Heart op pensioner kills snake

An 80-year-old heart surgery patient leapt from his intensive care bed and used his walking stick to beat a deadly viper to death.

Miko Vukovic spotted the snake on the floor of the hospital in Ogulin in central Croatia.

The snake is believed to have been brought into the hospital in a giant bunch of flowers where a discarded snake skin was also found by staff. It then made its way into the intensive care ward as it looked for a new place to hide.

Vukovic was with three other cardiology department patients during the night when he noticed the poisonous “vipera berus” snake close to his bed.

He said: “I was fighting for 10 minutes before I managed to kill it with my walking stick. The bugger almost bit me in the leg but then I let it have it right between the eyes.”

Hospital officials did not comment the case.

From Ananova

New species of limbless lizard found in Orissa

 

Bhubaneswar, May 28 (PTI): A new speci of limbless lizard said to be new to science has been located by group of zoologists in Orissa.

“It is an important discovery and preliminary scientific study reveals that the lizard belongs to the genus sepsophis”, Prof Sushil Kumar Dutta of the North Orissa University, Baripada, said.

Dutta, who led a research team of ‘Vasundhara’, a policy analysis, research and action group, on a field study to the Khandadhar hills in Sundargarh district found the limbless lizard during a survey recently.

The lizard, which belonged to the family ‘scincidae’, is new to science and is an important discovery from the biogeographic point of view, Dutta said.

Another speci of the same genus had been reported in 1870 from the golconda hills in Andhra Pradesh after which this is the first time that this limbless lizard had been found and it bears significance from the biodiversity point of view, Dutta said.

“The new speci will be scientifically described at a later stage after accumulation of more scientific data”, Dutta said.

The other limbless lizards recorded from India were of the family ‘dibamidae’ which was found in South East Asia and Nicobar island, ‘anguidae’, recorded from North East India and South East India and the genus ‘barkudia’ (scincidae) discovered in Orissa and Andhra Pradesh, he said.

The closest relatives of the new discovery are found in Sri Lanka and South Africa, Dutta said adding this finding was of bio-geographic importance as Sri Lanka and South Africa were also part of Gondwanaland like India.

The new-found 19 cm long lizard looks like a small snake and has lower eyelids, rudimentary ear opening and pectoral bone holes on its shoulders, he said.

It also had scales on both sides of the body, a prominent feature of lizards, he said.

The new speci was quite specialised and preferred to live in cool retreat, soft soil and below stones.

Like its relatives, it lived in forest zones with heavy canopy and could not live in degraded forests where the soil profile changed rapidly.

Vaccine may save frogs. (Article in Swedish.)

Vaccin kan rädda hotade grodor.

Forskare vid James Madison-universitetet i USA har hittat en bakterie som kan bekämpa dödliga svampangrepp hos grodor. Bakterien, som finns naturligt i skinnet hos vissa arter, klarar att hålla den fruktade svampinfektionen chytridomycosis stången.

;Närmare en tredjedel av alla jordens grodarter hotas i dag av utrotning och många arter har redan försvunnit. En viktig förklaring är att svampinfektion blivit allt vanligare, troligen som en följd av växthuseffekten.

I försök både i provrör och med riktiga groddjur visar forskarna att bakterien hjälper djuret att stå emot svampangreppet. De hoppas att det så småningom ska leda fram till metoder att vaccinera hotade grodarter mot svampinfektionen.

Resultaten presenterades under föreningen American society for microbiologys möte tidigare i veckan.

Från DN

Red-legged frogs get a leg up: Graniterock quarry boasts ponds to boost numbers

SANTA CRUZ — The green, sandy hills of Granite Rock Co.’s Wilder Quarry are filled with heavy mining equipment, man-made ponds and the bustling traffic of a commercial sand mining operation.

It seems an unlikely spot for a fragile, endangered species.

But the 370-acre quarry, which mines sand near Wilder Ranch State Park, has become a powerful breeding ground for the California red-legged frog. Since the site reopened in 1996, the company has mined the area under a federally required Habitat Conservation Plan, designed to minimize the impact on the free-roaming frog, and, hopefully, maintain its numbers.

“It’s definitely an important site,” said biologist Jacob Martin of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service office in Ventura, which reviews the company’s activities.

The company trains its employees to check their equipment for the red-legged frogs, which often roam for miles. It has moved telephone lines underground to reduce resting areas for birds that might prey on the amphibians. But the biggest contribution, company officials said, is four breeding ponds in an 11-acre corner of the quarry that drains into Old Dairy Gulch.

“We figure we’re like an incubator,” Graniterock spokesman Jim West said of the lush, swimming pool-size ponds.

A nighttime flashlight survey of the ponds might produce 20 to 30 sets of eyes belonging to the endangered croakers.

But the red-legged frogs weren’t always doing so well in the area.

Even before the quarry temporarily closed in 1990, the frogs had been struggling to establish a toe hold in abandoned sediment ponds, which were designed to catch runoff from the exposed hills. The frogs had little cover from airborne predators, and the man-made ponds were unnaturally sloped like teacups, with shallow sides.

“They were almost barren of vegetation,” said Dana Bland, a biologist and consultant to Watsonville-based Graniterock.

The frogs prefer steep sides and hanging underwater greenery to hang their eggs. When the quarry reopened, Graniterock reshaped the three existing ponds, added another and planted vegetation along the edges.

But to make it a welcome habitat for the red-legged frogs, the company had to eliminate the competition: bullfrogs. A hardy, invasive species originally from the East Coast, bullfrogs compete with and often eat their red-legged cousins. The large frogs have no predators in California.

“It was funny, when we first went out there they showed me a bullfrog, and it was the size of a bunny rabbit,” West said. “I’d never seen a frog that big in my life. He’d just sit there in the middle of the pond and eat everything”

Bullfrogs need two years to fully emerge from their tadpole stage. Red-legged frogs only need one.

So to eliminate the bullfrogs, Bland worked with the quarry to drain several ponds. Now, bullfrogs are a rare sight.

“There used to be hundreds if not thousands,” Bland said. “Now we’re lucky if we see a couple”

Graniterock expects to finish mining the quarry in several years, according to West. But he said the company has set aside funds to maintain the breeding ponds, including periodic draining to keep the bullfrog population low. The work likely will need to continue for a long time, as bullfrogs travel in from areas outside the quarry.

From Santa Cruz Sentinel

Snake venom key for stroke victims

Mayo Clinic Arizona researchers believe toxic venom from the Malayan pit viper snake may be key to survival for some stroke victims.

Researchers are investigating whether ancrod, a drug made from the snake’s venom, can effectively break up clots and restore normal blood flow to patients who suffer an ischemic stroke, which blocks a blood vessel to the brain.

Existing drugs must be administered to patients within three hours of a stroke to prevent serious harm. Previous clinical trials have shown that ancrod gives stroke victims a six-hour window, which could prevent disabilities or death for thousands of stroke victims.

Bart M. Demaerschalk, a Mayo Clinic researcher and physician, will oversee clinical trials at Mayo Clinic Arizona and elsewhere to test the drug. No word if Arizonans have a role in collecting the venom from the Malayan pit viper, described as an ill-tempered, long-fanged snake found in Southeast Asia.

From azcentral.com

Thai Scientists Find New Color Changing Species Of Mountain Frog

Bangkok, Thailand (AHN) – Researchers in Thailand have found a new species of mountain frog that changes color in respond to its surroundings. Detailing the find during a conference on bio-diversity and climate change in Bangkok Tuesday, researchers expressed fear that the species could be on the risk of extinction due to human activities such as agricultural use of chemicals at high altitudes and tourism.

According to biologists, the frog which is scientifically named as Odorrana aureola can grow to 80 millimeters and has a green body which occasionally turns yellowish brown. The species is unique to country’s the Phu Luang National Park located in forestland bordering three mountainous northeastern provinces, Tanya Chan-ard, the curator of Bangkok’s National Science said in the conference.

According to Tanya, the female frogs are bigger than their male counterparts, but fewer in number, making them especially vulnerable to risk of extinction.

The frog was confirmed as a new species last year after a specimen was sent for further examination to the experts in the U.S.

From AHN

Amphibians disappear from Costa Rica jungles

Global warming allows fatal skin fungus to invade habitat, biologist says

Reuters

Published: Wednesday, May 23, 2007

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica — Global warming is the top suspect for the disappearance of 17 amphibian species from Costa Rican jungles, scientists said on Tuesday, warning monkey and reptile populations were also plummeting.

Five of the amphibian species were found only in Costa Rica, meaning their disappearance from the country’s jungles spells extinction, said Alvaro Herrero, a biologist with Costa Rica’s National Biodiversity Institute.

Among the now-extinct species is the golden toad, named for its shimmering yellow colour, and two varieties of Harlequin frog, identified by their black and green stripes.

Scientists have yet to identify a precise mechanism for the disappearance of the amphibians, which began decades ago, but a prime suspect is a fatal fungus that has invaded their habitats, Herrero said.

“It is believed climate change is raising temperatures allowing a skin fungus to enter the places where the amphibians resided,” he said.

Several studies in recent years have linked the rapid disappearance of many of the world’s frog and toad species to global warming.

About a third of the 5,743 known species of frogs, toads and other amphibians are classified as threatened, according to the Global Amphibian Assessment survey.

In La Selva, a biological station in northern Costa Rica run by Duke University’s Organization of Tropical Studies, scientists have found a 75-per-cent decline in amphibian population over the last 35 years.

From Canada.com

Snake doesn’t slow ‘miracle boy’

By JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.comBenjamin Soyster pedals a plastic big wheel in the rambunctious and reckless manner of the typical three-year-old boy, which is precisely what Benjamin was until the rattlesnake’s fangs pierced his soft skin and injected toxic venom into his bloodstream.

One fang sank into the middle finger of Benjamin’s right hand.

The other fang struck the ring finger on the same hand.

It happened one week ago, about 5 in the afternoon of May 15, while Benjamin played in the yard of his family’s home in Monument. That’s a Grant County town, population 150, beside the North Fork of the John Day River, about 63 miles north of John Day.

Benjamin reached out to grab this tan-colored thing. He thought it was a toy that his family’s dog, Lucky, a border collie/Australian shepherd, likes to play with.

The tan-colored thing was no dog toy.

It was a foot-long rattlesnake.

Benjamin ran into the house, screaming. He told his dad, Norman, that a snake had bitten him. Venom seeped from the pair of puncture wounds. Benjamin’s hand began to swell.

Five minutes later he was riding in an ambulance, rolling toward Blue Mountain Hospital in John Day.

Six days after that, on Monday, Benjamin was aboard the big wheel, careening along the concrete path in the front yard of his grandma Terri Reed’s house in Baker City.

Benjamin was simultaneously searching the ground for bugs.

And trying to persuade his mom, Becky, to pull him in a wagon.

Basically Benjamin was doing a lot of things, none of of which involved standing still.

“He’s doing fine, as you can tell,” Becky Soyster, 29, said, smiling as she watched Benjamin, the middle of her three sons, dart around the yard. “He’s back to his normal self.

“Our little miracle boy.”

After the Soysters moved from Redmond to Monument in December, longtime Monument residents regaled the couple with tales about the rattlesnakes, Becky said.

The venomous snakes, it seems, thrive around Monument. Probably the reptiles relish the climate. Monument sits in a banana belt of sorts, low in the river valley; one of Eastern Oregon’s bigger fruit orchards is just 14 miles downstream at Kimberly.

The average temperature at Monument is 50.6 degrees — six degrees warmer than at Long Creek, which is just 24 miles to the east but, at 3,754 feet elevation, about 1,750 feet higher than Monument.

The snake stories worried the Soysters, Becky said. But they weren’t panicked or anything.

And everyone in the family agreed on one thing, Reed said.

“If any of the boys ever got bitten by a snake it would be Ben,” she said on Monday.

The eldest of the Soysters’ sons, Levi, is 5, but he can’t quite match Benjamin’s combination of curiosity and boundless energy.

Samuel, at five months old, is too little to get into much trouble outside.

“Benjamin is our rumble, tumble outside-all-the-time boy,” Becky said. “We can’t keep him inside. And he’s not afraid of animals.”

Including, apparently, reptiles.

Swedish Bombinas wins songcontest. (Article in Swedish).

Skånska grodor vann sångtävling.

Den skånska grodkören från Mölle vann den europeiska sångfestivalen för klockgrodor som avgjordes i två omgångar den fjärde och den elfte maj.

I första deltävlingen vann de svenska grodorna överlägset över motståndarna från Danmark, Tyskland och Lettland. I deltävling två gjorde regn och kyla att det dröjde innan några ljud kom från de tävlande överhuvudtaget.

Röstningen genomfördes på internet där även bidragen kunde höras. Sången påminner om ett gammalt klockspel. Idén med tävlingen är att uppmärksamma arbetet med att bevara grodorna.

Från SVT Nyheter

Happy ending for rare tortoises seized from a smuggler’s bag

ROME Several rare Egyptian tortoise eggs, whose parents were found in a smuggler’s suitcase two years ago, have been hatched successfully. The first was hatched in April, six more followed this month, and there are several more waiting to hatch, said Stefano Micarelli, the head reptile keeper at the Biopark zoo in the Italian capital. “These animals are so rare that we are trying to breed them so we can have a stock of these animals in captivity,” he said.

The Egyptian tortoise (Testudo kleinmanni) is protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) and, as an Appendix I reptile, many of which are threatened with extinction, is afforded the highest protection.

The hatchlings’ parents were discovered when rangers working at Leonardo da Vinci airport became suspicious after they noticed a passenger waiting impatiently for his bags after a flight from Libya in 2005. They stopped to check his luggage and found 275 of the rare tortoises packed inside a bag. (AP)

From TimesOnline