By Shannon Dale
“Venomous snakes are so misunderstood,” shares McKenna Jolly ‘19 (they/their), who spent their spring interning at the Kentucky Reptile Zoo after graduating from UNC Asheville with a degree in biology.
“People will see one of our vipers looking at them and they'll say ‘it wants to eat me!’ I see this snake and I know its body language is very relaxed, it's probably just wondering if we brought it a mouse or something,” explains Jolly.
Their interest in reptiles grew while at UNC Asheville. When Jolly first came to UNC Asheville, they started out as a general science major before narrowing down their interest to biology. Beyond their passion for caring for animals, it was a summer class with environmental studies instructor Landon Ward that solidified their love for reptiles.
Taught during “Maymester,” Ward’s Field Herpetology course typically brings a group of biology students to the Outer Banks of North Carolina, where they begin a two-week-long journey working their way down south to the Florida Keys. During the course of the trip, the class drives more than 3,700 miles, visiting over 20 locations. The group camps during most stops, cooking their own meals. Throughout the experience, students hike, kayak with alligators, observe venom milking at a serpentarium, visit a sea turtle hospital, and drive in many different habitats and study many different herpetofauna species. This year, the course was postponed due to COVID-19.
During Jolly’s 2018 trip, the class captured an invasive Burmese python in the everglades that they turned into park rangers. This snake was used in the long-term study monitoring the activity patterns of this invasive species. The group also set a class record, finding 54 snakes in a single day.
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