Daily Reptile News

20 students taken ill after consuming free milk in Puducherry

Puducherry: In a suspected case of food poisoning, twenty students of a government school fell ill after drinking milk supplied under the free breakfast scheme.

Official sources said the students of government higher secondary school at Karayambuthur complained of nausea soon after taking the milk and were immediately rushed to a nearby hospital, where they were treated as outpatients and sent home.

It was alleged that a lizard that had fallen into the milk was the cause of the health problem.

The school authorities stopped further distribution of the milk after the twenty children were taken ill.

The free breakfast scheme named after former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was launched by the Congress government in 2001.

RSPCA: Warty and sharp-ribbed newts rescued by animal charity

A Great Crested Newt was found badly injured on a country path in a rural village in Leicestershire on Thursday (October 7).

The species is the least common newt native to the UK and is highly protected.

Two days before (Tuesday October 5), an even more unusual amphibian was found on a path outside an old people’s home in Nottingham. It took consultation with national wildlife experts to identify it as a Pleurodeles Waltl, or sharp-ribbed newt, so-called because it can poke its ribs through its own skin and spike predators with poison.

The species is normally found on the Iberian Peninsula or Morocco and it is thought this animal must be an escaped or abandoned pet.

The Great Crested Newt, otherwise known as the warty newt, was found by a passer-by in Appleby Magna, near Ashby de-la Zouch with an injured tail and possible spine problems. The species is protected by both the Habitat and Species Regulations 2010 and the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

RSPCA officer Neil Astle was called to collect the adult female and take it to Stapeley Grange Wildlife Centre, near Nantwich in Cheshire, where she is now being cared for. It is hoped she will eventually be released back into the wild. He said: “This was a very rare find. “It is the first Great Crested I have come across in the 22 years I have been doing this job.

“Who knows how she came to be where she was. Considering the injuries it could have been dropped there by some kind of predator or perhaps even come from a nearby dried-up well.”

The sharp-ribbed newt is not native to the UK it cannot be released into the wild and has been re-homed with an exotics specialist.

RSPCA inspector Teresa Potter said: “It is very unusual to find this animal in this country even as a pet. I have never come across anyone who’s kept one of these before and we had to ask a lot of people before we could identify it. “It is a lovely little thing and obviously a tough cookie – it must have been through quite a lot to turn up where it did but was in pretty good shape.”

Four-foot snake on loose in town


ANIMAL experts are warning people to be vigilant after two men were seen apparently trying to dump a large snake in Bolton town centre.

The men, aged about 18, were spotted trying to offload the four-foot reptile over a fence at the junction of Folds Road and Bury New Road at about 11.15am yesterday.

Paula Connor, aged 43, reported the incident to the police and the RSPCA.

Mrs Connor, of Philips Avenue, Farnworth, was waiting at the traffic lights in Folds Road under the St Peter’s Way bridge when she saw the men carrying a large snake. It was pale brown with darker brown spots.

She said: “At first, I thought I was seeing things.”

Mrs Connor said the men dropped the snake on the ground, then picked it up again when they saw her looking at them. The RSPCA has now warned people to be on the lookout in case the snake is on the loose in the town centre.

Kathy Kay, of the RSPCA, said that the snake was unlikely to be poisonous or dangerous to humans, but some can eat small animals such as chicks and mice, and pet owners must be vigilant.

Larger snakes have been known to eat rabbits, cats and even small dogs.

Mrs Kay said: “There’s nothing we can do—we can’t go out looking for it — but people should be on the lookout.”

She added the snake was unlikely to survive long in the wild because of the cold weather.

Anyone who sees the snake can call the RSPCA emergency line on 0300 1234999.

Humidity makes gecko feet stickier

Human adhesives are famed for their fallibility. Gooey glues soon lose their grip, are easily contaminated and leave residues behind. But not gecko feet. Geckos can cling on repeatedly to the smoothest surfaces thanks to the self-cleaning microscopic spatula-shaped hairs (setae) that coat the soles of their feet. Back in 2002, Kellar Autumn found that these dry hairs are in such intimate contact with surfaces that the reptiles ‘glue’ themselves on by van der Waals forces with no need for fluid adhesives. More recent studies had suggested that geckos might benefit from additional adhesion in humid environments through capillary action provided by microscopic droplets of water sandwiched between setae and the surface. But Autumn wasn’t so sure, so he and his lab at Lewis and Clark College and the University of Washington, USA, began testing gecko grip to find out how increasing humidity helps them hold tight Autumn publishes his team’s discovery that humidity helps geckos grip tighter by softening the surface of their feet on 15 October 2010 in The Journal of Experimental Biology at http://jeb.biologists.org.

Knowing that geckos replace lost setae when they moult, Autumn, his postdoc Jonathan Puthoff, and Matt Wilkinson collected patches of the ‘sticky’ hairs from gecko feet and attached them to a mechanical testing device, known as ‘Robotoe’, that reproduces the way the reptile drags its foot as it contacts a surface. Dragging the setae across two surfaces (one that repelled water and another that attracted water) at different velocities and in environments ranging from 10% to 80% humidity, the team tested whether microscopic water bridges formed in high humidity were helping the geckos hang on. They reasoned that if the reptiles were using microscopic water bridges then the setae would bond more tightly to the surface that attracted water than the surface that repelled water. But when they measured the setae’s adhesion and friction it was essentially the same on the two surfaces. And when the team compared the adhesion of setae that were moving too fast to form water bridges with that of slowly moving feet that could possibly form water bridges, there was no difference. The geckos were not supplementing their van der Waals attachment forces with capillary forces from water bridges. So how were they holding on tighter?

Graduate student Michael Prowse decided to take a closer look at the material properties of the reptile’s feet. Knowing that setae are composed of keratin and keratin is softened by high humidity, Autumn wondered whether having softer setae could improve the reptiles’ contact with surfaces and increase their van der Waals adhesion. The team decided to measure the setae’s softness and how it changed as the humidity rose.

Repeatedly stretching and releasing a strip of setae at three different rates (0.5, 5 and 10 Hz) in environments ranging from 10% to 80% humidity, Autumn’s team measured the force transmitted through the strip to calculate the strip’s elastic modulus – how much elastic energy is stored – to see how it changed. As the humidity rose, the elastic modulus decreased by 75% and the strip of setae became softer. So the strip of setae became more deformable as the humidity rose, but could the increased softness explain the gecko’s improved attachment under damp conditions?

Puthoff built a mathematical model to see if softer, more deformable, setae could explain the gecko’s improved attachment at high humidity and found that it did. Not only did increased softness strengthen the contact between the setae and the surface but also it made it easier for the reptile to peel its foot off. So instead of improving gecko’s attachment through microscopic bridges, higher humidity softens the setae that coat the reptile’s feet to help them hold fast and peel free with ease.

Denver Zoo hatches 4 Komodo dragons

DENVER — The Denver Zoo says it’s become the only zoo in the world to hatch endangered Komodo dragons for a third time.

The zoo said Thursday that in its latest feat, four dragons have hatched and four are still in the incubator.

Denver Zoo Curator of Reptiles and Fishes Rick Haeffner says the zoo is only the second one in North America to hatch the dragons this year.

The four should be on display in the nursery soon.

Komodo dragons are the world’s largest species of lizard and can grow to be 10 feet long and more than 250 pounds. They have a vicious bite and have about 60 razor-sharp, serrated teeth up to 1 inch long.

Between 3,000 and 5,000 Komodo dragons are left in the wild.

Python rescued from dog attack

MONTY the monster python really landed on his feet – medically speaking – after being rescued from a dog attack on Wednesday.

The 7.4kg, two-metre-plus carpet snake was whisked to safety by Wildlife Carers’ reptile specialist Julie Curtis and rushed to the Central Veterinary Hospital in Lismore.

Shocked, cranky and sporting some deep puncture wounds and bruising after his encounter with two pet dogs near Bungawalbin, Monty was soothed and swabbed, injected with painkillers and antibiotics, X-rayed for possible spinal damage, anaesthetised and stitched up on the operating table.

He (staff at the hospital werereluctant to ‘probe’ the powerful reptile to determine its gender, but refered to Monty as ‘he’ throughout) spent the night at Ms Curtis’s New Italy home, curled up on heat pads to aid his convalescence.

Monty, thought to be between 20 and 25 years old, will remain there until his wounds heal.

The python had gone on to the dogs’ patch when he slithered across their fenced-off pool area.

The dogs went for him and he apparently gave a good fight, drawing blood with his hundreds of pin-sharp teeth, before escaping up a pole.

The dogs’ owner called the Northern Rivers Wildlife Carers and Ms Curtis came to the rescue, climbing a ladder to grab him.

Wildlife Carers have seen quite a few snakes emerging in poor condition this spring.

“A lot of them are coming out really thin. We think they must have been injured when they went intohibernation,” said Ms Curtis, who has been with the wildlife carers for 15 years.

Weakness wasn’t Monty’s problem, however. “He’s very strong, all muscle,” she said.

However, while he may have come out of the scrap bloodied but unbowed, Monty now faces the fight of his life.

The X-rays showed he had a number of broken ribs – not good for a snake, even one as healthy as Monty.

Yesterday, Ms Curtis was going to take him back to the hospital for further examination.

If Monty survives, he will be returned to the property he was found on, surely wiser for the experience.

New wildlife ponds created at Chadkirk

Six ponds have been created at Chadkirk Country Estate and Local Nature Reserve near Romiley in Stockport.

One of the new ponds created at Chadkirk Country Estate and Local Nature Reserve.One of the new ponds created at Chadkirk Country Estate and Local Nature Reserve.

Stockport Council was awarded funding from the ‘Million Ponds Project’ to create clean freshwater ponds to provide a valuable habitat for existing wildlife and attract other wildlife including amphibians, dragonflies, water beetles, and birds.

Surveys undertaken by the South Manchester Amphibian and Reptile Group and Cheshire Active Naturalists reveal that the existing pond on the site supports four species of amphibian – the common frog, common toad, smooth newt and palmate newt, so the new ponds should provide excellent habitat for these and other species.

They will also provide opportunities for local people and visitors to learn more about wildlife within the estate.

Council staff worked with the Friends of Chadkirk on the project which was completed last month.

For more information on the ponds phone 0161 430 6512 or contact the staff on site.

The Million Ponds Project will create an extensive network of new ponds across the UK. The aim is to reverse a century of pond loss, ensuring that again the UK has over one million countryside ponds.  Phase 1 of the project from 2008-2012 aims to create the first 5,000 clean water ponds in England and Wales.

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