Karl:
Have received your paper on Heloderma combat. Am preparing a
parallel with specimens from my colony of Varanus salvator cumingi.
Striking similarities! First evidence and report of such behavior
was complied by Hans Georg Horn of Germany. But it was a spontaneous
occurence. I am running my colony through several controlled
experiments. Male to male, male to female, female to female, adult
vs. yearling, sibling rivalry, etc. I just moved the colony outside
to a very large enclosure and need a week or two for them to
acclimate to the outdoors again. They get downright vicious after
being in the real sun for a few days. But this is good. We want them
to retain their aggressive behavior towards humans. They will be
sent down to the facility in Costa Rica by next summer and then we
can begin the real work. Mindanao has repeatedly ignored the problem
of wild harvested animals so our colony will be the largest, outside
of Mindanao wild pops, for re-introduction. I am working with the
USFWS to acquire some V.s.nuchalis and V.s.marmoratus. Also, the Ft.
Worth zoo has those V.olivaceous that I want to work with. They
tried to breed them several years ago but without success. They don't
realize how important diet simulation is: they keep feeding them
rodents! I am working with the Botanical Research Institute of
Texas, Philippine PLant Identification Program - part of the
international Flora Melasiana project - to build lists of regional
endemic flora to the Phil archipelago. They are going to give me
several known fruit trees that olivaceous prefers. I think they will
do well here in Houston. Now if we can just get the lizards!
Of mention, have talked with Taylor in Australia and he is sending me
a paper on V.varius [sp.]. He has compiled various field data
concerning parental roles within the V.varius complex. I think this
course of research is most important. I do agree with you - given
the limited ability for neonate Heloderma to capture moving prey, it
would seem likely that the adults provide assistance. Varius, after
an incubation time of almost 10 months, returned to the mounds to
help the neonates emerge from the crusty outer layer. The new info
will explain if the returning animal is the male or female, the
actual mother, how long the animal waited before excavating the nest
and how much assistance she provides after emergence. Unlike
Heloderma, the neonate varanids are able to hunt immediately.
However, their striking colors, unlike V.komodoensis, do not match
the landscape so we wonder if the "mother" actually protects them. It
has not been reported whether young varius have been encountered in
close proximity to the "mother". I need to go over there. Steve
Irwin invited me to stay at the Queensland Reptile and Fauna park but
the best time would be near x-mas when the eggs start hatching. I
need some funds!!!
I also have several behavioral reports on the Odatria sub genera
regarding combat and mating rituals. You will find it extremely
interesting so I will let you be surpised.
Have spoken with the US Fish & Wildlife agents re Operation Chameleon
confiscations. They said that after the convictions, they are most
likely going to place the 5 undescribed specimens with my facility.
That is great news - I just hope it happens quickly as we need that
female. He told me that several "exploiters" are trying to get them
but he said there is no way he is going to let anyone have them that
is not involved with conservation breeding projects. I expect that
after the "collectors" find out I have the 5 lizards, I will start
getting phone calls offering large amounts of money. So, needless to
say, don't tell anyone that I am poised to obtain them. Pepin at
Wash. U is going to sequence some tissue so that may help
in establishing origin. The CITES papers said Malaysia but they came
from Anson Wong so that explains the COO. My guess, based on
morphological attributes and resemblance to V.s.cumingi, is that they
are of Sulawesian origin. Or perhaps Molucca I. But without getting
my hands on them....I need to do some scale counts and examine their
hemipenes. That shouldn't be too hard - if they are anything like
cumingi, they will not hesitate to defecate all over me!!
You need to call the curator at the Columbus Zoo for that
V.s.komaini. It is a guaranteed female and we need her. The Germans
at Frankfurt have a trio of males. After we get a clutch from her, I
want to send the progeny to Frankfurt and have them surplus me 2
males. Also, did you get the Helos set up for this year? We need at
least 4 to send to that guy with the other V.s.komaini. It appears to
be of the same locality. And a few for the additional V.s.cumingi
from Frankfurt. They want one of my males but I said not until I get
a clutch.
Anyway, I am sending the package snail mail so you should be getting
it in a day or two. I am looking into DVD applications for the
research results. We could put video on a CD but storage capability
is about 650MB. That is not much for video. The DVD will hold
approx. 7 GB and maybe more. This would be a perfect media to use as
we could put video, bibs, ecological data, relevent papers, maps, etc
all on one disk with excellent navigational menus. But, the licensing
for DVD is WAY out of our financial capabilities. It is too new
still. It will happen. It is not mainstream yet.
Anyway, I'll talk with you after you get back from Alpine. Say hi to
Queen. You need to buy that panhead from him. Then we can both ride
57s! His does have the stock rigid frame I hope! Trade him some
rallyii! Keep your eyes out for 50s suburbans for me. Remember, the
suburbans have windows, the panels do not. Yours, E
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