Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles exchanges and international cooperative efforts for study and publications. The society was founded as a regional organization, The Ohio Herpetological Society (OHS), by two young but serious-minded amateurs, Kraig Adler and David M. Dennis, then 16 and 17 years of age respectively. They decided in the fall of 1957 to formalize interactions amongst a small group of amateur herpetologists throughout Ohio and began publishing a combined journal and newsletter (called the "Trimonthly Report") in January 1958. The name of the society was changed to The Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles on January 1, 1967. The SSAR publishes
Human uses of reptiles is indeed shared by other primates. In the US, 12% of men and 38% of women feared snakes; along with spiders, this is the most common phobia in Western societies. Negative attitudes extend in some countries to other reptiles; for example, the harmless gecko is considered to be evil and poisonous in Portugal. Such attitudes have contributed to persecution. Folklore about reptiles, too, is correlated with negative attitudes to them. Persecution resulting from folklore and people's attitudes can thus be added to the challenge of conserving reptiles, already threatened by human activities including destruction of their habitats, pollution, climate change,