We're in Shaunavon at the moment, and Lenny's talking to the crowd about snapping turtles while I write this entry! Our program at Grasslands National Park went very well, and was extra interesting since we teamed up with the local ambulance service and some researchers from the University of Regina to talk about rattlesnake safety and some current research activity about reptiles in the area.
We managed to fit in time for a hike before the show, and we were lucky to find a 160 cm bullsnake- by far the biggest I've ever seen in the wild, and the researchers told us they haven't seen one that big yet this year! We were hoping to find short-horned lizards, but didn't have any luck with that. After the show, we went out to a different spot, where we saw prairie dog colonies, and a pronghorn- North America's fastest land animal. Pretty neat!
This morning, we got up at 4:30 to go out with Jessica and Ashley, the two researchers who are studying bullsnakes and eastern yellow-bellied racers. They have a number of snakes with radio transmitters implanted so they can track their movements, so we got to help locate them. Too bad they were all still hiding in animal burrows- they hadn't emerged for the day yet! It was still very interesting to try using the radio telemetry equipment, and talk with Jessica and Ashley about their research. We hope to go out with them again next Saturday; hopefully we'll get to see more snakes!!