Snakes are misunderstood. They are an important part of the food web, and many of them eat rodents - vectors for zoonotic diseases. There are over 42 species in Georgia, and only six of them are venomous (there is no such thing as a poisonous snake)! While there are over a thousand reported snake bites every year, there are only an average of 5 deaths per year across the entire United States. Most folks who get bit are trying to remove or harass a snake, and they are typically bitten in the arm. The most important thing you can do is learn to identify different snakes in your area (for example: there are no Water Moccasins in Cobb County, but there are five other large, non-venomous water snakes) and pay attention when you are hiking in the woods or playing around leaf litter or fallen trees. Here are four common snakes that do have some similar coloration. The only dangerous one is the Copperhead, the ONLY venomous snake in Cobb County. Learn more about snakes of Georgia at the Chattahoochee Nature Center or here: http://srelherp.uga.edu/snakes/.
Worm Snake, non-venomous, pencil-sized
Brown Snake, non-venomous, pencil-sized
Corn Snake, aka Red Rat Snake, non-venomous
Copperhead, VENOMOUS
We are taking a look at chemical changes in fifth grade. For the last two weeks we've learned how transportation choices affect the air quality in Georgia, and participated in a nation-wide cartoon strip contest to educate our peers - this week we are creating homemade ground-level ozone detection strips. Ground-level ozone is harmful to breathe in; we really just want it higher up in the atmosphere to help protect us from the sun's rays.
Afterwards we pulled some weeds in the Nature Nook to make room for crops, and along the way found feathers from a bird we think was eaten by a hawk!
