Mentors and Friends

Science Dudes

Throughout my undergraduate career, I have met many influential and supportive people. These people have impacted my views and molded me into the biologist I am today. Without having worked/met/studied with these people, I would not be in the position I am today. I am not here to write a sentimental blog that will leave you sobbing from the heart-wrenching story of a boy following his dreams, rather, I am writing this as a shout out to all the awesome people with which I have been able to share these growing experiences. 

Master Rob Denton

My freshman year in college was a rough one. I spent my first semester at St. Joseph's College in Rensellaer, Indiana. The school was great and there was a prominent mole salamander biologist there (Dr. Bob Brodman - check out his stuff!), but I definitely did not fit. I transferred to Ball State University the very next semester. After a few weeks, I was exposed to a few job boards that presented me with new and unique opportunities. One of those was with Rob Denton. At the time, Rob was working on his master's thesis at Eastern Kentucky University. I applied for the job and was contacted by Rob a month or so later for an interview, at which time I was offered the position. I accepted, obviously. Little did I know that Rob was such a badass and how much fun (and pain) we would have that summer. 

Oh, those summer nights

Rob and I spent most of our days checking traps for amphibian larvae and other critters while being constantly assaulted by ticks, mosquitoes, biting flies and yellow jackets (I took the brunt of their onslaught - don't deny it, Rob). There was a lot of downtime, however, and besides napping and looking for snakes, we talked about biology (and music). When driving to our sampling sites we would talk about evolution, research ideas, herpetology, and careers. At that time, I was not exactly sure what I wanted to do with my biology degree, but Rob's plans to become a college professor intrigued me. Conducting research, teaching, and having your own little group of minions to do your bidding sounded like a dream come true. So with Rob's advice, I decided to pursue a career as a professor as well. 

This is what I expect my minions to look like. 

So, I just want to give Rob a thank you for putting up with my annoying questions, drafts, and shenanigans and for inspiring me to become awesome. Check out Rob's Blog here.

Rattlesnake Menagerie Member - Matt Holding

Matt and I first met when I was working with Rob. They had both attended Ball State together and became good friends. So when Rob invited Matt to come help him with his field work, he shot over from California and joined us on our daily expeditions into Daniel Boone National Forest (aka Middle Earth). Rob informed me that Matt was studying rattlesnake physiology at California Polytechnic State University under the advice of Dr. Emily Taylor. When Matt arrived, he told us how much fun he had been having while working with Dr. Taylor. Through Matt I met Dr. Taylor and went out to visit her at Cal Poly a couple years later. Thanks to Matt, I am in a position to attend Cal Poly and study rattlesnakes! Matt has been invaluable in the process by reviewing drafts for fellowships and giving advice on how to handle grad school. 

Matt's research at Cal Poly dealt with physiological effects and changes of the brain caused by experimentally altering navigational demands. You can read more about the research and the rest of Dr. Taylor's lab (Physiological Ecology of Reptiles Lab or PERL) here. Currently, Matt is attending the Ohio State University along with Rob. Matt is working with Northern Pacific Rattlesnakes (Crotalus oreganus oreganus) and the evolutionary arms race taking place with California Ground Squirrels (Otospermophilus beecheyi). Rob's research deals with the unisexual Ambystoma salamander complex and their potentially increased ability to traverse fragmented landscapes. 

<<< Crotalus oreganus 

This species is very widespread and used to be considered to be a member of the Crotalus viridis complex. There is much dispute about the species genetic relationship.

                                Unisexual Ambystoma >>>

Rattlesnake Menagerie Member - Dustin Owen

Dustin Owen...where should I start. I am not going to lie, but the first time I saw Dustin, I thought Shaggy from Scooby Doo had escaped his imprisonment in TV Land. Turns out, Dustin was a fellow aspiring herpetologist and we actually had a mutual friend in Matt Holding. After this discovery, we talked about herps and realized how similar we were. Dustin, being a slightly non-traditional student, understood a lot about how research and scientific journals worked. Somehow, he also knew a little bit about every single herpetologist to have ever existed. With his help, I gained a better understanding of how to be successful. Even better than that, I gained a friend that shared similar interests and hopefully a colleague for life. This past summer, we lived in Bloomington, Indiana at the "Bridgehouse." Things happened in that fabled housing unit that cannot be explained by science or basic logic. That experience caused us to become even better friends. Alongside that, we both applied for the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship to help fund our journey into grad school. So to say the least, Dustin and I have been through a lot these past few years, and in that process, have become great friends. 

The Bridgehouse...gives me chills

                                        
Next Mentors and Friends...Supportive friends and/or family that are not necessarily science-y!

Rattlesnake Roundups

I have had it with Animal Planet. I thought this channel was supposed to promote conservation and inform people about misunderstood creatures. I'm sure everyone has seen the ads for their new show "Rattlesnake Republic" which follows around the morons that capture hundreds of rattlesnakes and then slaughter them after being shown at festivals with their mouths sewed shut. Yeah, that's really helping the cause Animal Planet...

A photo from "Rattlesnake Republic." "Hey remember that time you got bit?" "Which time!?!?" "AHAHAAHAHA!"  Yeah, this is who were working with here. 

According the the Center for Biological Diversity, these roundups occur in Alabama, Georgia, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas (go figure). A recent study conducted in Texas by Adams et. al. in 1994 stated that 8,820 kg of snakes were purchased from hunters. The average Western Diamondback Rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox) weighs between 1.8 and 2.7 kg. If we use the higher end of that range, that means at least 3,267 snakes were purchased alone. Rattlesnakes are considered apex predators, which basically means they are one of the main predators. Animals higher on the food chain are much fewer in number than animals lower on the food chain. For a bit of persepective, we can look at the cougar (another apex predator) harvest in New Mexico for 2012. Hunters bagged 198 cougars in the 2011-2012 season (New Mexico Cougar Harvest). Yes, cougars are much larger and prey on larger prey items, but their trophic levels are very similar. A deer harvest will tend to be much larger as in Indiana for 2008, almost 130,000 deer were harvested (source: Deer Harvest by State (IDNR)). Any rational human being should be stunned to see these numbers. The reason the deer harvest is so high is because they are so prolific in Indiana to begin with. They can easily bounce right back and management is in place to protect the deer from disappearing completely. This is not the case for the rattlers. There are no restrictions in place and the rattlers are disappearing. Here is the evidence: Evidence for the depletion of rattlesnakes. 

So now for the visual evidence.

Yep, those are rattlesnake heads (preservevenomous.com)

I'm sure he know's what he's doing...not. (herpsofarkansas.com)

Nice technique, now let it give you a kiss. (herpsofarkansas.com)

Ok, one more and then I'll talk about these morons a little bit more. 

Ok, I'm not even gonna start with all the things that are wrong in this picture. (durangotexas.blogspot.com)

Sweetwater, Texas is the epicenter of all this rattlesnake carnage. If you haven't figured it out yet, rattlesnake roundups culminate in these festivals where the snakes are piled into corrals, usually with their mouths sewed shut, and then shown off to attendees for awhile. After that, they are decapitated (picture one), skinned, and then grilled out like a redneck barbecue. The skins are used for boots, bags, and belts. Sounds like great fun,right? Well let's think about what it would be like if we had these festivals in Indiana, only with deer. Live deer would be packed into tiny enclosures, probably with their legs tied together so they couldn't hurt the "expert handlers" and then they would be poked with sticks and paraded around to have pictures taken with. After that, the heads would be chopped off and piled up and then the deer would be skinned and the meat would be grilled for festival-goers. That's a little messed up if you ask me.  Not only is it immoral, it is a waste of a valuable resource. There is no way that all the deer meat would be eaten, nor could it all be frozen for future use. Also, with that many deer in close proximity, disease would spread like a cold in a kindergarten classroom. The same thing happens with snakes. Salmonella is easily transmitted between snakes, getting people sick when they come into contact with the snakes. 

That looks comfortable. Oh, did I mention they freeze these guys for two hours in order to sew their mouths shut? (kimberlygerson.com)

As you can see, there are many things wrong with Rattlesnake Roundups. Rattlesnakes could be used commercially if only there were management practices in place. I would love to have a rattlesnake skin, as long as it was harvested in an ethical and sustainable manner. These snakes are not collected in an ethical or sustainable manner. It might as well be genocide. 

So if you watch this show, please stop. There's no need to encourage these idiots or the practice of harvesting any animal unchecked. 

For those of you that are anti-hunting altogether, keep in mind that revenue generated from hunting equipment and licenses is used to fund Wildlife Refuges, Fish and Wildlife Areas, and Wildlife Management Areas. Please support the practice of regulated hunting and proper management of the species that are being hunted. It is the American Naturalist's greatest asset to protecting and preserving wildlife. 

Why you would wanna do anything besides snuggle with that thing is beyond me. 

Ignorance is Far from Bliss

My Dad was recently forwarded an email about a snake found on a golf course in Arizona. I was immediately curious to find out what the article was all about so my Dad gave me his iPhone and I was appalled when the file finished downloading. 

Here is a copy of that email:

----- Forwarded Message -----
Sent: Monday, August 13, 2012 5:56 PM
Subject: FW: Snake On The Golf Course:

...AND YOU THOUGHT FLORIDA GOLF WAS BAD?  ALL THEY DO THERE IS EAT GOLF BALLS!

Want to play golf in AZ? BEWARE HOLY COW - STAY OFF THE GOLF COURSE- THIS IS SCARY FOUND ON A GOLF COURSE IN Arizona This is why you shouldn't go looking for the golf balls hit 'Out of Bounds' in Arizona !!! THIS IS NOT A PYTHON! This is a 15 foot Western Diamondback rattlesnake - the largest ever caught on record,  This snake was found Near the St. Augustine outlet, in a new KB homes subdivision just south of Mesa Az. A little research revealed the following:  One bite from a snake of this sizewould contain enough venom to kill over 40 full grown men. The head of this snake alone is larger than the hand of a normal sized man. A bite from those fangs would be comparable to being stabbed by two curved, 1/4 inch diameter screwdrivers. The knife being used to draw out the fangs for the bottom picture has a blade around 6 inche long. This snake is estimated to have weighed over 170 pounds. (How much do you weigh?) Notice the girth of this snake as compared to the cop's leg in the first picture (and he is not a small man).  A snake of this size could easily swallow a 2 year-old child and dogs, pigs, etc).  A snake this size has an approximately 5 1/2 foot accurate striking distance. (The distance for an average size rattlesnake is about 2 feet . )  This snake has probably been alive since George Bush Sr. was President.  Now just ask yourself these questions:  What has this snake been feeding on and where are its offspring?

Anyone with any intuitive sense should immediately be skeptical. First of all, you can tell the pictures were taken in order to favor the snake's size. It is much closer to the camera than the people in the background, making it look much larger. Secondly, that is not even a Western Diamondback Rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox). It is an Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake (Crotalus adamanteus). These two snakes are found on completely opposite ends of the country. The Eastern is found in the Southeast whereas the Western, uh, the West (sorry for the sarcasm). Westerns can range as far east as Arkansas but do not overlap with westerns. 

Now onto what really makes me angry. 

You wouldn't like me when I'm angry. 

The email claims that the snake was 15 feet long. The longest recorded Western Diamondback was 92.5 inches long (click here for Western Diamondback info) (7 feet 8.5 inches). In order for that snake to have reached 15 feet, it would have to DOUBLE the previous record-holding snake's length. According the American International Rattlesnake Museum, the longest recorded rattlesnake in history was 8 feet 1 inch in length (an Eastern Diamondback). 

Next, we see that the snake was "caught" in Arizona. As I have already said, it is clearly an Eastern Diamondback which are not found in Arizona. Here is a classic case of a copycat trying to spread their hidden agenda against snakes. Think it was a harmless forwarded email?  Why would anyone go through the trouble of forwarding an email that they knowingly understood as false unless they simply just hated snakes?

The rest of the email is pure malarkey as I am sure you have already figured out. The snake is definitely not 170 lbs, and in no way could it eat a 2 year old child, dogs or pigs. To answer the question posed at the end of email, I hope it is eating the person that started this email. And that's all I have to say about that. 

Now onto snakes that we should actually be worried about. 

Everyone knows that Burmese Pythons are loose in the Everglades. These snakes CAN reach lengths in excess of 15 feet, unlike the Diamondback rattlers and ARE capable of eating dogs and pigs. It is extremely unlikely that these snakes would get an opportunity to eat a child. If it does, that says more about the parents than it does the snake. 

Exhibit A. I mean, that's just asking for it. I wonder if they let him/her in with the lions too. 

Recently, the largest Burmese Python to be found in Florida was captured. It not only set a record for length (17.7 feet), but also for number of eggs (87). This python not only proves that these snakes are breeding, but also shows us how quickly they are capable of spreading. The article goes on to say that these larger pythons are surviving winters because they can retain heat more easily. For the full article, click here. Herpetologist Whit Gibbons formerly of the University of Georgia states that the snakes will probably be established as a part of Florida's nativa fauna in the next few decades.

You may be asking why these snakes are considered bad and why I am not trying to protect them as well as the rattlers. Well, you see there used to be this country called Burma (now Myanmar). These large pythons call this country home, hence the name Burmese Python (Python molurus). These snakes are not found in Florida naturally, making them an exotic species. Not only are they exotic, but they are also invasive. This means that they are spreading into areas where they weren't found when they were first introduced. Florida's habitat and climate is not all that different from Myanmar's or the rest of Southeast Asia. It is hot and humid and the temperature is fairly stable. It does get much cooler in Florida however, which is good for us. Pythons aren't used to an extended period of colder weather. Somehow, these pythons are managing to survive the colder months and continue reproducing. This is a problem. These snakes prey on basically anything. Anything includes birds, small to large mammals, other reptiles including alligators. Some biologists, including herpetologist J.D. Wilson at the University of Arkansas claim that the larger ones could even prey upon the endangered Florida Panther. 

With that being said, it is understandable why these snakes are not good in Florida. When an invasive species takes hold, it is almost certain that native flora and fauna will take a major blow that may include extinctions of native species. Well, I hope I have thoroughly enlightened you on the woes of snakes in the world for today. 

First Blog...EVER

What is Bloggus herpetologicus? 

It is the blog of Griffin Capehart: young herp adventurist extraordinaire and future professor at some awesome university! That's not the greatest introduction, but you get the picture. I currently attend Ball State University and am studying wildlife biology and conservation. I hope to attend graduate school studying rattlesnakes or some sort of squamate preferably, but I would be happy doing anything herp-related. 

Enough about me though. This blog has been created for the sole purpose of talking about herps and why they're so awesome. Whether that be through photos, academic literature, movies, documentaries, or news stories. Hopefully, with the help of other herp blogs, we can shed light on these highly misunderstood creatures and inspire a healthy respect for them, instead of blind hatred. 

How can you not love that face? (Photo by Griffin Capehart)

So, if you like herps, or even if you do not, I hope you can find the time to read this blog even if it is only every once in awhile. Soon, I will post the first real blog. I would do it now, but I am not sure what I would like to talk about. I guess we'll just have to wait and see like the rattlesnake. 

Griffin
(I'm sorry if that last line was a really bad, corny joke)