Rare, Prehistoric-Age Reptile Found in N.Z.

A rare reptile with lineage dating back to the dinosaur age has been found nesting on the New Zealand mainland for the first time in about 200 years, officials said Friday.

Four leathery, white eggs from an indigenous tuatara were found by staff at the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary in the capital, Wellington, during routine maintenance work Friday, conservation manager Rouen Epson said.

"The nest was uncovered by accident and is the first concrete proof we have that our tuatara are breeding," Epson said. "It suggests that there may be other nests in the sanctuary we don't know of."

Tuatara, dragon-like reptiles that grow to up to 32 inches, are the last descendants of a species that walked the earth with the dinosaurs 225 million years ago, zoologists say...

--Discovery Channel

Fla. woman finds 8-foot alligator in her kitchen

And some people get jittery about mice in the kitchen.

Authorities say 69-year-old central Florida woman found an 8-foot long alligator prowling in her kitchen late Monday night.

Sandra Frosti says the gator must have pushed through the back porch screen door and then went inside through an open sliding glass door at her home in Oldsmar, just north of Tampa. It then apparently strolled through the living room, down a hall and into the kitchen...

--USA Today

"We" the 2-headed snake's long odd life ends

A two-headed snake named “We,” the main attraction at the World Aquarium, has died.

The 8-year-old rat snake died of natural causes during the weekend, said caretaker Leonard Sonnenschein. Most two-headed snakes survive for only a week or two.

“It’s terrible news,” Sonnenschein said. “People come in every day and say: ’I’m here to see the two-headed snake.'"

Sonnenschein said more than a million people have seen We over the years. Children were especially fascinated by the snake, wondering how two heads could coexist on the same body as We sometimes strained to slither in two directions at once.

“These kinds of questions helped spur the science spirit in children,” Sonnenschein said. Sonnenschein said he bought We from a snake breeder in Indiana for $15,000 when the reptile was just a few weeks old...

--MSNBC

Man tries to smuggle 700 snakes on plane

Customs officers at Cairo's airport on Thursday detained a man bound for Saudi Arabia who was trying to smuggle 700 live snakes on a plane, airport authorities said.

The officers were stunned when a passenger, identified as Yahia Rahim Tulba, after being asked to open his carryon bag, told them it contained live snakes.

Tulba opened his bag to show the snakes to the police and asked the officers, who held a safe distance, not to come close. Among the various snakes, hidden in small cloth sacks, were two poisonous cobras...

--USA Today

Owners reclaim snake left in rental car

Sammy the boa survives two weeks chilling in chill in Dodge Charger

MILWAUKEE - A snake and his owners were reunited this week after the missing reptile was found in the glove compartment of a rented car.

Sammy, a 4-foot red-tailed boa constrictor, disappeared two weeks ago after his owners left him in the car while they went into an east side video rental store.

Richard Houston and Rosanne Burks were puzzled — their CDs and other items were still in the car. They searched the vehicle, looking under the seats and in the trunk. Finally, puzzled, they concluded Sammy had been stolen...

MSNBC

Trees cut to shed light on turtles, sex addicts

MAZOMANIE, Wis. -- Trees are being cut down near Mazomanie's nude beach as a crackdown on sexual activity, reported WISC-TV.

The state Department of Natural Resources said willow trees lining the nude beach have been removed...

--WISCTV.com