was born in San Francisco in 1919 to William and Mary Jane Russell. He leaves behind an extraordinary legacy in science, particularly in the fields of toxicology and toxinology. He received his medical degree from Loma Linda University in 1952 and served as an army medic in World War II where he received a Purple Heart and two Bronze Stars.
Findlay Russell was the first president and founding member of the International Society of Toxinology (Toxicon) and continued throughout his life to support the study of toxins and venomous animals. He is recognized as one of the pioneering scientists to progress polyvalent crotalid antivenom for the use of snakebite envenomation. He served as professor of neurology, physiology and biology at the University of Southern California for over 30 years. He authored numerous scientific articles and books. In addition to his medical degree, he held a doctorate in English and was awarded an honorary degree in law from the University of Santa Barbara. His best known herpetological work was "Snake Venom Poisoning," published in 1980 by J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia.
Findlay Russell was a renowned speaker and was well respected by his colleagues. He lived in Portal, Arizona, where he spent much time enjoying the high desert and collecting tarantulas, scorpions, spiders and rattlesnakes. Dr. Russell leaves five children, Christa Russell Cessaro, Sharon Russell Boyle, Robin Russell, Connie Lane, and Mark Russell.
To be able to live one's dream for a lifetime is a great thing. Findlay Russell did it.
*****
The Board of Directors of The Center for North American Herpetology and HerpDigest extends its deepest sympathies to the family and friends of Findlay Russell.
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4) Twenty endangered Siamese crocodiles hatch in Laos Aug 28, 2011 4:47 PM, By JERRY HARMER
VIENTIANE, Laos (AP) - One of the world's rarest crocodile species has moved a little bit further from extinction with the hatching of 20 wild eggs plucked from a nest found in southern Laos.
Experts believe there could be as few as 300 Siamese crocodiles remaining in the world's swamps, forests and rivers, so the discovery of the nest - the first found in the mountainous, jungle-clad country since 2008 - is a significant step in the rehabilitation of a species that was declared extinct in the wild in 1992.
Since then, tiny populations have been discovered in remote corners of its range, which used to include most of Southeast Asia. Still, the crocs remain critically endangered, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List, the acknowledged authority on the status of global biodiversity.
Under the soft red light of an incubator, the 20 baby crocodiles tapped and cracked their way into the world last week. Their nest was found in the southern province of Savannakhet in June by a team of villagers trained by the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society, which is working to save the species in landlocked Laos.
"The feeling was one of elation," Chris Hallam, who coordinates the organization's crocodile project in Laos, told The Associated Press about the hatching.
"When you look at the global population and the population in Laos it represents quite a significant number of individual crocodiles," he said.
The crocs were hatched at the Lao Zoo, just outside Vientiane, where they were moved to protect them from predators such as snakes and monitor lizards.
Hallam said the crocodiles will be raised in captivity for 18 months before being released back into the wild.
And it seems they won't be alone. Villagers recently found another nest in Savannakhet with 20 eggs inside. Because those crocs are so near to hatching, conservationists decided to leave them where they are with village teams keeping an eye on them.
The Siamese crocodile grows up to 10 feet (3 meters) in length but is generally docile. Their passive nature made them all the easier to hunt. In recent decades thousands were captured and sold to crocodile farms that sprung up across Southeast Asia, feeding a vogue for its renowned soft skin and a taste for its meat.
Several thousand of the crocodiles remain in farms and in zoos, though many have been crossbred with bigger species, reducing still further the numbers of pure Siamese crocodiles.
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5) TERMS OF REFERENCE
SHORT-TERM CONTRACT FOR A SEA TURTLE EXPERT Background and Objectives The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) (www.iccat.int), an intergovernmental organization whose Secretariat headquarters is based in Madrid, Spain, is seeking to contract an expert to assist in the assessment of the impact of ICCAT fisheries on sea turtle populations. The assessment will be conducted in 2013, with preparations starting in 2012.
Duties and Responsibilities
Under the overall guidance of the ICCAT Executive Secretary, the Sea Turtle Expert will work with the Chairs of the Standing Committee on Research and Statistics (SCRS) and the Sub-Committee on Ecosystems (SC-ECO) to assist scientists from CPCs in collecting, reviewing and identifying appropriate methods for the assessment of the impact of fisheries on the by-catch of sea turtles, in preparation for the assessment in 2013.
The duration of the contract will not exceed six months. Final deliverables are due no less than three months before the 2012 meeting of the Sub-Committee on Ecosystems. Deliverables are:
Deliverables
1) An SCRS paper identifying all fisheries (both ICCAT and others) within the ICCAT convention area that interact with sea turtles, including non-lethal interactions and identifying fisheries that do not report on sea turtle interactions.
2) An SCRS paper reviewing analytical techniques for use in assessing the impact of fisheries on sea turtles, including spatial and temporal interactions, and including the identification of the most suitable analytical techniques given the data available to ICCAT and SC-ECO.
3) A review of sea turtle mitigation measures across the five tuna RFMOs and other fisheries management organisations.
Specific duties include:
− Mitigation: Assist in a review of existing sea turtle by-catch mitigation measures and potential sources of by-catch information such as, and not limited to, peer-review publications, reports, working documents.
− Mortality: Collect information regarding the quantification of post-interaction mortality.
− Data: Help collate data sets on longline fishing effort with as much detail as possible (e.g., area fished, depth of fishing), as well as purse seine fisheries data.
− Database: Update the ICCAT by-catch database, as appropriate, with data on turtle by-catch and life history parameters.
− Modeling: Review methodologies available to assess the impact of fisheries on turtles,
including:
- data requirements and assumptions of each method;
- identifying appropriate models given the available data;
- assistance in recommending appropriate modeling approaches; and
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- interaction with scientists from CPCs and turtle experts and participation in multidisciplinary teams and committees.
The deliverables will be examined by the Secretariat, the SCRS Chair and the Convener of the Sub- Committee on Ecosystems, who may request additional information. The Contractor will then have an additional month to make the changes requested.
Copyright
All of the material produced by the Contractor will remain the property of ICCAT.
Contractor Qualifications and Experience (Essential) − Post-graduate degree in Marine Sciences, or a closely related field.
− Experience in population modeling and the development of management advice based on scientific studies.
− Demonstrated ability to make judicious choices as to the appropriateness of models based upon available data and knowledge and the use of fishery databases for use in assessments.
− Experience in participating in multi-disciplinary teams for ecosystem approach, fisheries biology and assessment.
− Demonstrated experience in computer modeling in relation to fisheries assessment and environmental database.
− Good knowledge of database management.
− Demonstrated capacity to conceptualize and quantify scientific problems associated with bycatch assessment and management and to communicate these orally and in writing.
Knowledge of the fisheries for tuna and tuna-like species within the ICCAT Convention area − Ability to work well under pressure and to work effectively and harmoniously with people of different national and cultural backgrounds.
− Excellent working knowledge of one of ICCAT’s three official languages (English, French and Spanish).
Request for bids
Interested experts should submit the following information to the Executive Secretary (info@iccat.int) on or before September 12, 2011:
− A Curriculum Vitae;
− A detailed proposal of the work to be carried out (i.e., the methodology to be followed to research available data, the language, timeline) and explanation of qualifications.
− A total budget, which must include a two-week trip to Madrid to present an interim report to SCRS in 2012.
A Steering Committee will select the Contractor based on the above information.
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Contractors can be either individuals or research institutions such as government laboratories, universities, or private consultancy firms.
Disbursements will be made according to the following schedule: 10% upon signing of the contract, 50% upon complete deliverables 1 to 3, and 40% upon incorporation of comments by the Secretariat, the SCRS Chair and the Convener of the Sub-Committee on Ecosystems.
Logistics
All documents provided by the Contractor must be in MS Office or Open Office or compatible format.
The documents should be in English, French or Spanish.
All databases should be in ACCESS or MS SQL.
The Contractor will be responsible for obtaining permission to reproduce copyrighted pictures or graphs.
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6) Sea Turtle Andre Dead, Three Weeks After Florida Release Posted by Kristeen Moore on August 27, 2011 11:04 AM
Sea turtle Andre was found dead on Wednesday, which was only three weeks after a team released the rehabilitated loggerhead back into the ocean, according to the Associated Press. Florida-based Loggerhead Marinelife Center had rescued Andre last June and rehabilitated the turtle before his release earlier this month.
Andre was located on Hutchinson Island, and was identified by a tag that the Center had placed on him prior to his release. David McClymont, president of the Loggerhead Marinelife Center told the Associated Press that the sea turtle was in such bad condition, that their staff could not determine the cause of death.
The green sea turtle was originally rescued by the Center on June 15, 2010, where he was found stranded on a sandbar. According to the Associated Press, two holes in Andre’s shell from boat accidents resulted in the sea turtle carrying around three pounds of sand in his body, as well as a few crabs. Andre also suffered a collapsed lung, pneumonia, an exposed spine and an infection.
Veterinarians with the Loggerhead Marinelife Center recognized that the turtle had good neurological function, an indication that he could be rehabilitated. His rehabilitation marked new advancements in the search and rescue of subsequent sea turtles.
Andre was 177 pounds and approximately 25-years-old upon his release, according to the Associated Press.
Sea turtles are an endangered species. It is currently nesting season along the coasts of Florida. Hurricane Irene is thought to have disrupted the nests of some sea turtles along Florida’s east coast.
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7) Zoo vet makes house calls for sick turtles by ALLAN TURNER, HOUSTON CHRONICLE August 26, 2011
GALVESTON - Eighteen years ago, a lunch plate-sized female Kemp's ridley sea turtle - one of thousands hatched and nurtured to save the species from extinction - was released off Galveston Island. This May, the turtle, weighing about 100 pounds and laden with dozens of eggs, returned to nest near Jamaica Beach.
It should have been a victorious return, an indication that the endangered species, reduced to only 300 known breeding females in 1985, was making a comeback. But this return was no success.
A boat's propeller had cleaved a 100-square-inch segment from the animal's shell, shattering much of what remained. Bleeding, oozing, its mangled rear quarters resembling hamburger meat, the turtle that would be designated LNH110528-01 seemed destined to die.
Discovered by a beachcomber, the animal was taken to the National Marine Fisheries Service's Galveston turtle hospital and a frantic call was placed to Dr. Joe Flanagan, veterinary chief at the Houston Zoo.
When it comes to sick or injured turtles, Flanagan, 53, is the region's go-to doc, a gray-haired, avuncular Dr. Oz, Marcus Welby and Dr. Ruth rolled into one. Ben Higgins, manager of the fishery service's sea turtle program, calls Flanagan's volunteer work key to his hospital's success.
"We can't afford a veterinarian," he says.
Up to 45 turtles a year - victims of infections, propellers or fishhooks - come under Flanagan's care. Most are treated at the Houston Zoo, where he oversees the 17-member team charged with caring for the facility's 6,000 animals.
Those requiring long-term care are kept in tanks at the Galveston hospital, an unfunded sideline of the federal program to test strategies to save turtles from commercial fishing operations.
Armed with a sophisticated pharmaceutical arsenal and skilled at delicate surgical maneuvers accomplished through tissues outside the shell, Flanagan modestly plays down his role in turtle health.
"Turtles," he says, "will survive."
Flanagan, a Nebraska native who took his veterinary training at Iowa State University, professes a fascination with turtles that dates to his childhood.
"They occur all over the world, from oceans to deserts. They all hatch from eggs, but some in less than two months and others in 18. The come in all sizes. Some fit in the palm of your hand, some are 6 to 8 feet. … They're just neat to look at."
This week, Flanagan's hospitalized patients included tiny hawksbill turtles whose flippers were severed by fibers of nylon bags in which they'd become entangled; a turtle that suffered bleeding after a fishhook was extracted from its neck; loggerhead hatchlings that inexplicably stopped eating; and LNH110528-01, which was to be examined for possible release.
Touch-and-go
The fate of the stranded ridley was touch-and-go after she was discovered May 28 while attempting to dig nest holes near Jamaica Beach. A boat's propeller had sliced away much of her shell, exposing muscle, fat and connective tissue.
"It was certain that a person couldn't go through that surgically without worry of totally contaminating the abdominal cavity," Flanagan says.
An ultrasound showed she was filled with eggs. Flanagan administered oxytocin, medication to induce laying, obtaining 68 eggs, most of which hatched. Systemic antibiotics were given, but the situation remained grim.
The turtle refused to eat, either because she was suffering intense pain or because other eggs remained in her body. X-rays showed she still carried more than a dozen eggs.
A "living tag" on the turtle's shell revealed it had been one of the ridleys hatched in a discontinued Galveston breeding program in 1993. Flanagan, who had worked as a volunteer in that program, feels a special tie to the injured animal. Recalling her fate "almost brought tears to my eyes."
In mid-July, broken shells were found in her tank. More oxytocin was given and the rest of the eggs expelled. At that point, the patient's health and prognosis improved. The open wounds have sealed and toughened.
Not quite ready to go
Although a final decision has not been made, it appears after Flanagan's examination of the turtle that the ridley is not ready to be released.
Protective bone eventually will grow beneath the damaged shell, but that process could take a year. Fractured parts of the remaining shell could be reinforced with braces, but there's no guarantee the patch would last.
"If we release her as she is," Flanagan says, "she never will heal."
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8) National Zoo’s Reptile Discovery Center adds endangered species, emphasizes preservation By Amanda Long, Published: August 18, Washington Post,
When you realize your home’s look hasn’t evolved much since its post-college phase, you put the Ikea bookshelves on Craigslist, start searching for a contractor who won’t drive you crazy, scrutinize endless tile samples and stop considering Pottery Barn too public a venue to fight with your spouse. Then you prepare the neighbors and pay the county.
When you realize your reptile house is “stuck in the ’80s,” as National Zoo biologist Matt Evans did last year, you put your aging non-endangered snakes, turtles and lizards on the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ “status list” (a Freecycle of sorts for curators), work the phones to find a new home for unwanted animals, and start cashing in favors from former colleagues whose zoos have just the gecko you gotta have. Then you prepare the neighbors: Tell the plant people you need new native plants, the commissary you need new meat, and the vet you need quarantine space. And you cross your fingers and hope no red tape keeps the Smithsonian’s Reptile Discovery Center from getting fresh, new cold blood.
Kinda makes your remodeling look less beastly.
When Dennis Kelly left his post at Zoo Atlanta to take over the National Zoo last year, he made species preservation his top priority. He enlisted Evans and Jim Murphy, a research associate, to do a massive remodeling of its “geriatric” inventory, while revamping its mission: more research, more species protection and more endangered animals.
The Smithsonian’s zoo wasn’t, as Evans says, “doing much in the way of science” or leading the country in species preservation, so the 71-year-old Murphy, a giant in herpetology circles, was called out of semi-retirement to head up the Reptile Discovery Center.
“Firing up the herpetologists is Jim’s forte,” said David Chiszar, an animal behaviorist and snake specialist at the University of Colorado at Boulder. In terms of research and journal contributions, Chiszar says, “Murphy is probably in the top five across all zoos and across all the years we have had zoos in the U.S.”
It was the conservation aspect that lured Murphy out of semi-retirement: “I am convinced that we are in the midst of the sixth mass extinction event of animals and plants, caused by humans,” he says. The fifth cleared the planet of dinosaurs. “I know hundreds of biologists, and not one is optimistic. It is incumbent upon me to alert others to this looming catastrophe.”
With every new endangered Malagasy leaf-tailed gecko now calling Woodley Park home, Evans and Murphy are shifting the Reptile Discovery Center from a static, but crowd-pleasing, collection that hadn’t turned over in decades to one that has 13 new species.
To make room for the 33 and counting newcomers, the reptile center team “deaccessioned” 57 animals. Deaccessioning is the right-sizing of the museum world. One day, you’re hanging out with the other leopard geckos munching on mealworms, the next you’re at the Bramble Park Zoo in South Dakota.
But think about it: It is not that easy to find a good home for a leopard gecko.
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Sale $10.00 off
Life in a Shell: A Physiologist's View of a Turtle Hardcover, Donald C. Jackson, Hardcover, 192 pages, Harvard University Press, $29.95 plus $6.00 S&H
Product Description
Trundling along in essentially the same form for some 220 million years, turtles have seen dinosaurs come and go, mammals emerge, and humankind expand its dominion. Is it any wonder the persistent reptile bested the hare? In this engaging book physiologist Donald Jackson shares a lifetime of observation of this curious creature, allowing us a look under the shell of an animal at once so familiar and so strange.
Here we discover how the turtle’s proverbial slowness helps it survive a long, cold winter under ice. How the shell not only serves as a protective home but also influences such essential functions as buoyancy control, breathing, and surviving remarkably long periods without oxygen, and how many other physiological features help define this unique animal. Jackson offers insight into what exactly it’s like to live inside a shell—to carry the heavy carapace on land and in water, to breathe without an expandable ribcage, to have sex with all that body armor intervening.
Along the way we also learn something about the process of scientific discovery—how the answer to one question leads to new questions, how a chance observation can change the direction of study, and above all how new research always builds on the previous work of others. A clear and informative exposition of physiological concepts using the turtle as a model organism, the book is as interesting for what it tells us about scientific investigation as it is for its deep and detailed understanding of how the enduring turtle “works.”
About the Author
Donald C. Jackson is Professor Emeritus of Medical Science, Brown University.
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FORBIDDEN CREATURES: inside the world of animal smuggling and exotic pets. by Peter Laufer, 2010. Lyons Press, Guilford, Connecticut. Hardcover $19.95 250 pages, plus $6.00 for S&H (Only one copy left)
THE ECOLOGY, EXPLOITATION AND CONSERVATION OF RIVER TURTLES by Don Moll and Edward O. Moll. Considered by turtle scientists, and conservationists as one of the best books on turtle conservation. 420 pages; 90 halftones & 3 line illus.; 6-1/8 x 9-1/4; List price $80, now $35.00 plus $7.50 S&H. )Since book is now out of print, available only through used book sites like Alibris where cheapest price for a copy is $121.00) (Only 2 copies left.)
AMPHIBIAN ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION: A HANDBOOK OF TECHNIQUES (TECHNIQUES IN ECOLOGY & CONSERVATION) (Paperback) by C. Kenneth Dodd Jr. (Editor) 556 pages, USA, Oxford Univ. Press. Available. $59.95 plus $7.50 S&H By editor Kenneth Dodd. (Only one copy left.)
“TURTLES: THE ANIMAL ANSWER GUIDE.” By Whit Gibbons and Judy Greene of the Savannah River Ecology Lab. © 2009 176 pages, 35 color photos, 64 halftones, Paperback., 7” x 11”-$24.95 PLUS $6.00 S&H - A book any nature center or science class should have. (Only have 1 copy )
ECOLOGICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL PHYSIOLOGY OF AMPHIBIANS Stan Hillman, Philip Withers, Robert Drewes and Stan Hillyard
464 pages; 105 line, 55 halftone illustrations; 6-1/2 x 9-1/4; softcover.
Price: $65.00 Plus $7.50 for S&H
EXTINCTION IN OUR TIMES-GLOBAL AMPHIBIAN DECLINE James P. Collins and Martha L. Crump Foreword by Thomas E. Lovejoy III
304 pages; 25 halftone and 3 line illus.; 6-1/8 x 9-1/4 Hardback, 304 pages, 25 halftone and 3 line illus.; 6-1/8 x 9-1/4
Price: $29.95, Plus $7.50 for S&H.
Here are two books on turtles and tortoises worth having.
New Book - Diamondback Terrapins: Gems of the Turtle World ($24.95 plus $6 S&H)Complete Owner's Guide to Keeping and Breeding Diamondback Terrapins. Chapters include Natural History, The Genus Malaclemys, Terrapins in Captivity, Health Care, Breeding, and Conservation. * The first book written on all 7 diamondback terrapin subspecies. * The only book with over 150 color photos of diamondback terrapins. * Book includes picture of the one and only albino diamondback terrapin. * Information and pictures on a possible 8th subspecies. 85 pages. by James Lee and Samuel Chew.
Overseas orders email first for S&H, but Europe is $15.00
STAR TORTOISES
By Jerry Fife
$14.95 + $300 s/h
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Photos and graphs that are part of the story like #9, the link to the original article with all the visual material is there. Ditto for interesting videos on Youtube.