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Ok, I can now officially share :)


Dmmetler
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I'll be on another computer, moderating, just in case it's needed, but so far, my role has mostly been for DD to bounce ideas off of. She's handled almost all of it, from when Kirsten asked her if she was interested (after clearing it with me). We'll see how it goes. Most of the existing projects, like project HERP (which is a high school outreach at UNC-Greensboro) start with teacher instructions to "go catch a range of non-venomous reptiles and amphibians" and are very hands on. And all the outreach DD has done has been similar-start with the live animals and go from there. That can't be replicated online!

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I have to say, if I signed my kid up for an online class about herpetology and the next thing I knew there were a variety of (supposedly) non-venomous snakes and jumping slimy green creatures in my dining room, we'd switch right on over to meteorology or something.

 

Then again, that is most of the reason we signed up for meteorology in the first place (which of course DD ended up finding boring).  

 

Seriously, her class sounds like a lot of fun.

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Well, as far as I know, it is not possible to deliver animals remotely, so the only ones that DD is providing is via video :).

 

Realistically, even telling online students to go observe a captive snake may be problematic-not everyone has a local zoo, and what pet stores carry varies widely. ( And realistically, unless you get there right before a major storm rolls in, or on the day that the snakes know they are going to be fed once the zoo closes that night, there is a good chance that the students will observe a sleeping snake, curled up in a hide, visible as only a small patch of scales). If someone is on an island, there will be a good chance of NO snakes whatsoever, even in zoos (after the Brown tree snake debacle on Guam, most islands that have no native snakes don't want even captive ones, just in case).

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Congrats! My microbiologist though it was a class on Herpes virus until I asked him to read the word carefully!

That happens a lot to professional (and amateur) herpetologists. The vet disease folks who actually work with virology especially find it humorous-because herpesvirus is actually one of the most common viral diseases in aquatic and semi-aquatic reptiles and amphibians (where it is a cancer trigger). As a result, it is truly possible to be a herpetologist who specializes in herpes in herps!

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In one of my zoology courses in undergrad this book was assigned reading: https://www.amazon.com/HOLLOWS-PEEPERS-HIGHLANDERS-APPALACHIAN-MOUNTAIN/dp/0937058866 .  It's more geeky popular literature, but it was great as we had to write a similarly styled piece for our 'research' paper that year. It was very helpful as a scientist to write for a non-academic audience!  Food for thought for a class for slightly older kids at some point :)

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