AUTHORS: CAROL SMITH, JONATHAN CRANFIELD & STEVEN J.R. ALLAIN

AUTHORS: FREEK BEIJDORFF & PRZEMYSŁAW ZDUNEK

AUTHOR: SEAN M. HARTZELL

AUTHORS: JAMES DOUGLAS BONTHRON, NEIL PHILLIPS & MARK J. GOODMAN

AUTHORS: HAN NA LEE, YOUNJI KIM, YU JEONG JEONG, YIKWEON JANG & KYO SOUNG KOO

AUTHORS: FRANK MC CANN, ARMANDO H. ESCOBEDO-GALVÁN & FABIO G. CUPUL-MAGAÑA

AUTHOR: SEBASTIÁN DUARTE-MARÍN

AUTHOR: KEVIN ARBUCKLE

AUTHORS: BAKHOUCHE BADIS, BOULAOUAD BELKACEM AIMENE, MOUSSOUNI ABDENOUR, DANIEL JABLONSKI & FRANCESCO PAOLO FARAONE

AUTHORS: TEDDY ANGARITA-SIERRA, PAULO LOPERENA & SANTIAGO J. SÁNCHEZ-PACHECO

AUTHORS: APOSTOLOS CHRISTOPOULOS, DIMITRIS ZOGARIS, KONSTANTINOS VLACHOPOULOS & YIANNIS G. ZEVGOLIS

AUTHORS: COURTNEY PARKS, BETHANY HOLTZ, JONATHAN FINGERUT, JOHN WNEK & SCOTT MCROBERT

ABSTRACT: Populations of diamondback terrapins Malaclemys terrapin are declining. Consequently, head-start programmes, in which hatchling terrapins are reared in captivity for 6–9 months and then released into their natural habitat, are needed to help stabilise wild populations. As a contribution to the development of optimal husbandry conditions for future generations of diamondback terrapins in head-start programmes, we examined the effects of two widely available commercial turtle foods (Reptomin® and Mazuri®) on the growth of juvenile terrapins over a period of 12 weeks. While terrapins did well on both diets, we show that terrapins consuming the Mazuri® diet had a significantly greater increase in mass and carapace length compared to terrapins on the Reptomin® diet.

AUTHORS: DANIEL KANE, CAITLIN SADLER, FLORENCE NEWHOUSE & CHRISTOPHER J. MICHAELS

ABSTRACT: Environmental enrichment is a powerful tool in maintaining positive welfare for captive animals but investigation of this in reptiles has been limited. Monitor lizards are active, intelligent animals that represent high priority targets for enrichment in a captive setting, but more data are required to develop evidence-based recommendations and to understand variation in the responses to enrichment of both individuals and species. We exposed two monitor lizards, Varanus cumingi and Varanaus macraei, both adult females, to olfactory enrichment comprising prey-based and non-prey-based scent trails and then measured changes in activity and tongue-flicking versus a control. Randomisation analysis, employed to deal with small sample size, showed that the V. cumingi significantly increased both behaviours in response to both enrichment types, versus control, while the V. macraei responded significantly only to the prey-based scent for both behaviours. These findings provide an evidence-based case study demonstrating the potential effectiveness of enrichment for captive monitors, but also the need for context-specific evaluation of enrichment strategies to ensure maximal benefit for a given individual animal.

AUTHORS: ZILCA CAMPOS, WILLIAM E. MAGNUSSON & GUILHERME MOURÃO

ABSTRACT: We recaptured 26 female and 24 male Pantanal caimans Caiman yacare of known-age up to 36 years after marking. The relationship between clutch size and age for known-age females was highly variable although one female captured multiple times between 18 and 26 years of age showed little variation in clutch size. Captured known-age females attending nests varied from 73 cm to 89 cm snout-vent length and from 9 to 36 years old. These females continued to grow long after their first capture, so cessation of growth does not appear to be related to reproduction. Most known-age animals were recaptured within 10 km of where they hatched, but usually on a different ranch, so ranches cannot be used as autonomous management units. Our data indicate that the ratio of snout-vent length (SVL) at first reproduction (73 cm) to mean asymptotic SVL reported for this species (85.7 cm SVL) is much higher in female Pantanal caimans (0.85) than has been reported for most other reptiles (0.7).

AUTHORS: JIŘÍ MORAVEC & ZILCA CAMPOS

ABSTRACT: During a heat wave in November 2023, we assessed the use of bromeliad rosettes as shelters for hylid treefrogs in the Brazilian Pantanal (area of Nhecolândia). During the day time, four hylid species (genera Boana, Scinax, Trachycephalus) were detected sheltering in 40 rosettes of the terrestrial bromeliad Bromelia balansae; this was a different species complex from when observations were made in October 2019 when the temperature conditions corresponded to long-term averages. The internal and external day time temperature of each shelter was measured. The mean daytime temperature inside the shelters was 36.1 °C (range 24.0–43.5 °C), this varied depending on the microhabitat conditions, and was 1.1 °C lower than the mean temperature of the leaves of the upper part of the rosettes; the difference was statistically significant. We suggest that during this very dry and hot period the main advantage provided by the bromeliad shelters was to enable frogs to have behavioural control of overheating so that they could avoid excessive evaporative water loss.