Snakes

What do you experience when you think of snakes? Fear? Fascination? Ever since the biblical serpent led Eve into temptation, humankind has had an ambivalent relationship with snakes.

In some cultures, snakes have been venerated. Nag Panchami is a Hindi holiday honoring a serpent deity. In other cultures, the snake's behavior of periodically shedding its skin is linked to medicine. For example, the Rod of Asclepius is a staff with a single snake coiled about it, the symbol of a Greek deity associated with healing. The caduceus, a rod with wings and two intertwined snakes, is associated with the Greek/Roman god Hermes/Mercury and is also sometimes used as a medical emblem.

On the other hand, some people associate snakes with poison and death. Ophidiophobia (fear of snakes) is among the most commonly reported phobias, affecting an estimated one out of every three people.

But what exactly are snakes?

Snakes are legless, scale-covered reptiles with unblinking eyes and forked tongues. Some have fangs. They play an important role in maintaining healthy, biologically diverse ecosystems. Snakes eat a variety of animals, including rodents, reptiles, birds, and frogs, and they serve as natural pest control agents by feeding on squirrels, mice, and rats. In addition, snakes are prey for other predators, including eagles and hawks.

Worldwide, there are approximately 3,000 species of snakes. The vast majority are harmless. In the United States, rattlesnakes, copperheads, coral snakes, and cottonmouths (also called water moccasins) are the four primary types of venomous snakes. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 7,000 to 8,000 people in the U.S. are bitten by venomous snakes annually. The bites result in approximately five deaths per year. For people who have been bitten by a snake, seeking immediate medical care is vital.

Learn More

If you're in central Virginia, consider attending a free presentation to be held at the Farmville-Prince Edward Community Library on Wednesday, March 15, 2017 beginning at 6:00 p.m.
Mike Clifford, co-author of Snakes of Virginia and educational committee chairman and past-president of the Virginia Herpetological Society, will present "Snakes in the Heart of Virginia." His talk will include live specimens, replicas, and other visual material. The evening's goal is to help people better understand these important, albeit often misunderstood, members of healthy ecosystems.

About Pier Press

Pier Press seeks to facilitate informed conversation at the intersection of science and spirit by promoting Biblical and scientific literacy. This article, along with additional links to resources for learning more, appeared in the March 10, 2017 issue of Observations: A Pier Press® Newsletter. Subscribe today to have future issues delivered directly to your inbox.

Orion's Belt

Look Up: Orion's Belt

February evenings provide an ideal time for observing the sky's great hunter, Orion. As winter opens and the summer constellations drift out of the night sky, Orion rises in the east appearing higher and higher after nightfall as the months move forward. During the evenings in February, he stands tall in the southern sky. Throughout the night, the constellation will slide toward the west and set after midnight.

Even without optical aid, and under moderately light-polluted skies, the main stars that form the constellation are easy to locate. Three stars that appear equally spaced with a similar appearance form a belt at the figure's waist: Alnitak, Alnilam, and Mintaka. Above them (at least from the perspective of a viewer in the northern hemisphere; in the southern hemisphere, the figure appears inverted) are two "shoulder stars," Betelgeuse and Bellatrix. The two stars at Orion's feet are Saiph and Rigel.

This seemingly simple stick figure includes a vast array of other stars, patterns, and deep sky objects. One beautiful sight that can be discovered using just a pair of binoculars is an open star cluster cataloged as Collinder 70. This group incorporates the three belt stars and contains more than 100 stars.

Orion's Belt, approximately as it appears through 9x63 binoculars (Image by Karen Bellenir based on a star field generated with (Stellarium 0.13.2) with permission made available under the GNU General Public License.)

Pier Press seeks to facilitate informed conversation at the intersection of science and spirit by promoting Biblical and scientific literacy. This article, along with links to resources for learning more, appeared in the February 17, 2017 issue of Observations: A Pier Press® newsletter. Subscribe today to have future issues delivered directly to your inbox.

An Endangered Bumble Bee

On January 11, 2017, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that the rusty patched bumble bee (Bombus affinis) would be added to the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife. The ruling will become effective February 10, 2017. In issuing its ruling, USFWS stated, "While the exact cause of the species' decline is uncertain, the primary causes attributed to the decline include habitat loss and degradation, pathogens, pesticides, and small population dynamics." Some researchers believe that one of the most significant contributors may have been the introduction of a disease from commercial bee colonies into wild populations.

The rusty patched bumble bee is one of the first bumble bees to appear in the spring when solitary queens begin their colonies. Queens continue egg laying throughout the hive's active months. Worker bees are produced during the summer. They are responsible for collecting food, defending the colony, and taking care of young bees. In late summer and early fall, potential new queens and males hatch. Young queens mate and store sperm over the winter, and the cycle begins again the next spring.

As recently as the 1990s, the rusty patched bumble bee was common across a broad region that encompassed 31 states and Canadian provinces. Subsequently, rusty patched bumble bee populations have declined, and since 2000 it has been reported in only 14 states and provinces. The reduction in territory represents an 87% loss of the species' spatial extent. Follow-up studies have documented continued declines.

For more information

"Endangered Species Status for Rusty Patched Bumble Bee," A Rule by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Federal Register, January 11, 2017.

"Rusty Patched Bumble Bee: The First Bee in the Continental US to be Protected Under the Endangered Species Act," by Sarina Jepsen, Director of Endangered Species and Aquatic Conservation, Xerces Society, January 11, 2017.

How you can help

Help monitor bumble bee populations. Learn more from Bumble Bee Watch.

Learn more about native pollinators: Attracting Native Pollinators: Protecting North America's Bees and Butterflies, the Xerces Society Guide. Available from the Pier Press Bookstore.