Platypus Genome Reveals Links Between Reptiles, Mammals

Article & photo from CBC.ca

Scientists still don't know what to make of the duck-billed platypus, a mammal that lays eggs, has a bill like a bird and can deliver venom like a reptile. But they say they are a little closer to understanding the oddball of the animal kingdom with the publication this week of its genome sequence. An international team of researchers says the draft genome sequence of Ornithorhynchus anatinus provides scientists with a valuable resource for comparing the platypus with other mammals, and may allow them to date the emergence of mammalian traits.

"At first glance, the platypus appears as if it was the result of an evolutionary accident. But as weird as this animal looks, its genome sequence is priceless for understanding how fundamental mammalian biological processes have evolved," Francis Collins, the director of the U.S.-based National Human Genome Research Institute, said in a statement. "Comparisons of the platypus genome to those of other mammals will provide new insights into the history, structure and function of our own genome," he said.

The team found the platypus genome contains about the same number protein-coding genes as other mammals — approximately 18,500 — and shares about 80 per cent of its genes with other mammals whose genes have been sequenced. But it was the differences that scientists were most interested in. Analysis of the genome enabled scientists to match many of the platypus's unusual features with genetic sequences found in other animals, revealing a mammal that was at the crossroads between early mammal-like reptiles and most of the mammals we see today. The genetic analysis revealed, for example, that the platypus had similar milk protein genes to other mammals that produced milk for their offspring, even though it lays eggs and harboured both mammalian and reptilian genes associated with egg fertilization.

Males of the species are also capable of delivering venom through hind leg spurs, and the scientists said they found that reptile and platypus venom proteins both developed similarly but independently. The findings were published in this week's issue of the journal Nature. The consortium of researchers included scientists from the United States, Australia, England, Germany, Israel, Japan, New Zealand and Spain.

Rare Blue Iguanas Found Butchered

Story from National Geographic
Wildlife officials in the Cayman Islands are struggling to determine who killed six extremely rare blue iguanas found butchered in a nature preserve over the weekend. The reptiles were found Sunday at Queen Elizabeth II Botanical Park, a refuge for the iguanas and other wildlife on Grand Cayman Island.

The crime is a devastating blow to the species, which is found only on the small Caribbean island and is listed as critically endangered by the World Conservation Union (IUCN). Most of the remaining blue iguanas live in Queen Elizabeth Park, where a breeding program was begun in 2001. Outside the park, as few as ten of the animals are thought to survive, according to IUCN.

The six dead iguanas were found with their bodies crushed, and some had also been lacerated and partially dismembered. "This is a despicable act that was carried out by cowardly and cruel individuals," Chief Inspector Richard Barrow told the Cayman News Service. "The community … is truly sickened by this incident, and we will not stop until we find who is responsible for this senseless act." No motives or suspects were known, he added, but officials are offering a thousand-Cayman-dollar reward for information leading to an arrest.

Biologists Study Snake Movement, Mortality

From the Semissourian

Most people don't like snakes, regardless of their role in nature. For eons, tales have been spun that have given people a general disdain for and a bad impression of snakes. Fear and misunderstanding are prevalent, leading some people to kill any snake they see, by any and every means. That's a shame, said Jason Lewis, a wildlife biologist at Mingo National Wildlife Refuge near Puxico.

"Snakes serve a very important role in the ecosystem," he said. "Snakes are designed to control pest populations and they eat a lot of frogs, turtles [and] fish." Reptiles and amphibians, Lewis added, are "very sensitive to disturbance, and can be used as indicators of environmental change." Snake mortality has become a concern at the Mingo refuge because many are run over by vehicles, whether intentionally or not, during their spring and fall migration periods. The concern has grown to the point officials have begun a study to determine just how snake populations in the refuge are being affected.

Cost-share grant
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which operates the Mingo refuge, has teamed with the Missouri Department of Conservation, Missouri State University, the Mingo Swamp Friends and others on a challenge cost-share grant to study snake movement and mortality at Mingo. "We're concerned about the number of snakes being run over, and the whole idea behind the study is to minimize mortality," Lewis said. "We want to know, 'Are pregnant females being impacted more than males?'"If they are, he said, that could potentially harm the snake population, because the females produce the young. Lewis also said biologists want to find out what exactly triggers snake migrations.

The western cottonmouth, a venomous species native to the area, was chosen as the test subject "because we knew we had a healthy population," Lewis said. In early April, Lewis and Missouri State University herpetologist Dr. Brian Green captured five males and five females at their hibernaculum, or winter hibernation location, along the rocky bluffs on the refuge's western boundary. After the snakes were transported to a safe location, Green sedated eight of them and surgically implanted a flexible radio transmitter inside their bodies, near their tails. The remaining two were sent to the university later for the procedure. The transmitters will allow officials to use radio telemetry to track the snakes' movements over the course of the next year. Officials also plan to capture and implant transmitters in five cottonmouths during the summer at the adjacent Duck Creek Conservation Area to include in their study.

Read the reminder of the article here.

Reptiles: Not Buy and Release

Article from Jacksonville.com
Throughout Florida, pet snakes, iguanas and other reptiles have found their way into public parks and wooded areas. Sometimes they escape. More often, owners set these animals free without considering the consequences. This has led to rising concern in South Florida that invasive species such as the Burmese python could endanger other animals.

In North Florida though, cold weather tends to stifle survival and reproduction, effectively heading off any ecological threats. "Generally, these species we're talking about are tropical species, so it's too cold in North Florida for them," said Kent Vliet, a University of Florida biologist. Even species who burrow, such as the African spur-thighed tortoise, can't survive in numbers, Vliet said. Green iguanas and ball pythons are the top two reptiles Jacksonville pet owners have been releasing, said Kathy Paul, owner of A Pet Lounge and Grooming in Atlantic Beach.

As the reptile industry has grown in the last decade, both have become popular pets because they're inexpensive and easy to buy, Paul said. But once at home, an aggressive iguana or a finicky python refusing food for weeks on end can find themselves out in the cold. "There are a lot of ignorant people out there who do the same thing with dogs," Paul said. "We have a reptile rescue center, so they could find them homes. Instead, they just turn them loose." Even though the reptiles being released in North Florida generally don't survive long enough to harm the area's ecosystem, Vliet said an influx of monitor lizards could pose concerns.

Their large size and damaging bite could harm humans. They could also affect other animals because of their taste for bird and alligator eggs, Vliet said. That's why he and Paul see the responsibility falling on pet owners to become educated about the reptiles they buy and avoid abandoning them. "We consider it a serious ecological pressure, people treating pets as wildlife," Vliet said. Aside from exposing the animal to suffering from extreme temperatures and a lack of food, the environment should be considered. "There could be the potential they might become established and pose threats."

Article from the Aiken Standard

You don't get a name like cottonmouth without the chops to back it up. With its cotton-white mouth, the snake attempts to make itself look as large and fearsome as possible, like many animals. "They will give a threat display," said Dr. Whit Gibbons, ecologist at the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory.

As with all of South Carolina's venomous snakes, the cottonmouth, or water moccasin, is not overtly aggressive. However, it will stand its ground and bite if it feels a grave threat. Adult snakes are generally a dark gray, olive or brown in color. A cross-banding pattern may be seen, especially on the sides. Adult cottonmouths are fairly thick and usually between three and four feet long, but snakes as large as six feet have been recorded. The young snakes are more distinctly patterned, resembling a dark copperhead without the reddish tint. A distinctive attribute of this snake are the pits between the eyes and the nostrils.

Gibbons said a keen eye should be able to identify these pits from several feet away. These heat-sensing pits consist of two cavities separated by a membrane. They are able to detect temperature differences of as little as 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit higher or lower than that of the background. They allow the snakes to strike very accurately at the source of heat - often a bird or mammal that is potential prey.

NYPD: Monkeys And Snakes Are Service Animals, Too

Article from NewsDay
That monkey on the subway? Illegal in New York City, but not if the owner has a disability. The guy with the snake on the bus? Leave him alone. He needs it for emotional support. The New York Police Department Patrol Guide, a thick and getting thicker collection of rules and regulations, has been amended to let officers know that guide dogs for the blind are not the only creatures considered service animals -- and to give them a better understanding of which straphangers and bus riders are allowed to have members of the animal kingdom as riding partners.

Now, according to the Patrol Guide, it is not just the blind who can have service animals, but those afflicted with epilepsy, heart disease, lung disease and other medical conditions, namely those who say they need an animal to provide them psychological reassurance.

Service animals are capable of picking up items dropped by their owners, signaling for help if their owner suffers a seizure or collapses, and even working to calm those prone to panic attacks or afflicted with other forms of mental illness. Also allowed to have service animals in the transit system are professional trainers getting their animals ready for the day they will be assigned to someone with a disability, according to an internal NYPD memo. The Patrol Guide revision was made to "clarify the department's obligations under the Americans With Disabilities Act," the memo says.

The problem, however, is that under terms of the act, those with an animal on the subway or buses are not required to carry paperwork proving their disability or proving that their animal is, indeed, a service animal. That, in turn, has led to some cases of fraud, police sources say, with at least several officers reporting they've encountered riders who they suspected had no other reason for having an animal with them other than the fact they like having their animal with them. The NYPD would not elaborate on the Patrol Guide revision, a spokesman said, adding only that the guide is routinely updated. But Becky Barnes, a manager with Guiding Eyes For The Blind, a Westchester dog school that trains canines to work with the blind and visually impaired, said it is not uncommon for people to try to pass off exotic animals, such as pythons, as service animals. Typically, she says, such a claim is little more than a scam. "But," she says, "more and more doctors are writing prescriptions for people needing dogs or other animals for emotional support."

Rescued: 300 Cambodian Reptiles, Including Endangered Species

Article from ABCNews.com
Photo from Getty Images

Hundreds of reptiles including some endangered species were rescued from traffickers and released into their natural habitat in Cambodia, a conservation group said Thursday. Twelve endangered yellow-headed temple turtles were among the nearly 300 reptiles — weighing a total of 925 pounds — that authorities confiscated this week in Cambodia's northwestern Battambang province, the Washington, D.C.-based Wildlife Alliance said.

It said the animals were freed Wednesday following their rescue Monday, when Wildlife Alliance members were with Cambodian forestry officials and police who stopped a pickup truck taking the animals to Vietnam. Cooperation between the Wildlife Alliance and various government conservation agencies is "making significant impacts on a multimillion-dollar illegal wildlife trade in Cambodia as various trade routes and wildlife stockpile locations have been exposed," the alliance said in a statement.

Two dozen reticulated and Burmese pythons were among the cargo, which also included yellow-headed temple turtles, which are significant in Cambodian folklore and legends, the statement said. "In stone carvings on the walls of Angkorian temples, they are depicted as divine creatures of royalty; yet their numbers steadily decrease each year due to habitat loss and the illegal wildlife trade," the alliance said.

Dany Chheang, deputy director of the wildlife protection office at Cambodia's Agriculture Ministry, called the seizure the biggest in recent memory. "It was very important that we broke this case of illegal trading. These animals are a national asset," he said. The statement said an army lieutenant, Hong Try, was held for questioning about the smuggling. It did not say if he was driving the truck — which bore military license plates — or what charge, if any, he might face. It said the animals had been illegally collected in three northwestern provinces, then moved to a large-scale holding facility in neighboring Thailand before being shipped back through Cambodia en route to Vietnam.