Steve's Herpetological Blog

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

Zoology

#SciFri: Arthropleura at the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences

The Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences tucked away in Downing College, Cambridge. Despite being hidden out of view of the public, it is well visited and represents a captivating journey through the geological wonders of our planet. This museum promises…

#SciFri: Visiting the Southend Central Museum

As a passionate naturalist, and as someone that was both born near Southend and grew up nearby, Southend Central Museum has always been a special place to me. This is despite the fact that I hadn’t been back in over…

#SteveReviews: Secrets of Squirrels

It is rare that you’ll see my posting about mammals on this blog, mainly because I think they’re overhyped and focussed on too much, compared to other taxa. I may focus obsessively on amphibians and reptiles, but even I often…

#SciFri: Birds and Us at the Linnean Society of London

On the evening of the 14th July last year, I attended a lecture at the Linnean Society of London being presented by Emeritus Professor Tim Birkhead. He has published a number of books in the past on various aspects of…

#SciFri: Animals – Art, Science & Sound

If you know me well, you know that the one thing I love more than science, are books. Recently, I found the time to visit the British Library in London to visit and exhibition that I have been meaning too…

#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: 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: 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…