Solitary, aggressive, and dangerous to know—that’s how most people see rattlesnakes. Yet scientists are beginning to reveal a seemingly caring, family-loving side to these deadly reptiles. Leer más.

The Galápagos Islands were colonised in the late 1800s. A combination of poaching by whalers and pirates, and introduced pests competing for food and eating eggs and hatchlings, led to tortoises being exterminated on some islands, and dramatically reduced on others. Leer más.

Last fall I worked on an interesting project in western Wisconsin. A utility company in the area needed to replace some old existing transmission structures with new, upgraded ones. A portion of the transmission right-of-way passed through a huge wetland complex that was located on federal, state, and private properties. The WDNR and USFWS were concerned about impacts of the construction activities to the wetlands and two sensitive reptiles, the state-threatened wood turtle (Glyptemys insculpta) and state-endangered and federally-proposed eastern massasauga rattlesnake (Sistrurus catenatus). Leer más.

Six quadrate bones, of which two almost certainly come from the Kem Kem beds (Cenomanian, Upper Cretaceous) of south-eastern Morocco, are determined to be from juvenile and adult individuals of Spinosaurinae based on phylogenetic, geometric morphometric, and phylogenetic morphometric analyses. Leer más.