Steve's Herpetological Blog

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

Herpetology

#SteveReviews: Rattled

One thing I will never get tired of is amazing documentaries on reptiles and amphibians. Thankfully, Rattled by The Orianne Society is on of these. In this short, captivating and insightful documentary a spotlight shines on one of the most…

#FeatureFriday: Sea snake conservation

Note: Every now and again I post an invited blog post by a member of the community. This time around it is the turn of Victoria Protheroe, a prolific author from the currently-dormant blog Bioweb. Thanks in advance to James…

#SciFri: European Turtle Alliance Conference 2023

On the 11th November, I visited Writtle University College for the annual conference of the European Turtle Alliance. Despite being reptiles, turtles and tortoises are not my forte and so I decided to try to fill that gap in my…

#SciFri: Free online Bsal course from EAZA Academy

A decade ago in 2013 when the discovery of the salamander chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans; Bsal) was published, my heart sank. What really scared me was the potential impact on wild newt and salamander populations in Europe, following the decline…

#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…

#SciFri: Herpetofauna Workers Meeting 2023

It sure has been a hot minute since I last posted on this blog! Sorry that it has been since July, I’ve been busy with wrapping up my PhD, and then taking a break from everything afterwards so that I…

#SciFri: ARC-BHS Joint Scientific Meeting 2021

It’s a shame that we are still yet to return to in-person conferences, I’m still looking forward to that day. However, with the ongoing uncertainty of the Omicron variant, and COVID transmission this winter (despite the fact most people have…

#StevesLibrary: Stolen World

Whenever you next walk into a pet shop that stocks exotic animals, take a look at the reptiles that stare back at you from their vivariums. It is very likely that you’ll find species such as the royal python (Python…