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Half a century ago, Belgian Zoologist Bernard Heuvelmans first codified cryptozoology in his book On the Track of Unknown Animals.

The Centre for Fortean Zoology (CFZ) are still on the track, and have been since 1992. But as if chasing unknown animals wasn't enough, we are involved in education, conservation, and good old-fashioned natural history! We already have three journals, the largest cryptozoological publishing house in the world, CFZtv, and the largest cryptozoological conference in the English-speaking world, but in January 2009 someone suggested that we started a daily online magazine! The CFZ bloggo is a collaborative effort by a coalition of members, friends, and supporters of the CFZ, and covers all the subjects with which we deal, with a smattering of music, high strangeness and surreal humour to make up the mix.

It is edited by CFZ Director Jon Downes, and subbed by the lovely Lizzy Bitakara'mire (formerly Clancy), scourge of improper syntax. The daily newsblog is edited by Corinna Downes, head administratrix of the CFZ, and the indexing is done by Lee Canty and Kathy Imbriani. There is regular news from the CFZ Mystery Cat study group, and regular fortean bird news from 'The Watcher of the Skies'. Regular bloggers include Dr Karl Shuker, Dale Drinnon, Richard Muirhead and Richard Freeman.The CFZ bloggo is updated daily, and there's nothing quite like it anywhere else. Come and join us...

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Saturday, January 14, 2012

TRADE IN NON-NATIVE AMPHIBIANS AND REPTILES IN TEXAS (Via Herp Digest)

TRADE IN NON-NATIVE AMPHIBIANS AND REPTILES IN TEXAS: LESSONS FOR BETTER MONITORING AND IMPLICATIONS FOR SPECIES INTRODUCTION
HEATHER L. PRESTRIDGE, LEE A. FITZGERALD, AND TOBY J. HIBBITTS

Texas Cooperative Wildlife Collection, Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences, Texas A&M University, 210 Nagle Hall, College Station, Texas 77843, USA, e-mail: hlprestridge@tamu.edu

Paper posted at

http://herpconbio.org/Volume_6/Issue_3/Prestridge_etal_2011.pdf

Herpetological Conservation and Biology 6(3):324-339.

Abstract.-In the United States, trade is monitored at different levels of government and state level insight requires combining federal, state, and local sources of information. Trade in wildlife and their products has implications on wild populations of species involved and introduction of non-native vertebrates, especially amphibians and reptiles, is linked to the commercial trade in these animals. We used:













(1) federal databases;






(2) surveys of pet owners at live animal expositions;






(3) observations of sales at live animals expositions; and






(4) data collected from dealers on the Internet













...to quantify imports, exports, and use of exotic herptiles traded in Texas.













We recorded 1,192 unique taxonomic entities of amphibians and reptiles in commercial trade in Texas. A total of 949,901 live specimens were imported to Texas from 2002 to 2008. The top 16 imported taxa made up 73.36% of the trade. Internet and exposition-based trade was dominated by few species of common pets, with others represented in small numbers. Much trade persists in known invasive species and others that must have the potential to become invasive. We documented trade in 36 known invasive species, three of which are invasive in Texas. Our approach could serve as a template for assessing trade in non-native species at regional scales. Modifications to national databases would allow exports to be distinguished from re-exports, and adoption of standardized taxonomy would improve understanding of impacts of trade on species. State level management changes should be consistent across all 50 states to add continuity to laws governing non-native amphibians and reptiles kept as pets.

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