HTTPS://JOURNALS.KU.EDU/REPTILESANDAMPHIBIANSTABLE OF CONTENTS IRCF REPTILES & AMPHIBIANSREPTILES • VOL15, & N AMPHIBIANSO 4 • DEC 2008 •189 28(1):26–29 • APR 2021 IRCF REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS CONSERVATION AND NATURAL HISTORY TABLE OF CONTENTS BaskingFEATURE ARTICLES Behavior of Marsh Crocodiles . Chasing Bullsnakes (Pituophis catenifer sayi) in Wisconsin: (CrocodylusOn the Road to Understanding the Ecology palustris and Conservation of the Midwest’s) in Giant SerpentPond ...................... Joshua Deva, M. Kapfer 190 . The Shared History of Treeboas (Corallus grenadensis) and Humans on Grenada: A HypotheticalAnand Excursion ............................................................................................................................ District, Gujarat, IndiaRobert W. Henderson 198 RESEARCH ARTICLES . The Texas Horned Lizard in Central and WesternUrvi Texas Dave ....................... and Nikunj Emily Henry, Bhatt Jason Brewer, Krista Mougey, and Gad Perry 204 . The Knight Anole (Anolis equestris) in Florida Biology Department, ............................................. Vitthalbhai Patel & RajratnaBrian J. Camposano, P.T. Patel Kenneth Science L. College, Krysko, Kevin Sardar M. PatelEnge, EllenUniversity, M. Donlan, Vallabh and Michael Vidyanagar Granatosky 388 122120, Gujarat, India ([email protected]) CONSERVATION ALERT . World’s Mammals in Crisis ............................................................................................................................................................. 220 . More Than Mammals ...................................................................................................................................................................... 223 ody temperatures. The of“Dow ectothermic Jones Index” of Biodiversity reptiles ............................................................................................................................... in general and Vyas 2013). Herein we provide ............information 225 on the effects of BcrocodiliansHUSBANDRY in particular can be lowered by the loss of water and ambient temperatures and anthropogenic activities heat through radiation,. Captive convection, Care of the Central or Netted evaporation Dragon ....................................................................................................... of body on the basking behavior of Shannon crocodiles Plummer in226 the winter and post- fluids, can be either raised or lowered by conduction of heat winter seasons in Anand District, Gujarat. PROFILE to or from the substratum (thigmothermy) or air, or can be We conducted this study from December 2018 to March . Kraig Adler: A Lifetime Promoting Herpetology ................................................................................................ Michael L. Treglia 234 raised by the absorption of radiant heat (heliothermy) from 2019 at Pond Deva in central Gujarat, India (22°37'12.86"N, the sun (Bogert 1949;COMMENTARY Huey 1982; Pough 1983). Crocodilians 72°44'6.14"E; Fig. 1). The climate is tropical semi-arid mon- have a “preferred”. bodyThe Turtles temperature Have Been Watching of aroundMe ........................................................................................................................ 30–33 °C, soon; monsoons last from June Eric toGangloff September, 238 peaking in July which they achieveBOOK by shuttling REVIEW back and forth between warm and August; and temperatures start rising from mid-April and and cool parts of their. Threatened environment Amphibians of(Lang the World 1987; edited byGrigg S.N. Stuart,and M. Hoffmann,peak in J.S.May Chanson, (Vasava N.A. etCox, al. 2015). Kirshner 2015; IUCNR. Berridge,Crocodile P. Ramani, Specialist and B.E. Young Group .............................................................................................................. 2019). Using binoculars, we searched Robert Powell for243 basking crocodiles Such behavior can be affected by climatic conditions, social during five daily sessions (0800–1000 h, 1000–1300 h, CONSERVATION RESEARCH REPORTS: Summaries of Published Conservation Research Reports ................................. 245 interactions, circadian NATURAL rhythms, HISTORY and RESEARCH reproductive REPORTS state: (Lang Summaries of Published1300–1400 Reports onh, Natural 1400–1600 History ................................. h, 1600–1800 247 h) and recorded air 1987; Venugopal NEWBRIEFSand Prasad ............................................................................................................................... 2003). Crocodilians gape by and water temperatures....................................................... and anthropogenic 248 activities (wash- opening their mouth EDITORIAL for long INFORMATION periods to help ............................................................................................................................... circulate air and ing clothes near the shore, cattle...................... grazing, 251 throwing stones at FOCUS ON CONSERVATION: A Project You Can Support ............................................................................................... 252 permit cooling while basking (Spotila et al. 1977), although crocodiles, and fishing) during each session. We encountered mouth gaping probably has other functions as well because it 40 crocodiles that we assigned to either large (≥1.5 m) or also occurs during rain and at night (Loveridge 1984). small (<1.5 m) size classes, observed each for five minutes, Gujarat is home to one of the largest populations of and recorded the basking behavior and type of basking site. Front Cover. Shannon Plummer. Back Cover. Michael Kern Mugger Crocodiles (Crocodylus palustrisTotat et velleseque) in India, audant with mo par- TotatBasking et velleseque behavior audant mo was classified as: (1) Entire body on ticularly large populations aroundestibus Saurashtra inveliquo velique and rerchilKutch in landestibus (Fig. inveliquo 2A); velique (2) entirererchil body on land and gaping (Fig. 2B); central Gujarat and a smaller populationerspienimus, in quos southern accullabo. Gujarat Ilibus erspienimus,(3) partially quos accullabo.on land Ilibus (Fig. 2C); (4) partially on land and gap- aut dolor apicto invere pe dolum aut dolor apicto invere pe dolum (Vijaykumar 1999; Vyas 2010; Vasavafugiatis maionsequat et al. 2015). eumque Most ingfugiatis (Fig. maionsequat2D); (5) eumquefloating and not moving; (6) floating, not of the Mugger populations and habitatmoditia erere in nonsedisGujarat ma aresectiatur con - moving,moditia erere and nonsedis gaping; ma sectia (7)- floating and moving (Fig. 2E). Types ma derrovitae voluptam, as quos tur ma derrovitae voluptam, as sidered secure and safe, although accullabo.human-crocodile conflicts appear to be increasing along the Vishwamitri and Narmada Rivers, likely the result of human encroachment into Mugger habitat (Vyas 2010). The Vishwamitri River provides habi- tat for breeding and basking Muggers; along one 25-km stretch of river, Vyas (2012) counted 155 Muggers. Earlier studies showed only a small number of Muggers inhabiting the wetlands of Anand and Kheda Districts (Vijaykumar et al. 1999), but more recent surveys have revealed substantial Mugger populations in these districts (collectively known as Charotar), where crocodiles share various ecosystem services Fig. 1. Map showing the location of study area at Deva, Anand District, (water, fish, and space) with humans (Upadhyay et al. 2013; Gujarat, India (red dot). Copyright is held by the authors. Articles in R&A are made available under a 26 Reptiles & Amphibians ISSN 2332-4961 Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International license. DAVE AND BHATT REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS • 28(1):26–29 • APR 2021 Fig. 2. Basking Mugger Crocodiles (Crocodylus palustris) at Pond Deva, Anand District, Gujarat, India: entire body on land (A), entire body on land and gaping (B), partially on land (C), partially on land and gaping (D), and floating (E). Photographs by Urvi Dave. of basking sites were classified as: (1) in vegetation, (2) on the diles declined later in the day. Both small and large croco- shore, (3) on islands, and (4) in water. diles basked primarily on islands, although small individuals In December and January, crocodiles started basking at were in water more frequently than large crocodiles (Fig. 5). 0800–0900 h when temperatures were 14–20 °C and peak Although relatively few individuals basked in vegetation, that winter basking was at 1300–1400 h, when temperatures were type of basking site was most frequently chosen at 1400–1600 24–35 °C (Fig. 3). However, crocodile sightings decreased h, when temperatures reach 30–35 °C. slowly as weeks went by and temperatures began to rise. During February and March, more crocodiles began From 1000–1400 h when both air and water temperature basking at 0800 h when temperatures were about 20 °C and were 19–24 °C, large crocodiles most frequently basked com- peak post-winter basking was at 1400 h when air and water pletely on land followed by partially on land, whereas small temperatures were about 36 °C and 31 °C, respectively (Fig. crocodiles basked most frequently while partially on land, 6). Sightings of basking crocodiles started declining in mid- followed by floating (Fig. 4). As temperatures increased to February as temperatures continued to rise and decreased 30–35 °C in the afternoon, proportionately more crocodiles further in March, when temperatures sometimes exceeded basked