Showing posts with label Reptiles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Reptiles. Show all posts
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Buy One Snake, Get Two Free!
Check out this thread for one of the craziest field herping experiences ever. Seriously, go now and read it.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
He's older than me! - Gopherus polyphemus
I've been at Archbold Biological Station for just over a month now, and I've already accumulated a nice collection of Gopher Tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus) sightings. I've never been particularly excited by tortoises (Testudinidae) - I thought they were ugly and boring. Since seeing my first wild tortoise (there is one Venezuelan exception I'll write about soon), I've come to appreciate them more. Maybe soon I'll even admit to liking them.
Gopherus might be considered a keystone species here in the central Florida scrub. They dig large burrows into the sand that dot the landscape here and end up providing homes for a variety of other interesting creatures, including my highly-desired target species, the Indigo Snake (Drymarchon). Here is a collection of my interesting tortoise observations so far. I'll proceed ontogenetically.
Can you spot the youngling?
This little tortoise is the youngest I've yet found. After shutting himself up for my camera, he went running for his little burrow.
Next up are a series of adults. This first one I found basking in his burrow entrance. In response to my prodding, instead of backing down his burrow, he actually moved forward and rotated, completely blocking the burrow with his shell. I've never heard of this behavior before.
Other adults:
The coolest behavior I have observed so far was a failed mating attempt by two young adult tortoises. I came upon them in the middle of the road, and was able to get within 10 feet to film them. Check out this absolutely hilarious video!
Can you just see the pain of rejection on his face?
He watches as she recedes into the distance:
Evidently the attempt had been going on a while before I got there, there were tracks all over the road:
My final observation of Gopherus is a real winner. It turns out herpetologists at Archbold had been marking tortoises in long-term studies for many years (although it has been discontinued for an unknown number of years). Well, I happened to find one of those marked tortoises, and boy is he a geezer.
It turns out this old man was first marked as an adult in 1972. We have no way of knowing how old he was then, so all we can say about him no is he is old. How cool is that?
Gopherus might be considered a keystone species here in the central Florida scrub. They dig large burrows into the sand that dot the landscape here and end up providing homes for a variety of other interesting creatures, including my highly-desired target species, the Indigo Snake (Drymarchon). Here is a collection of my interesting tortoise observations so far. I'll proceed ontogenetically.
Can you spot the youngling?
This little tortoise is the youngest I've yet found. After shutting himself up for my camera, he went running for his little burrow.
Next up are a series of adults. This first one I found basking in his burrow entrance. In response to my prodding, instead of backing down his burrow, he actually moved forward and rotated, completely blocking the burrow with his shell. I've never heard of this behavior before.
Other adults:
The coolest behavior I have observed so far was a failed mating attempt by two young adult tortoises. I came upon them in the middle of the road, and was able to get within 10 feet to film them. Check out this absolutely hilarious video!
Can you just see the pain of rejection on his face?
He watches as she recedes into the distance:
Evidently the attempt had been going on a while before I got there, there were tracks all over the road:
My final observation of Gopherus is a real winner. It turns out herpetologists at Archbold had been marking tortoises in long-term studies for many years (although it has been discontinued for an unknown number of years). Well, I happened to find one of those marked tortoises, and boy is he a geezer.
It turns out this old man was first marked as an adult in 1972. We have no way of knowing how old he was then, so all we can say about him no is he is old. How cool is that?
Saturday, December 20, 2008
I can die happy now
In the months leading up to my Venezuela trip, I spent a lot of time on google researching the llanos and its wildlife. This lead me to discover the photo album of Matt, a field grunt on the Forpus project the year before me. Particularly I was stoked to see this photo. What an awesome place Masaguaral must be, with anacondas and crocs killing each other all over the place! I was giddy with excitement.
Fast forward to mid-October. I was half-way through my stay at Masaguaral, and I had largely exhausted herp diversity. As far as snakes go, I had seen only a handful, representing only three species. Anacondas were nowhere to be found, despite abundant habitat and frequent searches of places staked out by the llaneros for me. They even showed me the anaconda door in the croc pens (a hole in the barbed-wire fence) and where the 'conda frequently enters to bask. No luck, despite checking every time I passed the place. I was getting worried.
Then one evening before dinner, Elysa comes in after talking to the ranch manager. You want to see an Anaconda? she says. Well... YEAH!!! I say. So I grab my camera and headlamp and rush out the door. The results...
A huge anaconda (Eunectes murinus) with a Spectacled Caiman (Caiman crocodilus) in its death grip! Awesome!!! The whole time we watched it there was almost no movement at all. At least, until I leaned a bit too close and she stuck up her head to take a look. Not wanting to mess, I backed down.
There wasn't any struggle from the caiman, because he was already very dead. Just look at the angle the head makes with the long axis of the body, or the look on his face:
More 'conda pictures for your enjoyment:
We watched these beasts for a while before we got bored with the lack of movement. I came back later in the night just to see the progress, and nothing had changed. The ranch manager (thank god he tipped us off!) said the last time a kill like this happened, the anaconda was present for two days before getting the caiman swallowed and moving on. So, I went to bed, but not before capturing my favorite shot:
In the morning, 'conda and caiman were gone, with only displaced vegetation on the pond's edge to mark the scene of the struggle. She's somewhere out there, digesting, and I couldn't be happier.
Fast forward to mid-October. I was half-way through my stay at Masaguaral, and I had largely exhausted herp diversity. As far as snakes go, I had seen only a handful, representing only three species. Anacondas were nowhere to be found, despite abundant habitat and frequent searches of places staked out by the llaneros for me. They even showed me the anaconda door in the croc pens (a hole in the barbed-wire fence) and where the 'conda frequently enters to bask. No luck, despite checking every time I passed the place. I was getting worried.
Then one evening before dinner, Elysa comes in after talking to the ranch manager. You want to see an Anaconda? she says. Well... YEAH!!! I say. So I grab my camera and headlamp and rush out the door. The results...
A huge anaconda (Eunectes murinus) with a Spectacled Caiman (Caiman crocodilus) in its death grip! Awesome!!! The whole time we watched it there was almost no movement at all. At least, until I leaned a bit too close and she stuck up her head to take a look. Not wanting to mess, I backed down.
There wasn't any struggle from the caiman, because he was already very dead. Just look at the angle the head makes with the long axis of the body, or the look on his face:
More 'conda pictures for your enjoyment:
We watched these beasts for a while before we got bored with the lack of movement. I came back later in the night just to see the progress, and nothing had changed. The ranch manager (thank god he tipped us off!) said the last time a kill like this happened, the anaconda was present for two days before getting the caiman swallowed and moving on. So, I went to bed, but not before capturing my favorite shot:
In the morning, 'conda and caiman were gone, with only displaced vegetation on the pond's edge to mark the scene of the struggle. She's somewhere out there, digesting, and I couldn't be happier.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Herp of the Day: Rhacodactylus auriculatus
Here's a cool gecko for you - the Gargoyle Gecko. This guy is the genus Rhacodactylus, an group of six awesome species restricted to the island of New Caledonia near Australia. All of the species are fairly large, charismatic, colorful, and consequently popular in captivity. Importation of wild-caught Rhacs stopped a while ago, but they do so well in captivity that captive-breeding has sustained the different species for many years.
Shawn has a big female Gargoyle named Darwin, until recently the only representative of her species that we have available for use in CHS education programs. The Gargoyle is a beefy gecko, with a round body very unlike the flat Hemidactylus featured recently and some other cool geckos coming up soon. Like the other rhacs they are arboreal and have several adaptations for it, including wide feet and a semi-prehensile tail, but this species tends more towards lower shrubbery habitats so they lack the more prominent adaptations of the other Rhac species (big webbed feet and the ability to flatten out while jumping).
The species comes in two distinct morphs - a mottled/banded base and a striped base pattern, and can vary considerable in color from whitish to brown to red to black and white, some with bright orange or red spots and stripes as additional pattern. For the most ridiculously awesome Gargoyles, see the gallery at Rhacos.com.
When Shawn got Darwin as a youngster she was mostly whitish with banding, and twin rows of orange spots down her back:
She has since grown into a portly adult. Her orange spots have all but faded away, but now she can turn a lovely shade of brown with some reddish mixed in. She is also great at demonstrating the variability in color that Gargoyles possess (certainly the best among Rhacs although R. ciliatus can give them a run). She is often nearly pure white while sleeping, darkening up to brown when she's running around at night. Here's a whole gallery of Darwin being Darwin:
(next 2 photos by Shawn Billerman)
If you look closely at some of her head shots, you can see the species' namesake - bony ridges and bumps along the top of their head behind the eyes. They aren't very pronounced in Darwin or in many individuals available in captivity because people tend to breed for color more than awesome head structure, but the bony knobs can be very prominent in wild individuals or some captive-bred individuals. For an example of better head structure, see here.
Darwin is no longer the only Gargoyle in the Cornell herp community. Recently our friend Amanda obtained a lovely male for breeding purposes, so by next year this place will be overrun with little gargoyles. Check out the male's awesome stripes:
Shawn has a big female Gargoyle named Darwin, until recently the only representative of her species that we have available for use in CHS education programs. The Gargoyle is a beefy gecko, with a round body very unlike the flat Hemidactylus featured recently and some other cool geckos coming up soon. Like the other rhacs they are arboreal and have several adaptations for it, including wide feet and a semi-prehensile tail, but this species tends more towards lower shrubbery habitats so they lack the more prominent adaptations of the other Rhac species (big webbed feet and the ability to flatten out while jumping).
The species comes in two distinct morphs - a mottled/banded base and a striped base pattern, and can vary considerable in color from whitish to brown to red to black and white, some with bright orange or red spots and stripes as additional pattern. For the most ridiculously awesome Gargoyles, see the gallery at Rhacos.com.
When Shawn got Darwin as a youngster she was mostly whitish with banding, and twin rows of orange spots down her back:
(next 2 photos by Shawn Billerman)
She has since grown into a portly adult. Her orange spots have all but faded away, but now she can turn a lovely shade of brown with some reddish mixed in. She is also great at demonstrating the variability in color that Gargoyles possess (certainly the best among Rhacs although R. ciliatus can give them a run). She is often nearly pure white while sleeping, darkening up to brown when she's running around at night. Here's a whole gallery of Darwin being Darwin:
(next 2 photos by Shawn Billerman)
If you look closely at some of her head shots, you can see the species' namesake - bony ridges and bumps along the top of their head behind the eyes. They aren't very pronounced in Darwin or in many individuals available in captivity because people tend to breed for color more than awesome head structure, but the bony knobs can be very prominent in wild individuals or some captive-bred individuals. For an example of better head structure, see here.
Darwin is no longer the only Gargoyle in the Cornell herp community. Recently our friend Amanda obtained a lovely male for breeding purposes, so by next year this place will be overrun with little gargoyles. Check out the male's awesome stripes:
(photos by Shawn Billerman)
Sunday, August 24, 2008
I <3 Coal Skinks
I went out this morning with Shawn and Amanda to show my birder friend Ryan a few of the local herp species he hasn't seen. Our main target was Smooth Green Snake (Opheodrys vernalis) but we missed that. It was still a good day though and we got Ryan four reptile lifers. This is also likely my last herping trip in NY for a long time (going to Venezuela in a week, working elsewhere next year), so it was fun to see a few local species before I leave.
Here's a few of my pictures (they aren't that great or comprehensive today because I let the others do the photographing while I kept finding things) and a video:
Finally, the awesome highlight, two (probable yearling) Coal Skinks. These young ones have a brilliant blue tail that the adults lack. Unfortunately one of the juveniles dropped a portion of its tail. I got this video of it wriggling (yes it was silly of me to film it on my knee and not a rock, but you'll have to deal with it):
Our list for the morning:
Green Frog (Rana clamitans) - 1
Pickerel Frog (Rana palustris) - 2
Spring Peeper (Pseudacris crucifer) - 2
Red-spotted Newt (Notophthalmus virescens) - 2
American Toad (Bufo americanus) - 2
Red-bellied Snake (Storeria occipitomaculata) - 2
Brown Snake (Storeria dekayi) - 12
Eastern Garter Snake (Thamnophis sirtalis) - 6
Ring-necked Snake (Diadophis punctatus) - 1
Milk Snake (Lampropeltis triangulum) - 2
Coal Skink (Plestiodon anthracinus) - 2
Here's a few of my pictures (they aren't that great or comprehensive today because I let the others do the photographing while I kept finding things) and a video:
A toad whose identification is currently under investigation
Brown Snake with cloudy eyes (pre-shedding)
Eastern Garter Snake in mid-shed
Milk Snakes
Finally, the awesome highlight, two (probable yearling) Coal Skinks. These young ones have a brilliant blue tail that the adults lack. Unfortunately one of the juveniles dropped a portion of its tail. I got this video of it wriggling (yes it was silly of me to film it on my knee and not a rock, but you'll have to deal with it):
Our list for the morning:
Green Frog (Rana clamitans) - 1
Pickerel Frog (Rana palustris) - 2
Spring Peeper (Pseudacris crucifer) - 2
Red-spotted Newt (Notophthalmus virescens) - 2
American Toad (Bufo americanus) - 2
Red-bellied Snake (Storeria occipitomaculata) - 2
Brown Snake (Storeria dekayi) - 12
Eastern Garter Snake (Thamnophis sirtalis) - 6
Ring-necked Snake (Diadophis punctatus) - 1
Milk Snake (Lampropeltis triangulum) - 2
Coal Skink (Plestiodon anthracinus) - 2
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