Daily Reptile News

BBC, Animal Planet order Snake Bites

UK pubcaster BBC2 and US cablenet Animal Planet are teaming up to coproduce One Million Snake Bites, a documentary following a reptile expert and conservationist as he journeys across India.

The documentary is being made by Icon Films (River Monsters) and will air in the UK as an hour-long doc, with the US transmitting a 49-minute version.

The programme will see Romulus Whitaker, who set up India’s first venom production centre, looking closely at snake and human behaviour in India, which is home to 280 species of snakes – 65 of which are capable of inflicting a fatal bite.

The documentary was commissioned by Tim Martin for BBC2 and Rick Holzman for Animal Planet US. It is directed by Robin Smith and exec produced by Harry Marshall for Icon Films. Martin is the exec producer for BBC2 and Krishna San Nicolas is coordinating producer for Animal Planet US.

The BBC and recently sold its 50% stake in Animal Planet to Discovery Communications, giving the latter 100% ownership as part of a US$156m deal. At the same time the pair extended their coproduction partnership in North America for another two years.

Large croc scares beach jogger

A MACHANS Beach woman got the shock of her life yesterday morning after jogging within 4m of the jaws of a “massive” crocodile.

Lana Lockyer was on her morning run on the beachside of Cinderella St near the mouth of the Barron River when she spotted what she thought was a log in the water.

“Then it blinked its eyes at me,” she said. “It was massive, at least 30cm from its nostrils to it eyes. I freaked out.”

She said she rapidly accelerated and when she turned around the reptile, which she estimated to be well over 3m, was gone.

But Ms Lockyer’s Jurassic adventure was not over as she warily made her way back down the beach she spotted another much smaller crocodile swim away.

She said it was likely that the larger crocodile was nesting in the area and warned people to be careful.

“On the weekend I saw parents letting three kids swim in the mouth of the Barron,” Ms Lockyer said.

“Some people are crazy. It’s croc season.”

Ms Lockyer’s experience follows a recent double sighting of two 1.2m crocodiles on Bramston Beach, a 3m reptile on the Cairns Esplanade and an alleged sighting of 7m monster at Normanton.

A Department of Environment and Resource Management spokesman said: “DERM advises the public to be especially vigilant at this time of year when crocodiles are on the move during the breeding season, and when local flooding events can push crocodiles into areas they may not usually be seen.”

Snakes are seeking higher ground too

THERE may be water everywhere, but that won’t stop snakes getting out and about.

A lot of snakes were flushed out of their homes during the October floods, Snakeman Tony Davis said yesterday, so like humans they would have headed to higher ground and stayed there.

While Mr Davis has not had many calls on the snake front, he believes a reason behind the lull could be that snakes went on the move during mating season or that the evacuation of residents could also be behind it.

“Maybe they are on the water’s edge but there’s nobody in North Wagga to see it,” he said.

“Many got flooded out in October, plus October’s mating time so they may have moved on anyhow.”

As one resident found, snakes are still about, and have been sighted close to where people are swimming and floating in floodwaters.

That snakes can swim is something that manages to surprise many people the Snakeman sees.

“I’m surprised at the amount of people that don’t know, and by the amount of people who don’t know a snake can still bite while they are swimming,” he said.

A snakebite that occurs in water is harder to treat, a Greater Southern Area Health Service (GSAHS) doctor said yesterday.

“Water can wash away venom from outside the wound, making identification and treatment with antivenom more difficult,” Dr Trish Saccasan Whelan said.

Mr Davis urges people to wear covered footwear and cover the lower half of the body when they walk through long grass, and to be cautious.

Snake causes panic in Kolkata hospital

Kolkata: A viper snake surfaced in Kolkata’s SSKM Hospital, leaving behind the bed ridden patients and the staff in a ward shocked and terrified, a doctor said Wednesday. The reptile was killed later.

The snake was spotted Tuesday at the wood burn block in the hospital. It was traced after a day-long search and killed Wednesday.

‘It is true that a snake has been spotted in the wood burn block. The snake has been killed and what I have come to know from the officials is that it was viper kind of a snake,’ said Provash Chakraborty, medical superintendent of the hospital.

‘It is really alarming. But we are taking all measures to prevent repetition of such an incident,’ said Chakraborty.

Lizard enzyme to regrow organs, limbs

Amputees could regenerate their limbs thanks to scientists on the verge of discovering how salamanders grow back lost legs and damaged organs.

Axolotl salamanders are now going under the knife, under anaesthesia, in experiments at the Hanover Medical School in Germany.

The hope is one day for their genes to be transplanted to people who lose limbs and organs only to see them regrow.

“Coagulation sets in instantly,” scientist BjMenger told Germany’s Spiegelmagazine. “You can almost watch the healing process happening,” reports theDaily Mail.

They can even grow back sections of their brains and spinal columns, raising hopes that disabled people might one day be able to walk if such feats can be copied.

Scientists experimenting on a batch of them in Hanover notice that after a limb has been amputated, a layer of skin cells forms from the cells at the spot of the incision.

Scar tissue forms underneath and new tissue begin to grow, such as blood vessels, muscles, sinews, bones and nerves. The researchers are homing in on a particular enzyme called amblox which makes the axolotl unique in the animal kingdom.

The grail is to create amblox artificially. Initial tests on human skin cells have been encouraging; wounds do heal faster, skin grows back at an accelerated pace. But a breakthrough in terms of regenerating limbs and organs is a long way off.

Gulity of cruelty to reptiles

A MAN admitted being cruel to reptiles when he appeared before South Tyneside magistrates yesterday.

Mark Newton, 35, of Seton Walk, South Shields, pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to animals, including a soft-shelled turtle, a green iguana and a leopard gecko between November 16 and December 16 last year.

He had earlier denied causing unnecessary suffering to reptiles in his home by failing to keep them warm.

He also denied failing to provide a green iguana with a suitable diet, and letting a soft-shelled turtle and leopard gecko suffer pain and disease between the same dates.

The RSPCA yesterday withdrew the second and third charges, and Newton changed his plea to guilty on the first.

Solicitor Judith Curry, for the RSPCA, asked the magistrates to adjoin the case until Friday, when it was due to be heard as a trial.

She said the technical issues raised during the case would mean an opening address of at least an hour.

Snakes on a plane

AN airline passenger carried a bag filled with animals including SNAKES with him on an eight-hour flight, police say.

The menagerie – including four snakes, two parrots and a squirrel inside a box – was found in the transit area of Abu Dhabi airport last week.

Cops declined to give the name of the suspect, who had flown to the United Arab Emirates from Indonesia.

They also did not identify which species of snake were in the bag.

But experts said photographs of the reptiles appeared to show non-venomous pythons.

It was not known how Indonesian authorities missed them.

The lapse is reminiscent of Samuel L Jackson’s 2006 movie Snakes on a Plane.

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