snakes studied at Dinosaur Park

Friday was a good day for a student snake researcher at Dinosaur Provincial Park.

University of Calgary master’s student Adam Martinson and his assistant spend three hours a day checking 180 homemade traps set up in and around the perimeter of the park and along the highway where snakes travel.

It can be a hit and miss day, and to be prepared, large white ice cream buckets are tossed into the back of the pick up - one for each snake.

On Friday, Martinson and his assistant Ummat Somjee, a Simon Fraser University student found a rattlesnake and a bullsnake. Tito, the named rattler, and his new girlfriend, Mrs. Tito, were out sunning themselves on the shady side of a rock, easily detected by the team. To add to their day, one rattler broke the speed record crossing a road.

The team is working to keep all snakes and the Mrs. Titos safe, especially when crossing the roads during their year gestation period.

“Female snakes are sexually mature at five to seven years old. That’s probably one of the significant affects of road mortality - a mature female being killed. That’s a pretty huge impact,” Martinson said.

The U of C environmental design student has been at the park studying the affects of asphalt roads on the snake population.

Martinson is basing his hypothesis on a study done years ago in Georgia which found that a snake has a 20 per cent chance of survival on a road that carries 2,000 vehicles a day.

“If you cut that in half, they have a 40 per cent chance of dying on a road with 1,000 vehicles,” he said.
Through his early studies, Martinson has found that it can take up to 13 minutes to cross a paved highway.

“It’s very early, but generalized, bullsnakes cross the roads at a faster rate than rattlesnakes but still at a slow rate. One bullsnake took 13 minutes to cross the road. Bulls can move quickly when threatened or being chased by a snake researcher,” he laughed.

Rattlers, he said, are slower, more laid back. They have venom and are camouflaged, so they sit and wait to be seen.
The second phase of the study each day involves taking the snakes they caught and putting them to the test.
A portion of road in and out of the park is closed while the snakes cross.

They are released from a bucket turned upside down on the side of the road after two-minutes and the researchers wait.

Any movement whatsoever is noted and captured on a digital camera.

On Friday the bull snake just moved along the shoulder in the warm grass, which is typical. The rattler, caught early in the morning, didn’t move for 7:39 minutes and then suddenly decided to cross the 9.7 metre asphalt, making it to the other side in 2:09 minutes. A new record.
At the end of the day, after the snakes ‘race’ across the road, they are tagged, weighed, measured, given a quick check up and returned to the same spot they were trapped.
“We had some locals misunderstanding that we were locating snakes out of the park onto farm land,” said Brad Tucker, heritage appreciation program coordinator. “The snakes are being returned to their same area.”

When his thesis is finished and presented to the university, Martinson will provide recommendations to Dinosaur Park, Fish and Wildlife and the oil and gas industry.

All the reports will generally look at the wildlife-human conflict to minimize the effects on the wildlife.
Ultimately Martinson said, his goal is to have vehicles slow down during certain times of the year, but it’s hard to say what, if any of the options would be effective.
Martinson’s options include building underpasses, putting snake crossing signs into areas where there is a high density of traffic and snake dens especially in the spring when they leave their dens.

“It would be on a trial basis. I’m not really sure what would be most effective or have the greatest impact,” he said.

The research is being supported by the park itself which is providing lodging, some funds, a vehicle and general support for Martinson as part of their mandate of protection.

“How do we protect if we don’t fully understand how much wildlife is here and what their biology is?” said Brad Tucker.

He said the park became involved to help protect the snakes and humans as a result of encounters.

“It’s to protect humans and snakes because one of the ways to protect us both is to make sure those encounters are avoided, and when they do happen, they are positive and no one ends up dying,” said Tucker.

The study will wrap up in about four weeks.Martinson will return to university while working on his thesis which he hopes to defend in the spring.