The Los Angeles County Natural History Museum is conducting a hunt for the “Lost Lizards of Los Angeles,” which they describe as “an unusual wildlife safari” to be conducted in backyards across the county.
Although the lizard census doesn’t officially start until late spring, the weekend prior to the first day of spring on Mar. 20, a group of about 20 local amphibian experts gathered at Exposition Park in south Los Angeles on a salamander hunt, according to Brian Brown, curator of entomology at the Natural History Museum.
This isn’t the first time the hunt has been on for lizards in Los Angeles County. One search was conducted 76 years ago. Scientists believe there are roughly 4,675 lizard species worldwide, but how many reside in Southern California is an unknown.
To date, there is no record of lizards having been found in Exposition Park, Brown said, and the question for scientists is “why?‘ The hope is the Lost Lizard hunt may answer that question, as well as come up any unaccounted for species, which Brown said there is a good chance of happening.
“The chance of finding a new species here is the same as in a rain forest. Our own backyards in some way are just as unknown as some remote jungle,” he said.
If there are new species, Brown and others think there is a good chance that any lizards new to the area or new breeds will be unearthed by the volunteers who are conducting the search for the Lost Lizards of Los Angeles survey.
Category Archives: Conservation
DuPont Nature Center to host March 20 program on amphibians and reptiles
Milford, Del. —
The DuPont Nature Center at Mispillion Harbor Reserve will host a special program about amphibians and reptiles, “Living with Cold Blood,” at 11 a.m. Saturday, March 20.
The program is offered free of charge with no pre-registration required.
In the 90-minute program, educator and center volunteer Nick McLaughlin will share fascinating facts about amphibians and reptiles, including how they survive the winter. He will also be bringing a variety of live animals, from tree frogs to a de-venomed copperhead snake to allow participants a close-up look at some of these unique creatures.
Perched on the edge of Mispillion Harbor at the intersection of the mouths of the Mispillion River and Cedar Creek, the center is a Delaware Division of Fish and Wildlife facility that offers interactive exhibits, school tours and educational programs.
In the spring, its location offers wildlife watchers a front-row seat for the spring spectacle of spawning horseshoe crabs and migrating shorebirds including the red knot that depend on horseshoe crab eggs to help fuel their 9,000-mile journey.
The center is located at 2992 Lighthouse Road, east of Milford. Spring hours through April 30 are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Admission is free and open to the public.
For more information about the DuPont Nature Center and its programs, please call 302-422-1329, or visit
Some exotic animals have defenders at hearing
Old Lyme – The lengthy list of exotic animals the state is considering banning as pets includes several that should be allowed and are not necessarily dangerous, exotic pet owners said Tuesday at a state Department of Environmental Protection forum on draft regulations that would make the import and private ownership of many types of wild animals illegal.
Among the exotic pets cited by attendees as not necessarily dangerous were wallabies, some types of pythons and some but not all types of anaconda.
The DEP will use the comments from this forum and two others to revise the proposed rules before a final version is submitted to the state legislature for consideration, Rick Jacobs, acting director of the DEP’s Wildlife Division, told the 20 people in attendance.
The rules were written after the highly publicized attack by a pet chimpanzee on a woman in Stamford highlighted the need to clarify and tighten state laws regarding possession of wild animals considered dangerous to humans, native wildlife and agriculture. Possession of chimpanzees and other primates was banned last year, joining wild dogs, bears and wild felines.
The new list of animals that would be banned includes: wild boar and warthog; hippopotamus; alligators; several types of poisonous snakes; Gila monsters; Komodo dragons and crocodile monitors, among many others. Exceptions would be made for licensed animal exhibitors, zoos, nature centers and other professional animal handlers.
One speaker, who identified himself only as Jonathan from West Hartford, said some of the animals on the list, such as the reticulated python “are far less dangerous than animals considered domestic.”
Because it was a forum and not a public hearing, the DEP did not require speakers to give their full names.
“It is a large snake, and it can be dangerous to people, but no more than your neighbor’s dog,” the West Hartford man said. “There are lots of people who own some of the reptiles on this list.”
Allison Sloane of Deep River took issue with banning all the types of pythons and anacondas on the list.
“I’ve owned several, and if handled correctly” they are good pets, she said. Her yellow anaconda, for example, curls up next to her as she watches television, she said. She added that she has taken in and cared for several reptiles others acquired as pets and were unable to care for.
Several speakers suggested current owners of animals that would be banned should able to legally keep them with a grandfather clause, but Priscilla Feral, president of Friends of Animals in Darien, disagreed. She called on the DEP to evaluate the living conditions of some of these animals before they are given permission to keep them.
The DEP will receive written comments through March 31 at: jenny.dickson@ct.gov. For information, visit: www.ct.gov/dep/cwp/view.asp?Q=456710&;A=3847
Tortoise stolen from San Francisco museum
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — A San Francisco museum is looking for help, tracking down its stolen tortoise.
The desert tortoise, nicknamed “Arthur,” was taken from the Randall Museum in the city’s Castro District, sometime last Wednesday afternoon.
The museum has taken out an ad on Craigslist, in hopes of getting the 50-year-old reptile back safely.
If you know who has Arthur, you are urged to return him to the museum — no questions asked.
Lizards get fresh place to lounge in Long Bay
A subdivision beside one of Auckland’s most popular parks once advertised for sale to “well-heeled beach bums” is set to become a haven for lizards, fish and birds.
They will get better habitats and a helping hand to thrive under resource consent conditions for reshaping hills and gullies to take 2500 houses on a farm behind Long Bay Regional Park.
After a plan forged over a decade of controversy and court wrangles, North Shore City Council has granted consents for preliminary site works.
The consents cover only 21ha of the 178ha of a Todd Property Group subsidiary, which took over from original developer Landco.
The main earthworks needed to stabilise the slopes for roading and sites will be done between October and April.
North Shore Mayor Andrew Williams says conditions of consent will not prevent a significant impact of building on the Long Bay skyline but they will offer some environmental benefits.
In the first area to be developed, the company and the council will share the cost of forming a 2.5ha wetland on the flats beside the Awaruku Stream.
CCID: 30617
This will take stormwater from 200ha of present housing in Torbay and Awaruku and new homes in the 21ha subdivision.
A major concern arising in consent hearings was the risk of soil run-off from the development spoiling the beach and marine reserve.
Sediment in stormwater will be settled out in ponds before discharge into the wetland and further water cleansing measures include deepening the stream with a weir and building rock spillways. Willows and weeds along the stream will be replaced with native shrubs.
Council ecologist Peter Anderson found the polluted and weed-infested stream was surprisingly busy with eels and inanga, pest fish species and even freshwater turtle.
He said the proposals would benefit aquatic life and rare wetland birds.
Earthworks will destroy lizard habitats such as old logs and Todd spokesman Sifa Taumoepeau said it would collect lizards rom the work area and release them to a special site which would have a weed and rat control regime for five years.
Mr Taumoepeau said the company would undertake a monitoring programme to check the efficiency of the weir on the wetland to allow native fish passage.
Monitoring requirements covered construction sediment discharges from temporary treatment ponds and any sediment on the inter-tidal rock reef downstream of the works.
Todd expects to pay $125,000 for environmental measures, excluding the wetland share.
The company is also preparing an interim management plan to protect heritage sites on a 19ha reservation on the Awaruku headland.
Westport Free Public Library to host a live reptiles exhibit
WESTPORT —
The Westport Free Public Library, 408 Old County Road, will host a live reptiles exhibit Friday, March 26, at 7 p.m. See a snapping turtle, a large snake, an alligator, a Gila monster and eight more interesting crawling creatures.
Maria Isaac and New England Reptile & Raptor exhibits will be featured.
The program is supported by the Westport Arts Council through a grant from the Helen E. Ellis Charitable Trust administered by the Bank of America.
Registration is not necessary. Call Linda Cunha, head of Children’s and Young Adult Services, at 508-636-1100 for more information.
Albino alligator coming to aquarium
One of fewer than 50 living albino alligators makes his debut at the South Carolina Aquarium this week.
Although an adult American alligator, a species that lives in South Carolina’s Piedmont and Coastal Plain, this particular reptile lacks melanin in its eyes and skin, leaving it translucent, light-sensitive and vulnerable to predators in the wild.
It weighs in at 150 pounds and stretches 7 1/2 feet from teeth to tail.
The alligator greets the public Saturday, but look for a sneak preview in Friday’s Post and Courier.
The exhibit comes one year after Penguin Planet launched with its four playful, warm-weather birds, originally scheduled to depart upon the alligator’s arrival. That plan changed after the aquarium experienced an 11.5 percent jump in attendance thanks, in part, to the penguins, who will stick around until October.
Slow climb
Hotel occupancy fell less than 1 percent year over year for February, according to the
College of Charleston’s Office of Tourism Analysis.
Though not ideal, the slight drop means an improvement in the trend.
Occupancy in North Charleston properties fell 2 percent and in East Cooper less than 4 percent, after both areas experienced double-digit declines month after month last year.
The new attraction will reside in the Aquarium’s renovated
Blackwater Swamp exhibit with life-size cypress trees and other new species, including gopher tortoises, rattlesnakes and screech owls.