Science of Scales

The Orianne Indigo Snake Preserve (OISP) contains just over 2,500 acres of protected lands located in the heart of southern Georgia. The property contains a mix of sandhills, small creeks and wetlands, and a large floodplain that backs up to the Ocmulgee River. An impressive 75 species of amphibians and reptiles have been documented on the property, and it provides a home to several rare or imperiled species, including the Eastern Indigo Snake, Gopher Tortoise, and Tiger Salamander. The OISP is also important because it serves as The Orianne Society’s home base in southern Georgia, housing all of our land management and sampling equipment. Over the last 10 years, an impressive amount of management has been conducted on the property. Tree planting, thinning, prescribed fire, and ground cover restoration have gone a long way to restoring the Longleaf Pine forests to their former glory.

Ectotherms are unable to internally regulate their body temperatures, instead depending on the environment as a source of heat. These animals must either conform to environmental temperatures or thermoregulate to raise body temperatures above environmental temperatures through behavior, physiology, or both. For reptiles, this typically means some type of basking behavior where high body temperatures can be obtained relative to the air temperature.

Views:1,562 views Eastern North America is home to one of the most diverse turtle faunas in the world,…

Views:701 views At the beginning of 2020, I gave a presentation on the history of Eastern Indigo Snake…