President Beetle opened the meeting and Joel Price delivered the invocation. Sergeant-at-Arms John Hanson introduced our guests: Kevin Meetze, Darren Bouknight, John LaFond of the Chapin Sunrise Club and the District Foundation Advocate, and Carey Hite’s special guest, Maria Hargrave, of the Palmetto Health Foundation. Lyman Whitehead presented our health and happiness which included mention that Jeanette Coulter’s husband, Jerry, is in the hospital and Lynn Campbell has his 69th birthday on Monday, March 17. Patty Cavanaugh reminded us of the GSE event with the team from South Africa. President-Elect Eddie Robinson informed us that there will be no speaker at next week’s meeting, March 19th, instead, it will be a Club Day.
Eddie then introduced Holly Jones, a herpetologist with the Riverbanks Zoo, and her husband, Stan. Holly is from Maryland and has always had a passion for reptiles. She secured her degree from Towson University and worked at the National Aquarium in Baltimore, before coming to Columbia. Holly’s presentation was about the reptiles that live at Lake Murray.
She started by reviewing the turtles: the Eastern Box, the Eastern Mud, the Common Musk, the Common Snapping, the Yellow Belly Slider, the Eastern River Cooter and the Eastern Spiny Softshell. The Eastern Mud Turtle is the smallest, the Common Snapping Turtle is the largest, the Eastern Spiny Softshell is the fastest swimmer and the Eastern River Cooter is the most common turtle seen in the lake.
Holly then moved to lizards: the Eastern Glass, the Green Anole, the Broadhead Skink, the Five-lined and Eastern five-lined. The Eastern Glass Lizard is often mistaken for a snake because it does not have legs, however it has ears, which makes it as a lizard. The Broadhead Skink is the second largest lizard in the country and the Green Anole is the common one that you see around your house. It has the ability to change colors.
Snakes were the last reptile that Holly presented: the Northern Brown, the Eastern Garter, the Black Racer, the Rat, the Corn, the Eastern King, the Eastern Hognose, the Eastern Milk, the Red Belly Water, the Banded Water, the Copperhead, the Canebrake Rattler, and the Cottonmouth Water Moccasin. The Black Racer, Rat and Corn snakes are good climbers. The Black Racer is a non-constrictor, can grow to 6 feet and is very fast, thus its moniker, while the Rat and Corn snakes are constrictors; all are good rodent eaters. The Eastern King eats other snakes and is grumpy, and the Eastern Hognose feeds on toads, hisses loudly and rolls-over to emit a very bad odor as a defense. The Banded Water snake is often mistaken for a Cottonmouth or a Copperhead. The three poisonous snakes are the Copperhead, the Canebrake Rattler and the Cottonmouth. Cottonmouths do not live in Lake Murray.
In response to a question, Holly told us that there are a few alligators in the canal along the Broad River. She invited us to the Desert Gallery at the zoo, the display that she manages, to see the Puff Adders, the Green Mamba and the King Cobra, among some of the reptiles in the display.
The meeting concluded with Kelly Payne telling us that Dutch Fork High School will conduct the 6th class of Alive at 25.
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