Steve's Herpetological Blog

An insight into the life of Steve, his research and the many books he reads

#StevesLibrary: Tadpole Hunter

It is rare that I get the chance to review a book with a herpetological theme (there aren’t many of them out there despite my best efforts to pitch my ideas to publishers), but that changes this week! Tadpole Hunter…

#SciFri: Searching for salamanders in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park

If you wanted to create somewhere for herpetologists to flock in their hundreds, I could think of no better place than the Appalachian Mountains. The Great Smoky Mountains are a mountain range rising along the Tennessee–North Carolina border in the…

#SteveReviews: Little Matters – Insects

If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to get up close and personal with the tiniest denizens of the animal kingdom, Little Matters: Insects on Netflix is your passport to a world of minuscule marvels and creepy-crawly capers. This documentary…

#SciFri: GARD2022

If you read last week’s #SciFri post, you’ll know know that this time last year I was visiting Knoxville, Tennessee for the first Global Amphibian and Reptile Disease (GARD) conference. Aside from being the ideal place to network, and hear…

#SteveReviews: Crocs of Katuma

It isn’t often that you find a documentary film about reptiles, so I was excited when I stumbled across Crocs of Katuma, when scrolling through Amazon Prime. This documentary was released in 2010, and provides an immersive exploration into the…

#SciFri: Zoo Knoxville

Today marks a year since the beginning of the first Global Amphibian and Reptile Disease (GARD) conference, held in Knoxville, Tennessee. I travelled to Knoxville alone (as I usually do for international conferences), visiting the United States for the first…

#SteveReviews: Uncharted Amazon

Sometimes you just want to watch something and unwind after a long day. That means you’re looking for something that isn’t too complex or hard to follow, until at least you’ve had a chance to have a cuppa and recover…

#StevesLibrary: Buried

I know this hard to believe, but not everything I read or do is linked to herpetology. Something that has always fascinated me is the past, and how we’ve been able to learn more about the lives of ancient people….

#SciFri: Visiting Kew Gardens

Roughly a year ago, I visited Kew Gardens for the first time since I was a child. It had been that long since I had actually been there, that it wasn’t at all like I remembered. I can only assume…

#SteveReviews: Our Great National Parks

It isn’t every day that a former President of the United States narrates a wildlife documentary series, especially given that the dominant force within the genre is Sir David Attenborough. It was a surprise when I opened Netflix one day…