News

by Vince Sheidt Reprinted from the newsletter of the San Diego Herpetological Society, Vol.25, No.9, September 2003. Originally published in the SDHS Newsletter, December 1985. Southwestern Africa’s great Namib Desert is truly one of the earth’s most peculiar environments. Stretching for 12,000 miles along the Atlantic Coast from Angola in the north through all of … Read more

By Erica Garcia Turtles may not be the “living fossils” they were thought to be. The first time that paleontologist Olivier Rieppel presented his findings on turtles, before 200 people at a meeting last year sponsored by the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, a presenter prefaced his talk with, “And now everybody may hiss as much … Read more

by Ed Ferrer Reprinted from The Monitor, the Newsletter of the Hoosier Herpetological Society, Vol.12, No.2, February 2001. Snake venom is one of the most amazing and unique adaptions of animal evolution. Venomous serpents have developed one of the most effective and efficient weapon systems of the animal kingdom. What is snake venom and how … Read more

AFP, Thursday, 17 June 2004, New Delhi: With the increasing attack from animal rights activists and the police, India’s estimated one million snake charmers are at a crossroads and conservationists are charting out ways to turn the age-old practice into a modern, eco-friendly profession. A 1972 ban on snake charming has been inconsistently implemented, but … Read more