HerpDigest.org Volume # 10 Issue # 6 - 2/5/10

HerpDigest.org: The Only Free Weekly Electronic Newsletter That Reports on The Latest News on Herpetological Conservation, Husbandry and Science
Volume # 10 Issue # 6 - 2/5/10
Publisher/Editor- Allen Salzberg
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AMPHIBIAN ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION: A HANDBOOK OF TECHNIQUES (TECHNIQUES IN ECOLOGY & CONSERVATION) (Paperback) by C. Kenneth Dodd Jr. (Editor) 556 pages, USA, Oxford Univ. Press. Available. $59.95 plus $7.50 S&H LIMITED NUMBER AUTOGRAPHED COPIES, By editor Kenneth Dodd
Table of Contents Available, Chapter one available, free at http://fds.oup.com/www.oup.com/pdf/13/9780199541188_chapter1.pdf
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Table of contents
1) Invasion of the Giant Pythons - PBS, NATURE, Premiere Sunday Feb, 21, 2010 (check local listings)
2) IUCN's Species of the Day Program at www.iucnredlist.org/species-of-the-day today is Testudo kleinmani -
3) Indonesia Foils Attempt To Smuggle 3,500( Fly-River Turtles?) & 799 Indo-Chinese Rat Snakes
4) Effects of Roads on Animal Abundance: an Empirical Review and Synthesis -Special Issue of Ecology and Society, Volume 14, Issue # 1 2009. Open Access- Go to http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/issues/view.php?sf=41 abstracts and full papers are free
5) Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue Called on to Ban Rattlesnake Roundups
{Press Release from Center for Biological Diversity) 1/28/10
6) Dean E. Metter Award Grant Proposals Solicited For 2010
7) Forget The Rafts, Iguanas May Have Walked To Tonga, Fiji
8) The Legal But Troubling Practice Of Dealing In Protected Wildlife
9) Close Encounters With Japan's 'Living Fossil' (Japanese Giant Salamander)

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"THE FROGS AND TOADS OF NORTH AMERICA" is an amazing book.
It contains:
A CD of all 101 species found in US & Canada./Almost 400 great color photos
101 color location maps /In just 344 pages.
Books this comprehensive usually go for at least $50.00.to &75.00. Or just $19.95 for the
CD. But the publisher is offering it JUST FOR $19.95 Plus 7.50 S&H.(See below on
how to order)
1) Invasion of the Giant Pythons - PBS, NATURE, Premiere Sunday Feb, 21, 2010 (check local listings)
(From PBS website)
Introduction
The Everglades' watery oasis has been invaded by giants.

As part of an ever popular international pet trade market, and incidentally along paths of human travel, many exotic animals have been removed from their native lands and landed where they are not necessarily welcome arrivals. Among these invasive species are a growing number of Burmese pythons, which have taken up residence in the wetlands of Florida, courtesy of overwhelmed pet owners and hurricane-hit animal warehouses.

Accidentally or intentionally released pythons and other exotic animals, such as parrots, reptiles, and lizards are inhabiting dry as well as wet habitats, and feeding on or competing with native species. Giant pythons are well-adapted for success in Florida, where the habitat is similar to their Asian home. Although they are non-venomous, pythons are among the largest snakes in the world, reaching up to twenty-six feet long. Their size and power makes them one of the top predators in Florida's Everglades National Park, taking on even the alligators, and posing a threat to many of the indigenous and endangered species.

NATURE follows teams of scientists and hunters as they use their vast knowledge of snakes and their prey to uncover the impact of the pythons on the park's fragile ecosystems. Herpetologist Shawn Heflick uses some innovative techniques to observe the mechanics of the snake's bite, while scientists Stephen Secor and Skip Snow employ advanced technology to analyze the ways in which pythons swallow and digest animals that can be more than half their own body size. Watch as a wild python ingests an alligator whole.

Journey with NATURE as it investigates what comes next in the story of the Invasion of the Giant Pythons.
________________________________________________________________________ 2) IUCN's Species of the Day Program at www.iucnredlist.org/species-of-the-day today is Testudo kleinmani -

From Announcement by Tortoise and FrestwaterTurtle Species Survival Commission
As part of the UN's International Year of Biodiversity, the IUCN and the SSC (Species Survival Commission) have developed a "Species-of-the-Day" campaign, with a new species featured every day on several websites, including the IUCN, SSC, and Red List sites. The TFTSG was asked to select several species for inclusion in this year-long campaign. Our first species, selected for us by the SSC, is Testudo kleinmanni, the Egyptian tortoise. Including a beautiful photo by Omar Attum and text by our Steering Committee. It is today's Species-of-the-Day (Feb 5).

Please check it out at www.iucnredlist.org/species-of-the-day. It is available as a downloadable pdf document ,also with a link to our TFTSG website and an IUCN donation page link. There is also an archive feature for browsing previous featured species. We will have at least 5 more species featured during the coming year. We will send out notices when they appear. We will also feature these species on our own website, planning on getting this one up later today or in the next day or so. Our other species that will be featured are Rafetus swinhoei, Batagur trivittata, Astrochelys yniphora, Pseudemydura umbrina, and Chelonoidis abingdonii. A few others may also appear, depending on scheduling availability and whether or not the campaign goes for longer than 365 days (which it might). these other potential inclusions in the campaign include Dermatemys mawii, Podocnemis expansa, Glyptemys muhlenbergii, and Cuora yunnanensis.

Checking out the other Species-of-the-Day postings is also valuable and I encourage you to check on a regular basis.

3) Indonesia Foils Attempt To Smuggle 3,500( Fly-River Turtles?) & 799 Indo-Chinese Rat Snakes

Jakarta, Feb 5 (Kyodo) Indonesian authorities have foiled an attempt to smuggle 3,492 pig-nosed turtles and 700 Indo-Chinese rat snakes out of the country, a state-run news agency reported.

Evi Suhartantyo, spokeswoman of the Directorate General of Customs, was quoted by Antara as saying that the turtles and snakes were earmarked for shipment to Hong Kong by air cargo on Tuesday.

Under the Red List of Threatened Species of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, the pig-nosed turtle is categorized as a vulnerable species.

Suhartantyo said the export notification document for the packages containing the snakes and turtles said they contained snake fruits.

Of the 63 packages bound for Hong Kong, 32 contained snake fruits, but 25 others had rat snakes inside and six contained turtles.

The sender was a jacket-exporting company, Antara said.

(Editor - OK, stories like this one brings up some questions..

1)What species is the pignosed turtle? Do They mean the Fly-River Turtle? Or are they softshell turtles which in some areas are called pig-nosed turtles..
2) Twenty-five packages for 800 Indo-Chinese rat snakes and only 6 for 3,500 turtles? Is that possible?
3) If yes, there were six boxes for the turtles, then they had to be baby turtles? Where do you get 3,500 baby pignoses?.
3) Were they all really ratsnakes? What species or subspecies? Or is that just a general term for a certain size of snake?

So I asked.

Pignosed is more and more being used instead of Fly-River turtle or New Guinea two-clawed turtle (the latter a new name to me.). Also they had to be baby turtles The poachers catch the females while nesting, take the eggs to incubate and then sell the hatchlings which are about 1.5" in size or the size of a baby slider hatchling.. This is a technique often used by turtle "farms" in the U.S, especially with snappers and Florida softshells.

What happens to the female I don't know, but I assume they are also collected..

So six boxes is possible. And where do the go from Hong Kong? Not the US or Europe since they have no CITES papers, but countries with more porous borders: S. Korea, China, Japan,, SEAsia to sell as pets.

One wonders if this continues some will be released in these areas and become a new invasive species like red-eared sliders?.

Ratsnakes (Ptyas spp.) are regularly collected in the Javanese ricefields etc. and are traded as on average 5-ft animals. So imagine how many boxes you need for 800 adult black racers. 32 per box is pretty realistic. How many of what different sub-species of Ptyas? They probably don't bother to count since they are meant for the food markets, not pet.
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4) Effects of Roads on Animal Abundance: an Empirical Review and Synthesis -Special Issue of Ecology and Society, Volume 14, Issue # 1 2009. Open Access- Go to http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/issues/view.php?sf=41 abstracts and full papers are free

(Editor: Reprinting the Entire Tofc. Not Just Those On Herps -which are asterisked- Because Other Papers Look Like They Have Information Of Value To Conservationists Involved In Saving Herps From Cars in General, Also Because It Looks Like A Publication the Herp Community Should Be Aware Of It Is Not Already. And Of Course It Doesn't Hurt That It's Open Access.)
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Effects of Roads on Animal Abundance: an Empirical Review and Synthesis
Lenore Fahrig and Trina Rytwinski

Research
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*Quantifying the Road-Effect Zone: Threshold Effects of a Motorway on Anuran Populations in Ontario, Canada
Felix Eigenbrod, Stephen J. Hecnar, and Lenore Fahrig

*Frogs Call at a Higher Pitch in Traffic Noise
Kirsten M. Parris, Meah Velik-Lord, and Joanne M. A. North

Road Zone Effects in Small-Mammal Communities
John A. Bissonette and Silvia A. Rosa

Impacts of Traffic Noise and Traffic Volume on Birds of Roadside Habitats
Kirsten M. Parris and Angela Schneider

Integration of Regional Mitigation Assessment and Conservation Planning
James H. Thorne, Patrick R. Huber, Evan H. Girvetz, Jim Quinn, and Michael C. McCoy

Wildlife Tunnel Enhances Population Viability
Rodney van der Ree, Dean Heinze, Michael McCarthy, and Ian Mansergh

Can Road-Crossing Structures Improve Population Viability of an Urban Gliding Mammal?
Brendan D. Taylor and Ross L. Goldingay

Cost-Benefit Analyses of Mitigation Measures Aimed at Reducing Collisions with Large Ungulates in the United States and Canada: a Decision Support Tool
Marcel P. Huijser, John W. Duffield, Anthony P. Clevenger, Robert J. Ament, and Pat T. McGowen

Reducing Moose-Vehicle Collisions through Salt Pool Removal and Displacement: an Agent-Based Modeling Approach
Paul D. Grosman, Jochen A. G. Jaeger, Pascale M. Biron, Christian Dussault, and Jean-Pierre Ouellet

* Behavioral Responses of Northern Leopard Frogs (Rana pipiens) to Roads and Traffic: Implications for Population Persistence
Julie Bouchard, Adam T. Ford, Felix E. Eigenbrod, and Lenore Fahrig

Modeling the Effect of Traffic Calming on Local Animal Population Persistence
Frank van Langevelde and Catharinus F. Jaarsma

Piloting a Non-Invasive Genetic Sampling Method for Evaluating Population-Level Benefits of Wildlife Crossing Structures
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5) Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue Called on to Ban Rattlesnake Roundups
{Press Release from Center for Biological Diversity) 1/28/10

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz.- In a letter sent today to Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue, the Center for Biological Diversity is urging the state to outlaw rattlesnake roundups. Roundups are annual contests in which hunters bring in as many snakes as they can catch in a year. A recently published study shows that roundups have depleted populations of eastern diamondback rattlesnakes in the southeastern United States.

"Indiscriminate killing of wildlife has been banned for most animals for decades, but not for rattlesnakes," said Tierra Curry, a biologist at the Center. "This abhorrent practice is harming rattlesnake populations and should be stopped."

The eastern diamondback was once a common species, but is now being pushed toward extinction by hunting pressure, habitat loss, and road mortality. An analysis of 50 years of roundup data shows that both the total number of snakes and the size of individual snakes have declined over a 50-year time span, and that hunters must now drive hundreds of miles to find snakes for the event. The snake hasn't been seen in Louisiana since 1980, and is now uncommon throughout its range in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, and the Carolinas.

"Rattlesnakes serve an important role in the food chain by controlling rodent populations and should be respected," said Curry. "With populations in decline, rattlesnakes need protection."

Two Georgia towns still hold roundups. The Whigham Rattlesnake Roundup is Saturday, January 30. Some claim that the roundups protect public health, but eastern diamondbacks rarely bite, and more people are killed in the United States each year by dog bites, lightning strikes, or bee stings than by venomous snake bites. The roundups are not necessary to obtain antivenin, as major producers of antivenin only purchase it from approved suppliers under sterile conditions and have stated that they do not purchase it from roundups.

Contact: Tierra Curry, Center for Biological Diversity, (928) 522-3681
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6) Dean E. Metter Award Grant Proposals Solicited For 2010

Dean E. (Doc) Metter (1932-2001) was a long-time member of the biology faculty at the University of Missouri-Columbia, where he taught zoology, comparative anatomy, evolution, and herpetology. A believer in putting knowledge to the test in the field, Doc provided frequent opportunities for students to engage in fieldwork. In addition, he frequently assisted his graduate students as they ventured out to collect data. Doc was a co-founder of the Bobby Witcher Society, the legacy of which is a scholarship fund. For many years, the interest earned served to reward outstanding herpetology students who intended to continue their education and seek a career in vertebrate biology. That fund now serves a similar purpose by honoring Doc's memory while helping to fund the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles (SSAR)- administered Dean E. Metter Memorial Award.

PURPOSE
The purpose of the Award is: (1) to honor the memory of Dean E. Metter; (2) to encourage students to pursue field research in herpetology; and (3) to facilitate field research in herpetology by providing funds for relevant expenses.

AWARD AMOUNT
Grants made from the award will be no less than $300 and no more than $1,000. Efforts will be made to fund as many eligible proposals as possible.

ELIGIBILITY
Applicants must be currently enrolled as an undergraduate or graduate student in an accredited college or university and be conducting field-based research in herpetology.

This research may occur anywhere in the world, but priority will be given to research conducted in the state of Missouri.

ELIGIBLE EXPENSES
Expenses eligible for funding include: (1) travel expenses (e.g., mileage, airfare) associated with the field research project; and (2) equipment for field-based research (e.g., materials for drift fences, traps, etc.). Funds may not be used for salaries or any other personnel expenses, travel to meetings, equipment or supplies for laboratory-based research (even if applicable to the project), or overhead or indirect costs.

CRITERIA FOR AWARDS
The following criteria will be used to make awards:
A. Scientific merit of the proposed project.
B. Nature of the proposed project; priority will be given, in order, to proposals that fall into the following categories:

Natural history studies (e.g., habitat utilization, life tables, demography, reproductive strategies, behavior).

Functional morphology (i.e., relationships between structure and function, particularly as these relate to natural history parameters).

Biogeographic studies, including elucidation of biodiversity in a given area (e.g., regional or national biotic surveys), efforts to determine historical events leading to current distribution patterns, and effects resulting from introductions of alien species.

Evolutionary studies (establishing phylogenies based on morphological or genetic criteria).
Other.

C. Relevance of the field component to the overall execution of the proposed project.

APPLICATIONS AND AWARDS
In keeping with the Society's goal of encouraging participation by the broadest possible community, preference may be given to individuals who might not have access to other funding sources. All applicants must be members of the SSAR. Past recipients of an SSAR GIH award in any category are not eligible for this award. Each proposal must include the
following:

(A) TITLE PAGE giving the title of the project, the name, mailing address, office and home telephone numbers and, if possible, fax number and e-mail address of the applicant. The title page should include a statement indicating that applicants will comply with all applicable permit regulations, and adhere to all appropriate animal care guidelines in the course of conducting funded projects.

(B) BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES of the proposed project.

(C) METHODS for carrying out the project.

(D) COMPLETE PROJECT BUDGET (indicating for which expenses support is being solicited), including a listing of all current and pending support for the project.

(E) BRIEF RESUMÉ of the applicant.

(F) LETTER OF SUPPORT from the research advisor, which also will serve to confirm enrollment at an accredited institution. The proposal must be typed, double spaced, and must not exceed 1,200 words, excluding title page, literature cited, CV (resumé), and budget.

Proposals should be submitted electronically as email attachments. Submit proposals or questions regarding application procedures to the Chair of the Metter Award Committee, Dr. Joseph J. Beatty (beattyj@science.oregonstate.edu).

NOTE
All proposals must be submitted no later than 30 March 2010 to be considered; SSAR dues
must be paid by the preceding 31 December. Failure to meet these guidelines may resultin
elimination of a proposal from consideration. Awards will be announced on or around 15
April 2010. Successful applicants are encouraged to submit the results of their research
for publication in the Journal of Herpetology or Herpetological Review, or to present their
findings at the annual meeting of the SSAR.

The Dean E. Metter Grant Recipients for 2009 were:

(1) Benjamin Jellen
Benjamin's proposal is entitled Pre-and Post-Copulatory Determinants of Reproductive
Success in Missouri Northern Water Snakes (Nerodia sipedon).
His research will attempt to show how these snakes communicate using pheromones and
how this relates to male and female reproductive success. Benjamin is a Ph.D. student in
the Department of Biology at St. Louis University and is working with Robert Aldridge

(2) Jeanine Refsnider
Jeanine's proposal is entitled Can Maternal Nest-site Choice Compensate for the Effects of
Global Climate Change on Reptiles with Temperature-Dependent Sex Determination? A
Common Garden Experiment using a Model Species.

It deals with Northern Painted Turtles (Chrysemys picta) and is designed to determine
whether local adaptations to nest site choice are more genetically or environmentally
driven. Jeanine is working in Fred Janzen's laboratory in the Department of Ecology,
Evolution, and Organismal Biology at Iowa State University.
　
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7) Forget The Rafts, Iguanas May Have Walked To Tonga, Fiji
By Sara Israelsen-Hartley
Deseret News, 2/1/10

PROVO, Utah -- They're 5,000 miles away from any relatives and only exist on two islands in the Pacific Ocean.

For decades, scientists didn't have a good answer as to how four species of iguanas native to North, Central and South America ended up on the Pacific islands of Fiji and Tonga.

"In the field of biogeography, this has been a puzzle for a long time," said BYU biology professor Jack Sites.

The prevailing theory was that iguanas from the New World floated thousands of miles to the Pacific islands on logs or reed rafts over several months.

It's not uncommon for iguanas to take to the ocean, after all, that's how they got to the Galapagos Islands from Ecuador, Sites explained.

But that was a 600-mile journey, where as Fiji and Tonga are nearly 5,000 miles and six months away -- too much for even the most robust sailing iguana.

So, Sites and his co-author, Bryce Noonan, a biology professor at the University of Mississippi, proposed that the scaly reptiles simply walked to the islands millions of years ago across a giant continental land mass called Gondwana, which was made up of today's Africa, Australia, Antarctica and parts of Asia.

Combining information about geology and the age of the Fijian and Tongan archipelagos, with fossil evidence and "molecular clock" DNA analysis of a large sample of iguana DNA, Sites and Noonan discovered that the Pacific island iguanas have ancestors old enough -- 50 million to 60 million years old -- to have existed on the Gondwanan land mass.

"We're pretty confident that we have at least put forth a very robust, credible alternative hypothesis compared to a 5,000-mile crossing of the Pacific on a raft," Sites said.

Their research was published in the January edition of American Naturalist.

8) The Legal But Troubling Practice Of Dealing In Protected Wildlife
Fort Worth Star Telegram
Thursday, Jan. 21, 2010
http://www.star-telegram.com/1021/story/1912260.html
By CHRIS JONES

Special to the Star-Telegram

The Texas wildlife industry supplies national pet stores, international public and private zoos and aquariums and private individuals who have money to spend. The rarer the species is in the wild, the higher its price.

Wildlife dealers network in Asia, South America and Indonesia, paying collectors to illegally hunt the most endangered species left on the planet, including Komodo dragons at $30,000 black-market price per juvenile and three-eyed Tuataras from New Zealand at $50,000 each.

Last month, the city of Arlington confiscated about 27,000 live, dying and dead animals from an international wildlife exporter near Dallas/Fort Worth Airport. Few people realize that many of these animals had been legally collected from the wild in Texas because they are classified as nongame animals by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

Unlike traditionally regulated game animals such as white-tailed deer, turkey, waterfowl and striped bass, animals listed by the department as "nongame" are subject to being collected from the wild in unlimited quantities for commercial resale.

TPWD has granted commercial nongame dealer's permits for the last 15 years, charging $63 per Texas resident and $252 per nonresident. Since 2000, the department has required nongame dealers to report the quantity and species they capture in Texas. The department has known that some species have been collected to the brink of extinction and that international forces will continue to pay collectors to illegally hunt any form of wildlife in Texas, especially if it is a protected, threatened species.

For example, the Cagle's map turtle (Graptemys caglei) only lives in the Hill Country's Guadalupe River. It became a state-level threatened species in 2000 as a result of collecting efforts by millionaire wildlife dealers who supply a burgeoning international trade. Buyers fancy the turtle's unique topographic maplike shell colorations so much they are willing to pay $300 per adult over the Internet.

Since the early 1990s, scientists have proposed the Cagle's map turtle for enlistment under the federal Endangered Species Act. Much of its habitat has been destroyed, its shallow rocky riffled streams flooded into lakes and water quality degraded. The insects the turtle eats only live in shallow water and die when the stream floor is buried by cold deepwater impoundments.
TPWD continues to oppose the turtle's protection as a federal endangered species even as stormwater pollution steadily increases from residential development in the Guadalupe watershed.

Sadly, Cagle's map turtles continue to be illegally harvested from Texas and sold interstate. It is often confused with species that are not protected in Texas and sports a green-black appearance similar to the common red-eared slider turtle (Trachemys scripta), which may be commercially harvested in unlimited quantities from private waters.

It is important to note that most, if not all, states have state endangered species acts, but these state laws do not protect the habitat of the state's enlisted species from being altered, destroyed or impounded. Landowners can do as they please with the habitat of any species protected under a state endangered species act.

It is time for TPWD to recognize the effects it has had on international wildlife by issuing nongame dealer permits to people who are in the business of exploiting wildlife solely for profit. The department should immediately revoke the other multiple nongame dealer permits that have been issued this year and allow city animal health inspectors to promptly investigate the living conditions and welfare of the wildlife collected by each licensee.

Nongame animals should be protected as permanent components of our Lone Star landscape, for all of us to enjoy, rather than be commercially collected for profit and extirpated from the wild.

For a complete list of the 84 species that are listed as nongame animals in Texas, go to http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/business/permits/land/wildlife/#nongame

Christopher H. Jones, M.S. of Waterwood is a federal conservation attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity in Texas and the Southeast United States. www.biologicaldiversity.org
9) Close Encounters With Japan's 'Living Fossil' (Japanese Giant Salamander)
By Richard Black, BBC News 2/4/09

It soon becomes clear that the giant salamander has hit Claude Gascon's enthusiasm button smack on the nose.

"This is a dinosaur, this is amazing," he enthuses.

"We're talking about salamanders that usually fit in the palm of your hand. This one will chop your hand off."

As a leader of Conservation International's (CI) scientific programmes, and co-chair of the Amphibian Specialist Group with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Dr Gascon has seen a fair few frogs and salamanders in his life; but little, he says, to compare with this.

According to Dr Takeyoshi Tochimoto, " The skeleton of this species is almost identical to that of the fossil from 30 million years ago; therefore it's called the 'living fossil'. "

Fortunately for all of our digits, this particular giant salamander is in no position to chop off anything, trapped in a tank in the visitors' centre in Maniwa City, about 800km west of Tokyo.
But impressive it certainly is: about 1.7m (5ft 6in) long, covered in a leathery skin that speaks of many decades passed, with a massive gnarled head covered in tubercles whose presumed sensitivity to motion probably helped it catch fish by the thousand over its lifetime.

If local legend is to be believed, though, this specimen is a mere tadpole compared with the biggest ever seen around Maniwa.

A 17th Century tale, related to us by cultural heritage officer Takashi Sakata, tells of a salamander (or hanzaki, in local parlance) 10m long that marauded its way across the countryside chomping cows and horses in its tracks.

A local hero was found, one Mitsui Hikoshiro, who allowed the hanzaki to swallow him whole along with his trusty sword - which implement he then used, in the best heroic tradition, to rend the beast from stem to stern.

It proved not to be such a good move, however.

Crops failed, people started dying in mysterious ways - including Mr Hikoshiro himself.

Pretty soon the villagers drew the obvious conclusion that the salamander's spirit was wreaking revenge from beyond the grave, and must be placated. That is why Maniwa City boasts a shrine to the hanzaki.

The story illustrates the cultural importance that this remarkable creature has in some parts of Japan.

Its scientific importance, meanwhile, lies in two main areas: its "living fossil" identity, and its apparently peaceful co-existence with the chytrid fungus that has devastated so many other amphibian species from Australia to the Andes.

"The skeleton of this species is almost identical to that of the fossil from 30 million years ago," recounts Takeyoshi Tochimoto, director of the Hanzaki Institute near Hyogo.

"Therefore it's called the 'living fossil'."

The hanzaki (Andrias japonicus) only has two close living relatives: the Chinese giant salamander (A. davidianus) , which is close enough in size and shape and habits that the two can easily cross-breed, and the much smaller hellbender (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis) of the south-eastern US.
Creatures rather like these were certainly around when dinosaurs dominated life on land, and fossils of the family have been found much further afield than their current tight distribution - in northern Europe, certainly, where scientists presumed the the lineages had gone extinct until tales of the strange Oriental forms made their way back to the scientific burghers of Vienna and Leiden a couple of centuries ago.

"They are thought to be extremely primitive species, partly due to the fact that they are the only salamanders that have external fertilisation," says Don Church, a salamander specialist with CI.

The fertilisation ritual must be quite some sight.

Into a riverbank den that is usually occupied by the dominant male (the "den-master") swim several females, and also a few other males.

The den-master and the females release everything they have got, turning incessantly to stir the eggs and spermatozoa round in a roiling mass.

Maybe the lesser males sneak in a package or two as well; their function in the ménage-a-many is not completely clear.

When the waters still, everyone but the den-master leaves; and he alone guards the nest and its juvenile brood.

It is not an ideal method of reproduction.

Research shows that genetic diversity among the hanzaki is smaller than it might be, partly as a result of the repeated polygamy, which in turn leaves them more prone to damage through environmental change.

But for the moment, it seems to work.

Outside the breeding season, the salamander's life appears to consist of remaining as inconspicuous as possible in the river (whether hiding in leaves, as the small ones do, or under the riverbanks like their larger fellows) and snapping whatever comes within reach, their usual meandering torpor transformed in an instant as the smell of a fish brushes by.

The adults' jaws are not to be treated lightly.

Among Dr Tochimoto's extensive collection of photos is one of bloodied human hands; and as he warns: "you may be attacked and injured; please be careful".

When the chytrid fungus was identified just over a decade ago, indications were that Japan would be an unlikely place to look for its origins.

With the discovery of chytrid on museum specimens of the African clawed frog (Xenopus laevis) , an out-of-Africa migration spurred by human transportation of amphibians once seemed the simple likelihood.

But just last year, a team of researchers led by Koichi Goka from Japan's National Institute for Environmental Studies published research showing that certain strains of chytrid were present on Japanese giant salamanders, and only on Japanese giant salamanders, including museum specimens from a century or so back; and that the relationship seemed benign.

Unravelling all that, says Don Church, might tell us something about the origins and spread of chytrid - and there is so much diversity among Japanese chytrid strains that the country is now being touted as a possible origin, as diversity often implies a long evolutionary timeframe.

More importantly, the discovery might also provide options for treating the infection.

"In the case of the North American salamanders, what was found was that they have bacteria living on their skin that produce peptides that are lethal to the amphibian chytrid fungus," says Dr Church.

"And those bacteria might be able to be transplanted to other species that can't fight off the fungus."

This is a line of research that is very much in play in laboratories around the world.

It appears likely now that studies of the Japanese giant salamander can expand the number of chytrid-fighting bacteria known to science, and so extend the options for developing treatments for an infection that currently cannot be controlled in the wild.

But that can only come to pass if the giant salamanders endure; something that is not guaranteed, with the challenges they face in modern Japan including, perhaps, new strains of chytrid itself.

There is as yet no modern hero able to still the pace of habitat loss or prevent invasion from rival species.
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Still available:
THE COMPLETE NORTH AMERICAN BOX TURTLE
Carl J. Franklin, and David C. Killpack with foreword by C. Kenneth Dodd (who wrote the now classic "Natural History of North American Box Turtles"
Just published. 260 Pages Over 300 full color photos and illustrations.
Hardcover, Eco/Serpent's Tales
Only $49.95 plus $7.50 S&H, lowest price on net
Not even Amazon who are offering it for $59.95.

"TURTLES: THE ANIMAL ANSWER GUIDE." By Whit Gibbons and Judy Greene
of the Savannah River Ecology Lab. © 2009 176 pages, 35 color photos, 64 halftones, Paperback., 7" x 11"-$24.95 PLUS $6.00 S&H

THE TURTLES OF U.S. & CANADA by Carl Ernst and Jeffrey Lovich, 2009, 840 pp. 240 color photos, 11 line drawings, 52 maps, 8 ½" X 11
List price $95.00, Only 2 Autographed copies left for sale at $85.00
($11.00 for S&H sent media mail, delivery confirmation, It's an 8 plus pound book)

THE ECOLOGY, EXPLOITATION AND CONSERVATION OF RIVER TURTLES
by Don Moll and Edward O. Moll. Considered by turtle scientists, and conservationists as one of the best books on turtle conservation. 420 pages; 90 halftones & 3 line illus.; 6-1/8 x 9-1/4; List price $80, now $30.00 plus $7.50 S&H.

"BIOLOGY OF THE BOAS AND PYTHONS"
Edited by R.W. Henderson and R. Powell
2007,Eagle Mountain Publishing,
448 pages, 30 chapters by 79 authors, over 200 color photographs, maps, figures, and drawings, Table of Contents available, $100.00 PLUS $7.50 For S&H.

On how to order see below

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