Reptiles Archives - Heartland Safari

A skeleton of a bat against a black background. The wings and legs are spread, showing the same set of bones that make up a human’s arms and legs with five fingers and toes at the end of each limb.

Bones: Comparative Anatomy

Updated March 24, 2025

By Dr. Jessica LaPrice Dr. LaPrice teaches biology at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia. Recently I visited her at her university where she showed me a goat skeleton once used in a comparative anatomy class. It reminded me just how similar our skeletons are to Dave’s and Clancy’s, and even to that goat. […]

Gorgeous head shot of a small snake that usually gets little notice. Eastern Garter Snake has alternating yellow and dark green to black stripes that run the length of its body. Its head is small and oval shaped, with large round eyes

Common Garter Snake

Updated August 26, 2024

We don’t see many snakes on Owl Acres, but occasionally one gets flushed from the grass, or unfortunately done in by the mower. This happened recently, much to Bryan’s chagrin. Our snakes are an active and integral part of the ecosystem, and since the snakes on Owl Acres are not harmful to humans, we hate […]

Reptiles

Road-killed snapping turtle lost the battle with its only predator.

Survival: Snapping Turtle

Updated June 17, 2024

Why did the snapping turtle cross the road? To find a good place to lay her eggs. Why did somebody deliberately run over her? Good question. Snapping turtles (Chelydra serpentina) aren’t usually out and about on the road past Owl Acres. They’d rather stay near the creek. The females have one imperative this time of […]

Reptiles

A tan snake with repeating brown-black blotches moves across a gravel surface, heading for cover.

Friend, not foe: Western Fox Snake

Updated June 19, 2023

Snakes have been maligned for literally thousands of years. If we’re talking about the venomous kinds, they deserve it. But of the 28 species of snake found in Iowa, only four are venomous—timber rattlesnakes, eastern massasauga, prairie rattlesnakes, and copperheads. The other day Bryan saw this fellow in the grass near the shop. It’s a […]

Reptiles