nature.net 



Reptilophilia 



By Robert Anderson 



I've never been much for pets — too 

 much responsibility. Once, though, 

 when a herpetologist friend offered me 

 a turtle that had been turned over to 

 him by customs agents, I said yes. A vic- 

 tim of the illegal pet trade, it was a 

 big-headed turtle (Platysternon mega- 

 cephalum, similar in appearance to New 

 World snappers) that had flown in from 

 the wilds of Southeast Asia to New 

 York City before it was confiscated. My 

 turtle was an admirable beast with a 

 powerful, hooked beak to crack open 

 crustaceans and mollusks. He was also 

 adept at stalking small fish. "Jaws" — I 

 guess the name was inevitable — taught 

 me that, in the end, turtles can be light- 

 ning fast (you can see photographs of 

 his species at the turtle site chelonia.org/ 

 platysternon_gallery.htm). 



Jaws gave me an appreciation for tur- 

 tles, and for reptiles in general, a group 

 with more than 8,000 known living 

 species. Go to the Reptile Database at 

 the European Molecular Biology Lab- 

 oratory in Heidelberg, Germany 

 (www.embl-heidelberg.de/~uetz/LivingRep 

 tiles.html) and click on "How many spe- 

 cies?" for a breakdown of the clan and 

 a link to a map showing its global dis- 

 tribution. Nearly a quarter of all reptile 

 species are harmless colubrid serpents, 

 which include garter snakes. The sec- 

 ond greatest number ot species are the 

 skinks, followed by the geckos. The 

 only two surviving species of an entire 

 reptilian order, the tuataras, live on is- 

 lands off the coast of New Zealand. 

 Both are endangered, and climate 

 change may finish them off (news.bbc.co. 

 uk/1/hi/sci/tech/1 896463. stm). The Cen- 

 ter for North American Herpetology 

 (cnah.org) has links to comments on the 

 taxonomy and photos of local species. 



Although reptiles are popular as pets 

 and in zoos, real enthusiasts enjoy spot- 

 ting them in the wild. At the Web site 

 of Mike Pingleton, an amateur her- 

 petologist (pingleton.com), click on 

 "Notes from the Field" to read about his 



adventures tracking down hundreds of 

 species of frogs, lizards, snakes, and tur- 

 tles. Another intriguing site (flying 

 snake.org) may not be for everyone, par- 

 ticularly if serpents give you the willies. 

 Movie clips document how certain 

 Southeast Asian tree snakes propel 

 themselves through the air, gliding from 

 branch to branch [see "Serpents in the 

 Air," by Adam Summers, May 2003]. 



You can learn a lot about human bi- 

 ology from the differences and similar- 

 ities between reptiles and mammals. 

 What are the advantages of being 

 hot- or cold-blooded? Go to NASA's 

 "Infrared Zoo" (coolcosmos.ipac.caltech. 

 edu/image_galleries/ir_zoo/coldwarm. 

 html) for an illustrated discussion of the 

 various approaches to regulating body 

 temperature. 



Thermal regulation and other dif- 

 ferences aside, human beings share 

 much with reptiles. Unlike amphibians, 

 which must remain in water to repro- 

 duce, reptiles were the first animals to 

 have eggs with an amniotic sac, which 



enabled them to fully conquer land. 

 At the Tree of Life Web site (tolweb.org/ 

 Amniota), you can read more about how 

 reptiles paved the way for later verte- 

 brates. Dinosaurs, birds, and mammals, 

 all with an amniotic sac, are all descen- 

 dants of early reptiles. 



Another bit of anatomy people in- 

 herited from reptiles is the core of the 

 brain. At the Web site of the Canadian 

 Institute of Neurosciences, Mental 

 Health and Addiction (www.thebrain. 

 mcgill.ca) is a brief description of the 

 "three" human brains: the reptilian 

 brain, the limbic brain, and the neocor- 

 tex. An interactive diagram at www.brain 

 channels.com/evolution/physicalbrain.html 

 #Anchorreptilian gives more detail. Some 

 mental-health problems are rooted in 

 our reptilian brains (www.psycheduca 

 tion.org/emotion/R%20complex.htm), so 

 you may want to blame your obsessive- 

 compulsive disorder ... on your turtle. 



Robert Anderson is a freelance science 

 writer tiring in Los Angeles. 



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July/August 2006 NATURA1 HISTORY 



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