Tag: Snakes

April 5, 2021

Prescribed fires boost snake diversity in longleaf pine forests

Flames and snakes don’t just go well together on motorcycle decals and heavy metal album covers. According to new research, prescribed fires every few years in longleaf pine forests in...

March 16, 2021

Building a better wall to keep ratsnakes off the road

Researchers in Ontario are looking into whether a great wall could keep snakes from getting onto highways that can be lethal to them. Canada’s two populations of gray ratsnakes (Pantherophis...

March 3, 2021

Watersnakes help gauge mercury presence in streams

The tips of watersnakes’ tails retain levels of mercury that could indicate how contaminated rivers and streams are with toxins. “One of the advantage of brown watersnakes is they have...

December 4, 2020

Kentucky aquatic snakes have high fungal disease prevalence

Aquatic snake species in Kentucky have high incidences fungal disease, which may affect their behavior without impacting their short-term survival. “We did see that snakes — especially the queen snakes...

October 9, 2020

Fungal disease affects snakes in 19 states and Puerto Rico

A new large-scale snake survey has found that a deadly fungal disease has spread through 19 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. The snake fungal disease Ophidiomycosis is caused by the fungus...

September 9, 2020

Fukushima’s radioactive soil contaminates snakes

The first thing Hannah Gerke noticed in her research area was the lushness. Plants in yards and along roads were overgrown. Animals had clearly gotten into some of the nearby...

July 21, 2020

More indigo snakes need to be released for reintroduction success

At the right angle, the second longest native snake in the United States and Canada is a shimmery black. But just blink and catch the orange-throated serpent in a different...

June 17, 2020

DNA reveals multiple rattler populations in British Columbia

Hundreds of genetic samples have revealed multiple distinct populations of western rattlesnakes in the northern part of their range in British Columbia. “Western Rattlesnakes are currently managed as a single...

March 26, 2020

Wild Cam: Snakes suffer as chytrid wipes out frogs

A fungal disease that has wiped out entire populations of amphibians across the world is also affecting snake diversity — particularly among snakes that rely on frogs or their eggs...

February 10, 2020

JWM: Choppers firing painkiller bait control tree snakes

Toxic bait cartridges automatically fired from helicopters may be the first successful way to efficiently reduce numbers of invasive brown tree snakes at the landscape scale on the island of...