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What don't we know?
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by asud on February 6, 2009
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This is a real generalist sort of a question:
In your opinion, what are the big questions still remaining about venomous snakes--behavioral, ecological, toxicological, etc.?
I know it's probably fatuous to speak of a cohesive vanguard when it comes to research and observation what with all the many and disparate projects ongoing. But are there two or three areas of inquiry that are getting a lot of attention/funding/captured peoples' imaginations at the moment?
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RE: What don't we know?
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by pictigaster1 on February 6, 2009
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I think its genetics and origin of species.What exactly makes a subspecies or if any truely exist or are they just a color or geographical variant.These are questions that are being asked .Some of the answers we dont like some we do.Oh and tattoos an ponytails.
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RE: What don't we know?
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by BobH on February 7, 2009
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Adam while we do know a lot about a few species in a few specific localities, we don't know lots of details about the life history and geographic variation for really any species. There is much to be learned from foods throughout life; predators, seasonal movement patterns, diseases, parasites, and even variations in reproductive behavior (mate selection for an example). Many of the remaining question require long term data that usually can't be gathered by graduate students who are only avaiable for a couple of years of study before they move on. You should look at the great long term studies done by Henry Fitch and a long succession of his student in Kansas. While they looked at lots of species it is unlikely that you would get the same answers even from the same species in the northeast or southeast. Trying to get this kind of data is confounded by lots of factors like most people don't stay in the same place for all their lives and even if they did, it is likely that the place they are studying their critters in will go through dramatic changes over the next 20 to 30 to 50 years. There are few if any species that one can construct a life table for. This is essentially following a cohort of animals from birth to death. We spend millions of dollar every year figuring this out for humans (this is how they figure how much to charge you life insurance for! but not for snakes.
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RE: What don't we know?
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by ssshane on February 7, 2009
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I too have a bald head, and just this week shaved my "deer season" beard back into a goatee???
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RE: What don't we know?
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by Rob_Carmichael on February 7, 2009
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This is a great topic of discussion and one I just had with some colleagues a week or two ago. Bob really hit much of it on the head. There's still a lot of work to be done in venom research as it pertains to finding new cures for many diseases. We are still learning about how venom composition changes in some populations depending on prey preferences and other variables. For me, one of my interests is in conservation. In this part of Illinois, the eastern massasauga has all but disappeared. Thanks to the efforts of the Northeast Illinois Massasauga Recovery Team (made up of folks from the IDNR, USFWS, Lake County Forest Preserve and several other agencies and conservancy groups), these snakes now have a fighting chance. Can a translocation program work? Can captive bred, head started specimens be used to provide founder animals in new populations? If translocation is an option, can we realistically move animals from populations over 50 miles away into new habitat? We have research to show that all of these possibilities typically fail, however, that is only based on different species of rattlesnakes. When I had a chance to talk to Dr. Fitch at the Biology of the Rattlesnake Symposium I spoke at a few years ago he told me point blank, "Rob, until we try, we'll never know if this project will work." With all things being equal, you have to be willing to try.
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