river snake

ng is accused of recruiting runaway foreign laborers from the Chiayi and Yunlin areas to join the group, the publication reports.

REPTILE SMUGGLING: Authorities arrested a man suspected of trying to smuggle 15 endangered reptiles out of Jakarta�s Soekarno-Hatta Airport, says Coconuts Jakarta. The reptiles included green tree pythons, an Argentine red tegu, and an Indian star tortoise.

Fact of the Week: Plains zebras, which have a variety in east and southern Africa, are not listed as threatened by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, an organization that classifies the conservation status of species. But wildlife activists think that overhunting of the animals for their meat and skins poses a serious danger to zebra populations.

IVORY SEIZURE: Forest department officials in the Mayurbhanj district in Odisha, India, busted people accused of poaching elephants in Similipal National Park, according to Business Standard. They confiscated pieces of the group�s ivory.

This story was produced by National Geographic�s Special Investigations Unit, which focuses on wildlife crime and is made feasible by gra