I came to Lake Forest with a fear of anything that slithered, and while I never thought that I would enjoy working with snakes, I have had the privilege of expanding my knowledge of their life history for the past year. For this class I wanted to expand my knowledge on how humans have interacted with the different venomous snake species of the Mississippi River Valley.
You can read about my internship experience in further detail in an article that I wrote for Lake Forest’s undergraduate science journal, Eukaryon.
Pit tagging a Timber Rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus) as part of my internship at the Wildlife Discovery Center last fall (2012). They are one of four venomous snakes found in Illinois!
1. Life Histories of the Venomous Snake Found Along the Mississippi
Knowing the basics about the venomous snakes along the Mississippi River, and how to identify each of the species could help save your life if you were to encounter one.
For this section I am referencing knowledge I have picked up from my internship, and Scott Shupe’s book U.S. Guide to Venomous Snakes and Their Mimics.
here.