There is more than just spring breakers basking in the sun as we head into the final weekend of March. Some large reptiles are breaking the water and basking in the warmth of the sun — and it’s nowhere near Alabama’s beaches. Leer más.

Three of four reptiles that were swiped from a science museum and thrown together into a garbage bag during a heist were recovered Friday, though a 3-foot-long ball python remained at large, officials said. Leer más.

Una alta temperatura corporal protege a las ranas del letal hongo quítrido que amenaza a la población mundial de anfibios, especialmente en Australia y Centroamérica, según un estudio científico divulgado hoy. Leer más.

The genome of the western painted turtle (Chrysemys picta bellii) one of the most widespread, abundant and well-studied turtles in the world, is published this week in Genome Biology. The data show that, like turtles themselves, the rate of genome evolution is extremely slow; turtle genomes evolve at a rate that is about a third that of the human genome and a fifth that of the python, the fastest lineage analyzed. Leer más.

Methyl mercury is a persistent environmental contaminant that threatens the health of organisms in ecosystems throughout the world. Since methylmercury bioaccumulates over time and biomagnifies at each trophic level, long-lived, carnivorous species such as reptiles are at greatest risk. Reptiles have often been used as bioindicators of local mercury contamination, and many species have been shown to accumulate large concentrations of mercury in affected habitats. Leer  más.