Questions tagged [herpetology]
The study of reptiles and amphibians, and a subarea of zoology.
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Why doesn’t dust interfere with the adhesion of geckos’ feet?
Setup:
The way a gecko's feet function has been a captivating but now relatively well understood phenomenon. They have many small spatula on the feet that exploit electromagnetic van-der-Waals forces ...
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Why is Archosauria a subclass and not a class?
What is the logic behind Archosauria being a subclass when they have such major differences between Lizards, Snakes, and Turtles. The Amphibians appeared before the Diapsids, which then split into ...
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What snake is this? Is it venomous?
Location: Ozark Mountains in Northern Arkansas.
Size: Perhaps 4-6 feet in length.
Behavior: Mower uncovered a couple of these in tall grass/brush next to a log. They did not coil up. This one lay ...
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Is this snake hazardous around children?
This snake lives in a small rock dam in a residential retention pond in Chattanooga, TN. Children play in the area at times. It is approximately 30 inches in length. Is this snake a hazard or can it ...
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Is there any research on episodic-like memory in reptiles?
I've been studying the area of episodic-like memory in non-human animals and our old reptile cousins seem to be really underrepresented (or not represented at all). Is there any research that I am ...
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Can Sleeping With Reptiles Reduce Excess Body Heat from Your Partner? [closed]
I'm an engineer and biology is my weakest point, so please forgive if this question is dumb.
My wife always complains that I set the air temperature too cold at night. She's exothermic in a number of ...
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Snake Identification in India
Location: Kharagpur, West Bengal, India.
Time: Near the end of September at around 1:00 pm.
This snake was spotted in a drain near my hostel in Kharagpur, West Bengal, India. Can somebody help me ...
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ID Large, broad flat bone found in Gulf of Mexico [duplicate]
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Is this a tooth? A rib? Or a fish?
I found this in about 4’ of water in the Gulf of Mexico/Galveston.
It is slightly curved and the side edges have numerous pointy parts. On one side at the bottom ...
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Help identifying small snake in southern India
I found a baby snake near a hill in Karnataka, Southern part of India.
It's monsoon season here.
Approximate length - 15 cm
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How to Scale Metabolic rate and drug dosage according to Mass?
I was reading a book "Biology and evolution of Crocodilians" by Gordon Grigg and David Kirshner.
And I can't understand the part about metabolic scaling no matter which method I tried I can'...
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How does a turtle develop inside its egg?
This is related to Cause of premature death in turtle eggs, for those interested.
I have noticed that Kinosternon spp. eggs have three layers:
hard outer shell
white opaque membrane (like the one you ...
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Poison of the Japanese Tree Frog
The Japanese Tree Frog (Dryophytes japonica) (EN / JP) has a poison on its skin that can even make you loose your eyesight, if you touch your eyes, after touching{NOTE}. I found quite a couple of site ...
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Reptile identification - Is this a green iguana?
At first instance it looks like an iguana and since this photo was taken near the coast of Pernambuco, Brazil it could only be the green iguana, but as you can see from the photo the reptile is black. ...
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Cause of premature death in turtle eggs
Context
I am a hobbyist turtle breeder and I have been keeping and breeding turtles for 15 years (I have hatched turtles in the high hundredths).
Long story short, few years back, my friend and I ...
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Are snake capable of love? (social bond in a male/female couple)
I'm wondering whether it has been noticed that some species of snake form male/female couples for life (or at least multiple reproduction cycles) like other types of animals do (penguins come to mind)....
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What species of snake is this? It was sighted in NE New Mexico, Union County
The snake in this photograph was found injured/dead in Clayton, Union, New Mexico (USA) on 10/06/2021. I want to know if it is a juvenile bullsnake or a Chihuahuan Night Snake...or something ...
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What animal is this? Caution, GRAPHIC!
One of my friends stumbled upon this half part of an animal. It seems lizard-like...I don't think I've ever seen a lizard that large, though. We live in Greece. Can you figure it out? Close-up and a ...
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Poisonous Snakes consuming poison (chemical)
While travelling with my Son to a religious shrine, we saw a dead snake lying on the road.
My Son asked a curious question to me "Dad, if Poisonous snakes consume poison (Chemical), Will they die&...
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Aren't tortoise bones fused with the shell? How did this tortoise (in the post) survive without it?
I've just read this story about a tortoise that lost a good portion of its shell in a forest fire here in Brazil and got a 3D-printed prostheses.
Here's the picture of it:
The way it looks like, it ...
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How old is the Pogona genus?
What it says on the title, how old is the genus Pogona, which includes all bearded dragons? I tried looking online, and all I got was the useless answer of “bearded dragons are descended from their ...
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Help indentify this species of snake/worm
I stumbled upon this snake during my routine walking in the nature park near me. The location is southern India.
Time if observation is 6 30 PM.
The length was approximately 1 feet. I could see the ...
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What's the most recent common ancestor of reptiles and humans?
In the Phylogeny of humans and reptiles, what is/are some of the most recent common ancestors?
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Help identifying snake? (Southern California)
I just got home after a brief, surprise thunderstorm ... to find a pretty good size snake lounging in the breezeway at the garage side door. (Presumably, it was seeking shelter from the rain?)
Could ...
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What Snake is this? (Found at my door in Raebareli, North India)
Found this snake at my door in Raebareli, North India. We of course allowed it to go away peacefully.
Could someone please identify it for me?
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What is this snake in South Florida, USA
I observed this snake for about 10 minutes. It was slithering back and forth in about 50x20 yard (50x20 meter) area. Just kept going back and forth (then I left). There was a similar snake at the same ...
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What kind of salamander is this?
This guy was found in central Virginia, under a flower pot. He's about 3 inches long, because part of his tail is either missing or it's just short. He looked dried out, so of course I wet my hand, ...
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How do snakes determine the direction of prey from their thermal infrared sensing pit organs?
This answer to How does the “heat vision” of some snakes work? explains the basic idea and there are several linked sources within that go into greater detail on the sensing mechanisms on a physical ...
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What is this nighttime creature?
I almost stepped on this little critter. It blended into my garage floor. It is about about the size of my hand, with huge bulbous eyes that immediately caught my attention. There was a distinct white ...
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Water snake with a yellow criss-cross on a black background?
I saw a 60 cm long, very skinny (~15 mm diameter), black with yellow diagonal criss-cross patterned snake swimming in a pond this afternoon in northern Taiwan.
It was swimming near the top of the ...
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Are there any examples of viruses that have jumped from reptile to human?
I know that there are plenty of examples of zoonosis occurring from reptiles to humans that involve bacterial pathogens, (e.g. Salmonella) but are there any instances of viruses being transferred from ...
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Why do wild lizards often tap with their front leg?
I have a lot of wild lizards (possibly Podarcis muralis) in my garden, and I have noticed some of their behavior I'd like to understand:
whenever they are in 'still' position on any surface, they are ...
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What's this parasite?
Any microbiologists or parasitologists recognize this? It's from my pet bearded dragon in the eastern US and the vet's never seen it before.
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what kind of lizard is this
Found on ground by house in residential neighborhood in Fort Pierce FL. looks mature maybe 17".
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Can you identify this snake?
On a walk through I’ON Swamp/Natural Forest in Mt. Pleasant, SC, we came upon this snake. We did not get too close for fear it may be poisonous.
It had a very dark brown/taupe exterior with almost a ...
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Did any warm blooded animals evolve back into cold blooded?
Pretty much as title says - wondering if evolution can go from mammal back to reptile - either in theory or practice.
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What is this animal looking like an Axolotl?
My friend caught a strange looking animal and he's saying it is an axolotl. I keep telling him it's almost impossible, since they are almost extinct in their natural environment and he caught it in St-...
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Differentiating Antaresia (Children's Complex) Pythons using something other than color pattern
I have a standard wild-type Children's python (Antaresia childreni) that I'm planning on breeding in the next few years and was just sold a male "Children's python" that I think might actually be a ...
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What is the current status of the taxon Crocodylus raninus?
What is the current status of the taxon Crocodylus raninus, the Borneo Crocodile? See Wikipedia Is it now a valid species, a subspecies of Crocodylus porosus (The Saltwater Crocodile) or merely a ...
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Why do tails of some lizards break so easily?
When I was younger once I have tried to catch a ground lizard by its tail but,
unfortunately the tail got broken and the lizard ran away.
Why did the lizard's tail get broken so easily while other ...
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Snake with strange head
This snake was killed in graveyard Peshawar (Pakistan). I just wonder what is this? Is it a snake? Baby crying sounds were reportedly heard from graveyard in Peshawar after months of search the sounds ...
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Help me ID snake
Could someone please tell me if this is a cotton mouth? Found 2 on my back porch, one got away.
Location: Fayetteville, AR (USA) [Note: there are several ponds nearby]
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Can any one ID my tortoise?
I have got a pet tortoise and I was wondering if any one could identify it. I think it's a male around 2 years old.
I'm not quite sure, it is quite small, very shy and goes very fast.
He likes ...
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What brazilian snake is this?
(1) Is it possible to identify the snake in the picture below?
If (1) cannot be answered:
(2) In view of the pattern of colors, is it possible the snake in the picture below be non-venomous? If so, ...
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What species is this lizard?
A small green lizard (20 cm in size). It was found in the direct neighboorhood of a house, in a small village in the Hungarian hills south of the Balaton lake. It was found in the middle of the day.
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What is this species of green frog found in store-bought flowers in France?
Today I found a frog in a big flower composition bought at a french shop (living in Grenoble, south of France).
It started snowing today, and I'd like to keep it until it's warmer outside.
So could ...
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Snake with red eyes and black skin found in a plant pot
It was found dead/stiff in an empty plant pot in a kitchen.
Could it be a young Höllenotter (a melanistic vipera berus, photo in Wikimedia Commons)?
Is the reddish/brownish part an injury? And ...
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What is this tiny lizard?
This tiny guy stumbled into our house in the suburbs of Sydney. What species is it?
It's dark and has two yellow stripes going along the length of its body. They start on its head and go right above ...
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How old is the action of sneezing?
Is there an estimate for when the ability of sneezing evolved? A little bit of research, and some critical review of my memories tell me that:
Many, if not maybe all mammals sneeze.
Some reptiles ...
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Scientific name of a lizard's reproductive system
I need to find the scientific (latin) names of the reproductive organs of female and male lizards. So far the only result I've got is that male lizards have hemipenes inverso, but nothing on the ...
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Larva attacking frog ? Guide about this
The above picture was taken in western forest of India where a larva attached itself to a frog neck. What is it and how it will effect the frog?
