Cfreptiles & Amphibians
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HTTPS://JOURNALS.KU.EDU/REPTILESANDAMPHIBIANSTABLE OF CONTENTS IRCF REPTILES & AMPHIBIANSREPTILES • VOL &15, AMPHIBIANS NO 4 • DEC 2008 • 28(1):185–187189 • APR 2021 IRCF REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS CONSERVATION AND NATURAL HISTORY TABLEBOOK OF REVIEWCONTENTS FEATURE ARTICLES . Chasing Bullsnakes (Pituophis catenifer sayi) in Wisconsin: CarlOn theHiaasen Road to Understanding the Ecology and and Conservation Herpetological of the Midwest’s Giant Serpent ...................... Joshua Crimes M. Kapfer 190 . The Shared History of Treeboas (Corallus grenadensis) and Humans on Grenada: A Hypothetical Excursion ............................................................................................................................Robert W. Henderson 198 Squeeze Me. 2020. Carl Hiaasen. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, I think Hiaasen’s writing also reflects his antagonism New York, USA.RESEARCH [9] + 352 pp. ARTICLES ISBN 9781524733452 (hard- to the unscrupulousness of many who purport to be pub- cover). ISBN 9781524733469. The Texas Horned (ebook). Lizard in Central $28.95. and Western Texas .......................lic Emily servants Henry, Jason butBrewer, instead Krista Mougey, work and Gad solely Perry to204 enrich themselves. The Knight Anole (Anolis equestris) in Florida “One of the wondrous things about Florida was the climate .............................................Brian J. Camposano, Kenneth L. Krysko, Kevin M. Enge, Ellen M. Donlan, and Michael Granatosky 212 Biological imagery abounds in Carl Hiaasen’s fiction, which of unabashed corruption… There was absolutely no trou- tends to featureCONSERVATION razor-sharp spoofs, ALERT bizarre mayhem, and ble from which money could not extricate you,” thinks an Florida-based shenanigans. World’s Mammals that in oftenCrisis ............................................................................................................................... are loosely based on incompetent plastic surgeon.............................. in Skin Tight 220 . In a recent news- . More Than Mammals ...................................................................................................................................................................... 223 actual events. Serendipity. The “Dow tends Jones Index” to lead of Biodiversity to slapstick, ............................................................................................................................... although paper column, Hiaasen skewered............ the 225 response of Florida the clowning might end up in a death. In addition to his nov- Governor DeSantis to the Covid crisis. Noting that the els, Hiaasen alsoHUSBANDRY has published children’s books, short story Governor recently awarded a private company called Publix . Captive Care of the Central Netted Dragon ....................................................................................................... Shannon Plummer 226 collections, and essays (a 2014 collection is named Dance all of the vaccine administration in Palm Beach County, he of the Reptiles andPROFILE subtitled Rampaging Tourists, Marauding opined that “It would be cynical to think DeSantis chose Pythons, Larcenous. KraigLegislators, Adler: A Lifetime Crazed Promoting Celebrities, Herpetology ................................................................................................and Tar- Publix because the company Michael gaveL. Treglia $100,000 234 to the Friends Balled Beaches: SelectedCOMMENTARY Columns). An adaptation of an adult- of Ron DeSantis political action committee last month” oriented book was. Thefilmed Turtles inHave 1996, Been Watching with MeDemi ........................................................................................................................ Moore and (Hiaasen 2021), although evidence Eric Gangloff for 238that motivation is still Burt Reynolds in the starring roles. A children’s book, Hoot (2002), was madeBOOK into REVIEW a family film in 2006. His printed . Threatened Amphibians of the World edited by S.N. Stuart, M. Hoffmann, J.S. Chanson, N.A. Cox, work has won a slewR. of Berridge, honors P. Ramani, and and awards, B.E. Young including .............................................................................................................. the Robert Powell 243 prestigious Newbery Medal for children’s literature. Many of his books became CONSERVATIONnational best-sellers RESEARCH and REPORTS: have been Summaries trans- of Published Conservation Research Reports ................................. 245 lated for the international NATURAL market, HISTORY but RESEARCH neither REPORTSmovie did: Summarieswell. of Published Reports on Natural History ................................. 247 NEWBRIEFS ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 248 A former journalist, EDITORIAL Hiaasen INFORMATION has a keen............................................................................................................................... understand- ...................... 251 ing of how things FOCUSwork ONin Florida. CONSERVATION Sometimes: A Project the Youperpetra Can Support- ............................................................................................... 252 tor of mayhem in a novel is an ecoterrorist longing for the days before Florida was invaded en masse by what he called “frostbitten lemmings” in Tourist Season (1986). Despite being morally objectionable and their violenceFront Cover. not Shannon being Plummer.condoned, Back Cover. Michael Kern these characters are usually at leastTotat partially et velleseque sympathetic. audant mo The Totat et velleseque audant mo estibus inveliquo velique rerchil estibus inveliquo velique rerchil real villains of the story tend to erspienimus,be corrupt quos politicians accullabo. Ilibus and erspienimus, quos accullabo. Ilibus self-serving public officials who areaut dolorunmoved apicto invere by pethe dolum suffer - aut dolor apicto invere pe dolum ing of others. Bob Branham, a long-timefugiatis maionsequat friend of eumque the author, fugiatis maionsequat eumque moditia erere nonsedis ma sectiatur moditia erere nonsedis ma sectia- observed “Carl always felt stronglyma derrovitaeabout the voluptam, destruction as quos of tur ma derrovitae voluptam, as the wildlife around him” (Freemanaccullabo. 2004). “This is my church, this island out here and all the others … And the sky and the Gulf and the rivers that roll out of the ‘glades, all of it’s my church,” says a character in Nature Girl (2006), paraphras- ing the likes of Ansel Adams, John Muir, and Frank Lloyd Wright. And in Skin Tight (1989), another protagonist sees Miami as “a malignancy and its sickly orange aura as a vast misty bubble of pustular gas.” Not often do you see a com- plaint of light pollution in a novel, and the nostalgia of many fictional characters for a time when apartment complexes were not a dominant landscape feature is palpably the author’s. Copyright is held by the authors. Articles in R&A are made available under a 185 Reptiles & Amphibians ISSN 2332-4961 Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International license. PERRY REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS • 28(1):185–187 • APR 2021 lacking. Hiaasen’s “satire comes from a point of outrage, even times known by the more family-friendly “Potussies,” the late anger, about injustice, something wrong,” he admitted in Fitzsimmons liked that he was “reliably white, old and scorn- an interview following the publication of the book reviewed ful of social reforms.” Several of these rich, old, white women below (Kaplan 2020). Recent reports of an alligator stroll- have roles to play in the complex plot. The protagonist in this ing through a Publix parking lot (Doliner 2021) will surely novel is Angie Armstrong, a current wildlife wrangler and for- appear in a future novel. mer state wildlife officer. She is one of many plucky, intelligent, Recent years have engendered plenty of rage on both and capable female characters in Hiaasen’s books. Called on to sides of the American political spectrum. With President remove the python and intrigued by the large bulge in its belly, Trump moving his official residence to Florida, the ground she gets further entangled as various miscreants attempt to was set for another Hiaasen extravaganza. Squeeze Me (2020) cover-up the theft of the now-beheaded snake and its periodic starts with an invasive Burmese Python swallowing an elderly reappearance, not least in front of the President and First Lady’s president-adoring woman, Kiki Pew Fitzsimmons. She is at motorcade. Many events will strike the reader as not unrelated the exclusive Lipid House, attending a fund-raising event for to recent political figures. For example, the President helps the IBS Wellness Foundation, “globally committed to defeat- push an anti-immigrant agenda. Before all is said and done, a ing irritated bowel syndrome.” Addled by alcohol and other hapless illegal immigrant is falsely blamed for the Fitzsimmons chemicals, she wanders the grounds at night, thus meeting her “murder”; Angie finds love, as Hiaasen’s protagonists often do; fate. And yes, this can happen (Perry et al. 2020), although it and the Potussies sing their “Big Unimpeachable You” to the never has in the United States. President at another big party. Much of the action that follows occurs near “Casa I have never seen an author use so many herpetological Bellicosa,” owned