KHS Spring Field Trip Results

NEWS RELEASE
Kansas Herpetological Society
27 April 2009

KHS SPRING 2009 FIELD TRIP RESULTS
Over one thousand amphibians, turtles, and reptiles observed

The weather was perfect for the event: warm and moist with tornadic conditions. The place
of the event was magnificent: four square miles of hills, ridges, and mounds covered with
flat rocks. This was enough to lure 183 members and friends of the Kansas Herpetological
Society away from their time-sucking televisions and computers to attend the group’s
annual spring field trip this weekend. Why? To search for reptiles, amphibians and turtles,
and identify and count them.

The group of scientists, teachers, naturalists and interested folks turned up a total of 1112
individual animals representing 39 different species or kinds. Great Plains Skinks (a kind of
lizard) were the most numerous reptile found, with 119 individuals observed; Eastern
Collared Lizards were tallied at 84, Flathead Snakes numbered 70, and 33 Common
Kingsnakes were recorded. Venomous snakes were in abundance, causing everyone to use
caution where they placed their hands and feet, and particularly where they sat.
Massasaugas, the smallest of Kansas rattlesnakes, numbered 39, while 3 Copperheads
were counted. Participants with cameras had great opportunities to photograph some of
many colorful creatures seen.

Notable finds included three new records for Chase County, a Smallmouth Salamander, a
Slider (a basking turtle) and a Graham's Crayfish Snake. None had previously been officially
reported from the county.

Most animals were immediately released in the vicinity of their capture, though some
animals were retained by herpetologists with current Kansas Scientific Collecting Permits
for research use by qualified investigators.

KHS conducts semiannual field trips to broaden understanding of the distribution and
abundance of reptiles, amphibians and turtles in the state. The public is invited to attend
what is now becoming one of the largest biological field events ever staged in Kansas (and
maybe the largest such herpetological event in the nation), much of it due to the efforts of
KHS Field Trip Chairperson Dan Murrow and KHS Media Chairperson Robin Oldham.

The next KHS field trip will be held October 2-4, 2009 in Ness County, Kansas, at
Goodman State Fishing Lake. The group’s annual meeting is scheduled November 6-8,
2009 at MidAmerica Nazarene University in Olathe. For more information about the fall
field trip and annual meeting, go to

http://www.cnah.org/khs