NEW DELHI: The main reason why over 46,000 Indians die every year from poisonous snakebites is that it takes a long time — hours in most cases — to identify the snake. This is essential because anti-venom is specific to each type of snake. Of course, in India, health infrastructure is so patchy in rural areas that most victims are unable to get suitable treatment within the required time. New research conducted in Nepal may change this dire scenario. The researchers have developed a simple test which identifies the snake by taking swabs from bite marks and analyzing the culprit's species by DNA analysis....
New test identifies snake from DNA in bite marks, makes treatment easier
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Cheating death: Papua New Guinea's snake man
In the grasslands of Papua New Guinea (PNG) they lurk - silent, lethal, deadly. The Papuan Taipan lies in wait, ready to pounce on unsuspecting villagers as they walk barefoot through the long grass. This danger zone is David Williams' workplace. Known in PNG as the "snake man", the Australian reptile handler-turned-scientist ventures where others fear to tread - literally. Every year, the Papuan Taipan kills up to 1,000 people in PNG, and in some parts of this South Pacific nation, there can be as many as 60 snakes per hectare. Those who live in remote villages far from medical help are especially vulnerable. "We could probably prevent 80 percent of all snake bites in this country, but the...
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Australian man bitten by taipan snake dies after six days in hospital
David Pitt, 77, went into cardiac arrest after highly venomous reptile bit him on the foot in his home in far north Queensland...
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Another Deadly Snake Species Discovered In Australia
Scientists say they’ve discovered a new species of deadly snake in Australia: the Kimberley death adder. The snake is named for the remote region of Kimberley, located in Western Australia. The adder is endemic to the region. New deadly snake – Kimberley death adder - discovered in Australia http://t.co/KNzUDjlOr9 pic.twitter.com/1Vts48xohp— Independent.ie (@Independent_ie) September 16, 2015 Researchers recently...
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Gigantor: Is this Australia's largest brown snake?
The snake, dubbed Gigantor is two metres lone and weighs two kilograms. Photo: Australian Reptile Park More snakes out and about due to rainy spring, hot summer Brown snake swims between the flags at Forster Queensland mother bitten by king brown snake A two-metre Eastern brown snake, dubbed the largest of its kind in the world, has found a new home at the Australian...
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When snakes bite: Newcastle to host venom and antivenom research centre
Monday is milking day at the Australian Reptile Park. Each week the park's head of reptiles, Billy Collett, collects venom from 100 snakes to be used in life-saving antivenoms. Surrounded by boxes housing his deadly charges – taipans, tiger snakes, king browns – Mr Collett deftly immobilises a snake's head as it sprays venom into a vial. In 10 years of working with snakes, he has never been bitten. The 10 most venomous snakes in the world are all found in Australia. The reptile park, at Somersby on the NSW central coast,...
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Yet another deadly snake species discovered in Australia
Scientists describe the highly camouflaged Kimberley death adder, native to Western Australia, as one of the world’s most venomous snakes...
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Conference helps mark 100 years of KU amphibian, reptile research (KU - The University of ...
(Source: KU - The University of Kansas) LAWRENCE - The KU Biodiversity Institute will celebrate 100 years of amphibian and reptile research this month with an international herpetology conference, exhibitions and a variety of educational public events. KU will host more than 425 scientists and students for the 58th annual meeting of the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles from July 30-Aug. 2. Single-day and full-conference registration and program information are available on the Biodiversity Institute's SSAR 2015 meeting website. Conference highlights include talks by world-famous biologists, including KU alumnus and...
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New Data from Largest Prospective Study on CroFab® for Treatment of Copperhead Snake Envenomation Results Demonstrate Reduced Disability for Patients Treated with CroFab®
LONDON, March 9, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- BTG plc (LSE: BTG) announced today the presentation of new data from the largest prospective study ever conducted in the treatment of copperhead snake envenomation. This study builds on the extensive body of evidence supporting the safety and efficacy of CroFab® Crotalidae Polyvalent Immune Fab (Ovine) in treating copperhead snake envenomation. The data were shared in a keynote presentation at the Venom Week V International Scientific Symposium (March 9-12) in Greenville, NC. A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study compared CroFab® versus placebo for the treatment of copperhead snake envenomation in 74 patients (45, CroFab®;...
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New Data from Largest Prospective Study on CroFab® for Treatment of Copperhead Snake Envenomation (BTG plc)
(Source: BTG plc) Results Demonstrate Reduced Disability for Patients Treated with CroFab London, UK, March 9, 2016: BTG plc (LSE: BTG) announced today the presentation of new data from the largest prospective study ever conducted in the treatment of copperhead snake envenomation. This study builds on the extensive body of evidence supporting the safety and efficacy of CroFab Crotalidae Polyvalent Immune Fab (Ovine) in treating copperhead snake envenomation. The data were shared in a keynote presentation at the Venom Week V International Scientific Symposium (March 9-12) in Greenville, NC. A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study compared CroFab versus placebo for the treatment...
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The Best Science Books of 2016
I have long believed that E.B. White’s abiding wisdom on children’s books — “Anyone who writes down to children is simply wasting his time. You have to write up, not down.” — is equally true of science books. The question of what makes a great book of any kind is, of course, a slippery one, but I recently endeavored to synthesize my intuitive system for assessing science books that write up to the reader in a taxonomy of explanation, elucidation, and enchantment. Gathered here are exceptional books that accomplish at least two of the three, assembled in the spirit of my annual best-of reading lists, which I continue to consider Old Year’s resolutions in reverse...
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What we lose when we lose the world’s frogs
Amphibians survived the dinosaur extinction just fine. Why are they in peril now? Last month, a frog died in an Atlanta botanical garden. With it went an entire species never to hop along the Earth again. Biologists at Zoo Atlanta who’d looked after the frog for the past 12 years called him “Toughie.” He was a charismatic, glossy-eyed specimen and the very last Rabbs’ fringe-limbed tree frog in the world. Joseph Mendelson, the director of research at Zoo Atlanta, had been prepared for this. When the Rabbs’ frog was discovered in Panama in 2005, some 80 percent of the population had already been lost to disease. A few were removed in hope of a revival. Alas, the last female died in...
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India’s thriving biodiversity: 445 new species added in 2015
Four species of reptiles, six species of amphibians, 26 species of fishes, three species of wild ginger and three of figs are among the 445 species new to science identified in India in 2015. The figure includes 262 animal species and 183 plant species. Some of the notable additions to the list of animals include a rock gecko (Hemidactylus...
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33 reptiles are dead at Knoxville Zoo - and herpetologists don't know why
(CNN)The herpetology team arrived at Zoo Knoxville expecting business as usual, but what they found was a baffling sight: dozens of reptiles on the brink of death. The team...
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Port Townsend student runner-up in herpetologist contest seeks funds toward travel food miscellaneous costs
PORT TOWNSEND — A Port Townsend High School freshman has been named runner-up in the International Herpetological Symposium's Junior Herpetologist Contest in the 12-15 age category.Lauren ......
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Researchers in Biological Sciences Awarded "Best Paper in Herpetology" (University of Arkansas)
(Source: University of Arkansas) June 16, 2015 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - The American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists awarded four University of Arkansas researchers and their collaborators Best Herpetology Paper 2014 for a paper they coauthored on the categorization of biodiversity in the journal Copeia. Professor James M. Walker, professor Michael E. Douglas, associate professor Marlis R. Douglas and post-doctoral fellow Whitney J.B. Anthonysamy, all in the Department of Biological Sciences, together with Brian K. Sullivan and Keith O. Sullivan of Arizona State University, James E. Cordes of Louisiana State University and Mark A. Davis of the University of Illinois coauthored the...
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Council leaders of all parties plead for no more cuts
Leisure centres and libraries will be affected by cuts. Photograph: M.Brodie /Alamy Funding for services provided by councils has borne the brunt of austerity while demand continues to rise. When the chancellor delivers his autumn statement this Wednesday, “more of the same” cannot be an option. After a 40% reduction in funding during this parliament, our efficiency savings are coming to an end. Further reductions without radical reform will have a detrimental impact on people’s quality of life and will lead to vital services being scaled back or lost altogether. Services such as libraries, leisure centres and road maintenance continue to buckle under the strain of cuts and the ever-rising...
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When snakes bite: Newcastle to host venom and antivenom research centre
Monday is milking day at the Australian Reptile Park. Each week the park's head of reptiles, Billy Collett, collects venom from 100 snakes to be used in life-saving antivenoms. Surrounded by boxes housing his deadly charges – taipans, tiger snakes, king browns – Mr Collett deftly immobilises a snake's head as it sprays venom into a vial. In 10 years of working with snakes, he has never been bitten. The 10 most venomous snakes in the world are all found in Australia. The reptile park, at Somersby on the NSW central coast, is...
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Environmentalist Bob Thomas is natural choice for Parkway Partners award
Bob Thomas teaches you to notice things: A striped skink scurrying through the underbrush on legs so short you can barely see them. A tree frog no bigger than your thumbnail. Elm leaves with halves that don't quite meet in the middle, "like God was looking the other way when he made them." He still sees nature with the wonder of a 5-year-old boy, and he's passionate about sharing that wonder. Because of his "dedication to the environmental education of multiple generations of New Orleanians," Thomas will receive the 2016 Parkway Partners' Green Spirit Award Sunday during the "Feast with Leah" jazz brunch at Dooky Chase restaurant. "A born educator, Thomas, in the 1970s, was the first...
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Spectre of destruction: the lost manuscript of the real-life 'M'
Breaking open a locked cabinet belonging to Maxwell Knight, naturalist and spy, yields not Top Secret documents but a passionate scientific plea ......
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