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Another conference, another show...


Dmmetler
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DD is really enjoying the TN herp conference, which is focusing on TN and the immediate region.

 

Today was molecular genetics of box turtles and frogs, ranavirus, snake fungal disease, GIS mapping of box turtles, education field programs on salamanders, and captive breeding of Hellbender salamanders, plus the scholarship dinner/auction to benefit the scholarship program. DD definitely made up for not being able to go to the scholarship auction at JMIH, bringing home a lot of little trinkets (turtles and frogs, mostly), several books and posters, and a beautiful snake photo that looks a lot like her pet corn snake. Her donations did well (four small plastic snakes that match the characters from her "My Little Python" snake blog for kids and several bracelets and one necklace she made from glass reptile beads and wood beads) raised $65 for the program, so she feels good about it.ðŸðŸ¢ðŸ¸ðŸŠ

 

She also got to meet B, who is an 11 yr old 6th grader who loves snakes, has parents who hate snakes, and a retired grandpa who has a friend in TWRA, and checked his grandson out of school at 12:00 today so he could go to the conference sessions. If there's anything cuter than one smart kid in their element, it's two of them together 😀

 

Tomorrow, getting to see research at the zoo, then more sessions (and a trip to the lego store, which isn't on the conference schedule, but if we're going to come to Nashville, we're going to the lego store!)

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Lots of sessions this afternoon, including one on natural history collections that has me a bit worried-DD was full of questions for the presenter on how you could preserve, say, a recently dead frog, and how exactly you go about doing a skeletal mount of, say, a recently dead snake. Um...I'm willing to accept the love animals, but I think I'd have a bit of problems with the dear departed Prince Naveen floating in a jar, or a bunch of dermstid beetles munching down on a dead snake....

 

DD also really got into some of the other sessions, especially one on TWRA research areas (her question was "how do I volunteer" and another that used bucket traps to sample salamanders (that particular presenter had a video of removing hundreds of salamanders from a trap-definitely of interest to DD. I told her she has to get approval before digging any holes in the yard....

 

Anyway, good conference so far-we get to do some field work in one of the TWRA areas tomorrow.

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The bio-blitz was great-5 (non-venomous) snake species (with multiple examples of three), three frogs, three salamanders, three lizards, and a newt. One of the snakes and a frog were not previously found in that park (it's an area of land that will eventually be a public park, but hasn't had clean-up done, trails cut, or anything like that yet). DD got her first snake bite (on her glove, so no injury at all), and is excited about it. She also found, and got permission to bring home, a snake skeleton (and a cat skeleton, and a head of a raccoon skeleton-the raccoon skull went back with one of the college groups). She's excited about that, too.

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If she's interested in animal skeletons, state wildlife agencies are a good place to contact. If they're going in old buildings (or other sheltered areas, where there are niches and mini-caves), that's where animals sometimes leave pretty intact skeletons behind. In less sheltered areas, they tend to get scattered.

 

Officially, there are usually age limits. In practice, as long as a parent is willing to go too and a child can listen and follow directions and actually be an asset to the team, we've found kids are welcome for most things.

 

 

 

 

 

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