Free Republic

The newly-reported specimen was obtained from an amber deposit in the Angbamo area in Myanmar’s Kachin province.The fossil is a 1.6-inch (4.75 cm) long postcranial skeleton made up of 97 vertebrae; the snake’s head is missing. It dates from the Late Cretaceous epoch, approximately 99 million years ago.“This snake, named Xiaophis myanmarensis, is linked to ancient snakes from Argentina, Africa, India and Australia,” said University of Alberta’s Professor Michael Caldwell.“It is an important — and until now, missing — component of understanding snake evolution from southern continents, that is Gondwana, in the mid-Mesozoic.” “At 99 million years old, it dates...

A group of South American lizards that can grow up to four feet long (1.2 meters) has established a home in the Florida wild after being brought to the United States as pets, and the reptiles could begin a voracious march across the U.S. South, according to a new study. Tegu lizards, which currently live in two large colonies in Florida, could expand into an area from the Carolinas to Central Texas, according to the scientific report published in July on the website for the journal Nature.

A Texas man who had just moved into a new home in Morgan's Point Resort was shaking in his boots after a surprise guest showed up at his front door Tuesday. A nearly 7-foot reptile, later identified as a Texas rat snake, was coiled around the grille on the homeowner's door. As the man went to turn his key in the door, the snake moved. -snip- The Texas rat snake is a non-venomous reptile that's commonly found in North Texas. ..." "Texas rat snakes are excellent climbers and there have been occasional reports of Texas rat snakes climbing the sides...

This is the moment a giant centipede takes on a large snake in a ultimate battle to the death. Posted on to Live Leak, the three-minute video shows the pair fighting on the ground in Vietnam. In the rare footage, the pair wrestle each other, attempting to bite, pin down and ultimately claim their momentary nemesis.

The final “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom” trailer dropped on Wednesday (see below), and its mysterious surfing scene has us stoked. It’s on for just a moment, but it looks totally rad. A very large creature rides the wave beneath the surface, while a human catches the swell from above. This probably won’t end with high-fives and beers on the beach.

That’s a heck of a meal! The Conservancy of Southwest Florida documented a Burmese python eating a white-tailed deer that weighed more than the python itself. According to The Conservancy of Southwest Florida, which does research on python behavior and habitats in order to help control the population of the invasive species, this is believed to be the largest predator-to-prey ratio documented for the Burmese python, and possibly for any species of python. The findings will be published in the March 2018 issue of Herpetological Review. This snake, an 11-foot female, was found in Collier Seminole State Park on April...

An alligator and a Burmese python were locked in a cold-blooded battle to the death as a crowd watched in shock at a golf course in Naples, Fla., last week. Richard Nadler spotted the gator entwined with the large snake just outside the 10th hole at The Golf Club at Fiddler’s Creek. Both creatures were perfectly still, but it appeared the gator had the head of the snake in its mouth.

A North Carolina swamp park has posted a video explaining how alligators survive in a frozen pond, and it’s both creepy and bizarre... ...The alligators seem to instinctively know when the water is about to freeze, says Howard, who is general manager of the park. They respond by sticking their nose above the surface at just the right moment, allowing the water to freeze around them.... Alligators then enter “a state of brumation, like hibernating.” Alligators can regulate their body temperature in all sorts of weather, park officials said, and can essentially remain frozen in place until the ice melts.

Many species, including humans, struggle to survive when temperatures rise too high. But even small increases can affect animals, causing subtle changes in physiology or behavior that alter how they fare. For some lizards, the effects of heat may, somewhat literally, be a no-brainer. A new study published in Royal Society Open Science has found that a temperature increase on the scale expected from climate change can make bearded dragons dumber. Bearded dragons are Australian lizards that have become popular as pets, and like other reptiles, they’re not as dumb as they might seem. “Reptiles were long considered to be...

A TOURIST who refused to pay for a tour guide was mauled by a fearsome Komodo dragon. Lon Lee Alle, 50, from Singapore, ventured alone into a secluded area to watch the wild beasts gorging on goats and pigs in West Manggarai, Indonesia.

A seven-foot alligator startled residents of a Louisiana town on Monday when it emerged from a storm drain behind an elementary school. Authorities said the alligator crawled from the drain following heavy rains in Jefferson Parish. The drain was located behind Marie B Riviere Elementary School, which wasn't holding class because of spring break, according to WWL.

Even the animal kingdom has been a bit testy lately. The moment a seemingly unprovoked horse attacked an alligator near Gainesville, Florida was captured in footage originally shared by Krystal Berry on Wednesday and posted to Storyful. The video, which included a small crowd of horrified onlookers, quickly caught social media's attention.

A copperhead snake bit a man Friday inside an Arkansas Walmart store, according to KTHV. However, surveillance video later showed the man himself bringing the venomous snake into the store, a Walmart spokesperson told the station. No one else was injured, but the snake sighting caused pandemonium, according to customer Linda Moore Mathews, who snapped a photo of the reptile as it lay coiled in the middle of a produce aisle and posted it on Facebook. “Everyone was freaking out,” Mathews said. Another woman recorded video of a man finally catching the copperhead and placing it in a Walmart bag....

JAKARTA - A man missing since Sunday (March 26) in Indonesia has been found dead inside the belly of a 7m-long python, according to reports. Akbar Salubiro, 25, had not been seen since setting off to harvest palm oil in a remote village on the island of Sulawesi. A search found the giant python sprawled out next to his garden with the 25-year-old’s boots clearly visible in its stomach, according to a report in the Tribun Timur. Villagers then used a large knife to cut open the snake’s belly slowly revealing the father-of-two’s body. Tribun Timur posted a video of...

A giant goanna has terrified an Australian family as they attempted to feed the reptile after it emerged from their garden. The incident, captured on video, shows the beast to rethink its choice of prey and run up the porch straight toward the frightened householders. The family were throwing food at the over-sized lizard when the reptile headed for them forcing the onlookers to scramble indoors to hide.

The Burmese python continues to be found in and around Biscayne National Park. A kayaker, who was paddling around a small platform in Biscayne Bay just east of Mowry Canal, saw a 9-foot-long python curled up on a platform. Soon after, South Florida Water Management District technicians located the snake and quickly removed it. The python has been relocated and will serve as a training snake to for classes to teach the public about the Burmese python invasion and how to safely capture and remove these nasty invaders. Biscayne National Park officials ask for everyone to please keep their eyes...

Good morning, Valerie:The word “congratulations” is much too banal. The thrill hasn’t remotely begun to wear off. I’ve never felt more hopeful about our political future. I want to dedicate all my talents and energies to helping Barack seize the arc of history. Nothing matters to me more. After this message, I’ve pasted in a short piece I published in Forbes.com (which appeared yesterday as the first item on www.realclearpolitics.com) that puts in personal terms how I felt yesterday. When I saw Barack and Michelle briefly in the “surrogates” tent after Barack delivered his remarkable speech, he told me he...

North Korea accuses Seoul of 'cunning plot' to release snakes over border Soldiers sceptical after unseasonably high numbers of reptiles lead Pyongyang to suspect South Korean infiltration Kang Mi-jin for DK News, part of the North Korea network Wednesday 27 July 2016 06.00 BST North Korean border patrol guards have been ordered to capture snakes apparently released by South Korea to wreak havoc in its northern neighbour, sources have claimed. Pyongyang is said to have told the military that Seoul’s spy agency is behind the unseasonably high number of snakes in Ryanggang province, which borders China. “Earlier this month, border...

Reptiles rapidly invaded the seas soon after a global extinction wiped out most life on Earth, according to a new study led by University of California, Davis, researchers. Global climate change -- likely triggered by massive volcanic eruptions -- killed off more than 95 percent of all species about 250 million years ago, at the end of the Permian period. Land reptiles colonized the ocean in just 3.35 million years at the beginning of the Triassic, a speedy recovery in geologic time, the researchers report in the journal Scientific Reports. "Our results fit with the emerging view that the recovery...

JAMES ISLAND, S.C. (AP) — Firefighters came across a new danger while battling a South Carolina house fire — about a dozen venomous snakes. Local media outlets report the James Island homeowner, who workers in nuisance wildlife removal, told fire crews Tuesday to be aware of up to 80 reptiles in the home's garage. Officials say about a dozen of the reptiles were poisonous snakes. Firefighters had the blaze under control within an hour, but they couldn't enter the home while deadly snakes were potentially on the loose.