How We Can Transform Our Fear of Reptiles into Curiosity

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hello

first of all i want to thank you all for

having me i’m very excited and humbled

to be part of such a wonderful event

currently i’m in a room surrounded by

jars of preserved reptiles and

amphibians

about 195 000 estimate

this is where i work i manage the

reptile and amphibian collection at the

natural history museum of los angeles

county

now although i do work with dead

reptiles i keep some live ones

at home as pets remember how people take

out their dogs for a walk i sometimes

take out one of my snakes

she’s a mexican black king snake named

ivy and i can’t even take her on my

shoulders when i’m running errands

you could only imagine the looks i get

from people

well one day i decided to go to the mall

with my snake you know like most people

do

and i visited a vintage boutique where

one of my friends worked

she knew i was coming with an unusual

guest once i arrived

her co-worker fled behind the counter

immediately out of fear

now with permission from the store

manager who actually seemed curious

about ivy

i put ivy on one of the storefront

mannequins how do you look like an

accessory

on this black sleek vintage inspired

dress and actually

look quite stunning people that pass by

began to notice

and taking pictures and posting on

social media

i’d be so calm you just stayed on the

mannequin flickering your tongue

getting acquainted with your new

surroundings the sales associate that

originally was

afraid of ivy came out and began to be

curious especially noticing how calm ivy

was in such an out of place situation

i asked her she wanted to pet her and

even better yet she actually

held her in just 30 minutes her whole

view of snakes completely changed

to the point that she actually said ivy

is very beautiful

and all it took was some exposure

the initial reaction from the sales

associate when seeing ivy was no

surprise

reptiles are often depicted as villains

in films many people assume many of them

are venomous

and that they are inherently aggressive

we were taught that these animals are

scary

when people say they usually love

animals we often refer to the

furry and feathered species similar to

insects and spiders

reptiles often feared and misunderstood

even growing up in latin culture as a

young boy when i’d be playing outside

looking at the lizards my aunts would

tell me

which translates to don’t touch that

lizard it’s dangerous

regardless of what i was told by my ants

reptiles caught my interest

i was intrigued by them and it all

started by watching old monster movies

like godzilla

and a giant kaiju turtle named gamera

godzilla became my

icon these characters helped me be

exposed to reptiles

and even sympathize with them my

fascination grew

to the point where i started to read and

learn more about reptiles

this helped me gain a better

appreciation for them

there was no room for fear although

that’s often not the case

for many other people so let me pose a

question

to think about for a moment for those of

you that fear

or dare i say even hate reptiles can you

remember the first time you’re taught to

have a negative connotation or reaction

to these animals

well the first thing that comes to mind

is venom i was walking through an

arboretum a few years back

where i saw a family and the mother was

yelling at her child to stay away

from a lizard running across a path in

fact she was trying to hit it with a

small palm branch

and yelling that the lizard was venomous

similar to my ants they were lumping all

reptiles as being venomous

the fact of the matter is that most

reptiles are non-venomous

there are very few lizard species that

are venomous and within snakes

are over three thousand species of

snakes

out of those three thousand six six

hundred of those are venomous

and although six hundred only two

hundred are actually considered lethal

that accounts for only seven percent of

snakes

we can also start changing how we view

venom

venom is used primarily for that

digestion

and capture of prey snakes for example

lack the claws and crushing teeth other

predators have

without venom some snakes might have a

difficult time capturing and killing

prey

take this king cobra for example

this snake specializes in eating other

snakes

even other venomous snakes having venom

is essential to kill and eat its

specialized prey quickly

to prevent it from being harmed itself

venom has also proven useful in the

medical field

the same toxins that affect the nervous

system can make great painkillers

and those toxins that prevent blood

clotting can help in the treatment of

heart disease

secondly we can start looking at how we

name reptiles and find out

a little bit more what’s behind the name

we ourselves are guilty of giving

descriptive

menacing common names to some reptiles

for example there’s a death adder

the gila monster and this little guy

the thorny devil lizard as you can see

it has these stormy spikes all around

its body

that helps it to protect itself from

predators it also has this

false head that confuses a predator

its scales have these small grooves that

allow water to collect on its body

this water is passively transported to

its mouth

using capillary action an important

adaptation for living in the hot

australian desert

in addition its diet consists primarily

of ants

as you can see the thorny devil lizard

isn’t so demolition after all

thirdly we can associate reptiles with

the imagination they inspire

going back to my childhood hero godzilla

this massive fire-breathing lizard-like

monster

that has captured the fascination of

both kids and adults alike for many

generations

reptiles with a different morphology

continue to spark the interests of

filmmakers and artists alike

particularly larger than life fun

thrilling monster flicks

in 2012 a cgi company came into the

collection to take photographs of

specimens

for using reference for a movie

at first they would tell me what they

were working on other than would be some

kind of creature feature

i just assumed it’d be a low budget b

movie which i still thought would be

pretty cool

as they pulled out their lights and

cameras they pulled me aside in a very

secretive way

asked me if i wanted to know what they

were working on they told me they were

working on two films

godzilla 2014 and pacific rim i was

thrilled when i heard that i was

ecstatic

for pacific rim they specifically were

looking for a common snapping turtle

like this one here they wanted to

photograph its shell

and beak like mouth they were also

interested in photographing its rough

looking

textured skin all these elements were

most likely an inspiration for this

lovely fellow here

this is one of the monsters that

appeared in the film in fact they even

mentioned guillermo del toro himself was

supposed to visit to look at the

specimens himself

seriously if that would have happened i

think i just would have just died

for godzilla 2014 i pulled the sun gazer

lizard

native to the southern grasslands of

africa

its dragon like appearance and spiky

jagged scales

attracted the filmmakers for using skin

reference for godzilla

it was a complete dream for me pulling

out specimens

for use in skin reference for godzilla

the very first monster

that ignited my fascination with

reptiles from the very beginning

i mentioned just a few ways of how we

can change our view of reptiles for the

better

by looking past the tropes and looking

at all their features

both scientifically and in pop culture

so now i challenge you to change your

perspective on reptiles

next time you’re on a hike and see a

snake or even under your backyard and

you see a lizard

look at the room with a new lens take a

photo from a distance respecting their

space

post it on social media and change the

dialogue

from fear to wonder see if you can find

out more information on the lizard or

snake you just saw

there are websites you can upload your

photo and experts can id them for you

don’t let fear inhibit you from learning

more about these fascinating animals

we call reptiles thank you very much for

listening

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you