Vol. 24 (2004), No. 5

MM AAYY 2004 V2004 VO L U M EO L U M E 24 N24 NU M B E RU M B E R 55

THE NEWSLETTER OF THE

OUR GUEST SPEAKER FOR MAY:DR. ADAM SUMMERS

“NEITHER EELS, NOR WORMS, NOREVEN ITALIANS - UNDERSTANDINGFORM AND FUNCTION IN THE LIMBLESSAMPHIBIANS”

Living With Reptiles isNot Just a Hobby… By Michelle Hewitt

Pigpen - A Eulogy by Ellen Heck

Plus.....

Quarter Million Sea TurtlesCaught Annually OnLonglines See article inside

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Bell Museum of Natural History, 10 Church Street Southeast, Minneapolis Minnesota 55455

The Minnesota HerpetologicalS o c i e t yMHS Webpage: http://www.mnherpsoc.orgMHS Group Email: http://www.groups.yahoo.com/group/mnherpsocMHS Voice Mail: 612.624.7065

Board of DirectorsPresidentRandy BlasusVice PresidentTony Gamble

Recording SecretaryBarb Buzicky

Membership SecretaryNancy Haig TreasurerLiz Bosman

Newsletter EditorBill Moss

Members at LargeHeather ClaytonNancy HakomakiMike Bush Jodi L. Aherns

CommitteesAdoptionSarah Richard EducationJan Larson

LibraryBeth Girard

WebmasterAnke Reinders

Herp AssistanceAmphibiansGreg Kvanbek John Meltzer

ChameleonsVern & Laurie Grassel

Crocodilians Jeff Lang Bill MossLizardsNancy Haig

Large Boas, PythonsTina Cisewski

Other SnakesJeff Leclere John Meltzer Aquatic TurtlesJohn Levell John Moriarty Terrestrial TurtlesFred Bosman 6John Levell

The Purpose of the Minnesota Herpetological Society is to:• Further the education of the membership and the general public in

care and captive propagation of reptiles and amphibians;• Educate the members and the general public in the ecological role

of reptiles and amphibians;• Promote the study and conservation of reptiles and amphibians.

The Minnesota Herpetological Society is a non-profit, tax-exempt organization.Membership is open to all individuals with an interest in amphibians and reptiles. TheMinnesota Herpetological Society Newsletter is published monthly to provide its memberswith information concerning the society’s activities and a media for exchanging informa-tion, opinions and resources.

General Meetings are held at Borlaug Hall, Room 335 on the St. Paul Campus of theUniversity of Minnesota, on the first Friday of each month (unless there is a holidayconflict). The meeting starts at 7:00pm and lasts about three hours. Please check theMHS Voice mail for changes in schedules or cancellations.

Submissions to the NewsletterAds or Notices must be submitted no later than the night of the General Meeting to beincluded in the next issue. Longer articles will be printed as time and space allows andshould be in electronic file format if possible. See inside back cover for ad rates.Submissions may be sent to:

-or-The Minnesota Herpetological Society Bill MossAttn: Newsletter EditorBell museum of Natural History10 Church St. SE.Minneapolis, MN 55455.0104 [email protected]

Copyright 2004, Minnesota Herpetological Society. Except where noted, contents may be reproduced for non-profit, non-commercial use only. All material must be reproduced without change. Proper credit will be given

including the author/photographer and the MHS Newsletter citing: volume, number and date.

The Newsletter of the Minnesota Herpetological Society May 2004 Volume 24 Number 5

The Vice-presidents reportBy Tony Gamble

May General Meeting

Friday, May 7th, 2004, 7:00 PM

Program: Neither eels, nor worms, nor evenItalians - understanding form and function in thelimbless amphibians

Guest Speaker: Dr. Adam Summers

Caecilians are limbless, primarily burrowing amphib-ians. There are over 160 species distributed in thehumid tropics throughout the world, yet they are poor-ly understood. The South American species,Typhlonectes natans, has been occasionally importedinto the aquarium trade over the years as Caecilianworms or Sicilian worms. Because of their presence inthe pet trade, this aquatic species is perhaps the onlycaecilian herpetoculturalists are familiar with.

Dr. Adam Summers' talk will examine locomotion andfeeding in caecilians. He has used high-speed video,cineradiography, and mathematical modeling to betterunderstand how caecilians move and live. He is par-ticularly interested in the function of the peculiarretroarticular process on the lower jaw of caeciliansand the loose connection between the skull and thejaw. He is also interested in caecilian locomotion.Like all limbless vertebrates, caecilians are capable of

swimming undulation and when confined in a burrowuse a unique, accordion-like form of locomotion calledinternal concertina. Dr. Summers has numerous pho-tographs of these odd and endearing animals as wellas video footage of locomotion. He will also discussthe difficulties associated with studying animals thatare seldom seen and even less frequently importedinto the U.S.

Dr. Summers is an assistant professor in Ecology andEvolutionary Biology and Biomedical Engineering atthe University of California at Irvine. He has a back-ground in engineering and his research focus looksinto the effects of material properties on the form andstructure of organisms, particularly sharks and rays.He writes a monthly column for Natural HistoryMagazine on Biomechanics that explores the applica-tion of engineering principles to biological problems.Dr. Summers was also a scientific advisor for the Pixaranimated film "Finding Nemo". Dr. Summers is a veryexciting and engaging speaker and this is a greatopportunity to learn more about the poorly-known cae-cilians.

Upcoming Meetings: Friday, June 4th, 2004 - TBA

South American caecilian Typhlonectes natans

© 1997 Henk Wallays

A Well-Deserved Thank Youby Jim Gerholdt

Over the years the members of MHS have alwaysbeen aware of what was (or wasn't) going on in theMinnesota Legislature in regards to reptiles andamphibians. Whether it was the bounty on rat-tlesnakes, or regulations in general. In the past thisinformation was passed on to us at the monthly meet-ings or through the Newsletter. It still is, but now it isalso posted on the MHS Listserve. Because of this,we have been able to make ourselves heard and influ-ence some of this legislation. Right now the issue isturtle trapping, but regardless of what the issue was,we have always been kept up to date. For this we oweJohn Moriarty a big thank you. He has been, and I'msure he will continue to be, on top of these issues forus, the members of MHS. So when you see him, besure to say thanks. Cover: South American Caecilians (Typhlonectes natans)

Photo copyright 1997 Henk Wallays, by permission


News, Notes & Announcements

Blanding’s Turtle volun-teers needed, June 2004

Volunteers are needed in June tohelp with a study on Blanding’s tur-tles at several Three Rivers ParkDistrict Park Reserves. Volunteersare needed in the eveningsbetween 6 and 9 pm to walk parktrails to look for moving or nestingBlanding’s turtles. Turtles will thenbe marked for future identification,and some will also have transmit-ters attached so they can be trackedby radio telemetry. The study is tak-ing place at Crow Hassan ParkReserve west of Rogers, Elm CreekPark in Osseo, and Murphy-Hanrehan Park in Prior Lake. If youare interested in volunteering atCrow Hassan or Elm Creek Parks,please contact Madeleine Linck atThree Rivers Park District, (555)555-5555. To volunteer at Murphy-Hanrehan Park, contact JeanineRefsnider at the University ofMinnesota, (555) 555-5555 or Wewill hold a short informational meet-ing at each park in late May to talkabout study area, methods, and tocoordinate schedules, and to signup as official Park District Blanding’sTurtle Monitors.

Volunteer OpportunityTo Assist the BellMuseum

The Bell Museum of NaturalHistory's amphibian and reptile col-lection needs volunteers to helpenter data into its new computerizeddatabase. The information in theold handwritten catalog needs to betyped into an Excel spreadsheetand converted into our database for-mat. We are looking for volunteersto take 5-6 photocopied pages fromour handwritten catalog and enterthe information into an Excelspreadsheet. This means that vol-unteers can enter data at home.The Excel spreadsheets can beemailed to museum staff when fin-ished. Photocopied catalog pagesand more detailed instructions canbe picked up at the May and JuneMHS meetings and all volunteerwork needs to be finished by midJuly, 2004. Please contact TonyGamble () for more information or tovolunteer.

Photo Contest Winners:Pick Up Your Photos

To those of you who’s photos I tookhome to scan for the newsletter, Ibrought them to the April meetingand will bring them again to theMay meeting. After that, those thatI still have will have to be deliveredor picked up by special arraign-ment.Thanks for understanding that Idon’t want to be carting photos toevery meeting. Bill Moss

How Time Flies.....

By the time you get this newslet-ter, there will only be a little overthree months till the RenaissanceFestival begins. That means it’stime for those of you who have notbeen there with the MHS to startthinking about it, and for others ofyou to begin planning costumingand other such preparations. Staytuned to these pages for futherinformation

Raffle Donors -- April

A special thanks to he followingpeople for donating to the MHS raf-fle

Donna CalanderLizard and Turtle magifyingglasses

April Speaker Reviewby Barbara Buzicky, MHS RecodingSecretary

Guest Speaker:Walt Sadinski, USGSDr. Sadinski is the director of theUpper Mississippi Region of ARMI,and he is located at the UpperMidwest Environmental SciencesCenter (UMESC) in La Crosse,Wisconsin. There are manyresearchers working at this center including experts in long-term moni-toring, biodiversity in the Midwest, bio-chemistry, physiology, ecotoxicology,mapping, modeling, GIS, and statis-tics. ARMI is the acronym forAmphibian Research and MonitoringInitiative. This program was createdby Congress and the President of theUnited States, in 2000. It is directedby the U. S. Geological Survey, part ofthe Department of the Interior, toundertake a national program forresearch and monitoring of amphib-ians. The Department of the Interiorreceives federal funding for its pro-grams, and ARMI receives approxi-mately four to five million dollars peryear. The primary responsibility of theU. S. Geological Survey is to develop,implement, and manage researchprojects.

The DOI has divided the con-tinental U.S. into 7 regions, NorthCentral, Northeast, Southeast, RockyMountain, Pacific Northwest, and theSouthwest. Minnesota is located inthe Upper Midwest Region namedNorth Central along with 12 otherstates. Overall, there are approxi-mately seventy-six species of amphib-ians in these states. In our region(North Central), the two amphibiansthat have had the largest declineoccurring are the Northern LeopardFrogs (Rana Pipiens) and Blanchard’sCricket Frogs (Acris Crepitans

Blanchardi). The ARMI project hasbeen a huge undertaking, and Dr.Sadinski discussed the key elementsand objectives of this research proj-ect.

The primary mission andexpectations of this research study isto establish baseline data, describetrends, and understand cause andeffect relationships.

Through the compilation of allthese factors, the DOI will enablemanagers and policy makers to makeimportant decisions in order toreverse the declines we are experi-encing at this time in the field.Amphibians have been decliningaround the world, and in particular, inCentral America and SouthwestAustralia.

The Department of the Interioralso wants to standardize samplingprocedures and establish a nationaldatabase containing usable and use-ful data.

The key elements of the ARMIregional effort focuses on multipleDOI sites, defining areas of inference,primary response variable-PAO,screening for disease, data on waterquality, data wide research, and part-nerships. Solid reasons for thedecline of amphibian populationsneed to be found, documented, andresolved. The study uses a pyramidmodel with three sections, the base,mid-level, and the apex. Using thismodel, the base represents the distri-bution of species, general inventories,amphibian atlases, and the integrationof other relevant national databases.The mid-level represents the core orARMI monitoring, PAO, basic environ-mental data, and species richness.The top or apex of the pyramid repre-sent sites, population estimates,demographic studies, detailed envi-ronmental data, and long termresearch.

In order to classify amphibiandeclines, three major classifications

are needed which are scale, threats,and climate changes. Scale refers tobiological scales such as biosphere’s,landscape, Eco-system, communitypopulation, and molecular biology.Threats refer to local threats such asdams, re-structured floodplains, log-ging, habitat destruction, habitat lossincluding fragmentation, agriculturalpractices, pesticide use e.g. high pes-ticide and herbicide use.

The last is climate change asamphibians have a high reliance onclimate and temperature. Severechanges of either high to low canhave detrimental effects on these sen-sitive populations especially thedeclining species.

Overall, scientists have beentroubled about the global decline ofamphibian populations for a coupledecades now, and the ARMI Project isworking on the interface of scienceand public policy in order to preservethese sensitive animals. USGSobjectives for 2002 were to developand implement projects for ARMI thatincluded inventory breeding sites inthree areas managed by the DOI,sample metamorphs and water atselect sites for analysis of malforma-tions and diseases along with indica-tors of water quality, and developcooperative efforts with regionalresearchers and resource managersfor assessing the status of amphib-ians across the region.

The plans for 2003 includecontinuing to inventory and monitorbreeding sites in refuges and parks inthe North Central Region, and identifyand establish sites for studying theNorthern Leopard Frog andBlanchard’s Cricket Frog. Lastly,through working with others tocompile meaningful data that is reli-able and usable in our research stud-ies.

§


Living With Reptiles is Not Just aHobby…By Michelle Hewitt

… Anymore. It’s a lifestyle. Reptiles haveinfused their way into almost every aspect of my lifeand my families lives. They’ve influenced how wespend our free time, how we allocate living space, oureducational goals, and even what type of house wehave. Most importantly, they’ve played an integral partin the types of friends we have today. Reptiles havebecome more than just a hobby to us.

Like many others who start out getting into rep-tiles my husband Sean and me started small. Our firstventure into the reptile world was with hand tameanoles. I was stuck in college dorms with no ability tohave a mammal as a pet. As we learned about them,we then “graduated” to bearded dragons. We neverrealized that that one dragon could change our lives somuch. Our first dragon, Sesha, was given everything abearded dragon could ever want. As she grew out ofher first 10 gallon aquarium, I was not aware that“Empty Cage Syndrome” would happen to myboyfriend- later to be husband. Well, it did. We foundourselves sharing a home with a normal corn snakehatchling.

From that point, it was easy to make the leapfrom 2 to 4 to then to 6 reptiles. Their cages werecrammed into the living room of our one-bedroomapartment. We found a brochure for the MinnesotaHerpetological Society in a pet store where we boughtcrickets and quickly became members and gotinvolved with their Hands-On programs.

Doing Hands-On events every month andsometimes every week prompted our need for evenmore animals. After all, we were constantly fightingover who could hold Sesha and being that many of ournewly acquired snakes were young, they were shed-ding often or still quite nippy. That made many of themdifficult reliable educational animals. Sean also volun-teered on the adoption committee. At one point we hada 14’ reticulated python foster animal. When one startscontemplating how to turn the coffee table into a cagefor a retic, it’s time to get a larger space.

We then rented a town home with an extrabedroom. The room was strictly for the animals andnot a home office like most people that had a spare

room and no kids would do. Oh this extra spaceallowed us to learn to build custom cages for them andno longer rely on fragile and awkward glass aquari-ums. It also allowed us to get a few more species. Ihad always wanted a monitor lizard and Sean wanteda carpet python. Two animals that would have beentoo big for the apartment were now possibilities for us.It also allowed us to become even more involved withthe Hands-On programs and Sean took up the positionas Education Coordinator for many years.

Admittedly, one of my reasons for going backto school and finishing my degree was to be able toafford the proper care of the animals we were acquir-ing. The hobby was getting expensive after all. Withthem as much of my incentive, I graduated with myBachelors degree.

Now that I was earning a decent wage, a newhouse was in order. Selling our current townhouserequired a mass exodus of the current collection to afriend’s house for a couple of months. Without the peo-ple we had met through MHS helping us by housing,caring for and helping move the animals, we’d never

have been able to sell our town home and get into anew larger place.

The animals were also a big factor in decidingthe type of house we were looking for. The one weended up getting had an unfinished basement that wecould customize for our reptile needs. The laundry


Sean, August and Michelle Hewitt at the MinnesotaRenaissance Festival in 2001

room was large enough to hold our current collectionas well as allow us to expand to a degree. There wasalso running water in the room and a large window forlight. We brought in a contractor to add extra electricalto the room and we had our second official “reptileroom.”

It’s now been 5 years since we bought thathouse and over 12 years since we bought that firstanole. Our anoles surprisingly lived for 6 years in ourcare and Sesha lived to be 10 before she passedaway. We’ve updated our wooden cages to plasticracks for ease of cleaning. Smaller snakes are our pri-mary focus now and we will always have at least onebearded dragon. We’ve even started breeding some ofthe animals.

Probably the strangest adjustment to our liveshas been our vacations- the one that truly makes us“reptile geeks” is our vacations are usually scheduledaround reptile symposiums or expos and typicallytaken with friends we’ve met through MHS. Even whenwe go to other towns we always have to find a reptilestore just to see what they have.

We now have a 3-year-old toddler runningaround the house and are thankful we have the luxuryof having one room dedicated to the animals that weare able to lock and keep his curious finger out ofcages. Many of our animals are quite docile, but I havea common saying in my house, “I don’t practiceDarwinism in my basement.” We choose not to get ridof our animals when we decided to start having a fam-ily. The animals were there first. We learned to alterour lives again and adopted a strict policy of washinghands immediately after leaving the reptile room. Thisrule has worked well for our situation.

Last, but certainly not least are the friends wehave met due to our reptiles. First and foremost, ourMHS friends are wonderful and we’ve obviously metthem through our reptile experiences. Yet, we’ve metother friends in other ways you wouldn’t imagine. Ifyou’ve never been to a work function, holiday party, orneighborhood block party and not been asked aboutthe “zoo” you have at home by someone, you haven’tlived. It’s an icebreaker on many conversationswhether the people like the animals or not. By the endof a long chat, typically it’s at least an hour where moreand more people are drawn into a conversation. Thosewho had the worst looks on their face at the beginningof the conversation are the fastest to ask if they can

come over and see the animals sometime with theirkids.

Had anyone had told me 15 years ago themajority of my life would revolve around reptiles; I’dhave said they were crazy. Now, if someone came tome and said in 15 years I wouldn’t have reptiles anylonger, I’d be incredibly upset and think they werecrazy. For many people, reptiles are just a hobby, onethat ends when the animal passes away or gets givenup to a rescue organization. For my family it’s a way oflife. It’s a lifestyle that I thoroughly enjoy living. It hastouched almost every aspect of my life. Thank youMHS for the wonderful opportunities over the yearsand for becoming a big part of my life.

Now, your challenge is to write your own biog-raphy of how retiles have influenced your lives andsubmit it to Bill Moss our wonderful MHS newslettereditor.


OK Folks..... I’m going to help you out

We need your original articles for the newsletter.Remember, there is a contest for the best articlesubmitted from January, 2004 until October, 2004.The winner, as judged by fellow MHS members anda team of judges, will receive a certificate fromBenda Photography for a portrait sitting and an 11”x 14” Heritage enlargement - a $283 value - FREE!

And now for the help.....

Human InterestI got my first (insert species here) when I was ( )and.......

Captive HusbandryThe care in captivity of the (insert species here)begins with ........

Natural HistoryThe (insert species here) is a native of (insert loca-ton here) living mostly in the......

OK now you do the rest - simple, huh?....but don’t all wait till the last issue or your articlemay not be published due to available space.


Durham, North Carolina, March 10, 2004(ENS)More than 250,000 loggerhead and60,000 leatherback turtles are esti-mated to be caught each year bythe commercial longline fishingindustry, and tens of thousands aredying, according tothe first globalassessment of theproblem. The study, byresearchers fromDuke University'sNicholas School ofthe Environmentand EarthSciences, was pub-lished in the March2004 online andprint editions of theresearch journal"Ecology Letters." First author wasRebecca Lewison,a research associ-ate at the DukeUniversity MarineLaboratory. Co-authors were LarryCrowder, who is theStephen TothProfessor of MarineBiology at Dukeand Sloan Freeman, also of Duke.Their research was funded by thePew Charitable Trusts. The problem is at its worst in thePacific Ocean, they found. Moreturtles "are killed than nest in thePacific," Crowder told a Februarysymposium on marine animal con-servation at the AmericanAssociation for the Advancementof Science 2004 annual meeting inSeattle. Although their numbers are esti-mates, the researchers say they

are firm enough to warrant thedevelopment of rules for fishingequipment and practices to reduceor avoid such losses. Longlines are lengths of monofila-ment fishing lines that can stretch

for 40 miles and dangle thousandsof individually baited hooks. Theyare set at optimal depths and timesto catch tuna and swordfish. Because the endangered logger-heads and leatherbacks frequentthe same zones where these long-lines are strung, many are eitherhooked attempting to swallow thebait or are entangled in the fishinggear. Such unintentional capturesare classified as "bycatch." "There have been few attempts toquantify the magnitude and extentof protected species bycatch even

for fisheries in which by catch isperceived as a pressing concern,"Crowder and his colleagues wrote."This is, in part, a consequence oflimited data." In the face of those shortcomings,

the Duke teamgathered avail-able turtlebycatch datafrom the 13nations that col-lect such infor-mation. Andthey extrapolat-ed estimates forareas like theIndian Oceanwhere by catchdata wasunavailable. They also col-lected the mostcurrent fishinginformation fromthree primarysources: TheI n t e r n a t i o n a lCommission fort h eConservation ofAtlantic Tunas,the Indian

Ocean Tuna Commission and theSecretariat for the PacificCommunity Oceanic FisheriesProgramme. To obtain a global picture, theresearchers then superimposedfishing and by catch data on a gridmap of all Earth's oceans. Theyalso added available demographicdata for loggerheads andleatherbacks. The published study located four"primary hotspots" for longline fish-ing - in the central and southernPacific Ocean, the southern

Quarter Million Sea TurtlesCaught Annually On Longlines

Olive-Ridley sea turtle hooked by a longline

Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea.Crowder said those longlining hotspots mark sectors where currentsconverge in a way that boosts theproductivity of marine life, which inturn attracts both hungry turtles andcommercial fish. The authors estimated that longlinefleets from 40 different countries set

about 1.4 billion hooks in the stud-ied year of 2000 - the equivalent ofabout 3.8 million hooks each day. As a result, longline fishing world-wide was "likely to have caught atleast 200,000 loggerheads and50,000 leatherback turtles in 2000,"they wrote. In an interview, Crowder said thatloggerheads tend to become bycatch much more frequently thanleatherbacks because loggerheadsare much more interested in nib-bling longline bait. "Leatherbacksvery often are not caught by beinghooked in the mouth, but they'resometimes hooked in a flipper orhave a line wrapped around theirflippers," he said. Using National Marine FisheriesService by catch mortality figures,the study estimated that "tens ofthousands" of the total hooked orentangled turtles ultimately diedfrom those encounters. Because they are air breathing, tur-

tles can often still surface after theyare snared, so most deaths are notcaused by drowning but by "injuryrelated to hooking or entangling,"Crowder said. Previous research, the study alsonoted, revealed that longlines set tocatch swordfish snare turtles at a 10times greater rate than tuna long-

lines. Crowder saidsuch a difference arisesbecause tuna longlinestend to be set deeper inthe water than thedepths where turtlestend to frequent, andduring daylight hours. Ideas under considera-tion to address the tur-tle by catch probleminclude substituting cir-cle-shaped longline

hooks for the present "J" shape, andaltering the kind of bait used. "The National Marine FisheriesService is proposing that circlehooks and changes in bait will large-ly solve the problem," Crowder said."I tend to think it's a recommenda-tion that is very promising, but notyet ready to implement in the fish-ery."

HerpDigest Vol 4 #29

photos www.seaturtles.org


Snake Man Killed ByCobraBANGKOK, Thailand (Reuters) --Thailand's Boonreung Buachan,holder of the Guinness Book ofWorld Records title for spendingthe most time penned up withsnakes, was killed by a cobra thatbit him during his daily show.

Boonreung, 34 and dubbed SnakeMan, was rushed unconscious toPrai Bung Hospital near his hometown, 350 miles northeast ofBangkok, Dr Wipa Praituan toldReuters on Monday."He was brought here with no signsof life. He wasn't breathing and hisheart didn't beat," she said.Boonreung was listed by the"Guinness Book of World Records"in 1998 after living with snakes in aglass box for seven days.An epileptic, he went into convul-sions after being bitten, but no onetook him to the hospital initiallybecause they thought he was suf-fering an epileptic fit.Boonreung's father said he wouldgive his son's 30 snakes to a zoobecause nobody in the familydared deal with them. §

Boonreung became famous afterliving with the snakes in a glassbox for seven days.


MHS Board MeetingReview

April 3, 2004by Barb Buzicky, Recording Secretary

The Board Meeting was called toorder at 6:19 PM CST at the St.Paul Student Center, Room 202.

All Board Members were present.Non-Board Members presentwere Jeff LeClere, Fred Bosman,and Marilyn Blasus.

Minutes from the February, 2003,meeting from last month receivedchanges, were passed out forreview. Minutes from the March 6,2004, meeting were approved withchanges. Treasurer’s ReportMarch, 2004, was approved.Combined Membership Report forFebruary and March, 2004, wasapproved.

General Meeting attendance forApril 2, 2004, was 128.

President’s Report: Randy con-tinued his series on BoardDevelopment this segment wason Understanding Board Reports.Randy read an excerpt on generalreporting and the importance ofhaving accurate information forrecord keeping. Each office wasdescribed in detail along with theduties involved. He asked theBoard to review the handout fornext month’s Board Meeting.

Vice-President’s Report:May: Adam Summers-CaeciliansJune:Noah Anderson, LouisianaHerpsJuly TBA

Committee Reports: Therewere no committee reports.

Old Business: The subject ofdeclining membership may notbe that severe as there are dupli-cate member numbers that needto be researched in the data-base. Feedback on glasses,most everyone liked them assomething different. MHS auditof books will occur this month.Discussion of new ideas for theWhite Snake Sale to streamlinethe process. A detailed handoutof the sale particulars was hand-ed out for review. The Boardvoted and approved keeping the$25 funds from Iguana intakes.

New Business: There are vol-unteers of land for the field sur-vey coming up in June. Randywill get more information. TheMHS Newsletter is on the web-site pending feedback. MHS isgetting more electronic, andbackup of MHS DATA needs tobe compiled and policy formulat-ed on process and storage. TheBoard approved $200 for vet billssubmitted by Barb Alt. The focusof the Quarterly DNR Meeting theend of April will be on cricketfrogs. Mike Bushwill be taking a leave of absencefrom the Board this summer foran internship.

Meeting adjourned at 8:02 PMCST.

§

Minnesota NongameWildlife ResearchReports Now AvailableOn-Line

Researchers, resource managers,and academics will find access tomany previously unpublishednongame wildlife research reportsat a new Web site recently devel-oped by the Minnesota Departmentof Natural Resources. TheDepartment's Nongame WildlifeProgram and Natural Heritage andNongame Research Program havesponsored hundreds of researchprojects in Minnesota over the past25 years, and the results of theseprojects are now available at:http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/ecologi-cal_services/nongame/projects/research_reports/index.html.The Web site contain summaries

of all nongame research projects.Also available at the site are the fulltext of all reports completed since1993, and instructions for obtainingcopies of older reports.


April 6th, Anke Reinders, Marilyn and Randy Blasus and Bill Moss provided animals and informa-tion to a class at the U of MN entitled “Perspectives”. Perspectives is a class that studies the rela-tionships between man and animals from many different points of view.Once again, MHS is able to provide a service to both the community and to reptiles and amphib-ians by making ourselves available for public venues such as this.

L to R Anke Reinders, Marilyn Blasus and Randy Blasus

Pigpen - 1991-2004by Ellen Heck

Pigpen may have been of the species known as thecommon snapping turtle, but she was anything butcommon. An outstandingly patient and forgiving ani-mal, she is the sole inspiration of the activity known atthe Minnesota Renaissance Festival as tortoise walk-ing, which has proved so profitable and fun for us overthe years.

Pigpen was housed in the alligator pond. For most ofthe time she would burrow down into the mud, thentake a quick dip to clean and cool off. Such occupa-tion in part led to her name, since this would yield aclean turtle and a dirty pond. Every so often however(ok, several times a day) wanderlust would hit and shewould start to climb the fence in search of greener (ormuddier) pastures. The problem was that she wouldoften fall back onto the rocks, stranding herself on herback and earning many cuts and bruises. Even if shemanaged to reach the top, it is a 4-6’ drop, either to theground or more rocks.

Rather than fight all day with this, she would be sentout with a handler to walk. I was often given this taskand invented the character of a hapless shepherdess,whose sheep had been frightened off by the many

Scotsmen about andso had been demot-ed to herding turtles.We allowed no pet-ting, but still man-aged to impressmany people withthe sight of a docilesnapping turtle wan-dering about and the

fact that, although the cabriolet drivers yielded for noman, they would swerve to avoid the “medieval speed-bump”.

Pigpen had a unique walking style. Since snappingturtles have relatively little shell underneath, she kepta goodly ground clearance, lurching along likeFrankenstein’s monster after a night on the town. Shewould also walk perhaps 10-20 paces at a time, thenslowly collapse for a bit of a breather before lurchingoff again. Another thing about Pigger was that she

was a one-way walker. Afterawhile, when she would tire, shewould have to be picked up andcarried back to the Cottage. Wealways created a stir as peoplestopped to gape, then laugh at thesight of a snapping turtle, legsdangling limply, being carriedalong.

She never tried to snap or bite atthe handling, even when it includ-ed a rather gaudily decorateddonation basket, nor did she everdisplay any aggression towardsthe many patrons who stopped tolook, even when they made unflat-tering comments about soup. Ieven had one gentleman grab herby her tail and drag her backwardsabout a foot before I could pushhim away (he said “that’s how youplay with them” but left when Ithreatened to do the same to him).Pigpen took it in stride, merelylooking puzzled at the fact that,although she was walking for-wards, she was moving back-wards.

No one who worked the pond willforget this remarkable animal. Ithink my favorite memory of herwas the last weekend of the run 2years ago. It was a somewhat cold cloudy day,around 45-50 deg with occasional spurts of rain. I wassitting on the back fence with my feet resting on theedge of the pond, talking to the patrons who walkedby. After awhile I looked down and saw that Pigpenhad crawled most of the way under my skirt, since itwas, after all, a few critical degrees warmer underthere. When I pulled the skirt up she looked up at meas if saying “Oy! Close the door; it’s cold out there!”

editors note: The cause of death of is unknown as she was notnecropsied. She will indeed be missed out at Festival as well asin my home, where she resided for a dozen years. I want to thankEllen for writing this rememberance, she truely captured theessence of the turtle we affectionately referred to as“Pigpen”.


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Vol. 24 (2004), No. 5

Documents

Transcript of Vol. 24 (2004), No. 5