Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, November 12, 1995 TAG: 9511150093
SECTION: BOOK PAGE: E4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: REVIEWED BY JUSTIN ASKINS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
\ This newly designed and updated version of Linzey and Clifford's 1981 classic is a volume anyone with an interest in Virginia snakes will want to have. It is also a work which should help create new enthusiasm for studying and protecting these reclusive and ecologically important creatures.
With its 53 full-color illustrations and numerous identifying diagrams and keys, along with precise written descriptions and ample material on habitat and food, this text will make an excellent field guide. And unlike a more general work (like the Peterson "Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians," this volume focuses carefully on the Virginia's 30 indigenous species and includes precise maps giving county by county ranges.
In the introduction - which includes general information on snake anatomy, identification, and reproduction - the book stresses the environmental importance of snakes: "Many kinds feed on mice and rats, thus keeping the populations of these small mammals under control." And snakes and their eggs are also a significant food source for many creatures: "Opposums, raccoons, mink, and weasels are fond of snake eggs. Snakes are known to be fed upon by some fish, turtles, other snakes, herons, egrets, cranes, cormorants, hawks, owls, crows, jays, opposums, raccoons, otters, foxes, and bobcats."
While their ecological importance is not to be underestimated, snakes also have direct benefits to humans, particularly farmers who can suffer significant losses from rodents: "Corn snakes and rat snakes are especially beneficial in this respect, and many farmers encourage their presence around their barns ... rodent-eating snakes on a farm can prevent hundreds or even thousands of dollars in damages."
Another principal benefit involves the medical world. Besides using the venom of poisonous snakes to produce antivenins which have saved hundreds of lives, "Cottonmouth venom has been used as an anticoagulant for treating hemophilia" and "an enzyme taken from another viper's poison helps dissolve blood clots which can cause heart attacks and strokes."
With all these uses, one would think snakes would be welcome additions to our local environments. However, that has not been the case. Besides the decline caused by "extensive land clearing, the destruction of natural stream and stream-associated habitats by channelization, the draining and filling of swamplands and marshes, the widespread use of environmental contaminants such as pesticides and other potentially dangerous chemicals ... the greatest number of snakes continue to meet their deaths by deliberate persecution because of the misinformation that abounds concerning them."
Linzey and Clifford's "fervent hope" is that their work "will help educate the misinformed and make people more aware of the beneficial aspects of this much maligned group of reptiles."
"Snakes of Virginia" will provide that education. It is a carefully written guide, technically accurate but accessible to the nonspecialist. I hope many people, especially those who kill snakes on sight because of "an irrrational fear of these animals ... largely born of ignorance," will read this work and begin to respect these important and interesting creatures.
Justin Askins teaches at Radford University.
by CNB