Herps in the News: Rattlesnake Roundup becomes Serpent Celebration

    For the last 44 years Claxton, Georgia has been host to an annual rattlesnake round up which has unfortunately been at great cost to the snakes involved.  Rattlesnake wranglers who caught these snakes milked them publicly and then killed them for the their meat and valuable skin.  This resulted in the loss of hundreds of these beautiful snakes over the years and they have become more and more rare.
    Luckily, as Bob Dylan wrote, “The times they are a changing” and so too did Claxton.  This year in lieu of a rattlesnake round up, the Evans County Wildlife Club hosted the first annual Rattlesnake and Wildlife Festival and while the wranglers may not have attended the snakes certainly will.  The festival featured a number of presenters and displays that provided education on these snakes and other native Georgia wildlife with a specific focus on their respect and conservation.

    The chief guest guest of honor at this event was of course one of the most infamous rattlesnakes in the world the eastern diamondback.  Eastern diamondbacks commonly reach lengths of over 6 feet with the largest individuals reaching over 8 feet in length.  Due to their large size and potent venom these snakes have gained a very bad reputation and as a result are often persecuted by the general public.  This persecution, hunting and habitat loss has resulted in the loss of eastern diamondbacks across much of what was once their home range.  Because of this, the eastern diamond was recently added to the IUCN’s list of threatened species.  In reality eastern diamondback rattlesnakes are reclusive and go to great lengths to avoid using their precious venom.  As such, they actually pose very little threat to people and that is the message Evans County wildlife has been working hard to deliver.
    The Claxton Rattlesnake and Wildlife festival has received a great deal of praise both from government institutes and conservation groups alike.  Rattlesnake round ups across the country contribute a great deal to the gradual disappearance of this iconic American serpent but there is a great deal of hope that other institutions will soon follow suit with Claxton to help preserve and support the conservation of America’s valuable native reptiles.

Herps in the news: links to athleticism in poison dart frogs

Two articles came out in the last month measuring the athletic fitness of South and Central American frogs and correlating this fitness to other variables.  Both of these studies were lead by Juan Santos from the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center.  To measure athletic fitness the frogs were made to run in a rotating tube similar to a hamster wheel for four minutes, and their metabolic rates and aerobic capacity were measured before and after exercise.  The authors compared the results of poison dart frogs to non-toxic frogs from the same regions and found two interesting connections, publishing each in separate articles. 

The first is that the poison dart frogs are more athletically fit than non-toxic frogs from the same regions.  It is explained that this is necessary because poison dart frogs are dietary specialists, relying on certain foods (ex. ants, mites) which contain the alkaloids that provide their toxicity.  As specialists seeking patchily distributed resources, these frogs must move greater distances to satisfy their picky diet than most frogs with generalist diets.

I find the attempt to determine the cause and effect relationship for this fitness the most interesting part of the study.  One possible explanation given by the authors is that the frogs' aposematic coloration evolved while the frogs had a generalist diet (some of which contained alkaloids), deterring predators and allowing greater resource acquisition abilities which led to greater athletic fitness and diet specialization.  The second explanation is that diet specialization occurred first, leading to aposematic coloration which reinforced the foraging for alkaloid containing prey.  Specialization and the patchy distribution of the prey led to the need for a greater foraging area, which was facilitated by aposematic protection.  This caused the development of greater athletic fitness.  I think the second explanation generally sounds the most reasonable, though the authors think that different circumstances governed these developments for different groups of poison dart frogs.  

The second correlation found by Santos is that greater fitness is linked to faster changing genomes.  He discovered this by sequencing 15 genes and estimating the number of mutations for lineages of the resulting evolutionary tree.  Links to mutation rates were investigated for other factors such as body and clutch size, but athletic fitness drew the only significant correlation.  It is hypothesized that this is due to greater accumulation in the body of free radicals generated through excercise, which could damage DNA of gametes and be passed on in this manner.  I would be interested to see a molecular study done testing the degree that free radical production is manifested by mutations in frogs.  The concept seems feasible but I'm a little skeptical of the concept of exercise substantially damaging DNA.



http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/04/120412182332.htm
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/03/110329134250.htm
http://www.pnas.org/content/108/15/6175.full
        

Herps and the Bible

The Bible is filled with all sorts of interesting stories and parables.  Surprisingly, it also includes stories of herps!  For a while, I was considering different areas of literature and culture that cover herps.  There are many medical symbols, strange myths, and cultural traditions involving the use of snakes or other herptiles.  I couldn’t quite settle on any specific topic when it occurred to me while at church, the Bible has lots of herp stories!  The following paragraphs are some sweet accounts of herps from the Bible. 

            First and foremost, we find herps in Genesis 3.  This chapter takes place after the creation of the Earth and of man.  The Devil, in the form of a serpent, appears to Eve and deceives her by convincing her to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.  God forbade Adam and Eve to eat the fruit of this tree, but the Devil told Eve that if she ate of the fruit, she would have her eyes opened and she would know good from evil.  Eve saw the fruit to be pleasing and ate.  She also shared the fruit with Adam.  Later when God found out, He was greatly disappointed and said to the serpent (Devil), “Cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life.  And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”  Look at that, a snake is stated to forever be striking at the heel of man way back in Genesis.  I find that really neat.

            Another great account of herps in the Bible is leviathan.  The leviathan is mentioned six times in total, but given a detailed description in Job 41.  Job says, “His back has rows of shields tightly sealed together; each is so close to the next that no air can pass between… His chest is as hard as rock, hard as a lower millstone.”  That sounds an awful lot like scales to me.  I think it is quite possible that leviathan was in fact a form of reptile.  Some scholars deem leviathan to be interpreted as a certain dragon or sea monster.  I can’t really argue with those conclusions or speculations.  The facts look rather straight forward and plain to me. 

A fun one similar to the leviathan is the behemoth.  Behemoth is described in Job 40:15-24.  Job describes the behemoth as “limbs as strong as copper, his bones as a load of iron… Does he lie under shadows, in the cover of the reeds and the swamp? …Behold, he plunders the river…”  By this description, I could also see there being an argument for behemoth also being a herptile.  Who knows?  What do you think?

Did you know Moses and Aaron were some of the first herpetologists?  Exodus 7:8-13 gives an account of Aaron throwing down his staff in the presence of Pharaoh and it becoming a snake.  Pharaoh’s magicians did the same, but Aaron’s staff, now a snake, swallowed the other serpents.  In the next chapter (specifically 8:2-14), God sent a plague of frogs upon the land of Egypt.  “The Nile shall swarm with frogs that shall come up into your house and into your bedroom and on your bed and into the houses of your servants and your people and on all your servants… and the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt.”  Dang.  Can you imagine how many frogs that was?  I would say, “Frog legs for dinner!”  But I don’t think the presence of these frogs was a pleasant scenario…  I guess even back in the times of the Bible people didn’t like herps.  Frogs don’t seem to have a very good rep going for them.  I really don’t see why people don’t like them so much.  I think they’re rather cute (when they’re not peeing on me).

These are simply a few of the accounts of herps in the Bible.  This Bible is not limited to just this list of stories about snakes, dragons and frogs.  There are plenty more really interesting stories.  There is a cool story in Numbers 21 of Moses raising a staff with a serpent wound around it.  Any of the Israelites bit by venomous snakes that looked upon this staff were healed.  Another cool story is when Paul, a founder of the early church, was making a fire when he was bit by a viper (Family Viperidae??).  Then he suffered no harm from the bite and simply shook off the snake!  That’s pretty cool.  Look up these stories!  You might be surprised at what you find!  Happy searching!

Work Cited

Holy Bible: New International Version. Grand Rapids, MI. Zondervan. 1984.

Herps in the news: Robosquirrel fools rattlesnake

The article I chose to read for my final blog was about a Ph. D candidate at UC-Berkeley's research on the relationship between the native squirrels of the area and the rattlesnakes in an attempt to gain a better understanding of predator- prey relationships in general. Native squirrels are known to exhibit certain behaviors in the presence of the snakes. One mentioned in the article is a wide legged stance with the squirrels tail in the air. This is an attempt to make the squirrel look large in front of the rattlesnake because the snakes use infared for sight. When the squirrel has it's tail up in the "flagging" position, it also heats it's tail up which generate a larger object to the snake. Adult squirrels in the area are resistant to the rattlesnake bites as well, however, adults rarely get bitten by the snakes because they are extremely fast and aware of their surroundings and predators.

The California Ground Squirrel is the prey species being studied in the article

To study the predator- prey interactions between the squirrels and the rattlesnakes, the researchers use robosquirrel. Robosquirrel is a taxidermist's shell stuffed with a motor that wags the squirrels tail, a heating coil in the body that simulates body temperature and a heating rod in the tail to simulate the squirrel's behavior of put it's tail in the air and heating it up to trick the rattlesnakes. The squirrel sits on a box that hold all the necessary electronic parts to keep the squirrel going. The squirrel itself doesn't move on it's own. It uses a specially designed track that moves in towards the waiting rattlesnakes. Another interesting thing about robosquirrel is that the research team wanted to make sure it smelled like a squirrel so it is kept in the old cage bedding of ground squirrels in the laboratory. One thing to notes about the robot squirrel is that it always gets bit, unlike the live squirrels it is meant to represent.

Robosquirrel is used to collect data on the predator-prey interactions of squirrels and rattlesnakes.

So far the research has shown that the snakes are really not as aggressive as people believe. So far they have found that the riskiest thing a person can do is step on them, besides that the snakes tend to flee. The snakes also play an important role in controlling the rodent numbers in the area. Though as mentioned earlier, the snakes rarely get the resistant adult squirrels, they frequently get the baby squirrels who are not resistant to the snake's venom.

Tagging a rattlesnake in one of the areas of research

Not only is some of the data they have been finding important for understanding predator prey interactions, but also some of the results they have found could help to stop the bad name rattlesnakes are getting. Though the rattlesnakes are dangerous, it is mentioned in the article that in the area they are researching in California, the snakes are nearly gone except for in reserves because people kill all of them. Maybe research like this can show people that the snakes are dangerous but aren't attacking people as much or as aggressively as people may think. This article was very interesting and it is cool to learn about the different types of research going on with herps.

Link to the article: http://www.mercurynews.com/science/ci_20367300/robosquirrel-fools-rattlesnake

Herpetological Myth Busting: Rattlesnakes

Crotalus atrox I photographed in Oklahoma

In the American West, the rattlesnake is feared by many people as a dangerous, threatening, and menacing creature that needs to be removed from the landscape. When rattlesnakes enter or are found near human settlements, often they are killed for the fear that they will seek out and harm the people living there. Even when found outside of human habitations, such as along a wilderness trail or horse path, they are killed on sight. If one goes to YouTube and performs a quick search on rattlesnakes, one can find a plethora of videos of everyday people ‘exterminating’ obviously distressed and frightened snakes, many of whom were simply found in the wrong place at the wrong time and were not posing a threat to the health of any people. Indeed, if one watches many of these videos, one will discover that these individuals are killing rattlesnakes out of a loathing fear of the animal, not because it was actually in danger of striking or being aggressive. Many of the snakes are actually trying to flee when found and considerable effort is undertaken in many instances to catch and kill the snake, more than would have been expended if the snake was simply allowed to leave. The myth that rattlesnakes strike people wantonly and unprovoked is one common in the western part of the country, and one that is leading to the unnecessary death of many snakes. Trepidation of snakes is a common fear among many people; a lot of individuals simply do not like snakes. Indeed, the fear of snakes seems to be one that is innate among humans, or at least its prevalence would suggest so. However, the natural fear of snakes is intensified when applied to potentially dangerous species such as the rattlesnakes. Venomous snakes worldwide are generally vilified, stemming from the fact that a bite from one of these snakes could potentially be lethal. However, especially in the case of the rattlesnakes, one must agitate or threaten the snakes in some way to run of the risk of being bitten. Simply encountering a snake does not mean it will bite you. The myth also exists among many people that getting bitten by a venomous snake in the United States is equivalent to receiving a death sentence. In fact, only 5-6 people a year die from snakebites out of the approximately 7-8,000 that are bitten by a venomous snake. This is because most areas in the United States have good, close medical care available, and a lot of facilities in the West especially have antivenin on stock. In fact, you are nine times more likely to die from being struck by lightning than to die from a snake bite. 


http://ufwildlife.ifas.ufl.edu/venomous_snake_faqs.shtml


The fear that many people have about the prevalence and lethality of snakebites simply is not factual. Two summers ago, I had a field job in Oklahoma that required me to work long hours traversing wild areas. Daily, I was in prime habitat for western diamondback rattlesnakes, Crotalus atrox. In three full months, I only encountered rattlesnakes a handful of times, and several of those instances were when I actually dedicated time to find them deliberately. Still, in every encounter I found the snakes be afraid of me, and most of the time both parties would simply continue on their way. Not once was I ever struck at or felt threatened by them. Walking in these areas, it was prudent to take care, but I was never scared of losing my life to a rattlesnake. I always enjoyed my encounters with these venomous snakes, and as long as respect was shown to them, it was never a problem. If more people displaced their myths and fears with facts and knowledge, many rattlesnakes would be spared from a useless and ignorant death. See video below.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkiA4Hhrjuo&feature=related

The Frog Prince

“The Frog Prince” is a well-known fairytale, and I think it’s safe to say we’ve all become familiar with some version of the story.  When people in our society think of the story, they tend to think of a romantic tale of a kind princess kissing a frog who then turns into a prince.  Thinking the topic would be good for looking at herps in literature, I did a little research on the story and found some pretty interesting stuff.

                As it turns out, “The Frog Prince” is thought to be the first fairytale written by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, better known as the Brothers Grimm.  These two brothers are well known for creating fairytales with a dark plot behind it, with examples like Little Red Riding Hood, Hansel and Gretel, and Snow White (the original story has her stepmother wearing red-hot metal shoes at the end of the story that leads to her death).  These stories have been retold to seem less brutal for children, and “The Frog Prince” is no different.  If you’ve never heard the original story, here’s a short summary:

                The story starts with a princess going into the woods to play with her favorite toy: a golden ball that she throws in the air to catch.  However, she throws it too high, and the ball falls into a well so that she could no longer see it.  A frog hears her crying, and offers to get the ball for her for a price.  If she makes the frog her companion by giving him food and shelter, she can get her ball back.  The princess agrees, but when she gets her golden ball she goes back on her promise and returns home without the frog.  The next day the frog came to the door.  When the princess’s father finds out what she had done, he makes her keep her promise.  She takes the frog up to her room to sleep in her bed, but when she gets there she throws him against the wall to kill him.  The frog then transforms into a handsome prince, and the princess keeps her promise to be his companion.  The two of them return to the prince’s kingdom, and everyone is happy.

                The tale doesn’t exactly send a good message with a princess who would only love someone when they’re attractive, so the whole “kissing a frog” plotline seems much nicer for children.  Even with the story change, it reveals how our society tends to think of frogs.  In the original story written in the Middle Ages they’re seen as ugly animals that the princess doesn’t want to touch.  Even in the newer version of the princess kissing the frog, it is a story of a princess loving an ugly thing that then becomes beautiful.  So sadly, the negative view of frogs hasn’t changed much through time.  That might be one reason there isn’t much publicity when it comes to conservation of anurans.  After all, it’s easier to sell a fluffy animal than a frog.  Hopefully that view will change through education, because frogs deserve a good reputation after all this time.

Here's the full story if you're interested:

http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/frog.html#grimm2

Texas Rat Snake

Found this crawling up a tree near one of the buildings that hold class. (Elaphe obsoleta)