Sunday, May 2, 2010

What a Find!

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(photo from Dayton Daily)


This photo comes from the Dayton Daily News. At Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio a biologist found eleven smooth green snakes that have not been documented in the southwest Ohio area since 1871. The biologist was using cover-boards to catch massassauga rattlesnakes (Sistrurua catenatus) and stumbled upon the smooth green snake that had been hidden for more that one hundred years. As the light at the end of the tunnel the biologist, Jeff Davis is now being funded to study the local population and in turn finding out what can be done to help conserve this species!


Smooth green snakes (Opheodrys vernalis). Is mostly terrestrial, preferring grassy areas where it can blend into the environment. If approached it will sprint away, and if caught they will not bite. but release a musk. This species solely eat insects, which makes it possible that their decline is due to pesticide use.


(Anna Paraskos)