Ariana's Story

Volunteer Job: Desert Lab In the Natural History Museum

Hi! My name is Ariana. I am in the fifth grade, and I love snakes. Did you know that there are 2,700 known species of snakes in the world? And that some snakes eat deer? Now you know! I love to collect facts about snakes.

When I found out that I could volunteer to work with the snakes at the San Diego Natural History Museum, I jumped on the opportunity. So, for the past year and a half, I have been spending part of my Sundays at the museum. I get to share what I have learned about snakes and the desert in the Desert Discovery Lab.

The Desert Discovery Lab is one of the most interesting places in the museum. In the lab we have five live snakes and two geckos. Once in a while we bring in a tarantula as well. There are also many displays of desert plant and animal specimens. The lab is designed to give the visitors an idea of what our local deserts are like.

The snakes are definitely the highlight of the desert lab. My job is to answer questions about the snakes and hold them so that people can touch a snake without hurting them. Many people have never touched a snake before and are amazed at how smooth and soft they are.

Some of the people that come in want to touch the snakes, but are afraid. We try to help them overcome their fear by holding the snake's head away from them and letting them pet the tail.

Some people are surprised when a snake pokes its tongue out at them. But that's how it smells things. A snake collects scent particle on its tongue. The forked tongue fits into two notches in the roof of its mouth. That serves as a snake's nose.

My favorite snake is Lightning. Lightning is a baby gopher snake. She is about a foot long and she really lives up to her name when she is nervous. When she is calm though, you can wear her as a bracelet.

Gopher snakes are cool. They can flatten out their heads so that they look like rattlesnakes. They also shake their tails in dry leaves and it sounds like a rattlesnake rattling its tail. They do this as a defense against their predators. If a hawk spotted a gopher snake, but thought it was a rattlesnake, it might think twice about trying to eat it.

Some people are so afraid of snakes that when they see them they want to kill them. But did you know that more people are killed each year by their pet boa constrictor than by rattlesnakes? What people don't realize is that snakes play an important part in the food chain. They eat rodents and are in turn eaten by birds of prey and some mammals like coyotes and raccoons. Without snakes, the whole food chain would be upset.

I love snakes. And I love volunteering at the museum, too! So next time you see a snake, remember that it is one of the amazing animals that share our world. If you see one in the wild, just leave it alone to do its job of being a snake!

Written by: Ariana L., 5th grade, edited by: Davina, 17

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