Galapagos 'face species threat'

From bbc.co.uk in the Science/Nature section,

Officials in Ecuador say they are worried about the discovery of foreign species on the Galapagos Islands.

Read the entire article here


Control and Eradication of Invasive Species.


Charles Darwin Foundation

On Wavy News Today: Vet completes emergency surgery while clinic burns

A gutsy and dedicated veterinarian completed emergency surgery on an 11 year-old dog, even as fire fighters fought a blaze which broke out in another area of the clinic.

None of the animals was hurt and none of the people either. The doctor says it was one successful surgery, and fire fighters had successful life saving operations of their own.

Read the full story here.

Now that is a Vet that deserves respect and admiration. If we move to Virginia Beach that will be the Vet I choose without a doubt.

Snakes on a plane

With Samuel Jackson's new movie Snakes on a Plane opening Friday, August 18th, I thought I would do a post about it. I can't wait to see what they've done with it. It's likely the snakes will be the bad guys again. This isn't new though.

Normally movies tend to make all the snakes the bad guys. Boo to them. That isn't fair. Personally I think snakes are great. As most of my readers know, I love and respect them. I have a Ball Python, "Sierra" who I love dearly. I find snakes to be beautiful, interesting and very necessary to our world. Still most people are afraid of if not downright terrified of snakes. That's sad.

National Geographic has an interesting article about frequent fliers that some passengers may not know they are flying with.

Black Mamba Video also on National Geographic's news site. Check out the video if you can.

The site also has some links to interesting articles about snakes and snake related topics.

Also, NG.com has a link regarding King Cobras. I respect them as being extremely deadly snakes and I would never handle one. However I do understand that snake charmers use this as a means to earn a living. I do not agree with or approve of the defanging of these snakes. That is cruel and should be outlawed.

Please take the time to read, learn and find out about snakes. If you can't love them perhaps with education you can respect them enough to see their beauty and value and to help other people see that they deserve to be protected.

Photos, links and articles associated with this post are the property of NationalGeographic.com

Joke of the day

Newsstrip

Gabon, Sierra and other stuff.

After loading up another photo of my sweet Sierra who is currently in the opaque cycle of a shed so she's not as playful as she normally is. I thought I would finish up my trip entry. It is Tuesday morning and I have finally just finished sending my entry into Reptile Magazine for the Gabon Africa entry. I don't know if I will win but I've certainly given it my best shot.

I wrote an essay as well as sent them several of my photos at a highly reduced size as well as my story about volunteering in Australia. So now we wait.

I kept trying to think what else I might have done to get a better shot at a place on the expedition but didn't really come up with much. I could make really ridiculous promises like singing or rowing a small canoe across the Atlantic if I won but let's get realistic here, I don't have a canoe and my voice isn't what it use to be.

I did consider making myself a snake suit of sorts and before any of you go bonkers, no I don't mean "out" of snake, heaven forbid - I will never approve of snake skin anything and I feel that practice should be outlawed - what I meant was an actual suit to transform me into a walking snake. Then I could sing and dance my way onto the trip since they would hear me singing about how I was just a lonely snake that wanted to go back to Africa to see my home. Ha. Now is that a great idea or what?

Ok fine. Stop with all the "or what's". I'm not doing it anyway. I have no idea how to sew a fabric snake suit and still be able to walk. Not to mention drive plus it would probably be very embarrassing at the airport. Besides, what would customs say, "No pets please" or "Say sister, you can't take that outta the country".

So I'm stuck trying to get a place on the team by actually having to write something of decent -hahaha- quality for a change and take photos of everything that moves. Ehhh, it's a shot.

Sierra the ball python

This is my snake Sierra who is now just over two years old. I bought her when she was just one month old. She's a very sweet natured little snake, she never bites or strikes at us.

She has a great personality and watches TV with us. She certainly seems to anyway.

I wish other people could know what a nice little animal she is rather than to be afraid of her. I wouldn't trade her for all the cute pets in the world. She's the best.