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Damian Lettoof

@lettsgetsnakes.bsky.social
495 followers 385 following 24 posts

Herpetology | Snakes | Ecotoxicology | Wildlife heath | Postdoc at CSIRO

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Reposted by Damian Lettoof
Florian Altermatt @florianaltermatt.bsky.social · 26/03/2025
Our study ‘The #global #human impact on #biodiversity’ is out in @nature.com: www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🌍🌐🐟🌿🪲 Unprecedented synthesis of >2000 studies led by @francoiskeck.bsky.social shows humans are not only shrinking species numbers—but reshaping entire communities across the planet. 🧵1/5
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Pat Taggart @tagsecology.bsky.social · 03/03/2025
We’re looking for another ecologist here in SA. Please share widely and check if out yourself. Happy to chat to anyone interested and suitably qualified. Come join the team! nrmjobs.com.au/jobs/2025/20...
nrmjobs.com.au
Ecologist
Bush Heritage Australia - Arid Rangelands or Evelyn Downs Reserve, SA
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Ethan Kocak @ethankocak.com · 06/03/2025
New in the shop! Physical copies of my SKINKS! Zone blackmudpuppy.myshopify.com/products/pre...
blackmudpuppy.myshopify.com
Skink zine! Physical copy
Skinks! These incredible reptiles are one of the most diverse families of lizards, with well over 1,000 known species coming in all kinds of shapes and sizes. Ethan drew a bunch in October (Skinktober...
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Bruce Webber @drbrucewebber.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
Non-native cane toads accumulate PFAS and legacy metals that impact metabolic pathways. A new paper led by @lettsgetsnakes.bsky.social looks at what this means for their health and how it can guide managing urban pollution and impacts on biodiversity. 🧪🌏🌐 #bioinvasions doi.org/10.1016/j.en... (OA)
Bioaccumulation and metabolic impact of PFAS on wild-caught cane toads.  Cane toads were collected across a known urban water PFAS gradient and were screened for 28 PFAS compounds.  Metabolomics, lipidomics and proteomics-based approaches were applied to tissues.  We found that PFOS was the dominant PFAS but concentrations in the liver were relatively low with minimal noticeable impacts on animal health.
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Rob Davis @pezoporus.bsky.social · 17/02/2025
Great piece on our new research highlighting the severe impact of using second generation anticoagulant rodenticides. We are killing quolls snd Tasmanian devils when we poison rats. www.watoday.com.au/national/wes...
watoday.com.au
Australia-first study finds rat poison in rare Perth Hills chuditch
New evidence shows the first confirmed cases of rat poisoning in native Australian marsupial carnivores.
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Save The Snakes @savethesnakes.org · 11/02/2025
Thrilled to announce Dr. Hiral Naik @hiralnaik.bsky.social as our new Research & Conservation Manager on #InternationalDayofWomenandGirlsinScience! Hiral, whose work you may know from South Africa, will lead our global conservation efforts after completing her PhD. Learn more ⬇️
savethesnakes.org
From volunteer to conservation manager: An exciting new chapter for Save The Snakes - Save The Snakes
Snakes play an important role in our ecosystems and there are several threats that they face within those systems, including climate change, habitat loss and human persecution. Save The Snakes works t...
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Anna Olderbak @annachromatic.bsky.social · 02/02/2025
Despite what some folks claim, Nebraska does have venomous Copperheads—but only in the far southeast corner of the state. They’re ambush predators, relying on camouflage rather than aggression, so most bites happen when someone steps on or grabs them by accident, though bites are extremely rare. 🐍
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Evelyndroid's Aperture Science and Bugge-Finding 🏳️‍⚧️🕷️ @apsciencebylyn.bsky.social · 27/01/2025
I'm contractually obligated to regularly post this picture of the smallest known jumping spider species in the world (Neonella camillae) on the head of a pin; so, here we are. #EmotionalSupportSpood Goodnight y'all 🖤
Tiny black salticid with orange legs and white palps, perched on a gold pinhead
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Damian Lettoof @lettsgetsnakes.bsky.social · 26/01/2025
Here’s a long-nosed potoroo from Bruny Island in Tasmania 🥰 #WildOz
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Damian Lettoof @lettsgetsnakes.bsky.social · 24/01/2025
High altitude echidnas in Tasmania are so fluffy and friendly! A top tier Aussie native 😍 #WildOz
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Damian Lettoof @lettsgetsnakes.bsky.social · 24/01/2025
High altitude echidnas in Tasmania are so fluffy and friendly! A top tier Aussie native 😍 #WildOz
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Nick Volpe @nvolpe.bsky.social · 23/01/2025
The INCREDIBLE Pipe Snake!🧡🖤 These COLOURS on this snake are just so mind-blowing, it is by far the most stunning snake I've ever seen!🐍 Even with intense colouration, the Pipe Snake is a non-venomous snake that is mimicking a coral snake in the rainforests of South America!🌳
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Damian Lettoof @lettsgetsnakes.bsky.social · 22/01/2025
Young Cyclodomorphus (this one is C. casuarinae) often act like little snakes! Very convincing! 😰
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Damian Lettoof @lettsgetsnakes.bsky.social · 20/01/2025
The Tasmanian tree frog (Litoria burrowsae), a now rare frog that breeds in isolated pool deep in the heath. So awesome to find! #WildOz
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Damian Lettoof @lettsgetsnakes.bsky.social · 22/01/2025
Young Cyclodomorphus (this one is C. casuarinae) often act like little snakes! Very convincing! 😰
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Damian Lettoof @lettsgetsnakes.bsky.social · 20/01/2025
The Tasmanian tree frog (Litoria burrowsae), a now rare frog that breeds in isolated pool deep in the heath. So awesome to find! #WildOz
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PEC Exeter @pec-exeter.bsky.social · 10/01/2025
Where are all the field studies? This ⬇️ important but rather depressing paper describes how conducting, & crucially initiating, field studies is becoming harder & rarer. A short 🧵 (and a call for more fieldwork) www.cell.com/trends/ecolo...
cell.com
Extinction of experience among ecologists
Fieldwork-based research and education in ecology are under multiple threats and are progressively declining. We call for greater attention to this ongoing loss of direct field experience within the ecology community, as it could have widespread consequences for science and education, ultimately hindering efforts to address the ongoing biodiversity crisis.
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Adam is Gone Froggin @gonefroggin.bsky.social · 17/01/2025
The Frog 🐸 of the Week is the Painted Reed Frog (Hyperolius marmoratus) from southern Africa. The frog comes in a variety of colors from black and brown to yellow and green with stripes, spots, or blotches. 📸 Gavin Falck, Bart Wursten, and Jessica Myburgh learn more at buff.ly/4fVsyF0
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Damian Lettoof @lettsgetsnakes.bsky.social · 17/01/2025
Went searching for a now rare Tasmanian frog and was surprised seeing this tiger in ambush at night, hunting the same frogs we were! #WildOz
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Jean-Marc Bonzom @jmbonzom.bsky.social · 10/01/2025
Extinction of experience among ecologists dlvr.it/THHFk2
dlvr.it
Extinction of experience among ecologists
Fieldwork-based research and education in ecology are under multiple threats and are progressively declining. We call for greater attention to this ongoing loss of direct field experience within the ecology community, as it could have widespread consequences for science and education, ultimately hindering efforts to address the ongoing biodiversity crisis.
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Willem Van Zyl @willemvzyl.bsky.social · 12/01/2025
Cape Coral Snake (Aspidelaps lubricus), venomous. #snakesofsa #snakesofza #snakesofsouthafrica #herpingsa #herpingza #reptiles #snakes #wildlifephotography #africa #animalphotography #herps #snaketheworldsmarter #herpingtheglobe #africawildlife #africanwildlife #southafrica
A photo of a brightly coloured Cape Coral Snake against a neutral background.
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Patrick @watchinthesky.bsky.social · 19/12/2024
One of our resident #backyard lizards that likes to hangout behind the big clay sun face. I don’t know if this weather confuses them or if they are just enjoying. Half an hour later, it’s plenty warm to go out exploring. #herps Western Fence lizard SoCal
A lizard is just poking out from behind a clay sun ornament hanging outside on a stucco wall of the house. A lizard is clinging to the side of a house on a warm December morning in Southern California.
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David Chapple @chapplelab.bsky.social · 19/12/2024
Skinks on a Plane! For invasive species to be successful, they must be able to cope with transportation. Third-year student Jaclyn (@jaclynharris.bsky.social) exposed invasive delicate skinks to air and car transport to see if it impacted their behaviour. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Skinks on a Plane: Does Human‐Mediated Transportation Impact the Behaviour of an Invasive Lizard?
In order for invasive species to successfully establish in the non-native region, they must survive the journey and arrive in good condition; however, few studies have investigated the impact of huma....
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Jack Ashby @jackdashby.bsky.social · 19/12/2024
A #platypus works her way through a couple of natural dams made by fallen trees, foraging as she goes. The first one looks like a perfect platypus water-slide. #Tasmania ##MammalWatching #WildOz #platypuses
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Alice Leavey @leaveylab.bsky.social · 18/12/2024
The last paper coming from my #PhD thesis has just been published in the Journal of Morphology! 🐸 We use #diceCT and @fountainscholar.bsky.social 's GoodFibes package to examine how muscle fibre architecture varies across #frogs specialising in jumping, walking and swimming: doi.org/10.1002/jmor...
doi.org
Frog Fibres: What Muscle Architecture Can Tell Us About Anuran Locomotor Function
Our study utilises a new, automated approach to digitally extracting muscle fibres from μCT data, allowing us to present the first digital analysis of muscle fibre architecture in frogs, including so...
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Rattlesnake Solutions @rattlesnakes.bsky.social · 18/12/2024
The family dog had an unfortunate run in with this small Western Diamondback Rattlesnake the night before we were called out. Dave was able to find the snake, and the dog made a full recovery.
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Dax Kellie @daxkellie.bsky.social · 17/12/2024
✅ Do you use R or Python? ✅ Are you an ecologist/biologist? Then you might find our website ALA Labs useful! ALA Labs is full of how-to articles to visualise or analyse biodiversity data. Some are for beginners, others are advanced/experimental 😀 labs.ala.org.au 🧪🌏 #rstats #python #quartopub
ALA Labs frontpage & text logo. ALA LABS text is in white, formatted as off-centre stacked text. Underneath is smaller text, "Experiments in code, data analysis & visualisation from the Atlas of Living Australia." The background is green grass with a Southern Brown Tree Frog in the middle, hanging onto the grass. It has a darker brown top and lighter brown underside. The frog's eye is a rich dark yellow, with a black pupil in the shape of an oval, stretching from the left to right side of the eyeAn animated scroll through an ALA Labs post, showing code, text and visuals to make a data visualisation in R. The article is on how to make a hexagon map of Australia, where each hexagon is an area of Australia, and each point in the hexagon is positioned and coloured to represent a species.Examples of dataviz that ALA Labs posts show how to make in R. They are colourful and fun. One of them is even 3D!
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Ferris Jabr @ferrisjabr.bsky.social · 15/12/2024
We're used to seeing holly leaves depicted as exclusively spiny, but most wild holly plants have spiny and smooth leaves Common holly (I. aquifolium) *changes its gene expression* to produce spines in response to damage by herbivores. Each pair here is from the same plant 📷 Herrera & Bazaga 2013
A collage of four pairs of holly leaves, each from a single plant. The leaves are dark green and glossy with a prominent midline vein of pale green or yellow. Each pair juxtaposes a leaf that has spines along its edge against a leaf with perfectly smooth edges. Credit: Carlos M. Herrera & Pilar Bazaga 2013 https://academic.oup.com/botlinnean/article-abstract/171/3/441/2416188?redirectedFrom=fulltext
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Bibiana Rojas @biobiiana.bsky.social · 15/12/2024
What a cool paper! 🤩 Using @inaturalist.bsky.social observations, Mayer et al. found that there are more melanistic snakes in colder regions than in warmer ones AND that melanistic snakes are more abundant with ⬆️ avian predator density 🐍🐦 Have look at it here: doi.org/10.1111/jbi....
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Damian Lettoof @lettsgetsnakes.bsky.social · 13/12/2024
Let's talk lizard tail regen! www.iflscience.com/how-many-tim...
iflscience.com
How Many Times Can A Lizard Can Regrow Its Tail?
And why some lizards end up with several tails at once.
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Damian Lettoof @lettsgetsnakes.bsky.social · 12/12/2024
Are Carnac Island tiger snakes really a persisting population from an introduction event ~100 years ago? We don't think so... rswa.scholasticahq.com/article/1260...
rswa.scholasticahq.com
Evidence for a Natural Population of Tiger Snakes (Notechis Scutatus) on Carnac Island | Published in Journal of The Royal Society of Western Australia
By Damian C Lettoof, Fabien Aubret & 1 more. A widespread view that the population arose from snakes released by a showman is challenged by genetic evidence suggesting a remnant population possibly mi...
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Damian Lettoof @lettsgetsnakes.bsky.social · 11/12/2024
Punching out two quick reruns on some frog tissues for #untargetedmetabolomics before the year ends!
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Damian Lettoof @lettsgetsnakes.bsky.social · 10/12/2024
I still love seeing this huge print out of my tiger snake pic on the education wall at the Herdsman Lake Discovery Centre 🐍
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Damian Lettoof @lettsgetsnakes.bsky.social · 08/12/2024
Nice start to the morning hearing Tom’s first PhD milestone - keen to see the data from this study as it progresses!
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Dr Fortunate Mafeta Phaka @dr-mafeta-phaka.bsky.social · 05/12/2024
My 1st herper starter pack reached its limit of 150 people and I’m putting together a new one. Let me know if you want to be included on this one. go.bsky.app/9e5s1ek #herpetology #addherper #reptiles #amphibians 🦎🐍🐸🐢
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Damian Lettoof @lettsgetsnakes.bsky.social · 05/12/2024
Been waiting for this one! Follow the fellow herpetologists 🐍🐸
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Damian Lettoof @lettsgetsnakes.bsky.social · 30/11/2024
Copperheads were high on my list in Texas, and so got to see a few! With no pit-vipers in Australia they’re a super novel snake to see and appreciate 😍
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Benjamin Nowak @bjnnowak.bsky.social · 27/11/2024
Maps of pesticide use may be consulted online : bjnnowak.quarto.pub/exposition_p... Rasters of pesticides use may also be downloaded for use in future studies (impact of pesticides on human health, evolution of animal populations, etc.) : zenodo.org/records/1420...
Screenshot of website to consult map of pesticide useScreenshot of website to consult map of pesticide useScreenshot of website to consult map of pesticide use
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Damian Lettoof @lettsgetsnakes.bsky.social · 28/11/2024
I was in Texas recently for the #SETAC conference and got to see my first Anole!
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Chris Jolly @ecolojolly.bsky.social · 28/11/2024
What I currently spend half my time studying! Fighting cane toads with cane toads. www.australiangeographic.com.au/news/2024/11...?
australiangeographic.com.au
Using cane toads to destroy cane toads: how ‘Peter Pan’ tadpoles are keeping these pests from ever growing up - Australian Geographic
Researchers have discovered that cane toad tadpoles are cannibalistic and can help stop the spread of their fellow toads.
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Diane Orihel, PhD @dianeorihel.bsky.social · 25/11/2024
Hey, ecotoxicologists! Check out this new starter pack for us to unite to chat about #ecotoxicology. Please message me to add you to this list. go.bsky.app/Sj5Dc3F
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Nick Volpe @nvolpe.bsky.social · 26/11/2024
Beautiful but deadly! 🧡🖤 This absolutely STUNNING Annellated Coral Snake snuck into the dining hall at Manu Biostation last week! 🤭🐍 Sliding through the leaf litter, they feed on any other reptiles they encounter! I still can't get over how attractive this snake was! 😍
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Keller Kopf @kellerfish.bsky.social · 24/11/2024
First post here. I’ll unpack our new paper @science.org highlighting the loss of old animals and calling for ‘longevity conservation’ www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org
Loss of Earth’s old, wise, and large animals
Earth’s old animals are in decline. Despite this, emerging research is revealing the vital contributions of older individuals to cultural transmission, population dynamics, and ecosystem processes and...
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Martin A. Nuñez @martin-nunez.bsky.social · 22/11/2024
Not all collaborations are equally successful
flooded area and there is a sign that says "working together to reduce flood risk" :)
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Dr Emily Scicluna 🌏 @drdunnart.bsky.social · 23/11/2024
A couple gems of the #mallee. #spinytailedgecko #growlinggrassfrog #commonscalyfoot #redtailedwormlizard #coralsnake #snake #gecko #herpetology #WildOz #WomenInSTEM #fieldwork #ecology #science
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Damian Lettoof @lettsgetsnakes.bsky.social · 23/11/2024
#WildOz is back! This is the first Western blue tongue I’ve seen in the Perth region. They are much shyer than their eastern cousins and are much less abundant in the ‘burbs compared to bobtails and easterns…
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Heather Neilly @heatherneilly.bsky.social · 21/11/2024
Catch of the day: a sweet little coral snake (Brachyurophis australis) #calperum #wildoz
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harrison-kent.bsky.social @harrison-kent.bsky.social · 21/11/2024
A stunning strap snouted brown snake 🐍 (Pseudonaja aspidorhyncha) in one of our pitfalls yesterday here at #Calperum. Fingers crossed for a few more #WildOz
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Sam K Girvan @ecology-sam.bsky.social · 20/11/2024
Just some “happy” #wildoz babies for your feed
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