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+21 +1
After Last Year's Hurricanes, Caribbean Lizards Are Better at Holding on for Dear Life
A stunning case of natural selection in action.
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+11 +1
Pesticides are turning frogs female - and it could wipe them out
A widely used pesticide could be placing frog populations in danger by diminishing their ability to reproduce properly. Not only does exposure to the chemical linuron – a potato herbicide – reduce male frog fertility, it skews the sex ratios of growing tadpoles significantly towards females. As frog populations are already under global threat of extinction, scientists are concerned that disrupting their natural reproduction could further hasten their decline.
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+23 +1
Frogs surface after 99 million years
Frogs trapped in amber for 99 million years give clues to lost world. The four fossils were found in Myanmar.
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+9 +1
Man celebrating birthday dies after timber rattlesnake bites him twice
While celebrating his 57th birthday with his wife on an outdoors adventure, Barry Lester did what he often warned others never to do but frequently did himself—he picked up a snake. Sadly, this time it was a fatal mistake for Lester as a timber rattlesnake, one of the most dangerous rattlesnakes in the eastern U.S., bit him twice, and he died before he could be treated, as reported by the Tulsa World.
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+19 +1
Komodo Venom and its Effects
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+25 +1
Green-haired turtle that breathes through its genitals added to endangered list
It sports a green mohican, fleshy finger-like growths under its chin and can breathe through its genitals. The Mary river turtle is one of the most striking creatures on the planet, and it is also one of the most endangered. The 40cm long turtle, which is only found on the Mary river in Queensland, features in a new list of the most vulnerable reptile species compiled by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL).
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+15 +1
A four-eyed lizard walked the earth 49 million years ago
If you lived in what is now Wyoming 49 million years ago, you could have spotted a four-eyed lizard—the one and only known example of such a creature among jawed vertebrates. The species, an extinct monitor lizard called Saniwa ensidens (above), had two standard eyes and also sported so-called pineal and parapineal “eyes” on the top of its head (shown as white dots in the reconstructed image below).
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+22 +1
New study: Snake fungal disease may now be a global threat
A potentially fatal fungus infection found in more than two dozen snake species in Europe and the United States could be lethal to serpents across the globe, a new study finds.
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+10 +1
Life, death and a sleepy lizard: One researcher's remarkable work
We know the sleepy lizard can love and grieve and is a special part of Australia's ecology.
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+36 +1
How a Quarter of Cow DNA Came From Reptiles
By hopping between species, jumping genes have radically altered the course of animal evolution.
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+15 +1
A Few Bad Scientists Are Threatening to Topple Taxonomy
Naming species forms the foundation of biology—but these rogue researchers are exposing the flaws in the system
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+16 +1
New Purple Pig-Nose Frog Found in Remote Mountains
Scientists have discovered a new and unusual species of frog in the Western Ghats mountain range in India. The frog has shiny, purple skin, a light blue ring around its eyes, and a pointy pig-nose. The scientists have called the new species Bhupathy's purple frog (Nasikabatrachus bhupathi), in honor of their colleague, Dr. Subramaniam Bhupathy, a respected herpetologist who lost his life in the Western Ghats in 2014.
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+20 +1
Curious Kids: How do snakes make an 'sssssss' sound with their tongue poking out?
The way humans make an 'ssss' noise is different to the way a snake does it. We put our tongue behind our teeth when we hiss, but for a snake the tongue isn't involved at all in making sounds.
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+17 +1
Snake infrared detection unraveled :
The pit organ is part of the snake's somatosensory system — which detects touch, temperature and pain — and does not receive signals from the eyes, confirming that snakes 'see' infrared by detecting heat, not photons of light.
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+31 +1
Strange Places to Sit
A poison frog sits on top of an emerald tree boa in its enclosure at the Singapore Zoo's new Reptopia exhibit.
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+23 +1
Birds, Bees and other Critters have Scruples, and for Good Reason
Humans are not the only species to show a strong work ethic and scruples. Researchers have found evidence of conscientiousness in insects, reptiles, birds, fish and other critters, such as working hard, paying attention to detail and striving to do the right thing.
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+11 +1
The world’s first glow-in-the-dark frog found in Argentina
Scientists in Argentina have discovered a frog that glows in moonlight and at twilight. Fluorescence in terrestrial environments had previously only been traced to a few species of insects and birds and had never been scientifically reported in any of the world’s 7,000-plus amphibian species. A team of herpetologists made the headline-grabbing discovery in the outskirts of the city of Santa Fe, Argentina, while collecting frogs to research the biochemical cloricia in amphibians.
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+26 +1
Unknown Ancient Reptile Roamed the Pyrenees Mountains
The footprint made by a reptile that lived almost 250 million years ago has been found in the Pyrenees.
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+22 +1
Meet Diego, the Centenarian Whose Sex Drive Saved His Species
By fathering hundreds, a giant tortoise in the Galápagos Islands reversed the threat of extinction. Another, earning the name Lonesome George, was unable to do the same.
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What our ancestors’ third eye reveals about the evolution of mammals to warm blood
French philosopher René Descartes believed that the pineal gland, a tiny button of neurons located in the depth of our brain, was the seat of the soul. By Julien Benoit.
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