Teachers Make the Difference

“I have a surprise for you today!” some teachers announce to their class as we enter the room carrying a cooler containing snakes and a box loaded with reptile biofacts. At that point, we realize that this teacher has not prepared the students for our visit, and they are not as likely to absorb as …

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Dispensing Wrong Information

Is a Gila monster a monitor lizard? This question was posed to me recently when we worked at a festival with our snakes and skulls. “No, they’re not monitors,” I told the visitor who had been inspecting the Gila monster skull. “Monitor lizards are defined by their forked tongues.” Because I hadn’t really studied up …

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The Next Generation

Who will care for National Parks, National Wildlife Refuges, and other public lands in the future? As mentioned in previous blogs, if we don’t involve and interest the next generation in nature and stewardship of wildlife habitats, these public lands may suffer. Reasons for Hope Over the years, we have met young people who give …

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Finding Pigmies

“Pigmy rattlesnakes are everywhere around here,” people keep telling us as we volunteer on Lake Woodruff National Wildlife Refuge for the winter. But we’d yet to see one, even when we accompanied Dr. Terry Farrell, biology professor at Stetson University, and a couple of his research students searching for pigmies a few weeks ago. New …

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Searching for Pigmies

I’ve always heard that the rainforest is not as dense within its boundaries as it is on the edges where vegetation receives more sunlight. We were able to witness this recently when we accompanied Dr. Terry Farrell (biology professor at Stetson University) and two graduate students, Sarah Smiley and Ethan Royal, as they thrust through …

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