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-Additional funding provided by... [ Tail rattling ] ♪♪ ♪♪ -There's an awful lot that we still don't know about Low Country animals, like this canebrake rattlesnake.

And this is a pretty good way to pick one up safely.

I would never handle one without a tube like this.

But what's happened is people, because they don't completely understand animals, they've come up with a variety of tall tales and stories and myths.

And in fact, reptiles and amphibians probably have more myths than all the other animals put together.

In this episode, we're going to look at some of those myths.

Some of them are actually based on fact, and some of them are absolutely erroneous.

♪♪ So, look at that little guy.

Okay, we got something big on.

There we go.

We've got the bird, and there's already a chick in there.

♪♪ ♪♪ So, pretty much everybody can identify a rattlesnake.

And this is the characteristic rattle on the end of the tail.

And this is where one of the most famous myths of all comes from.

Rattlesnakes supposedly, according to some people, get a new button on their tail for every year old they are.

So a lot of people think that if you find a snake and you count the number of buttons, you can tell exactly how old the snake is.

Now, there's a problem with this.

First of all, rattles break off.

So a lot of times, you can find a rattle that's kind of square on the end, and that's because it's broken off.

Also, they get a button on the tail every time they shed, not once a year.

So, they may shed three, four times a year.

So you can see that a rattlesnake that has 14 buttons on it is certainly not 14 years old.

And again, if it's broken off, they could have had many, many, many buttons on the rattles.

Now, if you see one that has a very pointed, a little bit like this one does, but a more pointed tail tip, it may be an original rattle, and you can kind of extrapolate how old they are, figuring they shed three, four times a year.

But again, that's not a good way to do it.

It's tough to age snakes.

You can make a guess, but a lot of times, you can't tell for sure how old they are.

And so while we've got this snake, let's talk about another myth.

You know, rattlesnakes strike, and they strike powerfully.

But I've heard so many people say that they were wearing snake boots, but the rattlesnake struck their leg so strong, they felt like it was going to break their leg.

Now, this is just not true.

So, rattlesnakes have very collapsible heads.

Their heads are soft.

And they have amazing fangs, and they can puncture, you know, an animal that they're feeding on or even a person using those fangs.

But they're not going to break your leg when they strike at you or anything like that.

The reality is, they just don't pack that much of a punch.

They're very dangerous, but it doesn't have to do with the power of their strike.

Now, one of the best ways you can protect yourself with snakes is just to wear a pair of boots.

A pair of snake boots would deflect most rattlesnake strikes and other venomous snakes, for that matter.

Anyway, the thing to do about snakes like this is if you see a rattlesnake crossing a road or out in the woods, just go the other way, take a picture of it, admire it from a distance, and you'll be just fine.

[ Tail rattling ] Speaking of rattlesnakes, here is a little, tiny -- In fact, this is young of the year.

Does it have any rattles?

It has just a button.

It's gonna be a little hard to control this one, but this is a baby canebrake rattlesnake.

And this is another one of those great myths about rattlesnakes.

And the myth is that baby rattlesnakes and baby venomous snakes are more dangerous than big ones.

Now, this is a little bit of a difficult one, but the simple answer is bigger snakes have bigger venom glands and more venom.

So believe me, if you have your choice between being bitten by a big rattlesnake and a small rattlesnake, you want to get bit by the small rattlesnake.

Bigger snakes have a lot more venom, for sure.

So this question is a little bit complicated because not only do different species of snakes have different toxicity to their venom, the same species of snake, the venom can vary geographically.

So if there's an animal in coastal South Carolina, the venom may be much stronger than the same species if it's, like, up in the mountains or in a completely different habitat.

And that probably has to do with what they're feeding on.

If a rattlesnake eats squirrels, a big one, eats squirrels, it may need something that knocks down a squirrel faster than if it eats a different prey item.

So it's actually really fascinating, but it just makes it tough.

When you start talking about venom toxicity, it's not a simple question.

But one thing to remember is, even though this is not as dangerous as a big rattlesnake, it doesn't mean it's not dangerous.

If you were bitten by even a small rattlesnake like this or a small venomous snake, you still have to get to the hospital and let the medical professional take care of it.

Neat little canebrake rattlesnake.

But let's move on and look at some nonvenomous snakes and talk about some of the myths associated with them.

Now, look at this snake.

This is actually a young one.

This is a snake that gets very, very long, I mean, six feet or more.

They also bite occasionally, so I don't want to get bit in the face by it.

This is a coachwhip snake.

Some people just call it a whip snake.

And this is one of the best myths I've ever heard of.

People used to call this a whip snake, and they would say that it would chase people down and then whip them to death with its tail.

I've even heard people say that it would take the tip of the tail and stick it up your nostrils to see if you're still breathing.

Now, obviously, this is not true at all.

There's no fact in this at all.

Now, let me tell you what is true.

Coachwhip snakes, their tails do look a little bit like a whip.

Also, they're very fast moving.

And if you pick one up, a lot of times, it will thrash the tail.

So you can see how people got the idea that this was whipping people to death with its tail.

In reality, great vision, big eyes, and it loves habitat just like this.

That's why we picked this spot, because coachwhip snakes like wide open areas where they can catch birds and lizards and small mammals and things like that.

Just an awesome snake, one of the ultimate snakes in my eyes.

Now, one of the other myths that's attributed to black racers and coachwhip snakes and some of the other snakes like this, is that snakes will chase you.

If you really corner a snake up against a house or something like that, it may strike and even crawl forward a little bit.

That is an awful lot like it chasing you, but the reality is it's just cornered.

It's always trying to get away.

So some truth to that, but for the most part, a snake is not going to run you down and bite you or anything like that.

But they will strike and defend themselves if needed.

So, we're out here looking for snakes, and one of the best ways to catch snakes is underneath cover objects like this.

Now, this one, it looks like there's some ants in here.

And if you look right there, here is a king snake.

And king snakes are -- This is what I was hoping we would find.

There's some fire ants that are under that piece of tin.

Anyway, king snakes have one of those great stories about them, that they kill and eat other snakes.

And that's true.

In fact, you know, people say these are immune to the bite of a rattlesnake.

Actually, that's true.

Immune may be too strong, but highly resistant.

So a snake like this could eat a rattlesnake, a copperhead, a cottonmouth.

And even if it got bit by it, it probably wouldn't hurt it.

Sorry, just got a couple ants on me from underneath this piece of tin.

But anyway, king snakes are extremely resistant to the bite of a venomous snake, and this protects them.

And in fact, they do eat rattlesnakes.

They do eat copperheads.

What a neat trick.

And this is an easy one, for people who don't like snakes, this is an easy sell to a lot of people.

Now, they don't go out and look for venomous snakes to eat.

They'll eat nonvenomous snakes.

They'll eat mice and rats.

They'll eat turtle eggs.

In fact, they're true generalists.

They'll eat a lot of different things.

But this is one of my absolute favorite species.

I mean, they are gorgeous, and they just have neat natural history.

A wonderful snake.

This one is kind of tongue-flicking like crazy.

I think he probably smells some of the other snakes that we've caught today.

And one of the hazards of catching king snakes is a lot of times, they think your fingers smell and look like snakes.

So a lot of times, they'll try and bite.

♪♪ So, we just pulled over the side of the road for this turtle.

And this is a box turtle, an eastern box turtle.

And it is a really pretty one.

I can right away tell this is a male, because it has red eyes, and it also has all this beautiful color on the front legs and stuff.

It's one of my favorite turtles by far.

They are special, for sure.

And let me pick this one up, and we'll talk a little bit about it.

But this -- Yeah, I thought he might close up a little bit.

Oh, this one has an injury on it.

That looks like an injury from some sort of predator.

Looks like it's healing really well, though, so I think this animal will be fine.

But, you know, box turtles close up like a box, and that's where they get their name.

So they pull their head in, pull their legs in, and that protects them from all kinds of predators.

In fact, they can close up even more than this so that they're sealed from lots of predators.

But one of the great myths -- or maybe it isn't a myth -- is that box turtles can live for 100 years.

Now, I have some box turtles at home that I have permits for and I keep at home.

They were actually willed to me by a friend of mine when he died, and they were collected off the highway 57 years ago as adults.

They must have been 20 or so when they were first found.

So do the math.

These animals live a long time, and I think most people agree that box turtles can live 100 years.

I mean, they probably don't typically do that, but I think some box turtles have probably lived that long.

I guess next time you're out driving somewhere and you see a box turtle cross the road like this one, you just take it in the direction it's going and let it go.

It is a very special animal, and it is worth us spending the time to get it to safety.

♪♪ ♪♪ So, here is kind of a neat animal.

You know, we kind of take these for granted, because they're so common.

But this is a green anole.

And Anolis is a tropical genus, and so there's a whole bunch of different kinds.

But in the southeastern United States, well, at least in the Low Country, this is the only species that we have, except for an introduced one.

But, so, one of the great myths about these is that they change color to match their background.

Kind of makes sense, though, right?

If they're on something green, they're going to change to green.

If they're on something brown, they're going to turn brown.

That's really not how it works, though.

Their color change is really more associated with mood and temperature.

Now, it's pretty warm out here.

This animal is sitting on brown, but it's still kind of green.

And you see what I mean.

It's not the best color to blend in with.

But like I said, if it's stressed and cool, it may be dark brown.

And if it's warm, it's probably going to be more green.

So just kind of one of those myths, but it's still pretty amazing, right, that they can change color, and they can turn from a dark brown into this beautiful, beautiful green.

So, I can tell this is a male just by size.

This is pretty good size.

Females typically don't get quite this big.

But the real giveaway is this dewlap, this throat fan right here.

And that tells me it's a male.

And the males will actually use this to kind of display to attract females, and also to inform rival males that they're the male, and this is their territory.

Now, this one has kind of -- I noticed when we walked up, it had kind of dark under the eyes, and that's probably because another male was around.

They have a tendency to develop kind of a crest that sticks up on the neck, and they really get irritated when another male comes into their territory.

But green anole.

And like I said, this is a very special animal, and I think we have a tendency to really take them for granted.

But I want to put this one right back where I found.

This is the native plant garden, and it is a great place to live if you're a green anole, that's for sure.

Lots of bugs.

Lots of native plants.

So we'll let it go right here.

But look, if you look right here, there's another lizard species, and it is right -- Looks like it's going this way.

[ Laughs ] Boy, they are quick.

Okay, so, just caught this little guy.

And I'll bring it back around so you can see it.

But this is the little lizard.

So we're letting the green anole go, and then this one popped up.

And this is a juvenile skink.

And skinks have one of the best sort of stories associated with them.

So the story goes that these are deadly poisonous or they're venomous or things like that.

And you know what?

This is partially true.

They have a strong neurological toxin.

And if certain animals eat these skinks, it can make them really, really sick, and even cats and dogs, if they eat these, and they typically don't.

But if a cat, for instance, eats one of these, it can be very toxic.

Now, here's the giveaway, that bright cobalt tail.

Anytime you see those bright colors in nature, you got to think about it.

Does it taste bad?

Is it toxic?

Is it venomous?

Is it poisonous?

Something like that.

And in the case of the skink, even though they're not really dangerous to people, but if you were to eat a skink, I think it might make you sick.

And that blue tail tells you that.

So a little bit misleading, because they're not really dangerous to people, but technically, they're toxic, and if you ate one, it would make you sick.

But who's going to eat a skink?

So this is a little tyke, and it's one of three skink species.

And actually, I can look at the scalation of the tail.

This is a southeastern five-lined skink.

There's actually three, and they look almost identical as babies, but as they get bigger, it's a little easier to tell.

And you have to count the scales on the tail.

Even little guys like this can eat lots of insect species, and the big ones can eat roaches and beetles and things like that.

Okay, so, I'm going to let this little skink go, but there's also -- There it goes.

There's also another animal that's really common in here that has some great myths associated with it, so let's go find it.

♪♪ Okay.

Here's a toad right here.

Toads can -- They're not real, real quick.

There we go.

So, this is a southern toad.

And I can tell right away this is a male.

In fact, this one's kind of vocalizing.

Just used the bathroom on me, which is what I want to talk about in just a minute.

So, this is a toad, and you can -- I can tell it's a male because it has a dark throat sac.

And it's using the bathroom on me.

Now, that's where one of the myths come in.

I've heard people say toads can give you warts, that if a toad pees on you, uses a bathroom on you, you're going to get warts.

Well, obviously that's not true.

Warts are caused by a virus, and they have nothing to do with toads.

And that's probably related to these wart-like projections on their back, probably more related to camouflage.

Helps them to blend in with the environment that they live in.

Now, these bigger warts -- Actually, they're not warts at all.

These are parotid glands or parotoid glands, and those have a poison in them, a really nasty poison in them.

And if you were to really irritate this toad, some milky material would come out of those.

So that's bufotoxin.

Now, this one is vocalizing a little bit.

And what it's trying to do is get me to set it down.

-[ Toad chirps ] -So you can hear it kind of chirping a little bit?

So, that's not dangerous at all.

But it's just -- That's one of the ways it can probably get a predator to set it down.

Also, it's vibrating in my hands.

But back to the bufotoxin.

So these glands have that dangerous secretion, and it will really make animals sick.

Like, if a dog was to chew up a toad, it would get very sick from that, from those parotoid glands and that bufotoxin.

The other thing about toads is, you know, a lot of these animals, we take for granted, but this is some of the best natural pest control we have.

And toads are fairly long lived.

I mean, we think they live 10 years or more in the wild.

So this is an animal that you might see time and time again, you know, sitting in your driveway or on your patio or something like that.

It is very definitely a beneficial species to have.

Guys, if you look right here -- So, we just pulled off the side of the road.

We're on our way to go look for tree frogs, and look right here.

So, this is something we see on roads quite a bit.

I'm going to go ahead and grab it.

Look at these wonderful trails that it's making.

And, so, this is a glass lizard or legless lizard.

Now, I have to be careful that I don't accidentally break the tail off of this, because they're really wiggly.

And this is one of the great myths of all, I think, with reptiles and amphibians.

First of all, a lot of people think these are snakes.

This is a lizard.

So, this has external ear openings, and it has eyelids.

Those are things that lizards have, but snakes don't.

It also has the ability to lose the tail, and that's where that wonderful myth comes in.

So supposedly, these animals have the ability to drop the tail, which is true, but some people think that they can join the tail back up and become a full-size lizard again, which of course isn't true.

The tail can break off like with other lizards, but then it takes quite a while, months or even longer, to grow back the tail, and it's never quite as perfect as that original tail.

These animals have fracture planes in the tail that start about right here.

Now, this one has already been regenerated.

In fact, this animal is kind of beat up.

It looks like an older individual, and it's got some scarring on it and stuff.

Looks like it's kind of been through it a little bit.

Really neat animal, one of my favorites, and one that can get even bigger than this, although this is a full-grown adult, for sure.

So, I'm going to let this one go over on the edge of the vegetation here.

I don't want a predator to right away grab it.

And so now we need to go look for some tree frogs.

♪♪ ♪♪ So, you can see this wetland is really grown up.

I mean, there's all kinds of life in here.

I see one right here.

If you look right there, now, the animal just moved to the opposite side of that vertical piece of vegetation.

And so I might even -- See it coming around?

So, one of the reasons these animals have those vertical stripes is because it helps them to blend in with vertical things like this plant stalk.

Oh, look right here.

Look right here.

Here's another one that just jumped.

Let me see if I can gently catch this one.

Quick.

There we go.

That wasn't bad at all.

And, boy, these are handsome tree frogs, for sure.

And the name tree frog comes from the fact that they have sticky toe discs.

And that's one of the things you'll hear people say is that they can climb straight up a wall.

Well, that is absolutely true.

These toe pads allow them to stick to things, and they can go straight up this grass stalk or even a glass window.

So they're quite athletic, and those sticky toe pads really help them do that.

Now, the real myth about frogs is that they can predict weather.

And people will say that frogs start to croak and call before a rain.

So we'll get to that in just a minute, but first of all, why do frogs vocalize?

Well, males vocalize to call females.

And so what they're doing is they use vocal sacs, kind of a throat sac, and this allows them to make this noise, and it allows a female to hear them.

It also allows other males to know that they're in the area, as well.

And you know what?

In a way, they do predict weather, because they can, a lot of times, if it's about to rain, if the barometric pressure drops or if the humidity rises, you'll hear tree frogs start to call.

In fact, in our nature center, a lot of times we know it's going to start raining, because the frogs inside the nature center can tell, and they start vocalizing.

So this is one of those things that's probably not a myth at all.

What they're doing is looking for opportunities for good times to breed and to find mates.

Also, this animal has kind of blown itself up there, and a lot of times, frogs will do that.

It makes them sort of too big to swallow for certain predators.

So, we are surrounded by tree frogs here, so let's look around and just see if we can find some more.

So, we stopped and just stopped in one place and kind of looked around, and, boy, stuff is just really coming into focus.

And here's a good example, a garden spider, yellow garden spider.

[ Laughs ] That's a beautiful animal, for sure.

So there is just -- Man, I hear stuff.

I see stuff.

-I mean, there's green anoles.

-[ Animals chirping ] There's tree frogs.

There's grasshoppers.

There's spiders.

There's just a lot going on out here.

If you look right here, there's a shadow right here, and I think there's probably a tree frog on the other side.

And if I peek around, yep, there is, a little green tree frog, it looks like.

[ Animals chirping, croaking ] So, I hear a species of frog vocalizing now.

So, that's a bullfrog.

So maybe, you know, it's kind of overcast and really humid, so maybe it is going to rain.

♪♪ So, we're here at Nemours Wildlife Foundation, and we're out to catch some alligators.

Now, we're going to catch some animals, collect some data on them, but we thought it would be a great opportunity to talk a little bit about some of the myths associated with the American alligator.

♪♪ What we're going to do is we're going to take this fishing rod, and we're going to try and throw this over the back of the alligator.

And these are treble hooks, and what we've done is filed down the barbs on them.

The idea is to stick it in the back, in the scutes, and then we can reel it up close to the bank, and then we can use a noose so that we can noose it, pull it out of the water, work it up, and then let it go.

This is -- Boy, this grass is frustrating.

I think noosing this thing's going to be really difficult.

Okay, he's on there.

So, we got one on.

It's a medium sized alligator.

It's not a real big one.

But now we got to get it close to the bank so we can get a noose on it.

So, guys, here's the good news.

I'm not going to try and do this entirely on my own.

We have Luther and Grace, and they're interns here at Nemours.

And so they're going to help us noose this thing and then pull it out and get it out of the water.

So what you want to do is put it all the way over the head, and then you want to pull that rope all the way towards you fast and hard.

Okay?

Pull it hard.

Pull it.

Okay, good.

I think we got it, guys.

Okay, here we go.

So -- [ Teeth snap ] Did you hear that, guys?

So let's go ahead and get this mouth taped.

-Go around a couple laps.

-Okay.

-That's good, and then break it off.

Yeah, pick it up kind of in the middle, maybe, a little bit.

And watch the tail.

Tail may slap you, so... Just measure as far as you can from the tip of the nose, and then I'm going to get a measurement here.

So it looks like it's about 66 inches, so just 5 feet and 6 inches.

So, the interns from Nemours got their measurements, but now we want to talk a little bit about some of the myths associated with alligators.

And the first one -- This is an alligator.

It's not a crocodile.

And I hear so many people in the Low Country call these crocodiles.

Crocodiles don't live here.

They live in the southern tip of Florida.

They're just not here.

So it's an alligator.

Couple other things.

One is that -- [ Chuckles ] ...that alligators are not quick on land.

They're actually pretty quick for short distances.

If you've ever seen an alligator run towards the water very quickly, you can see they're very, very quick and very, very impressive.

But the other thing I hear people say is, if you're running from an alligator, run zigzag.

I don't know where that one came from, but if I'm running from an alligator, it's going to be straight.

And I don't think there's any advantage to running zigzag, that's for sure.

Okay, alligator size.

Talk about myths!

I mean, there's a whole bunch of them.

People will tell you, "I saw a 15-foot alligator."

That's really big.

Biggest one ever caught in the state of South Carolina was just a bit over 13 feet, so 13-something.

So they're not usually 16 feet long, and if someone tells you that, it's probably not true.

Females tend to be smaller, 9 feet or less.

And males are commonly 10 feet and sometimes even 11 or 12.

So, parental care, that's really interesting with crocodilians, because many reptiles lay their eggs, and then they just leave.

Alligators are a little different.

They build a nest almost like a bird, and they lay their eggs in it, and then they will tend that nest, and they will protect it from predators and things.

So if you see baby alligators or a nest with eggs in it, you really want to get away from it, because female alligators are very protective.

They're very good parents, unlike a lot of other reptiles.

So if people tell you that an alligator will attack you if you mess with its babies, there is some truth to that.

Okay, I'm taking the tape off, making sure that's out of the way.

I'm gonna slide it down close to the water.

Okay, now I'm gonna get out of the way, and I think it'll go right in here in a minute.

So, there's a lot of animals in the Low Country, including reptiles and amphibians.

But there are so many erroneous stories and myths about these animals.

So the first step is to clean up some of the misconceptions about these guys.

We need to learn all we can.

We need to do good ecological research, and we also need to do good environmental education so we can not only take care of the animals, but the habitats they represent.

Thanks for joining us on "Coastal Kingdom."

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Through the generosity of our members and donors, the ETV Endowment has funded educational and entertaining programming like "Coastal Kingdom" for more than 40 years.

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