Ever since I can remember, snakes have captivated my
interest and directed my academic focus in Biology and Herpetology. As a recent
graduate of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, I jumped at the
opportunity to work with the infamous North Pacific Rattlesnake as a summer
field assistant. And after a month out in this beautiful reserve with great
people and remarkable animals – life is good.
I find it amazing how much knowledge one can take away from
studying a species. Just by looking at our research species, Crotalus o. oreganus, one could study
behavior and discover evolutionary selective forces leading to such behaviors,
or one could look at the venom and determine how regional distribution relates
to toxicity and prey resistances, or one could sequence DNA from a number of
specimens revealing gene flow, or record regional densities to establish the
quality of various habitats… the list goes on. I think you can learn a lot by
looking at one or two organisms and how they managed to combat selective
pressures on our ever-changing planet.
Out of all the subfields of biology, behavior is definitely
my favorite. I hope to someday incorporate snake behavior research into the
venom industry, and observing free ranging predator prey interactions between
ground squirrels and rattlesnakes is definitely an exciting step towards this
goal.
Me, holding a tubed rattlesnake
But at the end of the day, the success of any research
depends on the quality of the people involved with it. Each day I am surrounded
by a group of hard working, compassionate field assistants with Bree as our
fearless leader. A positive environment expedites the research, and I am glad
to call myself part of such a great family here at BORR!
All the interns at the Oakland Zoo (on the day off of course)
Below is a quick video I put together using some footage I
collected while in the field. Enjoy!
Cool
ReplyDelete