Iguana b&w text


294 IGUANA  •  VOLUME 13, NUMBER 4  •  DECEMBER 2006 NEWSBRIEFS

Snake-spotting May Have 
Helped Humans Evolve

Snakes may make people jump for a
good reason — human close-up vision
may have evolved specifically to spot
these reptiles. Humans, monkeys, and
other primates have good color vision,
large brains, and use their vision to guide
reaching and grasping. Although some
scientists believe these characteristics
evolved together as early primates used
their hands and eyes to pick fruit and
other foods, Lynne Isbell, a professor of
anthropology at the University of
California–Davis, believes they may have
evolved to help primates evade snakes.

“A snake is the only predator you
really need to see close up. If it’s a long
way away it’s not dangerous,” said Isbell,
who has published her theory in the
Journal of Human Evolution. Neuro-
logical studies show that the structure of
the brain’s visual system seems to be well
connected to brain structures involved in
vigilance, fear, and learning, she said.

Mammals evolved about 100 mil-
lion years ago and fossils of snakes with
mouths big enough to eat those mam-
mals appeared at about the same time,
she pointed out. Other predators, such as
big cats, hawks, and eagles, evolved later.
Venomous snakes evolved about 60 mil-
lion years ago, which forced primates to

get even better at detecting them.
“There’s an evolutionary arms race
between the predators and prey. Primates
get better at spotting and avoiding
snakes, so the snakes get better at con-
cealment, or more venomous, and the
primates respond,” Isbell said. No dan-
gerously venomous snakes occur on
Madagascar, and lemurs, which only live
on that large island and which have poor
eyesight, have not evolved much in other
ways in the past 60 million years, either,
Isbell added.

Reuters News Online
20 July 2006

Washington, D.C.

State Wildlife Agent Targets Black
Market for Turtles on Internet

Box turtles are known for their lethargic
pace and tough shells. But lately the
Alabama-native reptiles are becoming a
fast-moving commodity on an illegal
black market. Experts say the animals are
going to need more than shells to protect
themselves from unlawful turtle-catchers.
Lt. Michael Bloxom is an Alabama
Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries
Division officer who is designated to help
them. He spends part of every workday
looking for turtles, deer, snakes, and

other Alabama animals for sale on the
Internet. Recently, his efforts paid off,
leading to the arrest of two couples in
Wedowee.

According to Randolph County
Assistant District Attorney Amy
Newsome, Porsha and Wayne Price and
Daniel and Rebecca Smith of Wedowee
were arrested and convicted of possessing
protected animals for sale earlier in July.
Police say the four had been selling
endangered Eastern Box Turtles
(Terrapene carolina carolina) online and
mailing them to buyers around the coun-
try and possibly abroad. The two couples
had no connection to each other that
police can find and claimed they did not
know selling the turtles is illegal. All four
spent a short time in jail before being
released to 24 months of probation, pay-
ing $100 fines, and forfeiting money
they earned in the sales.

The two Wedowee couples are not
the only people involved in the illegal
capture and sale of turtles in Alabama.
Bloxom said Eastern Box Turtles mostly
are being sold as pets at flea markets or
shipped to “turtle farms” in Louisiana
and Arkansas. Farmers who want to
breed the reptiles pick up other turtles.
Some farmers breed turtles to sell the
eggs or hatchlings as pets, Bloxom said.
Others breed the turtles for food.1 In
Louisiana and parts of Asia, Bloxom said,
farmers inject the turtles with hormones
and slaughter them like chickens every
year. Turtles are a traditional source of
meat in Cajun cuisine. “Within a year
they’ve got an eating-sized turtle,”
Bloxom said.

For the farmers, capturing turtles
in the wild makes economic sense.
“When you want to start a turtle farm,
where do you start?” Bloxom asked.
“You can get these little hatchlings and
wait five or 10 years for them to mature
or go into the wild and catch some
breeding-sized turtles.”

But turtle catching can create a
strain on the environment, especially

The evolution of snakes with mouths big enough to eat mammals may have forced primates to
develop close-up vision to detect them. 

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1 Editor’s note: Box Turtles (genus
Terrapene) frequently consume poisonous
fungi and may retain toxins that could be
passed to anyone eating the meat.



when the turtles are endangered like the
box turtles, which have been on the fed-
eral endangered species list since 1973.
Bloxom said that in the late 1990s, the
number of turtles in Weiss Lake declined
dramatically because of turtle-catchers.
Turtle populations haven’t recovered,
Bloxom said.

State lawmakers set a catch limit of
10 turtles per day after seeing the declin-
ing numbers in Weiss Lake. Turtles can
provide an important part of the ecosys-
tems where they live, eating insects and
decaying organic material, said Kevin
Jenne, a biologist at the Anniston
Museum of Natural History. “They’re
another link in the food chain,” he said.
“If you get rid of them, there may be too
many worms here or too many bugs
there.”

Said Bloxom: “Just think if everyone
thought ‘Hey I can get on the computer
and make a hundred bucks a turtle.’
There wouldn’t be any turtles left.” Jenne
said the reptile trade took off in the
1990s and has not slowed since.

Snakes and lizards have been
imported into the U.S. from all over the
world, leaving other areas with greatly
reduced numbers of indigenous animals.
“If something becomes a fad, some local
will say ‘Hey I can make some money off
of this’ and go catch and sell native ani-
mals,” Jenne said. Turtle catchers typi-
cally bait partially submerged boxes or
small, round fishing nets with dead fish
and collect the turtles. Once the turtles
are caught, they usually are placed in
burlap sacks with 30 or 40 other turtles

and put on trucks to be hauled as far
away as Arkansas. “When you get them
in there in June or July, it becomes like
an oven in there for them,” Bloxom said.

Box turtles first were placed on the
federal list of endangered species in 1973
because the numbers of young turtles
being found was lower than expected.
Since turtles often live much longer than
humans, the plentiful numbers of adults
still may be seen in 20 years. But when
that generation dies out, biologists like
Jenne fear the younger turtles may not be
able to replace them.

All turtles have a “4-inch rule,”
Jenne said. Turtles whose shells are less
than 4 inches around cannot be bought
or sold. This is to protect turtles that
have not reached sexual maturity, Jenne
added.

Bloxom said box turtles are not the
first species in Alabama that the demands
of the retail market have threatened. In
the 1990s, freshwater mussels, which can
be used for the production of cultured
pearls, and paddlefish, sought for their
caviar, were in such high demand that
laws were passed to keep the species from
being wiped out. Recently, Bloxom and
his agents have learned of truckloads of
bullfrogs and crawfish being shipped out
of the state. “That’s not illegal, but it’s
our job to find out if that is going to
cause a problem,” he said.

Even deer have become a popular
export for some traffickers. People in
neighboring states will pay good money
for live deer to stock their hunting

reserves, Bloxom said. “We may be wor-
rying about turtles today and deer
tomorrow,” he said.

Andy Johns
The Anniston Star

(http://www.annistonstar.com/)
2 August 2006

First Successful Breeding of 
Released Blue Iguanas in the 

Salina Reserve, Grand Cayman
In December 2004, thirty-two Grand
Cayman Blue Iguanas (Cyclura lewisi)
were released into the National Trust
Salina Reserve, inland from the Queen’s
Highway. The iguanas had been reared in
captivity to two years old.

A year later, an additional 73 two-
year-olds were released in the same areas
of the Salina Reserve. In the summers of
2005 and 2006, these released iguanas
were monitored by teams of local and
international volunteers, and this year,
three females from the 2004 release were
seen digging nests to lay their eggs.

On 8 September, one of those nest
sites had developed a hole, indicating
that the eggs inside may have hatched,
and the hatchlings dug to the surface.
The nest has now been carefully exca-
vated, and three perfect, hatched
eggshells were recovered from the nest
chamber a foot underground. The hatch-
lings have probably dispersed in search of
safe retreats, and have not yet been
sighted.

IGUANA  •  VOLUME 13, NUMBER 4  •  DECEMBER 2006 295NEWSBRIEFS

Populations of Eastern Box Turtles (Terrapene
carolina carolina) in Alabama have been
declining due to illegal collection for sale at
flea markets or to turtle farms in Louisiana
and Arkansas. 

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Blue Iguanas (Cyclura lewisi) bred successfully for the first time in the Salina Reserve since the
Blue Iguana Recovery Program began restoring the population. 

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296 IGUANA  •  VOLUME 13, NUMBER 4  •  DECEMBER 2006 NEWSBRIEFS

This landmark event is the first time
successful reproduction of Blue Iguanas
in the Salina Reserve has been seen, since
the Blue Iguana Recovery Program began
restoring a population there. The other
two nests, which were laid later in the
summer, are still being monitored.

Butler’s Garter Snake 
and Endangered Species Acts

Threatened by Wisconsin Legislature
The Wisconsin Legislature, usually
known for protecting the state’s natural
resources, has recently taken significant
action in regards to the Butler’s Garter
Snake (Thamnophis butleri). In
Wisconsin, this species is listed as
“Threatened,” and is protected against
take in areas were it is found. Its very
small range in the state exists primarily in
the rapidly developing greater Milwaukee
area. The majority of existing habitat for
the Butler’s Garter Snake is on private
land. Efforts to protect and preserve the
snake on these lands has resulted in a
growing conflict with regional develop-
ers, supported strategically and politically
by the Milwaukee Builder’s Association
and to a lesser degree by the real estate
industry. Two major efforts have been
made to delist the snake, the second of
which is pending. Wisconsin’s legislative
Joint Committee for the Review of
Administrative Rules (JCRAR) voted to
delist the snake as of 1 October 2006 if
the Department of Natural Resources
(DNR) does not take significant steps to
reduce the impact of protection on the
development community. In their deci-
sion, the committee put forth no scien-
tific evidence that the Butler’s Garter
Snake should have its Threatened status
removed. Furthermore, the steps they
required of the DNR were unreasonable
and cannot be met in the time allotted.

If the delisting takes effect, it will be
the first time in the nation’s history that
a listed species has been delisted for eco-
nomic reasons and without sound scien-
tific data driving the decision. Such an
action would set a dangerous precedent
for species protected under both state
and federal Endangered Species Acts.

Horned Lizard Working Group
The Horned Lizard Working Group
met 15–17 September 2006, at the
Windmill Ranch, west of Snyder,
Texas. The working group was formed
in 2005 to bring together regional biol-
ogists and land managers and to dis-
cuss research priorities for the conser-
vation of Texas Horned Lizards (THL:
Phrynosoma cornutum). This year’s pro-
gram expanded to include Flat-tailed
Horned Lizards (FTHL: P. mcallii).
We hope to see further expansion in
the future.

Eleven speakers from Texas,
Oklahoma, Colorado, and Arizona pre-
sented recent and ongoing research
related to Horned Lizards (Phrynosoma).
Topics included life history, seasonal and
daily activity patterns in wild and urban
populations of THL, effects of burning

and grazing management regimes on
THL, citizen monitoring program for
THL, and captive care and husbandry of
THL at the Ft. Worth Zoo, conservation
genetics of the FTHL, GIS model of
niche evolution in Horned Lizards, and
management of Red Harvester Ants
(Pogonomyrmex barbatus). A round-table
discussion of the importance, necessity,
and difficulties of reintroducing THL to
parts of its former range completed the
primary activities of the meeting.
Abstracts for the 2006 meeting can be
read online at the HLCS Webpage:
www.hornedlizards.org.

Attendees noted that service and
support by the staff of the Windmill
Ranch was impeccable. Next year’s meet-
ing was discussed with board members of
the Horned Lizard Conservation Society
to coincide with a larger national meet-
ing in Fort Worth, Texas, in mid to late
summer. Next year’s meeting will strive
to include research efforts on additional
species of Phrynosoma and management
and conservation issues related to these
lizards. The HLCS also intends to pro-
vide small research grants for the 2007
field season, and an announcement
should appear on the Society’s web site in
the near future.

Some of the participants at the Horned Lizard Working group meeting at the Windmill Ranch
in Texas. Representatives of universities (Texas Tech University, University of Texas), the mili-
tary (Texas Army National Guard, Moody Air Force Base in Oklahoma), the state (Texas Parks
and Wildlife), and a zoo (Fort Worth Zoo) are shown, demonstrating the diversity of groups
interested in the conservation of Texas Horned Lizards (Phrynosoma cornutum).

A committee of the Wisconsin legislature has
voted to delist Butler’s Garter Snake
(Thamnophis butleri), currently listed as
threatened in the state.

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Conserving One of the 
Rarest Reptiles in North America: 

The Louisiana Pine Snake
The Southeast and Southwest Regions of
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are
collaborating with several partners to
conserve the Louisiana Pine Snake
(Pituophis ruthveni), which inhabits long-
leaf fire forests in Louisiana and Texas.
The species produces the largest egg
(7.5–12.5 cm) and hatchling (46–56
cm) of any North American colubrid
snake. A 2004 Candidate Conservation
Agreement provides a framework that is
being used to develop a comprehensive
cooperative plan for recovery, so that the
species may not need to be listed. Specific
goals, strategies, and success metrics will
be established for each conservation cat-
egory, which includes: (1) ecosystem con-
servation; (2) habitat management; (3)
monitoring and trapping; (4) captive-
breeding; (5) research, (6) outreach and
education, and (7) integration of public
and private-land conservation efforts.
Based on the foundation established by
the Agreement, the 2006 Annual
Louisiana Pine Snake meeting in early
August fostered growing interagency and
private-land owner cooperation. It pro-
vided an active forum that stimulated
lively debate and discussion. The meet-
ing was hosted by the U.S. Forest Service
in Nacogdoches, Texas with strong sup-
port from Arlington, Texas and Lafayette,
Louisiana field offices. Participants

included state wildlife agencies in
Louisiana and Texas, the National Forest
of Louisiana and Texas, the U.S. Forest
Service Southern Research Station, the
Department of Defense at Fort Polk,
Louisiana, the Natural Resource
Conservation Service, The Nature
Conservancy, the Texas Department of
Transportation, Stephen F. Austin
University, Texas A&M University, the
Ellen Trout Zoo of Lufkin, Texas, and
private landowners that included
Temple-Inland, International Paper, and
TimberStar. Video footage taken at the
meeting of this multi-partner, two-state
CCA will be one of three agreements fea-
tured in a video on candidate conserva-
tion agreements that is in production by
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s
National Conservation Training Center
in Shepherdstown, West Virginia.

Bolson Tortoise Returns to Its
Historic Range

The endangered “Tortuga Grande,”
as its known in the southern Mexican
states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, and
Durango, last week returned to its histor-
ical northern range on the Armendaris
Ranch in eastern Sierra County. “You
have been invited to celebrate the return
of the Bolson Turtle (Gopherus flavomar-
ginatus) to its native Chihuahuan grass-
land; this is its habitat,” Ladder Ranch
manager Steve Dobrott told a couple

dozen visitors who gathered at the
Armendaris on 15 September to witness
the reintroduction.

The Ladder Ranch in western Sierra
County was originally identified as the
reintroduction site, but the Armendaris
more closely resembles the turtle’s natu-
ral habitat. Both ranches are owned by
media tycoon and conservationist Ted
Turner. The Turner Endangered Species
Fund is spearheading the reintroduction,
as it has for many an endangered species,
including most recently the Aplomado
Falcon (Falco femoralis) last month at the
Armendaris.

Myles Traphagen, biologist for the
Turner Endangered Species Fund, said
the Bolson Turtle enjoys the highest des-
ignation of endangered species interna-
tionally, but it has been a challenge keep-
ing the species viable. For one, the
scientific community didn’t identify the
species until 1958, when a group of biol-
ogists from the University of Illinois were
visiting Mexico on an unrelated project
and encountered some locals who were
using the turtle’s shell, or carapace, as a
chicken feeder. Asked about the shell, the
villagers said it came from “la tortuga
grande.”

According to scientific documenta-
tion provided by Traphagen, the Bolson
Tortoise is the largest terrestrial turtle in
North America. It is capable of obtaining
carapace lengths between 14 and 16
inches, with undocumented reports of
them reaching 39 inches in length and
weighing 77 to 100 pounds.

Several factors contributed to the
species’ decline. High on the list is their
status as a food source. “It’s a big, slow-
moving piece of meat,” Traphagen noted,
adding climate change and urbanization
also are responsible for their declining
numbers. The species also has a low suc-

IGUANA  •  VOLUME 13, NUMBER 4  •  DECEMBER 2006 297NEWSBRIEFS

Louisiana Pine Snakes (Pituophis ruthveni) inhabit longleaf fire forests in Louisiana and Texas.
A 2004 Candidate Conservation Agreement provides a framework that is being used to develop
a comprehensive cooperative plan for recovery, so that the species may not need to be listed.

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The Bolson Tortoise (Gopherus flavomargin-
atus) has returned to its native Chihuahuan
Desert grassland habitat in New Mexico.

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298 IGUANA  •  VOLUME 13, NUMBER 4  •  DECEMBER 2006 NEWSBRIEFS

cess rate when it comes to reproduction.
Although a female tortoise is capable of
laying about 10 eggs per year, the young
are susceptible to a long list of predators,
including rats, ravens, and snakes. On
the plus side, turtles can live up to 100
years and can survive for up to a year
without water.

An initial population of seven tor-
toises will inhabit the eight-acre pens,
which are enclosed by a knee-high fence.
Each pen contains 14 burrows that were
constructed by cutting 18-inch plastic
sewer pipes in half, digging a trench and
building a Quonset-hut-style enclosure
angled into the ground.

While the turtles are being reintro-
duced on the Armendaris, a hatchery will
be built on the Ladder, according to
Traphagen. “This is a pretty historic
event,” Armendaris Ranch manager Tom
Waddell noted at the outset of the
release. While biologists are certain that
the Bolson Tortoise’s historical range
extended all the way to the northern edge
of the Chihuahuan Desert, no traces of
the species have been uncovered at the
Armendaris. “I like to think they lived
here at one time, but were buried by the
sands of time and the ever-blowing
winds of the Jornada (del Muerto).”

Tony A. Archuleta
HERALD Reporter

TorC Times, Truth or Consequences,
New Mexico

Rare Finds: Expedition Uncovers
Caribbean Plants

A team of scientists from Fairchild
Tropical Botanic Garden embarked on
an expedition to Jamaica’s rugged
Cockpit Country to find some of the
Caribbean’s rarest plants, some of which
have not been seen for 100 years. In three
weeks of searching, the team rediscovered
eight plants, found two species new to
science, and began cataloging the rich
biodiversity of the Caribbean island,
home to plants not seen anywhere else in
the world. The remote area, with bowl-
shaped valleys surrounded by deceptively
benign-looking hills, aside from its con-
centration of plant diversity, is the source
of 40 percent of the water in Jamaica. Its
tapestry of plants includes more than
1,000 species within 500 square miles.
The entire Florida Peninsula — at

66,000 square miles — holds only about
4,000.

Among the targets of the six
Fairchild biologists and horticulturists:
the eight-foot Euphorbia alata, a poinset-
tia relative that hasn’t been viewed since
1906. Rugged conditions have protected
these hills, creating a refuge for ferns,
Lypanthes orchids, birds, the endangered
Jamaican Boa, Black-billed Parrots, and a
swallowtail butterfly with wings up to
eight inches across. Relatively isolated and
without roads, the area nevertheless is
coming under pressure as tons of sapling
trees are cut every year for growing yams,
weeds follow people who are pushing in
from the edges, and aluminum compa-
nies prospect for bauxite mines.

One of the team’s resources was
botanist George Proctor, who has lived in
Jamaica since 1949 and is the resident
expert on the island’s plants. Proctor, 86
and still working, surveyed the region 30
to 40 years ago. He accompanied the
team for a few days and has a contract
with Fairchild to write a checklist of the
plants of the Cockpit Country. Although
unable to climb with the team, Proctor
was able to tell the scientists exactly
where to look.

Fairchild is working with Florida
International University, the University
of Puerto Rico, the Smithsonian
Institution, and the U.S. Department of
Agriculture to catalog the Caribbean’s
plant diversity. Through their research,
Fairchild scientists tallied 169 endemics
in this biodiversity hot spot; Cockpit
Country claims 64 of these. Information
collected on this expedition will assist
Jamaican environmental and forestry
agencies with planning environmental
protection policies.

Georgia Tasker
gtasker@miamiherald.com

18 October 2006

Farmers Lobby FDA for Overturn 
of Long-time Turtle Ban Citing 

New Study on Salmonella
The Food and Drug Administration is
the target of a lobbying campaign by a
handful of farmers to reverse a three-
decade U.S. ban on selling baby turtles.
The agency prohibited sales in 1975,
after the then-popular pets were blamed
for causing as many as 280,000

Salmonella infections a year, mostly in
children. The FDA edict almost com-
pletely barred U.S. commerce in “ani-
mals commonly known as turtles, tor-
toises [or] terrapins” with shells less than
four inches long. The size was selected
largely because bigger turtles couldn’t eas-
ily be popped into children’s mouths.

Their efforts center on the Red-
eared Slider (Trachemys scripta elegans), a
turtle native to areas that include the
Mississippi Delta and watery central and
southern Louisiana. As long ago as the
late 1950s, growers began stocking man-
made breeding ponds with adult turtles,
which laid their eggs on the ponds’ sandy
banks. Farmers collected the eggs,
hatched them, and, by the 1970s, were
selling millions of quarter-size, green and
yellow babies each year. The turtles,
which can grow to a foot long and live
for more than three decades, were typi-
cally sold in the U.S. as pets.

That’s the problem, the FDA says.
Turtles often carry Salmonella in their
digestive tracts. Infected turtles can con-
vey the bacteria to their eggs (the FDA
also restricts the sale of turtle eggs in the
U.S.). Although bacteria-carrying turtles
may not show symptoms, they can
spread Salmonella to their handlers.
Ingesting it — typically after failing to
wash hands after playing with a turtle —
can lead to vomiting, fever, and cramps,
even death in vulnerable patients. After
the 1975 restriction, turtle-related infec-
tions nearly vanished.

Anna Wilde Mathews
Wall Street Journal

4 October 2006

Turtle “farmers” are lobbying the Food and
Drug Administration to reverse a 1975 ban
on the sale of turtles with shells less than four
inches long. Their efforts center on Red-
eared Sliders (Trachemys scripta elegans).

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