John Weigel talk.

[Vat69]

At our local herp scociety meeting on Saturday, John Weigel was the guest speaker. It was a really interesting night, he showed us a heap of slides of his expeditions to the top end searching for rough scaled pythons and other snakes they wanted to study. He also talked a little about the genetics of Australian snakes, and how they all relate to each other.

He spoke of how they've found that the rough scaled python's closely related to the green tree python. How cool is that!?! I don't think it's been published yet, but I for one am very interested in the theories they'll have of how those two species have become so diverse. He also said that he has no doubt that within the next few years they'll be common in captivity.<Which I guess also means that in a number of years after that they could be available to the public?

Another interesting note was that Bredli's are closer related to Oenpelli's than carpet pythons.<I had no idea about that one. :shock:

 

[grahamh]

Hi Vat

he's a great guy to listen to. I saw him doing basically the same talk at the AHS meeting on ANZAC day. I was surprised to find out that he's also co-owner of the Australian Reptile Park (Gosford) and that explains why AHS members get in there free.

I didn't know about the Bredli connection though - very interesting

G 8)

 

[snakehunter]

HHS (Hawkesbury Herp. Society) members can also get into the reptile park for free

 

[Gregory]

So can Macarthur Herp Society

 

[Vat69]

I thought all the herp societies could get in free?

 

[africancichlidau]

Who's John Wiggle? Is he the red one ?