Tracy Karplus, Author at The Orianne Society

9 minute read

News

Ambassadors for Nature: An Eco-logue

ByTracy Karplus
November 30, 2023

One freezing mid-December morning, I drove into the forested coastal plains of middle Georgia, along the Ocmulgee River. I was headed to visit The Orianne Society’s Longleaf Stewardship Center, a 2,000 acre longleaf pine preserve outside McRae.

1 minute read

Photo of the Month

What’s inside a tadpole?

ByTracy Karplus
November 17, 2023

Tadpoles are often some of the first wildlife that people encounter and remember; wriggling around in ponds and puddles, they evoke feelings of simpler days and times for people across walks of life and around the world. But when you really get to know tadpoles, you realize there is a lot more to them than simple little algae scrapers…

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Photo of the Month

Magdalena River Turtle

ByTracy Karplus
October 13, 2023

The Magdalena River Turtle (Podocnemis lewyana) is a Colombian endemic classified as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List.

Pictured here alongside two crayfish burrow chimneys is a large, gravid Kirtland's Snake (Clonophis kirtlandii) discovered at a previously unknown site within the Grand Prairie Division of Illinois.

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Photo of the Month

Kirtland’s Snake

ByTracy Karplus
September 13, 2023

Kirtland’s Snakes are perhaps most well-known for their microhabitat associations with burrowing crayfishes, where they traverse the aquatic-fossorial and predator-prey boundary in the dark, flooded underground labyrinths excavated by their crayfish hosts.

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Photo of the Month

Timber Rattlesnake

ByTracy Karplus
August 14, 2023

Timber rattlesnakes are a species of conservation concern throughout much of their distribution. The reasons for this range from habitat loss to direct persecution.

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Photo of the Month

Carolina Pygmy Rattlesnakes

ByTracy Karplus
July 18, 2023

Pygmy Rattlesnakes range throughout the southeastern United States, occupying densely vegetated areas within flatwoods, sandhills, and wetland ecotones. -Samantha Dillon

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News

World Snake Day 2023 Snake Stories

ByTracy Karplus
July 12, 2023

We love a good Snake Story. At the end of every Snake Talk Podcast episode, Dr. Jenkins asks all of his guests to pretend they are sitting around a campfire, sharing their Best Snake Story. In celebration of World Snake Day 2023, we are bringing you some of our favorites!

A light shines on a Sonoran Desert Toad in the night, tarantula legs are protruding from its mouth.

1 minute read

Photo of the Month

Sonoran Desert Toad

ByTracy Karplus
June 14, 2023

This Sonoran Desert Toad (Incilius alvarius) was photographed on a monsoon night in Arizona. If you look closely, you can still see the legs of an Desert Blonde Tarantula sticking out of its mouth.