SSSSSnakes! 



By Rachel Wharton 



Making your way 

 through stiff brush near the 

 river, you pause to wipe a 

 trickle of sweat from your nose. 

 It may be early October, but a 

 muggy heat still clings here in 

 the dense wetlands of eastern 

 North Carolina. 



You wave away nets of 

 gossamer cobweb that drape tree 

 limbs and entangle your hair. 

 Pulling the leaves aside, you stop 

 short. It sits curled and oblivious, 

 sunning itself with the last warm 

 rays of autumn. The sweat beads 

 on your upper lip and your pulse 

 doubles. You fearfully ponder 

 your next move. 

 It's a snake. 



For many people, snakes are 

 fear-inspiring members of the 

 animal kingdom. But that fear is 

 unnecessary, says North Carolina 

 State University graduate student 

 Mike Bowen, a herpetologist who 

 focuses his studies on snakes. 

 Wetlands and natural areas across 

 eastern North Carolina are home to 

 many species of water and terrestrial 

 snakes, most of them nonvenomous. 



Hikers and canoeists frequently 

 cross paths with the harmless banded 

 water snake. With its grayish-brown 

 body and reddish-brown rings, it is 

 the most visible snake in aquatic 

 communities from farm ponds to 



Continued 

 coastwatch 3 



