All posts by Michael

A Hearty Book Recommendation

Books, Literature, , , , ,

We are very pleased to announce we both have our copy of the book, Boas of the West Indies, in hand.  We very much support this as a recommended reading for anyone interested in or wanting to know more about the genus’ Chilabothrus, Boa and Corallus of the West Indies.

It’s a great pleasure to read this combined and condensed view on West Indian boas. We are grateful to find the authors cite us a source on page 233 of their book at the very end. But what’s to say, the best comes always last.  They did, however, neglect to provide the address of our website for those who are unfamiliar with us and our work.  Since you are reading this, it’s all good 🙂

We are appreciative of the authors for the honorable mention.  Thank you!  Again, we strongly recommend our users (as we have done before) get this book.

Before it is too late – Boas (not yet) extinct in the wild

Uncategorized

The advent of man brought many species to extinction. Ironically, today some of the most endangered animal and plant species don’t live in nature, but rather in zoos, aquariums and botanical gardens. A review published on February 24, 2023 in the Magazine Science compared the species holdings of zoos, aquariums and botanical gardens with data from the IUCN red list. The researchers found that 84 species exist only under human care but are extinct in the wild (EW) .

Many factors contribute to the extinction Continue reading Before it is too late – Boas (not yet) extinct in the wild →

Study on the Cuban boa reveals deep genetic diversity

Chilabothrus, Conservation, Natural History, , , ,

Some time ago, Ivan Rehák from the Zoo Prague informed us about a new genetic study on the Cuban boa Chilabothrus angulifer that he co-authored . We are very thankful for this and appreciate the study. We are deeply sorry for not covering it earlier.

The team of researchers addressed the question whether the Cuban boa is in fact a species complex. They analyzed the mitochondrial haplotype structure of the European ex situ population of Cuban boas. The results revealed a high degree of diversity. 96 specimens were sequenced and 25 distinct haplotypes detected.

The results further indicated a deep divergence among three principal haplogroups, with bayesian estimates of the divergence time equal to 3.57 and 2.26 Mya respectively.

Rehák and colleagues consider this divergence as an argument for diverse evolutionary lines whose distance corresponds to or is greater than among some other – taxonomically recognized – species of the genus.

Whether these lines represent whole species or subspecies needs to be tested by further in depth studies with genetic material collected from different locations in cuba.

To read the study please click here

 

Citations

EAZA Reptile TAG attendance

Captive breeding, Conservation, Zoos, , , ,

The European Association of Zoos and Aquariums (EAZA) is one of the leading Zoo Associations of the world. According to it’s website, EAZA’s mission is to facilitate cooperation within the European zoo and aquarium community towards the goals of education, research and conservation.

We were invited by Michel Ansermet (Director of the Aquatis Lausanne, Switzerland) and Guido Westhoff (Head Curator, Tierpark Hagenbeck, Hamburg, Germany), to give a short talk about our conservation initiative during the EAZA Reptile & Amphibian TAG meeting (held from March 7th to March 11th). This meeting was a great honor to take part in and it was amazing to hear about zoo reptile keeping successes as well as the challenges the professional community faces.

It was especially interesting to see so many research and conservation projects – many of them very successful – performed in various reptile species. From the the implementation of IUCN’s “One Plan Approach” in South East Asia to protect turtles to the assisted reproduction of Orlitia borneensis in the Gdansk Zoo. From Investigating movement, distribution, abundance and diet of the Salt Water crocodile in Australia to the Orinoco crocodile repatriation in Venezuela. From novel insights of wild living Varanus salvadorii to a conservation initiative, The Kimboza Forest Gecko Project.  Each of the the talks was highly interesting, scientifically sound and very well crafted.

We had the great honor to give the first talk on the snake session (day four). Our talk was entitled: Before it’s too late – a conservation initiative for West Indian boas. Our aim was/is to encourage zoos to take some species of West Indian boas into their programs, since the West Indies are underrepresented in zoological reptile collections.

After the talk we received very positive feedback and were happy to have made some new contacts.  However, none of the institutions present at the meeting vocalized a will to open their collection to West Indian boa herpetofauna. Our collaboration initiative is still open and we welcome any scientifically led zoo to collaborate with us on a non-commercial basis. We hope that conservation initiatives will realize that the conservation of one of the top biodiversity hotspots of the world deserves more attention than it currently receives.

The problem at this point is resource partitioning in zoos. Conservation is currently in need of many helping hands and funds, while zoos have only a limited amount of space and resources. These must be used wisely to have the biggest possible impact. To put it into perspective though, out of 6 studbooks for snakes, two exist for West Indian boa species: Chilabothrus angulifer  (EAZA) and Chilabothrus subflavus (AZA). While we are happy about this in general, we remark that both species are much less threatened than many of the Hispaniolan Chilabothrus taxa. Chilabothrus subflavus is bred in increasing numbers in the US and Europe by private breeders and zoos alike. We would very much like to see an increase in the number of species on display in Public and Private zoos.

Here is our shout out: Every zoo that displays a Burmese python or a Green Anaconda, think about replacing it with several West Indian boa species. Every corn snake can be replaced by a small West Indian boa, every Boa constrictor can be replaced by a Boa orophias or B. nebulosa, etc. This would have a tremendous impact on the visibility of this fragile ecosystem, which it sorely needs.

Citations

 

Quote of the Month

Conservation, “Quote” of the Month

Sir David Attenborough’s speech is a reminder to do whatever it takes to stop man made climate change and create a better world for today’s young generations.

Towards the end of his speech, he says:

"In my lifetime, I've witnessed a terrible decline, in yours, you could and should witness a wonderful recovery. That desperate hope, ladies and gentlemen, delegates excellency"

Chilabothrus neonate season continues with Bahamas Boas

Captive breeding, Chilabothrus, Conservation, Natural History, , , , , , ,

The Bahamas Boa Chilabothrus s. strigilatus is a species that relatively few private persons keep and, to our knowledge, no zoo worldwide has these fascinating boas on display.  We are more than pleased to announce that a litter of C. strigilatus was  born on October 1st in Germany.

Chilabothrus strigilatus babies with snake mother

Birth began in the morning hours from 8.30am.  The moon phase was in between half and new moon.  The pressure system was high and the morning was sunny, however, in the evening a low pressure system came in and it started to rain.

The post ovulation shed of the female boa occurred on June 13th, thus 110 days passed between post ovulation shed and birth.  Noticeably, the yolk was entirely used up in all babies and only the allantois was present as extraembryonic tissue.

Chilabothrus strigilatus babies the first sight

The litter contained 27 perfectly healthy babies. weighing between 12 and 16 grams.  Average weight was 14.07 grams.  The length of the babies is around 43 cm.  The litter did not contain any unfertilized eggs, deformed or stillborn babies.

Chilabothrus strigilatus babies with mother

The relative clutch mass (RCM) indicates the amount of mass spent on the babies by their mother.  The babies had a combined birth weight of 380 grams and the mother weighed post parturition 1087g.  The RCM is calculated as: baby mass / (baby mass + mother mass post parturition).  The mother spent 25.9% of her mass in babies, not accounting for fluids and extraembryonic tissue which could not be accurately weighed.

Chilabothrus strigilatus babies
Chilabothrus strigilatus baby on hand

More information on the species can be found here.

Research News – Chilabothrus strigilatus

Conservation

The Bahama Boa, Chilabothrus strigilatus, was first described in 1862.  However, even almost 160 years after it’s first description, the ecology of this boa still holds many facts that are unknown to science.

The team of Sebastian Hoefer and colleagues were interested in several biological aspects of the snakes occurring on Eleuthera Island.  In their recent study they investigated two snake species occurring on Eleuthera Island and compared prey as well as endoparasite prevalence in the snakes .

Eleuthera Island is one of several islands and cays where Chilabothrus strigilatus occurs. Eleuthera Island has a surface area of 457 km2, maximum elevation of 60 meters above sea level, is 120 km long and, in places, 1 km wide.  Eleuthera Island is located on the eastern part of the Great Bahama Bank.

The study took place from 19 August 2019 to 16 March 2020.  The researchers took the approach to collect road killed specimens of the snakes on Eleuthera and investigate stomach contents as well as parasite load.  This approach is unique and offers detailed insights without sacrificing healthy snakes.

The team investigated across four habitat types and the road was investigated up to four times daily by car or bike.  As a result, the researchers collected 270 road killed snakes representing all four species (232 Bahamian Racers, 31 Bahamian Boas, 6 Northern Bahamas Tropidophis, and 1 Cuban Brown Blindsnake) occurring across Eleuthera.  During this seven-month period, road killed snakes amounted to 35.5 snakes per month or 1.2 a day.  For Bahamian Boas, this translated to 5.2 road kills per month.  Road mortality was previously studied on another Bahamian boa species, Chilabothrus exsul on Abaco Island .  The study concluded that on Abaco island 1.6 Boas are lost per week due to road mortality.  This amounts to a total of 83.2 Boas per year.  The data of Hoefer and colleagues amounts to an annual loss of 62.4 boas.  Thus road mortality and increased traffic poses a serious threat to at least two Bahamian boa species.

The main aim of the study however was the prey selection and parasite load.  The Bahamian Racer Cubophis vudii vudii feeds predominantly on lizards (Anolis sp.).  However, they found the Racers to be opportunistic generalists and in addition to documenting oophagy for the first time in any Bahamian snake, they also described two snakes,  Tropidophis canus barbouri and Typhlops lumbricalis, as prey items of the Racer.

In contrast, the diet of Bahamian Boas consisted exclusively of of anoles and rats.  Juvenile boas fed exclusively on anoles and adults consumed only rats.  This finding confirms an ontogenetic shift in the feeding ecology of the Bahamian Boa.

Regarding the endoparasite load, it was interesting that nematodes were found in most of the racers but none of the boas.  One explanation for this observation is that sample size was different in Boas and Racers but this could also be attributable to differences in activity, movement patterns and foraging behavior between the species.

More information on Bahamas boas can be found here.

Citations

A fantastic discovery – Chilabothrus ampelophis

Chilabothrus, Conservation, Natural History

A small team of researchers make a unique discovery.

Miguel A. Landestoy T., R. Graham Reynolds and Robert W. Henderson found and described a new species of Chilabothrus on the well studied Island of Hispaniola. They describe the new species as Chilabothrus ampelophis – the Hispaniolan Vineboa – in the Journal Breviora . The boa was discovered on the Barahona Peninsula on the Dominico-Haitian Border in a very small area of less than 10 km2.

Phylogenetic relationships of Chilabothrus species (Figure from Landestoy T. et al. 2021)

The new species Chilabothrus ampelophis differs from C. fordii in body, head, snout shape, scalation, coloration and pattern. It is on the molecular level phylogenetically unique. Morphologically the species appears to fall between C. fordii and C. gracilis, which the researchers consider as a accentuation of the probable ecological differences from its sister species C. fordii.
Interestingly, the researchers found a -as of yet undescribed- Tropidophis species in the same area. This is a reminder of how little we know, even in areas populated by humans and in scientifically well studied regions like the island of Hispaniola. We can only speculate how many species might have gone extinct without us ever knowing of their existence in the intensely altered part of the island on the Haitian side.

The press releases are here and here.

This is a reminder to protect what we know – and what we don’t know.

Citation

Climate Change and the importance of captive breeding for species survival

Boa, Captive breeding, Chilabothrus, Climate Change, Conservation, Corallus, ,

Humans as a species behave in interesting ways.  We respond to events such as a terrorist attack, a flooding or a wildfire with some sort of intellectual answer – not always the right response but that’s a different story.  On the other hand, dramatic events that affect our world as a whole and which are long lasting seem too big to fathom.
One such event is the ocean circulation of the Atlantic Ocean, which includes the Gulf Stream, has probably lost stability over the past century and could now be facing a crucial tipping point.  The news should have sent shockwaves through the world – but it didn’t.
Niklas Boers, a climate researcher of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) came to conclude this.  He published his findings in the Journal,  Nature Climate Change .

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/97/Hurricane_Maria_2017-09-19_1742Z_%28gallery%29.jpg
Hurricane Maria to the southeast of Puerto Rico. Source Wikimedia Commons
Why is this important and what does it mean?

The Gulf Stream is considered the long-distance heater of Europe, as it brings heat as far as the British Isles and off the coast of Norway.  The Gulf Stream, in turn, is part of the larger Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC).  This carries warm and salty water northward at the ocean surface, while cold and low-salinity water flows back at depth.  Based on evidence from Earth’s history, researchers suspect that the circulatory system can, in principle, switch between two different operating states: a strong circular motion, as currently observed, and a much weaker one.
Because the AMOC system redistributes large amounts of heat, it affects weather worldwide. A sudden change from the strong to the weak state would therefore have serious consequences: Europe would possibly cool, while hurricanes would increase over the Atlantic.
A number of factors are probably responsible for the approach to the tipping point.  The increased input of freshwater originating from the melting of the Greenland ice masses is a main factor while, in addition, precipitation and input from rivers into the ocean have also increased as a result of climate change.  Fresh water is lighter than salt water and therefore tends to remain at the surface instead of sinking into the depths.  This process is slowing down the normal ocean circulation.
Boers traced the telltale signs of change in ocean circulation, such as saltwater content and ocean temperature, back over 150 years.  His analysis shows that the AMOC system transitioned from relatively stable conditions to a point near a critical threshold over the last century.

And the boas?

We saw in the recent past glimpses of what hurricane intensification means for the West Indies. Hurricane Maria devastated the northeastern West Indies in September 2017, particularly Dominica (Category 5), Saint Croix, US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico (Category 4) were affected. It is regarded as the worst natural disaster in recorded history to affect those islands. Considering the above mentioned study, we need to prepare for more of this.
But even if some islands are unaffected by hurricanes, and aside from big tangible impacts, even a small change in weather, which might not be considered as dramatic in human terms, might have a huge impact on the boas. The food source of the boas might be affected and most probably the ability to reproduce will be strongly affected, since reproductive stimuli to which the boas evolved are altered and the chances of proper thermoregulation for gravid females might decline.
We have but one chance to improve the likelihood of survival for the West Indian Boas – captive breeding through willing institutions and the Invisible Ark.

Addendum

On August 9th the IPCC published it’s Sixth Assessment Report .

Key findings:

  • Global surface temperature was 1.09C higher in the last decade (2011-2020) than in the last pre industrialisation half century (1850-1900).
  • The past five years have been the hottest on record since 1850
  • The recent rate of sea level rise has nearly tripled compared with 1901-1971
  • Human influence is “very likely” (90%) the main driver of the global retreat of glaciers since the 1990s and the decrease in Arctic sea-ice
  • It is virtually certain that hot extremes including heatwaves have become more frequent and more intense since the 1950s, while cold events have become less frequent and less severe

https://www.ipcc.ch/assessment-report/ar6/

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