Herpetology Club: “What Reptile Am I?”

Written by Jose Rodriguez

Our final Herpetology Club meeting for the season turned out to be a lot of fun. As a way to review everything we learned throughout the year, the kids were quizzed in a game show-style manner that we called “What Reptile Am I?”

That was followed by an animal treasure hunt, in which our students were given cards that identified certain characteristics of all the reptiles and amphibians we have worked with. Everyone then went into the Reptile Room to match up the cards with the animal it was describing.

Crested Gecko hatchlings

We ended our session by allowing the kids to vote on which 3 of their favorite herps they wanted to see up close and handle. Our choices were:

1. Corn Snake
2. Crested Gecko hatchlings
3. Collared Lizard

Collared Lizard

We also had time to touch on a few important topics brought up during a Q&A session:

• We discussed the importance of proper ventilation/air circulation in an enclosure containing amphibians and the pros and cons of a screen top cover and a lid-style cover.

• We discussed the proper terminology for a turtle and tortoise’s shell (the dome of the shell is known as the carapice, while the flat underside is known as the plastron).

• We learned about the ambush-style hunting strategy Horned Frogs employ to catch dinner.

• The proper way to handle a large snake.

• The proper way to interact with a Crested Gecko, and reduce the stress caused during handling.

It was a great way to wrap things up. We all got a chance to interact with lots of cool reptiles, we took home a lot of important facts, and had a ton of fun getting to know one another and learning together.

Herpetology Club with Jose Rodriguez

Hopefully everyone has a great summer, and joins us again in September!

Jose is Fauna’s Eco-Education Coordinator and runs various programming aimed at different age levels. Email Jose for information about birthday parties, Children’s Story Time, the Herpetology Club, and more at jose@faunanyc.com

To learn more about Fauna NYC, visit our website!

Guatemala Project: Part 6 – Why Should People Care?

Series: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5

As many of you know, Daniel Kopulos, owner of Fauna, is currently in Guatemala  through mid-June 2013 to continue his conservation work with Scarlet Macaws, Mesoamerican River Turtles and Jaguars. While he is on this adventure, we thought it would be fun for us to relive his past excursion to Guatemala in 2012, as well as educate and answer questions we’ve received from our many supporters of this conservation project. We will present Daniel’s exciting and important story in a series of interview questions and photos. Enjoy!

Why should people care about the Guatemala Project?

The Guatemala Project, although working specifically with three species of animals, helps to preserve all the life in that region. The animals selected to be worked with are not all endangered, but are also known as landscape species. This means they have significant meaning or purpose for the region. Each of these species has been a part of the culture in the area since early civilization. They are still recognized as important and powerful species. By protecting them, the land, forest and waters are also protected because you can not have one without the other.

The Mayan Biosphere is one of the largest regions of forest and is a major contributor to air quality for the rest of us globally. Many resources have also come from this area over the decades including medicine, fuel, food and materials.

What specific work did you do for river turtles and jaguars?

For the turtles, we provided incubators and incubation chambers to increase the viable hatchings of collected eggs. We reviewed dietary and lighting information that may aid in development of young.

For the jaguars, we assisted in placing numerous camera traps that can capture video or photos in cross sectioned areas to help identify individual jaguars for a more accurate estimated count of surviving animals. They can be distinguished by their pattern of spots on their bodies. The cameras are always successful in taking photographs.

Since they are motion activated, there are often additional animal images captured. It’s always nice to see some of the elusive species such as ocelots and tapir. Having an accurate population count will assist in convincing the government that the jaguars need greater protection within Guatemala.

There are so many places and animals that need help – why are you driven to this specific cause?

This particular one chose me. However, after becoming involved with the project and the people of Guatemala, including the amazing staff at the field station, it is hard not to go back. They are so dedicated and inspiring to be around. Believe me, I get just as much, or more out of it, than what I could ever give!

Series: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5

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To learn more about Fauna NYC, visit our website!