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 …
“I can’t stand to even look at a snake!” a visitor to the Plains Conservation Center in Aurora, Colorado, once assured me. But within 15 minutes, after I had convinced her to actually hold the kingsnake I carried, she changed her mind as the snake glided within her fingers. “It feels so soothing!” she said. …
Since we don’t subscribe to cable, we rarely see Animal Planet. However, we have been under the impression that this channel promotes educational and factual information regarding the natural world. Recently, however, we watched a program called “Rattlesnake Republic” on Animal Planet while visiting friends. The program portrayed several so-called snake handlers wrestling snakes in …
Growing up in Maryland, I longed to visit a dude ranch. I expected to ride horses and talk with cowboys and drink in the western experience. I didn’t expect to encounter a rattlesnake. My father instilled in me a fear of snakes that I gradually overcame years later while volunteering as a docent at the …
“A zookeeper has more of a chance of being killed or injured by an elephant when doing everything right than being killed or injured by a venomous snake when doing everything wrong,” a curator at a major zoo once told us. Some people who don’t mind crowding a moose or a bison or a bear …
The rugged 660,000 acres of Kofa National Wildlife Refuge is perfect habitat for reptiles. But it’s also home to mountain lions, bighorn sheep, mule deer, and now (as of December) Sonoran pronghorn. Sonoran pronghorn (sometimes called antelope) are an endangered subspecies that inhabit the Sonoran Desert in southwest U.S. and into Mexico. A captive breeding …
Each Wednesday we lead a group of up to 15 winter visitors on an interpretive hike through the Sonoran Desert. Recently, after one of these forays, hiker James Bryant wrote about it for his blog. His comments follow: