HERALD-ARGUS (LaPorte, Indiana) 30 July 07 Snaking on by at Washington Park Zoo (Mary Allen)

How many people does it take to measure an 11-foot Burmese Python?

It’s not a joke -- there is a valid reason why someone would want to measure a python.

Part of the job of keeping a zoo is to insure the animals are healthy. Saturday was Reptile Day at Washington Park Zoo, Michigan City -- the day the reptiles were examined. Iguanas, tortoises and various snakes were among those reptiles individually placed in a plastic container, set on a scale and their weight recorded. Following this, each creature was stretched out, measured and paraded among the group. Touching was not only allowed, but encouraged.

“This is our actual annual physical, which we used to do behind the scenes, but now we do in public,” said Johnny Martinez, zoo director.

Special events such as Reptile Day double attendance at the park. The close contact along with the information does much to lessen unnecessary fear of these creatures. Martinez stressed that most the reptiles brought out for the exhibit were harmless to humans.

Guessing the measurements of each animal was a popular and sometimes surprising activity. Without picking it up, how can anyone tell how much the armor-like shells of a tortoise weigh? A long, strong, wiggling snake can look much heavier than it actually is.

“Oh look at the baby,” cried one girl, proving even baby snakes are adorable when they’re as round as a pinkie finger, twice as long and easily fit into the palm of a hand.

“Snakes are all about muscle and can hold themselves suspended or vertical. The heart runs one third of the body in an elongated fashion and the lungs are longer than that, running about half the length of the body,” explained Martinez as a snake entwined itself up his arm.

“A snake doesn’t have legs so it’s not going to get up and chase you -- it doesn’t have arms. It’s not going to grab you. It basically slithers around and helps control the insect population. When he gets bigger, he eats rodents, helps prevent spread of disease and is considered a farmer’s friend.” Martinez added, “If it wasn’t for this animal we’d be up to our armpits in rats and mice.”

While a few of the children weren’t too sure about the snakes, most professed, “They don’t scare me.” They proved it by boldly stroking the king snake, corn snake, boa constrictor and python and discovered that the snakes weren’t slimy, but smooth.

An 8-inch diameter PVC pipe about 15 feet long with holes and measurement markings along the top was used to measure the larger snakes. The snake was allowed to crawl through the pipe, or if resistant, backed in by hand and extended. This required Martinez and several zoo personnel working hard to insert the snake, stretch it out and hold it in place long enough to measure it.

While the number in the crowd changed as people came and went, one boy, Billy Kavourairis, who likes snakes, stayed for the entire time and said, he was most impressed “by how long the Burmese Python was.”

In the case of the 11-foot, 44.1-pound Burmese Python, it took every one of seven people to make the coiled animal into a straight line.
Snaking on by at Washington Park Zoo

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