“I saw three snakes on my hike!” a visitor to White Tank Mountain Regional Park told us. “Gave me the willies!” Education About every other Sunday, Chuck and I take our snakes and skull collection to the Park to interact with visitors and introduce them to some of the wildlife that lives in the Park. …
“There are usually only two reasons a snake will bite,” Chuck tells people. “They bite to protect themselves or to get food.” A visitor to a regional park near us was recently bitten for one of those reasons, even though he likely thought he was doing the right thing. Laced with hiking trails, the park’s …
“Count the snakes and keep your distance!” a friend warned in an email after we told her our new assignment for biological work on the National Elk Refuge was to survey reptiles, mainly counting the snakes. Unknown to her, the snakes in Jackson Hole are comprised of three non-venomous species. Because one species, the rubber …
Who hasn’t been startled occasionally by a surprise encounter with wildlife? Perhaps the most startling encounter would be with a bear, a moose, a javelina, a large spider, or even …………. a snake. Many people are repulsed by these scaly, slithering serpents. The mere thought of a snake can send some into fits of revulsion. …
“Snakes will be coming out soon,” we were told by a long-time employee of Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge. “There’ll be lots of them!” Not many people relish the idea of snakes emerging and slithering in all directions. We may be some of the few. So when we heard that we’ll be seeing them in …
“I have three small children,” a reader wrote us regarding a bullsnake on their land, “and I’m worried about telling them there is a very large snake on the property.” This reader feared her children would be frightened if they knew how large the snake was and how close to their play it explored. Learning …
Most people don’t go looking for snakes, particularly venomous snakes. Most people especially don’t want to encounter one. On the other hand, we seek them out – but not always successfully. Recently, our friend Bryon Shipley, long-time rattlesnake researcher and Denver Zookeeper, visited us at Imperial National Wildlife Refuge for his annual trek to the …