International Herpetological Symposium

This year the International Herpetological Symposium was held in Toronto, Ontario. Paul and I decided to attend since this one was actually within our budget range. It was absolutely amazing!

The lectures were second to none (okay, maybe one was) and the information was amazing! Talks ranged from proper procedures to follow in the case of snake envenomation; Bolean pythons, a couple of talks on frogs, field herping in Mauritius and my favourite, tortoise communications.

Ray Ashton gave an amazing lecture on his work investigating tortoise communications. He has recorded tortoises communicating from their burrows in the early morning hours using delicate and sophisticated equipment. Though they were only able to obtain a few seconds of data, it was enough to prove his theory that they do have the ability to produce low frequency sounds. There was discussions that the formations of their shells may actually act as a receptor for the sounds. There is still work to be done on this theory but enough has been done to make me stop and think about my own terrestrial turtle collection and what impact these findings may have on my perception of them! It was an informative and entertaining lecture for a great speaker!

Part of the functions were held at the Metro Toronto Zoo and transportation was provided by the "Magic Bus". Not quite the bus from Harry Potter but amusing just the same! It safely got us to the Zoo where they held a outdoor dinner of chicken, ribs, salads, burgers and pop. It was a wonderful spread of good food! But it wasn't long before we were finish dining and we were treated to a personal tour of various pavillions of the zoo. Paul and I followed Grant and had a tour of some of the reptiles in the zoo. They had an amazingly large alligator snapping turtle (Macrochelys temminckii) that was impressive to see

Also on display was an electric eel, which was the first time I had the opportunity to view. They had it hooked up to a sensor so that each time it produced a current, it was read and a sound was emitted. The staff offered food to the eel which I assume generates the electric current to stun the animal prior to consuming it. Apparently during the Christmas season, they substitute the sound for christmas lights!

We also had some behind the scene tours too and were able to see how the zoo maintains animals that are no on display. Much of the backroom caging was similar to those seen in most hobbyists herp rooms. They had boa constrictors (Boa constrictor constrictor), spotted turtle (Clemmys guttata), bearded dragons (Pagona vitticepts) and various other reptiles.

The final function was the formal banquet and as this picture shows, the IHS general meeting was well attended! They had an auction after dinner and awards for the best photography. Dave Green also won award for his work in the field and from the few times I have heard this gentleman talk, his devotion to the conservation to amphibians is tireless! Good to see hard work well recognized.

The bonus was that both Paul and I were able to meet one of the people we admire in the field. Paul had the opportunity to meet Nigel Marvin, and I had the opportunity to meet Bill Love.


All in all it was a spectacular weekend that both Paul and I enjoyed thoroughly. Who knows, maybe we will do the next IHS held in Nashville, Tennessee in June 2008!