A new study has shown that more than half of the world’s turtle and tortoise species are now threatened with extinction. #Herpetology #HerpResearch #TurtleTuesday #Reptiles #Turtles #Tortoises news.mongabay.com/2020/07/turtle…

#COVID19 lockdowns of zoos, botanical gardens, and aquariums has particular consequences for species that are extinct in the wild. ZSL Science Science Magazine John Ewen

2020 poses a world of new #plasticpollution problems... Despite admirable conservation work to stem the tide, there’s more work to be done if we want to secure a safer future for turtles 🐢 ow.ly/5BB150AV9QN

Animal populations have declined by 68% since 1970, according to the WWF #LivingPlanetReport. But it's not too late to save nature. Taking better care of the land we live on could stop biodiversity decline by 2050 🌿 nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/…

WWF If this decline continues, it's likely to cause more zoonotic diseases like COVID-19. Humanity's abuse of the natural world has caused a 'perfect storm', allowing deadly pathogens to spread around the world - and worse could be on the way. nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/…

We appreciate your interest in our snake conservation efforts, so let’s stay in touch! Our newsletter is the best way to learn all about snakes and how you can save them. Sign up to get all the latest snake news, updates and event announcements. 🐍📩 savethesnakes.org/newsletter

The #LivingPlanetReport2020 is the most comprehensive ever – we’ve added 400 new species and 4,870 new populations since 2018. We now have a database containing almost 21,000 populations of 4,300 vertebrate species. #LPR2020 WWF ZSL Science Living Planet Index zsl.org/livingplanet

Did you watch #ExtinctionTheFacts? Want to know more about biodiversity? Our experts are here to help. Biodiversity is in trouble in the UK and across the globe - but there are things everyone can do to help protect it. nhm.ac.uk/discover/what-…

You couldn’t make it up . . . and you don’t have to . . . m.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/boris-jo… Wild Justice League Against Cruel Sports OneKind RevieveInc

Kia ora 🌏, My #PhD student Laura is looking for researchers (18+ and working with #genetic #data) to take an anonymous 5-min online #questionnaire about lab sample mix-ups: 🖱️auckland.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6u… Re-tweeting appreciated! Thank you! 🧬💡 Faculty of Science, University of Auckland GenomicsAotearoa ZSL Science

What herps are most in need of knowledge and on-going funding for their conservation and survival? de Oliveira Ferronato in "An assessment of funding and publication rates in Herpetology" addresses this and finds that caecilians are most in need. See researchgate.net/profile/Bruno_…

World fails to meet a single target to stop destruction of nature – UN report theguardian.com/environment/20…

Invasive alien species may be a bigger threat to natural #WorldHeritage than previously thought ow.ly/PqsT50BpMed IUCN Protected and Conserved Areas

The bright colouration of the male Lygodactylus williamsi has increased demand in the pet trade, with at least 15% of the wild population being collected in a 5 year span from 2005. Find out more about this vibrant gecko: bit.ly/32QjHRu #weirdandwonderful #EDGEspecies

Despite being part of early studies in animal vision, surprisingly little is known about how frogs see. New research is starting to unravel the secrets of frog eyes 🐸👀 nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/…

We need to learn how to work with nature, rather than against it. David Attenborough is going to tell us how. DAVID ATTENBOROUGH: A LIFE ON OUR PLANET debuts on Netflix 4 October. x.com/NetflixUK/stat…

Our long-standing Vice President, Sir David Attenborough, is officially on Instagram! 📸 ow.ly/NDqJ50BzWId We're looking forward to: 📢 Hearing more about how we can save our planet and the creatures that call it home 🍃 Ideally, some more good leaves...

The #LeadersPledge4Nature is an important step towards protecting our natural environment. 65 world leaders including Boris Johnson have endorsed a committment to reverse biodiversity loss by 2030. It's never been more important to prioritise our life support system.

Low levels of genetic variation in gharials is worrying. See the OA paper by Sharma et al. "Mitochondrial DNA analysis reveals extremely low genetic diversity in a managed population of the Critically Endangered Gharial (Gavialis gangeticus, Gmelin, 1789)" tinyurl.com/y6prj6ab

A new look at fossil #crocodile bones collected in Italy more than a decade ago suggest that crocodiles within the genus Crocodylus (likely C. checchiai) once occurred in Europe. #Herpetology #HerpResearch #Reptiles phys.org/news/2020-10-a…