Changing how people view and treat snakes
Is it her simple body plan? Her poker face? Or perhaps a vast mythology of her malevolence and supernatural abilities? Humans have a tough time describing what snakes do, let alone understanding why they do it. Proud skeptics that they are, scientists long doubted that snakes are capable of complex behavior. Reports of pitviper aggregations, …
Chris Jenkins interviews ASP’s Executive Director, Melissa Amarello, on episode 14 of the Snake Talk podcast. We discussed ASP’s research on rattlesnake social behavior, how we use that information to change the public’s perception of snakes, and how we work in the advocacy arena using our work on rattlesnake roundups as an example.
This article was written by Gordon M. Burghardt, PhD, a member of the ASP Board of Directors. Sociality in reptiles, particularly snakes, has been long misunderstood and even denied. Today it is well-established that many crocodilians have complex courtship rituals and parental care that is far more extensive than that found in many birds and …
A Tale of Two Trash Snakes Part 4 Read: A Tale of Two Trash Snakes Part 3 The day Carol showed up, we checked under the truck bed liner to find Daryl still coiled in a hunting posture under its downhill edge. “There are two lepidus in the yard…” we would say to one another …
July 16 is World Snake Day! While snakes are threatened by many of the same issues that affect all wildlife (habitat loss, climate change, and disease), negative attitudes toward snakes may be the biggest barrier to their conservation because it often impedes efforts to address other threats. So do your part by spreading positive messages …
My favorite example of convergent evolution is that between old (e.g., lappet-faced vulture) and new (e.g., turkey vulture) world vultures. Both groups of scavenging birds fill the same niche in their habitat and look so much alike that scientists classified them together until we had genetic tools to tell us otherwise. Turns out that new …
Surprisingly like birds and mammals Back when we were called Social Snakes, I loved the quizzical looks I often got in response to that name followed by “But snakes aren’t social…” Au contraire, indeed they are, as are many lizards (together termed squamates) and their social behavior is more like birds and mammals than many guess! Social skinks …
Each spring, festivals are held throughout Texas in which thousands of rattlesnakes are kidnapped from their dens, kept without adequate food or water, tortured, and finally killed for entertainment and profit (find out more at RattlesnakeRoundups.com). If you have ever been out looking for snakes, or even spent time in rattlesnake habitat, you’ve probably noticed …
The male combat “dance” of snakes – rattlesnakes among them – is an affair wherein the obvious isn’t the truth, and the truth is stranger than the obvious (Laurence Klauber, in Rattlesnakes, p. 703) When we think of combat, graphic images of violent competition come to mind: humans with swords or guns, sheep ramming their …
Snake Count is almost here! This week we countdown to Snake Count with a post each day featuring a snake we found during last spring’s Snake Count. We hope you’ll join us at Muleshoe for Snake Count, but if you can’t, find a way to participate in your area by clicking on the graphic below. …