ScienceDaily (May 19, 2010) – German scientist André Koch from the Zoological Research Museum Alexander Koenig (ZFMK) in Bonn together with his supervisor Prof Dr Wolfgang Böhme and another colleague have described two new monitor lizard species (Varanus spp.) and one new subspecies from the Philippines in a recent article. Their comprehensive study of the Philippine water monitors revealed, that despite the recently discovered new...

ScienceDaily (May 19, 2010) – Female sagebrush lizards with greater courtship experience are more likely to be courted by their male counterparts, according to a recent study. The study is described by Mayte Ruiz, Zachary M. Beals, and Emilia P. Martins in the June 2010 issue of Herpetologica. For the study, the three researchers collected 13 male and 26 female sagebrush lizards from the San Gabriel Mountains of Southern California...

Gulf Oil Again Imperils Sea TurtleBy Leslie Kaufman, May 18, 2010, New York Times PADRE ISLAND NATIONAL SEASHORE, Tex. – It is nesting season here, and just offshore, Kemp’s ridley sea turtle No. 15 circles in the water before dragging herself onto the sand to lay another clutch of eggs. The sea turtle, affectionately nicknamed Thelma by a National Park Service employee, has already beaten some terrible odds. Still in the egg,...

ScienceDaily (May 20, 2010) – The world’s most ancient frogs may soon be mined to extinction, if the New Zealand government’s plans to open up a conservation area for mining go ahead, conservation biologists warn. The primitive Archey’s frog (Leiopelma archeyi) and Hochstetter’s frog (Leiopelma hochstetteri) are two of the species that inhabit the area of ‘high conservation value’ on New...

Tadpoles Screaming Underwater Show Unsuspected SentienceFrom Animal People, May 2010: Buenos Aires–The ethical significance of the discovery that tadpoles scream when threatened may take some time to occur to scientists, ethicists, and animal advocates. A breakthrough in scientific recognition of animal sentience, the finding took more than three years just to win widespread notice after formal publication in a leading...