coursing rivers in the Coastal Plain. It 

 often rests in low-hanging tree 

 branches, dropping into the water at 

 the softest sound. 



Of the 38 species of snakes found 

 in North Carolina, six are venomous 

 and live in the Coastal Plain. But no 

 snake, not even 



the poisonous 

 cottonmouths, 

 rattlesnakes, 

 copperheads and 

 coral snakes, are 

 aggressive man- 

 hunters. All snakes 

 are apt to slither the 

 other way when you 

 stumble into their 

 domain. 



Bowen. like 

 fellow NCSU 

 graduate student 

 John Temple and 

 Alvin Braswell of 

 the North Carolina 

 State Museum of Natural Sciences, 

 handles snakes ever}' day. Unlike 

 others, these men don't fear the reptiles. 

 They seek them out. 



"I've been interested in snakes 

 pretty much all my life — as long as I 

 can remember." says Temple, who is 

 working on his doctorate in physiology. 

 He studies the different capabilities of 

 common rat snakes and water snakes to 

 digest toxic poisons from amphibian 

 mucus, research that may one day be 

 applied to treating human nervous- 

 system disorders. 



Bowen. also a longtime snake 

 enthusiast, studies the seasonal 

 changes in potency of cottonmouth 

 venom, searching out swampy, 

 cottonmouth hot spots in eastern 

 North Carolina. He brings the 

 reptiles back to the lab. milking 

 them for their poison every 10 

 days. 



Braswell. the curator of 

 herpetology at the museum, is 

 often considered the state's top 

 herpetologist. Among other 

 research, he records where 

 snakes are found in the state 

 and manages hundreds of the 

 preserved reptiles in the 

 museum's research collection. 



Coral snake 



Bowen believes that our collective 

 fear of snakes is something we're 

 taught. At his neighborhood Halloween 

 party every year, he brings out his 

 nonvenomous snakes and lets the kids 

 who are unafraid get to know them. 

 They ask questions, curious about the 

 way snakes move, breathe and eat. But 

 somewhere in our lives — after we've 

 been inundated with king cobras and 

 writhing pits of voracious snakes in 

 movies and on television — we begin to 

 dislike them, even fear them. Bowen 

 says. 



If there's one thing Bowen and 

 other snake lovers want the public to 

 understand, it's that snakes are good. 



"Fear is certainly unwarranted 

 where nonvenomous snakes are 

 concerned." says Bowen. "Because 

 snakes eat anything and everything, 

 they are one of the biggest biological 

 controls for disease-earn ing pests such 

 as mice and rats." 



For the most part, says Bowen. 

 snakes are "top-line predators." mean- 

 ing they are near the top of the food 

 chain. Their real enemies are humans. 

 Our cars crush many snakes, and 

 they've lost habitat as we have drained 

 wetlands or cut down forests. On the 

 flip side, as people have created lakes or 



4 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 1996 



