#SciFri: Why do snakes shed their skin?
As someone that studies reptiles and snakes in particular, I’m often asked why reptiles shed their skin. Before I answer that question, let’s take a step back. When some people picture a reptile shedding their skin (also called sloughing), they…
#SciFri: Snake removal from a woman’s stomach?
Something that 2020 has taught me is to always expect the unexpected. Whilst perusing Twitter the other evening I saw a video shared by Emily Taylor (@snakeymama) which claims to show a woman on an operating table in the Dagestan…
#SciFri: What’s that beeping in my garden?
Picture this. You’ve been sitting in your garden during lockdown or the recent warm spell. Marvellous! Whilst turning the page to the book your reading or taking a sip of wine, you hear a conspicuous beeping sound. At first thought…
#SciFri: Do frogs have teeth?
Recently I’ve had a number of conversations with people regarding amphibians (partly whilst recording various podcasts) and one question has been repeatedly asked about frogs. Do they have teeth? Let’s take a quick step back here, we know amphibians evolved…
#SciFri: Venomous caecilians
You may have seen this article (or one like it) at the beginning of the month, which caused a stir among the amphibian research community. As a group caecilians are severely understudied due to their fossorial nature which makes surveying…
#SciFri: A look back on World Snake Day
For those of you that don’t happen to have a passion for herpetology or to be working with snakes, you may not have realised it but yesterday was World Snake Day. Now some readers may ask, “What’s the point of…
#SciFri: July Project Update
If you haven’t been keeping an eye on my social media accounts, I have some good news for you all. I’ve finally been given the permission to get out in the field and catch some grass snakes! I’m extremely grateful…
#SciFri: How to spot a predatory journal
As many of you will be aware, I like to write a publish a lot – especially short natural history notes that help to fill gaps in of our knowledge on a particular species or habitat. These tend to be…
#SciFri: Colour polymorphisms in amphibians and reptiles
Field guides are a great way to identify wildlife whether it be in the field or from photographs. I have a large number of them that make up the core of my reference library for countries I’ve visited or I’m…
#SciFri: Lessons from #BlackBirdersWeek
With the success of #BlackBirdersWeek on Twitter this week, I thought I’d take some time to reflect the lack of diversity within herpetology (at least from my perspective). First off, for those of you that don’t know and without going…