Outreach Event at El Pueblo Center

Earlier this week, members of our lab participated in an outreach event for a summer camp program at El Pueblo Center in Tucson, Arizona. Our students began by telling the kids a bit about themselves and what they do as undergraduate researchers at The University of Arizona. After introducing the Stone Canyon Project, they began talking about and showing the kids each snake and the Gila Monster that they had. Thanks to John Bosak, we were able to show them a Gophersnake (Pituophis catenifer), a Variable Sandsnake (Chilomeniscus stramineus), two Common Kingsnakes (Lampropeltis getula), three species of rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox, Crotalus tigris, and Crotalus molossus), and a Gila Monster (Heloderma suspectum). The children at this summer camp had the opportunity to learn about these reptiles, ask questions, and handle the nonvenomous snakes. Most of the kids were interested in the reptiles that we had, and were very surprised to see a snake as small and harmless as the Variable Sandsnake.