Tag Archives: herpetology

Episode 105: A Conversation with Dr. Thomas K. Pauley

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Hello everyone and welcome to Episode One Hundred and Five!  And I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there.

SMP Patrons! I want to thank Rich Takmajian for his contribution to the So Much Pingle podcast, via Patreon. Much appreciated, Rich, thank you so much.  And as always, I am grateful to all the show’s patrons who help to keep the show moving forward. And if you’re out there listening and you would like to kick in a few bucks, it’s easy to do, you simply go to the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can support the show for as little as three bucks a month – less than a fancy cup of coffee! You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com).

I recorded this episode back in early September, while the show was still on hiatus.  I was invited to give a presentation at the West Virginia Herpetological Society’s annual meeting, which was held this year at the New River Gorge. I can’t go any further without giving a shout-out to the good folks of the West Virginia Herp Society.  It’s a great group that focuses on that important three-legged stool of education, conservation and appreciation. This is not people sitting around talking about their ball pythons, these folks are well-versed in the herpetofauna of their home state and ongoing research and conservation efforts. Their meetings are family friendly and visitor friendly – in fact there were a lot of folks at the annual meeting that came from other states.

Thanks especially to Jared Cain, Josh Stover, Jon Tinney and Dylan Cooper for not only inviting me, but for making me and all the other attendees feel welcome and included. And, thank you all as well for arranging my interview with Dr. Thomas K. Pauley. Dr. Pauley and I talked at a picnic pavilion on a very chilly Sunday morning, and I am sure you will love this conversation as much as I did.

Thanks for talking with me, Dr. Pauley!  And thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, tips for herping better, etc.

-Mike

Episode 104: Project Obscurus with Tony Daly-Crews

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Hello everyone and welcome to Episode One Hundred and Four!  I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there, including all the folks who are recovering in the aftermath of hurricanes Helene and Milton.

As always, I am grateful to all the show’s patrons who help to keep the show moving forward. And if you’re out there listening and you would like to kick in a few bucks, it’s easy to do, you simply go to the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can support the show for as little as three bucks a month – less than a fancy cup of coffee!  PLEASE NOTE:  Starting in November 2024, Apple will be charging a 30% fee for any Patreon transactions made through an iPhone or iPad using the Patreon app.  To get around this, go directly to Patreon.com, or use an Android device. If you already contribute to So Much Pingle, nothing changes, unless you decide to change how much you contribute.  In that case use an Android device or a computer to access the Patreon web site to make your changes, and avoid the ridiculous 30% fee. One-Time Donations: You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com). And thank you!

I recorded this episode back in late August while the show was on hiatus, after seeing a post on social media about an effort to conserve and recover the New Mexico Ridgenosed Rattlesnake, Crotalus willardi obscurus.  My ears went up like Scooby Doo and I immediately went in search of someone to talk to about it and as it turns out, Tony Daly-Crews was involved. You may remember my conversation with Tony about the Rattlesnake Conservancy, back in episode 53. Obscurus is the stuff of legend, a snake barely entering the United States and a rattlesnake that a lot of field herpers would like to see.  If you’ve read any of Carl Kauffeld’s books you’re familiar with his account of looking for this snake in the Animas mountains of New Mexico. If you haven’t, check out the chapter entitled “Follow Me” in the book “Snakes: The Keeper and the Kept” from way back in 1969.

You can help the Rattlesnake Conservancy in many ways via their website, savethebuzztails.org, either by donations or through their merch store. You can also participate in some of their events.

Thanks for talking with me, Tony!  And thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, tips for herping better, etc.

-Mike

Episode 103: New California Field Guide with Bob Hansen and Jackson Shedd

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Hello everyone and welcome to Episode One Hundred and Three!  And while we’re at it, I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there, including all the folks who are recovering in the aftermath of hurricanes Helene and Milton.

As always, I am grateful to all the show’s patrons who help to keep the show moving forward. And if you’re out there listening and you would like to kick in a few bucks, it’s easy to do, you simply go to the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can support the show for as little as three bucks a month – less than a fancy cup of coffee!  PLEASE NOTE:  Starting in November 2024, Apple will be charging a 30% fee for any Patreon transactions made through an iPhone or iPad using the Patreon app.  To get around this, go directly to Patreon.com, or use an Android device. If you already contribute to So Much Pingle, nothing changes, unless you decide to change how much you contribute.  In that case use an Android device or a computer to access the Patreon web site to make your changes, and avoid the ridiculous 30% fee.

You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com). And thank you!

In early October I sat down with Bob Hansen and Jackson Shedd, to talk about their new book, California Amphibians and Reptiles, a Princeton Field Guide.  I’m very excited about this, as I am sure many of you are, because California is most deserving of a good field guide and now I won’t have to rely on Robert Stebbins’ Western Field Guide so much, even though the old Stebbins guide is a masterpiece in its own right. I’ve known for a while about this book, and I made a mental note to check in with Bob and Jackson at the appropriate time to discuss it, which is now, because the book is available for pre-order this week, mid-October 2024, with delivery in January of 2025.

Here is the pre-order link at Princeton University Press

Thanks for talking with me, Jackson and Bob!  And thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, tips for herping better, etc.

-Mike

Episode 102: Crossing Wallace’s Line with Rory and Dan

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Hello everyone and welcome to Episode One Hundred and Two!  And while we’re at it, I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there, including all the folks who are recovering in the aftermath of hurricanes Helene and Milton.

Well my summer hiatus is over and it’s time to start cranking out the content once again. I really needed a break, not only to get the creative juices flowing again, but to also build a little backlog of recorded episodes and to solve some technical issues.  Many technical issues actually, but it’s good to be back in the chair and talking with you all.

As always, I am grateful to all the show’s patrons who help to keep the show moving forward. And if you’re out there listening and you would like to kick in a few bucks, it’s easy to do, you simply go to the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can support the show for as little as three bucks a month – less than a fancy cup of coffee!  PLEASE NOTE:  Starting in November 2024, Apple will be charging a 30% fee for any Patreon transactions made through an iPhone or iPad using the Patreon app.  To get around this, go directly to Patreon.com, or use an Android device. If you already contribute to So Much Pingle, nothing changes, unless you decide to change how much you contribute.  In that case use an Android device or a computer to access the Patreon web site to make your changes, and avoid the ridiculous 30% fee.

You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com). And thank you!

In late August and early September I spent three weeks in Indonesia, starting with Bali, and then moving east to Flores and Komodo and Rincha in the Lesser Sundas chain, and then finishing up the trip with some days in southwestern Borneo.  The trip was organized by Dr. Andrew Durso, who you may remember from season 3 episode 65, and Dave Davenport of EcoQuest Travel.  The trip was built around the World Congress of Herpetology, held in Borneo this year, and so we had some herpetologists on the tour, including Rory Telemeco and Dan Warner. I recorded an interview with Dan and Rory at a hotel layover in Surabaya, Java, they were gracious enough to give me a chunk of their time.  We talked about some of our experiences on the trip and then we got into some of the herp research projects that these gentlemen are working on.

Thanks for talking with me, Rory and Dan! And thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, tips for herping better, etc.

-Mike

 

 

Episode 101: Hiatus Mini-Episode

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Hey folks, as always, I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there.

This is just a little episode marking the beginning of a show hiatus.  When I was a kid, the auto plant in my town would occasionally shut down for a few months, for “re-tooling” – something necessary when they switched from making sedans to making mini-vans, for example. That’s what is happening with So Much Pingle – some re-tooling.  I have some new software to learn, a review of the entire production process needs to happen, I’ve got to come up with a plan to convert and upload existing episodes to YouTube, and get some kinks ironed out with SMP merchandise.  All that is difficult to do when I’m working to bang out episodes, so I’m taking a few months off to catch my breath, think some thoughts, and then bring the show back online. A little summer vacation. 100 episodes is a good pausing place.

Thanks to Josh Holbrook for stepping in and helping me explain what’s up!  And thanks for listening everyone! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, should you have any questions or comments during the short time off.

See you all soon and thanks!
-Mike

 

Episode 99: All the Venom in Amazonia

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Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Ninety Nine!  And while we’re at it, I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there.

This show is dedicated to the memory of Gary Pinson.  Gary lived over in the Missouri Ozarks and every October he and his family would come over to Snake Road in southern Illinois, which is where I first met him.  It got to be a thing every year, meeting up with Gary and his crew, walking and talking on the road.  He was a good man, a gentle man, with a twinkle in his eye and always ready with a story.  I will miss him and so will so many other folks who come down to Snake Road on the regular.  My sympathies to Preston, Gregory, Amy and the rest of the Pinson family – I’m quite sure Gary’s at a McDonald’s somewhere.

As always, I am grateful to all the show’s patrons who help to keep the show moving forward. And if you’re out there listening and you would like to kick in a few bucks, it’s easy to do, you simply go to the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can support the show for as little as three bucks a month – less than a fancy cup of coffee! You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com).

Just prior to heading down to Peru in May, I heard from Devon Graham, who is the director of Project Amazonas. Devon told me our group would be sharing the Santa Cruz field station with some folks doing venom research, and that certainly sounded intriguing, Arriving at Santa Cruz we met with Ella Guedouar, Carter Haley, and Grant McCargar, and we got a peek at the research they were conducting.  A very gracious trio, they were cool with me and Josh and all of his students doing some shoulder surfing as they extracted venom and worked up their serpent subjects.  And they graciously agreed to talk with me about their research.

Thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, tips for herping better, etc.

-Mike

Episode 97: Dr. Emily Taylor: Cali Snakes & Rattle Cams

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Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Ninety Seven!  And while we’re at it, I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there.

I just got back from a great herping trip to Suriname.  You may remember my conversation with Dick and Lieke back in episode 79 and it was fun to go visit and see how they operate herp tours there, and the answer is they do very well.  I was with a small group and we saw a lot of fabulous herps.  At any rate I am back home for just a few days, allowing me to get this time sensitive episode assembled and in your ears, so to speak.  I return to Peru in just a few days to assist Josh Holbrook with his tropical ecology class, so the next episode will come out in early June.

SMP Patrons! I want to thank James Burnham for his contribution to the So Much Pingle podcast, via Patreon. Much appreciated, James, thank you so much.  And as always, I am grateful to all the show’s patrons who help to keep the show moving forward. And if you’re out there listening and you would like to kick in a few bucks, it’s easy to do, you simply go to the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can support the show for as little as three bucks a month – less than a fancy cup of coffee! You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com).

Oh yeah. If you’ve been with the show from the early days or you’ve worked through the back catalog of episodes, you may recall me talking with Dr. Emily Taylor way back in Episode 12.  Well Emily is back with some exciting topics and it’s always a pleasure to talk with her and catch some of that vibrant energy she has. And below are some links for books and cams and papers:

Order link for the California Snakes book and other merchandise

Project Rattlecam website, and Project Rattlecam on YouTube

Link to Savannah Weaver and colleague’s paper on Blunt-nosed Leopard Lizards. Open access.

Link to paper “Effects of relational and instrumental messaging on human perception of rattlesnakes” Open access

Thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, tips for herping better, etc.

-Mike

 

Episode 96: Origin Stories VIII with Dane, Lucas & Brady

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Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Ninety Six!  And while we’re at it, I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there. It’s the last Sunday in April which means that this is the last episode in Season Four – we start Season Five on the first of May and I should have a show out around the middle of May, after I return from a trip to Suriname.

And as always, I am grateful to all the show’s patrons who help to keep the show moving forward. And if you’re out there listening and you would like to kick in a few bucks, it’s easy to do, you simply go to the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can support the show for as little as three bucks a month – less than a fancy cup of coffee! You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com).

HERPETOLOGY CAMP FOR HIGH SCHOOLERS!  Don’t forget, Professor Josh Holbrook will be hosting another herpetology camp this year at Montreat College in North Carolina, The first week will be held June 23-28, 2024, and an extension will be held June 16-21, 2024 (the week before). For more information, see the Herpetology Camp link at www.montreat.edu/compass  

This episode is the last set of origin stories that I recorded on my second Peru trip in February of this year.  Starting us off is a conversation with Dane Conley, followed by a tag-team interview with Lucas Dunn and Brady McGowan.  Thanks guys!  It was good to talk with you all!

Thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, tips for herping better, etc.

-Mike

Episode 95: Massasaugas with Dr. Mike Dreslik

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Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Ninety Five!  And while we’re at it, I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there.

SMP Patrons! I want to thank a couple of new Patreoners! – Derek Gillespie and Paul Duren, thank you both so much for supporting the show!  Much appreciated!  And as always, I am grateful to all the show’s patrons who help to keep the show moving forward. And if you’re out there listening and you would like to kick in a few bucks, it’s easy to do, you simply go to the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can support the show for as little as three bucks a month – less than a fancy cup of coffee! You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com).

Well, if you’re a fan of the longer episodes then you are in luck – this one was a bit of a challenge, with 13 individual recordings to stitch together, and all recorded in the field to boot.  In late March I spent a long day in the field with Dr. Michael Dreslik, or Drez as folks call him, and his field team, doing field surveys for Massasaugas here in my home state of Illinois.  Mike has been studying saugas for a quarter century now, and it seemed like a good time to check in with him.

Lots of parts to this episode – there’s an interview with Mike to start off, and then we go out in the field to look for massasaugas.  I also talked briefly with everyone on Drez’s survey team, and these little vignettes are scattered throughout the episode.  I briefly touch base with Mike near the end, and then the last is a chat with Xander Perelman,  who is Mike’s PhD candidate, where we talk about some of the other interesting projects that he is working on with saugas and pygmy rattlers, as part of his PhD work.  Oh yeah and Xander provides a lot of narrative during the field recordings, doing a lot of explaining, and I thank him for that.

I want to thank Dr. Michael Dreslik for talking with me and letting me hang out and help look for those hard-to-spot massasaugas.  Let’s not forget all of the folks on the survey team – Emily Ash, Matt Parry, Joey Cannizzaro, Nick Dunham, Tony Easton, Claire Dietrich, and Xander Perelman.

Thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, tips for herping better, etc.

-Mike

Episode 94: Herp Science Sunday: Dr. Alex Krohn & Dr. Harry Greene

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Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Ninety Four!  And while we’re at it, I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there.

SMP Patrons! I want to thank a couple of folks for their support – Clint Guadiana, for his contribution via Patreon, and Dave Weber, who made another one-time contribution via PayPal.  Thank you Clint and Dave! And as always, I am grateful to all the show’s patrons who help to keep the show moving forward. And if you’re out there listening and you would like to kick in a few bucks, it’s easy to do, you simply go to the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can support the show for as little as three bucks a month – less than a fancy cup of coffee! You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com).

Here we go with the eighth installment of Herp Science Sunday with Dr. Alex Krohn.   I’ve really enjoyed doing these shows with Alex, and this one was no exception – a conversation with Dr. Harry Greene on a variety of subjects including Pleistocene rewilding, Bolson Tortoises, a breakdown of serpent prey items, and much, much more.  Harry is a deep thinker and don’t be surprised if you find yourself thinking deeply about some of the topics we discuss!

Thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, tips for herping better, etc.

-Mike