Reptiles

Living planet report 2022

Wildlife populations monitored across the globe have declined by a massive 69 per cent between 1970 and 2018, according to this WWF's Living Planet Report (LPR) 2022. Monitored wildlife populations - mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fish - have seen a devastating 69% drop on average since 1970, according to …

Discovery of Anoles, a class of lizards, questions evolution theory

A study on Anoles, a class of lizards found in the Caribbean islands, has raised doubts over an existing theory of evolution. Evolutionary biologist Kirsten E Nicholson from the Central Michigan University, USA, who studied nearly 140 species of anoles, found that they don't have similar dewlap configurations, even though …

Rattlesnake roundup in Texas

Throughout the second week of March people from the west Texas town of Sweetwater were out with their tongs to catch rattlesnakes. They were preparing to attend the world's largest rattlesnake roundup, organised every year at Sweetwater over the second weekend of March. According to the organisers, the three-day event …

Flawed conservation policies lead to decline in gharial population

In the well-known Panchatantra story, a monkey wanting to cross the mighty Ganga befriends a crocodile. But a while into their friendship, the reptile’s intentions turn sinister: he and his wife want the monkey for lunch. The simian senses this and tricks the crocodile to get to safety. The story …

Venom code

Most people react to snakes with fear. Yet, very few snakes are lethal or even poisonous. India, in fact, has only five known varieties of deadly snakes: cobra, krait, Russell's viper and saw-scaled viper, and the recently discovered hump-nosed pit viper. A small brown snake with markings in lighter/darker brown, …

In Short

unearthed: Thought to be extinct, the lizard Barkudia insularis has been sighted in Orissa's Chilika lagoon after more than 85 years. Ajit Kumar Patnaik, chief executive officer of the Chilika Development Authority revealed that the limbless skink was rediscovered by a team checking out soil conditions for a threatened mangrove …

Huge haven

It covers 3.8 million hectares (ha) of virgin rainforest, is chock-a-block with primates, birds and reptiles, and is expected to yield hitherto unknown species. These are the vital statistics of the world's largest tropical national park, located in Brazil and beating its closest competitor

Unbalanced sheet

> People are using over 20 per cent more natural resources each year than can be regenerated. The ecological footprint of humankind is increasing. This overdraft will not last long. Carry on stomping In 1999, the Earth had 11.4 billion hectares of productive land and sea space, that is about …

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

A 16-millimetre lizard, Jaragua Sphaero or dwarf gecko

Fassil puzzle

The fossil of a small flying reptile cloaked in feathers has put the theory that birds evolved from dinosaurs under scrutiny. The lizard-like feathered reptile lived about 220 million years ago. The fossil, called Longisquama, suggests that feathered animals lived prior to dinosaurs. The finding casts doubt about theories advocating …

Protecting the endangered

Nearly 500 Protected Areas (PAS) in India cover about five per cent of the country's land area. One of the goals of this impressive protected area network isor should beto ensure that it encloses viable populations of all species that are known to occur in India. It is impossible to …

JAMAICA

Jamaican iguana, a lizard, believed to be extinct for nearly 50 years, has been accidentally rediscovered in the Hellshire Hills of Jamaica. This inspired an intensive efforts to save both the Jamaican iguana and the dry tropical forest of the Hellshire Hills, which is the lizard's only dwelling. After minutely …

Endangered

the international focus on vanishing and deformed amphibians like frogs, toads and salamanders has masked the problems of another group of wildlife: reptiles. A new report says that reptiles

The heart says it all

after coming upon countless dinosaur fossils, paleontologists say they have finally discovered something they had never believed they would ever come upon: the heart of a dinosaur. The dinosaur fossil skeleton

Dinosaur bird a hoax

The National Geographic magazine suddenly finds itself in an embarrassing situation with the discovery that the "missing-link" dinosaur-bird featured by it in November is a fake. The fossil is two animals put together either mistakenly by its discoverers in China or as an artful forgery. Archaeoraptor, on display at the …

The largest dino

a team of palaeontologists in southern Patagonia, usa , has discovered the fossils of the largest dinosaur ever found. Measuring 48-51 metres (m) in length, the herbivore, which lived during the Cretaceous period about 105 million years ago, is around 8 m longer than Seismosaurus, till recently the largest dinosaur. …

Fossils found

it was during a geological field study in February that K Satyanarayana of the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Regional Geology Laboratory came upon the fossils of a dinosaur in the Kuar Bet island in Kutch, the west coast of India, which is controlled by the Indian Army. It was …

Reptilian recovery

SOME 10 kilometres from the din of Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh, India, the gharial - a member of the reptile fam-ily - is getting a second lease of life. More than two decades ago, the Gharial Rehabilitation Centre was set up here in the Kukrail reserve forest area. Its aim: …

Reptiles rediscovered

at a time when all that we hear about is extinction of the once-bountiful and varied flora and fauna, here's some good news. Eleven new species of reptiles and six amphibians have been sighted and documented for the first time in India's last home of Asiatic lions, the Gir sanctuary. …

Madras Crocodile Bank Trust and Centre for Herpetology

The Madras Crocodile Bank Trust and Centre for Herpetology is one of the largest reptile zoos in the world and one of the oldest non government environmental organizations in Asia. Primary aim is to promote the conservation of reptiles and amphibians on the Indian subcontinent, but our inference is multidisciplinary …

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