The DGHT, German Society for Herpetology and Herpetoculture ("Deutsche Gesellschaft für Herpetologie und Terrarienkunde e.V.", www.salamandra-journal.com, www.dght.de), was founded in 1964 as a successor of the German h**p group "Salamander" going back to the year 1918. One of the founders of DGHT was the famous German h**petologist Robert Mertens. As implied by its name, DGHT philosophy is to bri
ng together professional scientists and amateurs, thus promoting their dialog at an international scale. This gives the society a unique strength currently uniting more than 7,000 members including several, in h**petology, internationally well acknowledged honorary members. The society's mission is to contribute to both research on amphibians and reptiles and captive keeping and breeding. DGHT is strongly engaged in h**petological conservation and is accredited by the German Federal Nature Conservation Act. Since the 'Year of the Frog 2008', DGHT, in cooperation with the Association of German Zoo Directors (www.zoodirektoren.de), is involved in amphibian ex situ conservation efforts. Our activities especially unit conservation breeding projects run in Austria, Germany and Switzerland and aims at a joint venture of zoos and private keepers. DGHT is divided into more than 50 subgroups; besides local and regional branches in Germany and Switzerland there are specialist groups which put particular focus on different h**ps, e.g. history of h**petology, veterinary science) or even more specialized on particular taxa, e.g. chameleons. Subgroups have their own meetings independent from the annual international meetings of the society combining h**petological science and h**petoculture, including h**p travel reports, conservation, captive breeding etc. Among the print media of DGHT are "Salamandra – German Journal of Herpetology", a quarterly journal publishing scientific contributions in English in all fields of h**petology, listed under Current Contents and under the Science Citation Index and also with open access now (www.salamandra-journal.com), "Mertensiella", a sporadically published supplement with special issues on particular topics (e.g. symposium volumes, www.dght.de/mertensiella) and "elaphe", a colored quarterly German magazine reporting on different aspects of h**petology and h**petoculture, as well as internal political issues of DGHT (www.dght.de/elaphe; www.dght.de/abstracts). Furthermore, most of the specialist groups publish additional separate journals, e.g. “Radiata” (in English and German). Application for membership:
https://www.dght.de/application-for-membership-english-form