Elephants Once Thought Extinct Likely Survived

Article from Vijay Joshi, AP via Discovery.com
Photo by Vincent Thian
Borneo's pygmy elephants may be descendants of an extinct Javan elephant race, saved by chance by an 18th century ruler, according to a new study released Thursday. The study suggests that a small number of opposite-sex elephants can produce a thriving progeny of thousands if left undisturbed on an island, giving fresh hope to conservationists trying to protect nearly extinct species of large mammals.

"If proven, this fascinating story would demonstrate that very small populations of large mammals can be saved from the brink of extinction (simply by) moving a few individuals, from a seemingly doomed population, to a different and safer habitat," the study published in the Sarawak Museum Journal says. Study co-author Junaidi Payne said the Sultan of Java in Indonesia in the 18th century likely sent some pygmy elephants as gifts to the Sultan of Sulu in the Philippines. The Sultan of Sulu at some point apparently shipped them to Borneo and abandoned them there for unknown reasons.

"There are a number of historical records of elephants shipped between various places in Asia by rulers as gifts to impress others," Payne said. Borneo pygmy elephants, which are genetically distinct from other subspecies, grow less than about 8 feet compared to about 10 feet in height of Asian ale elephants. They also have babyish faces, large ears and longer tails. They are more rotund and less aggressive.

The pygmy elephants in Java were extinct by the end of the 18th century, but the few that were brought to Borneo thrived, the study found. Historically, Borneo never had any elephants and the origins of pygmy elephants -- a distinct subspecies of its mainland Asian cousin -- remained shrouded in mystery until now.

Borneo is a large island shared by Indonesia, Malaysia and the sultanate of Brunei. It is separated by at least 250 miles of sea from Java, the main island in Indonesia. Sulu is much farther to the east. Payne said just one fertile female and one fertile male elephant, if left undisturbed in enough good habitat, could in theory end up as a population of 2,000 elephants within less than 300 years. "And that may be what happened in practice here," said Payne, who works for the global conservation group World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

There are about 1,000 pygmy elephants in the wild in Borneo today, mostly in the Malaysian state of Sabah. "If they came from Java, this fascinating story demonstrates the value of efforts to save even small populations of certain species, often thought to be doomed," said Christy Williams, coordinator of WWF's Asian elephant and rhino program. Augustine Tuuga, assistant director of the Sabah Wildlife Department, said the study confirms what many conservationists have long believed -- that a small number of animals can flourish into large herds even though they may have multiplied by inbreeding. "My own feeling is that as long as there is no continous hunting and there is no problem about diseases their numbers will multiply," he said.

Zoo Keeper Survives Gila Monster Bite

A New Mexico zoo keeper said he is ready to go back to working with reptiles after being hospitalized for nearly a week with a Gila monster bite. Cody Machen has been hospitalized since Thursday after being bit by the venomous lizard while he was holding it, KRQE-KBIM TV, Albuquerque, reported. "It's the most painful thing. It's more painful then a rattlesnake bite. I knew it was bad.", Machen told reporters.

Machen's arm reportedly ballooned to three times the girth it was before the bite. Doctors will be required to perform surgery on Machen's arm if the swelling doesn't subside, KRQE-KBIM reported. Gila monsters, native to numerous deserts in the southwest, can be 2 feet long and have rigid teeth that release venom while biting into their victims. The lizard's bite is usually not fatal to humans.

Story from UPI
Photo from gilaranch.com

Antibiotic Alligator: Promising Proteins Lurk in Reptile Blood

Article by Rachel Ehrenberg / ScienceNews.org
Researchers hunting for new antibiotics might get some aid from gator blood. Scientists are zeroing in on snippets of proteins found in American alligator blood that kill a wide range of disease-causing microbes and bacteria, including the formidable MRSA or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

Previous experiments have revealed that gator blood extract cripples many human pathogens, including E. coli, the herpes simplex virus and some strains of the yeast Candida albicans. The serum's antimicrobial power probably derives from protein bits called peptides. Widespread among reptiles and amphibians, several such germ-fighting peptides have been isolated from the skin of frogs in recent years. Many of these critters live in "sort of nasty places" that are polluted, and gators probably eat all kinds of sick animals, comments Paul Klein, a reptile infectious disease specialist at the University of Florida College of Medicine in Gainesville.

Fierce battles with prey and other gators can leave gaping flesh wounds—but the animals are fairly hardy. These peptides provide a first line of defense—important in the lower vertebrates, who have a slower antibody response than humans, says Klein. "It seems Mother Nature has built in a circulating system of antimicrobial factories that protect the animals while they are waiting to develop the cell-mediated response that we would develop quickly," he says.

Fishing around in the reptile's blood, the scientists identified four or five super-active peptides, reports chemistry doctoral student Lancia Darville of Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. She collaborated with LSU chemist Kermit Murray and with Mark Merchant of McNeese State University in Lake Charles, La., and presented the work in New Orleans April 6th at a meeting of the American Chemical Society.

Two-man Venture Educates, Entertains with Creepy Critters

By Wendy Vurik /UNION-TRIBUNE

Creepy crawlies, slithering critters, bugs that can bite – these aren't most people's idea of the perfect job environment. But that doesn't matter to the guys behind Radical Reptiles and Friends.

SEAN M. HAFFEY / Union-Tribune Radical Reptiles and Friends employee John Taibee (above) held a tegu lizard rescued in Poway. Ben Hian (below) held Vince, a reticulated python that hails from Asia. The snake will grow to be about 25 feet long. Hian's business, Radical Reptiles and Friends, shows off exotic animals in after-school programs, summer camps and birthday parties.

SEAN M. HAFFEY / Union-Tribune

Founded by Ben Hian nearly 12 years ago, the Carlsbad-based venture features an array of snakes, insects, lizards, spiders, turtles and cockroaches that are presented as an entertaining educational tool in after-school programs, school assemblies, birthday parties and summer camps throughout the county.

The business began as one boy's desire to have a snake. “I told my mom I wanted a snake,” Hian said. “She said I could have one the day I moved out of the house.” Hian made good on that promise. The day before he moved out of his parent's home at age 18, he bought his first corn snake, named Rufus, and took it to his new place. Soon enough, Hian acquired a tortoise named Esiotrot – tortoise spelled backward. Then came Baby Boris, a Burmese python, then 6 feet long. Now full-grown, Boris is 21 feet long and weighs 307 pounds.

While Hian was slowly collecting a menagerie of reptilian creatures, he was making a living teaching at a private preschool. Once in a while, he would take an animal to class, fascinating the children. Soon he was getting calls from parents asking if he would bring his creatures to children's birthday parties.

For a few years, Hian was teaching and doing birthday parties part-time. Then, he had an epiphany. “I woke up at 2 a.m. one night and shot out of bed. 'I'm going to quit my job,'” Hian said he remembers thinking. “I emptied out my bank account to pay for fliers I could hand out at schools.”

The first few years of building his business, Radical Reptiles and Friends, were difficult. “I ate a lot of oatmeal and Top Ramen,” Hian said. But his reputation grew through word of mouth. Now he can have as many as 15 after-school programs and school-assembly presentations per week, and as many as four or five birthday parties on the weekends. His collection has grown to more than 100 reptiles, which he keeps in his home. Because they are categorized as pets, Hian said he doesn't need any special permits to own them.

A few years ago, he met John Taibe, a recreation coordinator at the Rancho Santa Fe Community Center, where Hian had an after-school program. Taibe also was a reptile enthusiast, and pretty soon they were talking shop. “One day, Ben asked me if I'd like to have a full-time job where I could work with animals and children,” Taibe said. “I jumped at the opportunity.”

“I really liked John's energy,” Hian said. “He was great working with the kids and with the animals.” That was two years ago, and the business is going strong. Because Radical Reptiles and Friends is now a two-man operation, they have been able to expand a rattlesnake and reptile rescue service, removing reptiles found in homes and relocating them to remote, safe environments. “This is better than just killing the animal,” Hian said.

Snakes don't want to interact with humans, he said, but development and wildfires can force them to find shelter in populated locations. Education is an important component of what Hian and Taibe bring to the business. “We like to generate interest and educate the children on animals that, in general, people think are scary or gross,” Hian said. “We help to get an interest started and hopefully a desire in the future to help out with conservation.”

Review: A Guide To The Reptiles Of Southern Africa

A Guide To The Reptiles Of Southern Africa - Graham Alexander and Johan Marais
Review by Peter Sullivan
This splendidly illustrated book is about the 151 snakes, 338 lizards, 27 tortoises and one crocodile of our subregion. It is easy to use to identify a snake or lizard, yet detailed enough to tell you a bit about the creature … like which antidote won't work.

It contains creatures I'd certainly never heard of: the very first item was a Beaked Blind Snake followed by Flowerpot Snake, Stiletto Snake and then two quaintly labelled Jan's Shovel-snout and Visser's Shovel-snout. Not to mention the weird lizards.

It's loaded with information (To do and Not to Do when bitten) and education (only 16 of our snake species have a lethal bite, only 1% of people bitten by them actually die). If anybody in your family has an interest in herpetology, slither this on to your bookshelf.

It's Spring: Reptiles are Frisky

Article from OrlandoSentinel.com

About 2 1/2 million alligators inhabit more than 90 percent of the lakes and streams in Florida. And, with warmer weather, all those reptiles are beginning to rouse from their winter slumber with two things on their peanut-sized brains -- finding another alligator to breed with and catching up on a few missed meals.

Those two factors, coupled with the huge influx of humans into the state, make encounters more prevalent, said Nick Clark, the Central Florida Zoo and Botanical Garden's senior reptile keeper. "We're coming up on the breeding season that's getting ready to start, so alligators will be moving around, a little bit more active and maybe a little bit more in the public eye right now," Clark said. "So, we want to try to help people understand what to do and what not to do to avoid negative encounters with the animals."

To educate residents on how to handle encounters with the reptiles, as well as how to avoid them, the zoo offers alligator-awareness classes. Its first of the season was March 25, and another will be June 3. On a recent Tuesday night, about 15 people showed up to listen and learn from Clark, who spent about two hours dispelling myths, relaying stories and offering advice.

"What we're trying to help people do is coexist with some of the wildlife we have here in Florida," Clark said. "We do have a lot of people that move into the state of Florida every day, and a lot of time all they hear is the horror stories."

The class is the zoo's way of making sure people are aware -- not afraid -- of the big reptiles.

Snakes Alive! - Hands on Reptile Exhibit

By Amber Wilhelm / TheOnlineRocket
Media Credit: Samantha Chalmers
Tom Kessenich is living his dream. Kessenich, 49, tours the country with his reptiles in the show Snakes Alive!, a hands-on reptile exhibit, which came to the University Union Multipurpose Room on Tuesday.

Kessenich's fascination with reptiles started when he was a boy. "I loved dinosaurs when I was little," Kessenich said. "When I was 7 years old, I met a garden snake and I was hooked." Kessenich takes Snakes Alive! to schools, colleges, birthday parties, nature centers and anywhere there are people who want to be entertained and educated. He said that he brings different snakes with him to different events.

For his show at SRU, Kessenich brought a savanna monitor lizard, a bearded dragon, a Columbian tegu lizard, two types of corn snakes, a South American tortoise, a small alligator, a boa constrictor and a black rat snake, which is native to Pennsylvania.

In the introduction to his show, Kessenich said, "My show is about turning malice and fear into curiosity and fascination." The energetic Kessenich starts with small lizards and works his way up to bringing out the biggest snake in the show, Billy the boa constrictor. Jason Lane, a freshman health and safety major, said his favorite part of Snakes Alive! was Billy the boa. But Lane doesn't see himself with a job like Kessenich's anytime soon. "I like snakes, but I don't like touching them," Lane, 19, said.

Lane's sentiment was not shared by everyone in attendance, however. Audience members clamored to pet the snakes and lizards throughout the show. Some audience members were more nervous than others. Since dispelling fear is one of Kessenich's main goals, he coaxed the most frightened students in the audience on to the stage to pet and hold the reptiles.

Kessenich said it wasn't the first time he has encountered reluctant participants. "One girl (in Iowa) was so scared she was shaking," Kessenich said. "So I started by letting her touch the lizard's tail and she worked her way up to holding it."

Kessenich has an analogy for the emotions Snakes Alive! brings out in the audience. "It's like a roller coaster," Kessenich said. "People start out scared and end up having fun."

Kessenich started a formal education in biology, but wanted to be in the field. "I'm not a lab guy," Kessenich said. "If somebody wants to study an animal's blood, I'll go out and get one for them and care for it, but I leave the lab for other people."

Snakes Alive! reflects Kessenich's hands-on approach. He walked around almost continuously throughout the show, letting the audience take pictures and pet the animals. After the presentation, Kessenich invited everyone to come to the stage area to hold the reptiles. Kessenich demonstrated how to hold Billy the boa, then put him on the shoulder of the first obliging audience member to free himself up to guide curious spectators through a frenzy of passing snakes and lizards around and answering questions on stage. "It was a great show," Lane said.