Boarder Impacts

Reptiles and Our Culture

One of the reasons that I am a scientist is from public lectures and demonstrations that I attended as a child. Therefore, our research group strives to continue that tradition by giving public talks about the importance of native reptiles and amphibians; how they provide ecological services, serve as ecosystem health indicators, and their innate importance and cultural significance to our planet and our communities. Our outreach work uses live animals as tools to not only connect to the children of the events but also their family members. The use of native reptiles, especially pitvipers, demonstrate that even species that have a long history of human persecution (especially within the United States) have value as important members of natural and human communities while also being used to study broad and fundamental questions in behavioral ecology and evolutionary biology.