ARIZONA DAILY STAR (Tucson) 23 June 05 Snakes are fascinating and valuable in Sonoran Desert (Edward Moll)
Would you believe that, among your wild desert neighbors, there are beasts that smell with their tongues, swallow prey bigger than their heads, and have hundreds of ribs, two copulatory organs and a single functional lung, but no eyelids, ear openings, or limbs? You should.
They are the reptiles that we call snakes.
Though common, snakes are among Tucson's most fascinating and valuable vertebrates, and this is the season when you are most likely to encounter them on your desert excursions.
Next time you are fortunate enough to cross paths with a snake, instead of turning tail in ignominious retreat, hold your ground and watch the animal for a while. It can be both an educational and enjoyable experience.
Just observing how a limbless creature can move so powerfully and gracefully over the ground boggles the mind. As you watch its sinuous movements, consider the coordinated actions of the hundreds of muscles attached to the hundreds of ribs, some working together, others in opposition, that produce this movement. Watch how the body follows the head into a loose series of "S" shaped curves, pushing off the back of each curve, as the free posterior edges of the broad belly scales catch minute irregularities, providing purchase for the movement.
Observe the cleft tongue darting intermittently from the mouth, sampling the environment. With each retraction, the tongue deposits small smidgens of scent into paired openings on the snake's palate (the organs of Jacobson) for analysis. In this way the animal follows the odor trail of either its prey or members of the opposite sex, depending upon whether its interest is eating or mating.
The above is but a small sampling of the remarkable things one can learn just by spending a little time watching these legless denizens of the desert.
However, as stated in the first paragraph, snakes are valuable as well as fascinating.
Among the most commonly encountered backyard snakes are the harmless gopher snake and the common kingsnake. These are the snakes you should most want sharing the property with you.
The gopher snake, a large, brown and tan constrictor, makes a living eating rodents and rabbits. It thus helps to rid your yard of mice and rats that carry diseases as well as gnaw on your house, your automobile's wires, and the memorabilia and other treasures squirreled away in the garage. In addition, gopher snakes provide security for your vegetable garden, flowers, and young shrubs by reducing the rabbit population.
Kingsnakes are beautiful, shiny black and yellow banded serpents that consume other snakes as well as rodents and help keep your property free of rattlesnakes. Now who could ask for any better wild neighbors than these?
If you go
Aspiring herpetologists can find out more about reptiles by attending the Reptile Ramble, a weekly tour at Tohono Chul Park, 7366 N. Paseo del Norte, Fridays at 10 a.m. through the end of October.
The ramble provides opportunities to talk with herpetologists as well as to observe reptiles in their natural environment and up close and personal.
Snakes are fascinating and valuable in Sonoran Desert