Creature Feature: White Gators! and Wild Gators!

There are a number of advantages to visiting places that naturally have cool wild animals. One, you get to see wild animals in their natural habitats instead of behind glass. Two, the specimens that are behind glass are usually pretty cool. I tend to make it a point to visit the zoo whenever I go somewhere else; it's usually a good indication of how well-informed people are about exotics. The Audubon Zoo in NOLA had quite a treat, and I did not even get to see all of the grounds.

 Louisiana's zoo has a pair of leucistic American alligators (Alligator mississippiensis). Apparently they have wild white gators, too, but these were probably captive bred. These particular white gators are celebrities anyways.

A brief course in Alligators 101:the American alligator is native to most of the southern United States, from the Carolinas into Louisiana. These massive reptiles can get 999 lbs for males (who are indeed larger) and 13 feet long. As one could probably guess, most alligators are black- olive green, not white. They have powerful tails, can move faster than a human on land (25 MPH), and are armed with lots of teeth.

So, why is the gator above not albino? Take a close look. The eyes are black, and there is black speckling on the nose. An albino would have pink (or blue?) eyes and no black at all. Regardless, it looks like the swamps of Louisiana might be a "weird gene reservoir" like Florida is for corn snakes. They might also be intentionally protected like the Shirohebi of Iwakuni, but I wouldn't put money on that; the zoo got those white gators from somewhere, then probably bred them.

Along with seeing these unique gators in the zoo, I got to get up close and personal with wild alligators in the Louisiana bayou. Our savvy tour guide knew exactly where the gators were and fed  them marshmallows. (Our tour guide, by the way, was apparently the inspiration for a certain firefly in The Princess and the Frog.) Don't take a fan-powered boat; those things move so fast that I'd be amazed if you saw anything. We got to see gators snapping up marshmallows like nothing else. A waste of jaw power? Maybe, but it got us some incredible shots!

Unlike the whaling trip, on which I saw no whales, this tour boat had a guaranteed way to see an alligator: the boat had a baby on board! These gators are released into the wild when they get to be around two feet long. Imagine having an adult gator on a tour boat; at least you'd get your money's worth!

By the way, Louisiana is known as "hunter's paradise" for a reason. Alligator hunting is not only permitted, but encouraged. Some people also farm alligators (which have their own tours). Alligators certainly aren't an endangered species, and the Louisiana government allows a certain amount of them to be hunted. Don't worry about taking a tooth, paw, or gator head home; if any state knows what to do with alligators, it's Louisiana. Enjoy gator meat while you're there, too.

ReptileFest2013 Coverage.

Argus monitors...and how big they get.

It's a tigertic! For those of you who do not speak snake breeder, that means this fully-mature retic has a tiger gene. IT HAS TIGER BLOOD!

Me with a boa. :) And yes, I can wear a winter coat in 70-ish weather. It was cold enough outside.

Albino corns, but no porn.

A fairly standard garter snake. These are actually really cool little colubrids that deserve an entry or two if I haven't done so already.

Interesting ad.

Leucistic Texas Rat Snake. There were like...three. Maybe more.

Snakeskin jewelry!

A photo of a pink katydid, taken right here in IL.

Snake eggs!

Surprise retic. These usually aren't out for touching at the 'fest.

A few other things that were there, but escaped my pic run:

~A snappy dwarf caiman. I have the pic of him somewhere, but something happened that made him (I think?) turn around and snap at his handler. I heard it was a bathroom break. Still could have ended nasty.

~Red-tailed ratsnakes. I did get a few shots of these, but they weren't very good. For the record, those are not beginner snakes at all, and are usually wild-caught. Hundred-Flower ratsnakes have similar issues, being very hard to take care of. Still cool reptiles, but not good pics.

~A giant tortoise that I should have gotten the species name of. My bad that I didn't. It really was an impressive animal, carrying kids on its back and all.

NARBC 2012 Coverage.

First off, the turnout was more impressive than last year in some ways, but a letdown in others. The biggest bummer is that there's a frozen rodent shortage going around.  Literally nobody was selling mice. That sucked, to say the least.

So, here were the highlights:

Cold-Blooded Creatures had a display outside the hall.  Among their offerings was the legendary super-tame alligator, Bubba. Disclaimer: Results with alligators are not typical. It's obvious that the people who tamed Bubba had a ton of experience with alligators before handling him. RESULTS NOT TYPICAL; do not try this at home. 

The first thing I saw upon entry into the actual convention hall: So. Many. LEOS! Actually, they had a few fat-tails, too. I'm still intrigued by lizards after seeing so many wild ones in Rome. Leos have a ton of colors, including eye morphs. I will most likely get a lizard in the future, but exactly what kind remains to be seen. Leos are a good starter bet, though.

This woman had a baby leopard tortoise in her hand. People do that at these cons - you can find a few new owners showing off their catches to other collectors. I wouldn't recommend letting people who have been touching unknown reptiles handle your new pet, though. You don't know where those hands have been.

In case I never touched on them before, NERD (New England Reptile Distributors) is one of the biggest ball python breeders in the world. They invented the spider morph and use it frequently in their projects. The 'next big project' involves a new gene called "Lucifer." Someone loooooves them balls.

To put things in perspective: these hatchies (also from NERD) were probably in the 10,000 dollar range. For real.

Retics! I can't get enough of the wacky paint jobs that people give the largest snakes in the world. I know balls are the ideal pet snake in several aspects and have a plethora of colors and patterns, but there's something about retic patterns that keeps making me go "wow." These guys are a different type of albino than my usual, though...

...that's better. :)

Like most geckos, crested geckos can drop their tails to distract a potential predator. Unlike with most geckos, however, the tails do not grow back. The result is a cute little lizard with a very stumpy tail at a discount price. Don't worry- the stumpy tail is not genetic.

This yellow monitor seemed rather stressed in its little plastic display box. Don't worry - wherever it winds up, it'll have more space.

This seller had few more random lizards, including a basilisk - my personal favorite lizard, but not for beginners. I'm a little bit wary of this particular vendor, who has been here every year. The beauty snake I checked out there once looked like it may have been a wild-caught import...but on the flip-side, they always have some really cool, unique stuff.

 This skink was so cute! Another con purchase being shown the world by her new owner, this girl was sooo sweet! She liked being scratched behind the ears to the point where she would cuddle right into your hand for more. Unfortunately, she never showed her blue tongue to the camera.

Aaaand my own personal catch from the convention: a female hypo boa. She was sold for only 40 bucks by people donating money to help save an endangered Siamese crocodile. Boa constrictors are a sort of standard introductory 'big snake' for people who aren't sure if they can handle a Burm, but still want to lean towards larger reptiles. They're also extremely photogenic; if you see a beautiful woman with a large snake, chances are it's a boa or Burmese python. So, yes, I am well aware of how big a boa can get.

P.S. - another bio-artist was sighted. She will get a free plug Monday. ;)

World's Largest Croc Found in the Philippines.

Islands have a lot of fun, unique species. An exhibit at the Field Museum highlights how one species moving to an island can lead to several species over time. Crocodiles aren't usually among those species, but I am not surprised to see the world's largest croc yet popping up in the Philippines.

As per Yahoo! News:

"Lolong, a man-eating beast feared by locals, has set a Guinness Book of World Records mark as the world's largest saltwater crocodile in captivity.

The giant crocodile measures 20.24 feet, weighs more than a ton and was blamed for several deaths before its capture by officials in the southern Philippines town of Bunawan in September, 2011.

And while Lolong has brought some tourist dollars into the small town, its capture has also stirred fears that other giant killer crocs might be lurking in the local waters.

"There were mixed feelings," Bunawan Mayor Edwin Cox Elorde told the Associated Press. "We're really proud because it proves the rich biodiversity of our place but at the same time, there are fears that Lolong may not be alone."

In fact, Elorde says he spotted an even larger crocodile escape when he and about 100 others combined their efforts to capture Lolong. It took a combination of ropes and cranes to bring in the giant crocodile, which was pursued after a child was killed in 2009 and a fisherman went missing. Lolong was named after an official who died of a heart attack after traveling to Bunawan to assist in the capture.

Since its capture, Lolong has become something of a tourist attraction and is the star of a new ecotourism and research center in the town. And while the park has brought in $72,000 in park fees since Lolong's debut, most of that money goes to feeding and taking care of the crocodile."

If there are indeed more giant crocs, we might have a reason to suspect insular gigantism. It certainly wouldn't be out of line for an island reptile to grow bigger than its mainland counterpart. The most classic examples of insular gigantism are the Komodo dragon and Galapagos giant tortoises; maybe the Philippines is slowly developing  its own subspecies of giant croc. It wouldn't be the first time simply being on an island led to huge size.

Also, bear in mind that Lolong is the largest croc in captivity. That means there could be even larger crocodiles in the Philippines. We just haven't caught one, yet.

"They Actually Eat That:" Alligator.

Welcome to another delicious little installment of "They Actually Eat That." Here, we aim to prove that humans are so omnivorous that goats look at us the same way food critics do regulars at McDonald's. We are the absolute last species that other species should be copying or stealing the garbage of. Our ability to eat anything is only a small part of why species die around us, but it's a part nonetheless. (More species actually die from people conforming to 'standard' foods.) We're so omnivorous that it's sick, is the point.

Humans do one thing that absolutely no other species does: we eat apex predators. Apex predators, by definition, have nothing native to their ecosystem that eats them (keyword being "native," as we'll see later). It's what makes being a big predator good.

Then you add humans, and even apex predators are on the menu. Things get even nastier when that apex predator happens to be under threat already.

Enter alligator meat. It's classified as seafood, even though alligators are strictly freshwater reptiles. It is quite popular in southern states, particularly Louisiana and Florida. I can only assume that this is yet another good reason for gator farms to exist.

Gator meat is so popular, apparently, that there are a million websites and recipes for it. There are charts like the one below showing exactly how many parts of the gator can be eaten. There are almost as many ways to cook gator meat as there are for chicken. 

Disclaimer: We at "They Actually Eat That" do not advise you to go out into the Everglades and hunt a wild alligator. If you absolutely must have gator, please buy farmed gator. You don't know what the big guys in the wild have been eating; remember, concentrations of things like mercury are super-high in apex predators. Is it still kinda cool to be able to say that you've eaten alligator once? Sure.

Alligators also have the rare instance of being eaten in their natural habitat, albeit by an invasive predator. Florida is a hotbed of exotic pet smugglers. It happens to have an environment quite a lot like Southeast Asia, a place with giant pythons like Burms and retics. Snakes eat gators and gators eat snakes. Currently, the two mega-reptiles are in an arms race as to who will emerge victorious in the Florida Everglades; place your bets now and stay tuned.

Reptilefest '12!

Whew! Lots of neat things at Reptilefest this year! In particular, people were focusing on species of reptiles that could easily be caught in one's backyard. There were so many Illinois herps this year! Unfortunately, there were far fewer Burmese pythons and retics; the Lacey Act must have scared some people.

So, without further ado...PICS!

The snake-necked turtle that inspired yesterday's entry! I may have selected the wrong kind. There are some snake-necked turtles native to Argentina, too. Seeing as Australia has strict wildlife laws, this was probably the non-Australian type. Can any turtle freaks help me out here?

Here's a snapping turtle, just to make you pay attention. 

I wanna say this is an alligator, but the angle makes it a little hard to tell. Yes, we had gators and crocs, here.

 

And now for snake pics! These are black-headed pythons. Neat-looking, aren't they? 

Cottonmouth, one of the few venomous snakes found in the U.S. Easily the prettiest. *Gets mobbed by rattlesnake and coral snake fans.*

One of exactly three Burms I saw at Reptilefest this year. This one's a granite. It was so cute to see its owner petting it like a dog or cat (or cow). There was also someone with a shirt saying "savetheburms.org." I may have to check that out...

Although there were plenty of ball pythons around this year, this girl, who was named Persephone, was the only outstanding one. She's a bumblebee (spider x pastel) with a really photogenic personality. Beautiful snake!

Didn't see many Burms this year (and NO anacondas) but you know what I saw a lot more of? Carpet pythons and rosies! I'll be GIDDY if rosies catch on; Eclair, I love you. That doesn't mean you have to be my only rosy.

Bunch of average-looking rosies...but rosies!

 

Cleaner "normal" plus a cute albino.

 

House snake. Pretty sure it's albino. :) Good snakes for people who aren't into mega-killer-pythons...but so are rosies! 

Several normal JCP's and a jaguar morph carpet python.

Okay, last two, then I need to sleep:

Someone brought a siren. I'm starting to love them! :D

That's a cicada - the framer didn't know what species, though. Apparently Thailand has a lot of very interesting cicadas, for whatever reason. Just another reason to save pennies. 

Creature Feature: Gharial.

It's official: river carnivores deserve to be high-octane nightmare fuel. Piranhas are downright terrifying thanks to their reported ability to strip a cow to the bone in seconds, and anacondas occasionally get the limelight, but most aquatic terror comes from something in an ocean or lake.

Observant individuals probably noticed the Baiji's strange facial proportions for a dolphin. Were it not nigh-extinct, the Baiji could easily make for a dolphin monster in a horror movie. It looks that far away from the playful dolphins that, even though they rape and murder people, we all know and love anyways.

Now imagine those snout proportions on a much less amiable crocodilian.



The gharial (Gavialis gangeticus) has a very long nose/mouth filled with lots of slender, sharp teeth, just like a river dolphin. It is native to India and is one of the few extant members of the family Gavialidae. It is one of the largest crocodilians at 5 meters in length and 650 kg. With that snout, a history dating almost all the way back to the dinosaurs, and the tanklike build of a large crocodilian, this has to be a real monster, right?

Gharials are harmless to humans, actually. The same weird-looking jaws that the river dolphin has make it impossible for the gharial to consume something as large as a human. Unlike other crocodilians, they also move poorly on land. Reports of gharials eating humans come from either a) the gharial's habit of swallowing stones and jewelry to aid its digestion or b) misidentification with other crocodilians. India has three different types of crocodiles, after all.



Besides an interesting evolutionary history, the gharial also has one very important trait that sets it apart from other crocs: They are the only visibly sexually dimorphic crocodilian. The males have a bulges above their nostrils called ghara ("pot") that gives the gharial its name. Not only is the pot-shaped growth attractive to female gharials, it helps the male breathe underwater and blow bubbles as part of its mating rite.

A crocodilian that blows bubbles. No wonder most of them are extinct.