When surviving in the wilds, maximising all your senses is wise. When you can’t see a threat, maybe you’ll hear one… or smell one? We look at a wonderfully smart gecko looking to dodge snakes using the power of smell.
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Main Paper References:
Hammond, J. E., Witkowski, S., Wilson, T., Zouvi, C. A., Goetz, N. L., Eck, N. F., & Clark, R. W. (2020). Know Thine Enemy: Predator Identity Influences the Response of Western Banded Geckos (Coleonyx variegatus) to Chemosensory Cues. Journal of Herpetology, 54(4). doi: 10.1670/19-131
Other mentions:
McKnight, D. T., Ard, K., Auguste, R. J., Barhadiya, G., Benard, M. F., Boban, P., ... & Nordberg, E. J. (2023). Nocturnal basking in freshwater turtles: A global assessment. Global Ecology and Conservation, 43, e02444.
Editing and Music:
Podcast edited by Emmy – https://www.fiverr.com/emmyk10 
Intro/outro – Treehouse by Ed Nelson
Species Bi-week theme – Michael Timothy
Other Music – The Passion HiFi, https://www.thepassionhifi.com

163 Geckos Understand the Smell of Trouble

Bringing you the recent scientific advancements in the field of Herpetology.

Natural Sciences

Science & Medicine

Science

Life Sciences

Nature

Giant garter snakes are big beasts that like wetland areas - we chat about how they get on when faced with the challenge of moving to a new wetland. Then, a brand new species of banded venomous snake has been discovered in Thailand.
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Full reference list available here: http://www.herphighlights.podbean.com

Main Paper References:
Nguyen AM, Halstead BJ, Todd BD. 2024. Effect of translocation on home range and movements of giant gartersnakes. Global Ecology and Conservation 49:e02789. DOI: 10.1016/j.gecco.2023.e02789.
Species of the Bi-Week:
Aksornneam A, Rujirawan A, Yodthong S, Sung Y-H, Aowphol A. 2024. A new species of krait of the genus Bungarus (Squamata, Elapidae) from Ratchaburi Province, western Thailand. Zoosystematics and Evolution 100:141–154. DOI: 10.3897/zse.100.116601
Other Mentioned Papers/Studies:
Booth, C. L. (1990). Evolutionary significance of ontogenetic colour change in animals. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 40(2), 125-163.
Editing and Music:
Podcast edited by Alex – https://www.fiverr.com/alexanderroses
Intro/outro – Treehouse by Ed Nelson
Species Bi-week theme – Michael Timothy
Other Music – The Passion HiFi, https://www.thepassionhifi.com

188 Big Wetlands for Big Snakes

Anoles are adaptable creatures, but can they make the most of artificial light?
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Full reference list available here: http://www.herphighlights.podbean.com

Main Paper References:
Taylor LA, Thawley CJ, Pertuit OR, Dennis AJ, Carson IR, Tang C, Johnson MA. 2022. Artificial light at night alters diurnal and nocturnal behavior and physiology in green anole lizards. Physiology & Behavior 257:113992. DOI: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2022.113992.
Editing and Music:
Podcast edited by Alex – https://www.fiverr.com/alexanderroses
Intro/outro – Treehouse by Ed Nelson
Species Bi-week theme – Michael Timothy
Other Music – The Passion HiFi, https://www.thepassionhifi.com

187 Anoles on the Night-shift

Hibernation is a pretty extreme biological process that shouldn’t be undertaken lightly. Bearded dragons are one of many beasts that have it perfected, and in this episode we look at how. Species of the Bi-week is back with a new strange skinned snake.
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Full reference list available here: http://www.herphighlights.podbean.com

Main Paper References:
Capraro A, O’Meally D, Waters SA, Patel HR, Georges A, Waters PD. 2019. Waking the sleeping dragon: gene expression profiling reveals adaptive strategies of the hibernating reptile Pogona vitticeps. BMC Genomics 20:460. DOI: 10.1186/s12864-019-5750-x.
Species of the Bi-Week:
Li H, Zhu L-Q, Xiao B, Huang J, Wu S-W, Yang L-X, Zhang Z-Q, Mo X-Y. 2024. A new species of the genus Achalinus (Squamata, Xenodermatidae) from southwest Hunan Province, China. ZooKeys 1189:257–273. DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.1189.112784.
Other Mentioned Papers/Studies:
Natusch D, Lyons J, Mears L, Shine R. 2021. Biting off more than you can chew: Attempted predation on a human by a giant snake (Simalia amethistina). Austral Ecology 46:159–162. DOI: 10.1111/aec.12956.
Editing and Music:
Podcast edited by Alex – https://www.fiverr.com/alexanderroses 
Intro/outro – Treehouse by Ed Nelson
Species Bi-week theme – Michael Timothy
Other Music – The Passion HiFi, https://www.thepassionhifi.com

186 Sleeping Dragons

Tortoises return to an island in the Galapagos and prove themselves to be solid ecosystem engineers.
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Full reference list available here: http://www.herphighlights.podbean.com

Main Paper References:
Tapia Aguilera W, Gibbs JP. 2023. Rewilding giant tortoises engineers plant communities at local to landscape scales. Conservation Letters 16:e12968. DOI: 10.1111/conl.12968.
Other Mentioned Papers/Studies:
Loconsole M, Stancher G, Versace E. 2023. Crossmodal association between visual and acoustic cues in a tortoise (Testudo hermanni). Biology Letters 19:20230265. DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2023.0265.
Starck, J. M., Schrenk, F., Schröder, S., & Pees, M. (2022). Malformations of the sacculus and the semicircular canals in spider morph pythons. Plos one, 17(8), e0262788.
Other Links/Mentions:
Scinax crospedospilus by Mario Sacramento from https://amphibiaweb.org/cgi/amphib_query?where-genus=Scinax&where-species=crospedospilus
Charles Darwin Foundation. Studying the ecology and distribution of the invasive treefrog Scinax quinquefasciatus https://www.darwinfoundation.org/en/research/projects/invasive-treefrog
Editing and Music:
Podcast edited by Emmy – https://www.fiverr.com/emmyk10 
Intro/outro – Treehouse by Ed Nelson
Species Bi-week theme – Michael Timothy
Other Music – The Passion HiFi, https://www.thepassionhifi.com

185 The tortoises are back in town

Caecilians, the strange underground amphibians, are known to let their babies eat their skin. But the full benefits of this practice are only now becoming clear.
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Merch: https://www.redbubble.com/people/herphighlights/shop
Full reference list available here: http://www.herphighlights.podbean.com

Main Paper References:
Kouete MT, Bletz MC, LaBumbard BC, Woodhams DC, Blackburn DC. 2023. Parental care contributes to vertical transmission of microbes in a skin-feeding and direct-developing caecilian. Animal Microbiome 5:28. DOI: 10.1186/s42523-023-00243-x.
Species of the Bi-Week:
Li S-Z, Liu J, Ke X-C, Cheng G, Wang B. 2024. A new species of Amolops (Amphibia, Anura, Ranidae) from Guizhou Province, China. ZooKeys 1189:33–54. DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.1189.115621.
Other Mentioned Papers/Studies:
Starck, J. M., Schrenk, F., Schröder, S., & Pees, M. (2022). Malformations of the sacculus and the semicircular canals in spider morph pythons. Plos one, 17(8), e0262788.
Editing and Music:
Podcast edited by Emmy – https://www.fiverr.com/emmyk10 
Intro/outro – Treehouse by Ed Nelson
Species Bi-week theme – Michael Timothy
Other Music – The Passion HiFi, https://www.thepassionhifi.com

163 Geckos Understand the Smell of Trouble

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