Research Update: 2025 Grant Cycle

We've recently finished up our Venomous Conservation Grant cycle for 2025! Supporting projects which have on-the-ground benefit for wild rattlesnakes and other venomous snakes is part of our mission, and this year we were happy to review some amazing proposals! Have a look at our 2025 Grant Awardees: Michael Brennan - Assessing the use of Restored Habitat by Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnakes (Crotalus adamanteus)

Our first grant awardee this year is Michael Brennan with Univeristy of Georgia's Wildlife Lab under Dr. Michel Kohl! This project is also an awardee funded with money raised during last year's Battle of the Buzztails! (BotB!), where Team Adamanteus scored an impressive victory!

Michael is specifically looking at Jekyll Island, GA, a small barrier island near the port city of Brunswick. Jekyll is known to have a fragmented population of Eastern Diamondbacks with two distinct populations on the south and north ends of the island (Fun fact: These two populations have two distinct venom compositions despite less than 2 miles of linear separation). Thanks to efforts by the Jekyll Island Authority, an area of former golf course is slated for restoration as a wild grassland corridor - and its EDB migrations through this corridor that Michael and the Kohl Lab seek to measure and test.

A major part of this study is the use of CTT Hybrid transmitters which automatically send out transmissions every 3 seconds. These transmissions are then received by pre-installed "nodes" which automatically collect data on the snakes position without needing a live human to track them down and record their position. This innovative methodology is likely to save days of manpower while generating many more data points. They hypothesize that juvenile EDBs will begin using the restored corridor before adults do, due to the high home-range fidelity of adult EDBS (wherein adults are more likely to remain in known spots rather than explore and "move in" to new ones). Information from this project will be used to monitor and ultimately "test" the effect of the corridor on Jekyll and inform about the possible successes of this joint effort. This will be the first project of its kind - testing a restored habitat corridor designed with EDBs as a primary focus species - and we can't wait to see the results of this study and its applications across wider landscapes!

Manuel Galeana - Effects of Mitigation Translocation on Bothrops asper: Implications for Conservation and Human-Snake Conflict Management

Manuel Galeana, a graduate researcher with La Universidad de Ciencias y Artes de Chiapas (UNICACH) (that is the University of Science & Arts of Chiapas), is looking to test the method of translocation in Bothrops asper. The snake with many names, Fer-de-Lance, Lanceheads, Tercipelo, Tommygoff, it is known as the Nuayaca Real in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas. This species is frequently encountered and considered to have the highest incidence of snakebite in southern Mexico.

Manuel is looking into long-distance translocation of Bothrops asper in this region of Mexico. Specifically, if translocation has a negative impact on the species. Translocation - that is moving one or more animals away from the site they were captured and releasing them elsewhere - has had mixed results in the literature, at least in the US, with some studies indicating poor survival outcomes from translocated snakes and others suggesting comparable survivorship to wild resident snakes. Right now, however, very little is known of this method in the Neotropics - especially this particular region of Mexico - and Manuel seeks to answer those questions and help determine if translocation is truly a successful method of mitigating human-snake conflict.

Jenna Palmisano: Genomic and Physiologic Impacts of Pathogens on Sistrurus miliarius barbouri

Jenna Palmisano is a returning Grant Awardee! Her project has been very successful in documenting the spread of the invasive pentastome (crustacean) lungworm Raillietiella orientalis - a.k.a. "RO", along with two additional fungal pathogens (Ophidiomyces ophiodiicola and Paranannizziopsis australiensis) and she has produced some impressive results with her mark-recapture surveys and disease surveillance. With over 630 samples, including over 45o+ individual snakes, Jenna's fieldwork efforts have been outstanding! She has detected several pathogens at multiple sites, and sampled others without detection. Now, Jenna's work is moving into a genetic component; wherein she plans to look at the immune responses to these diseases and their effects on genetic diversity on this species in Florida. The point of this, put into simpler terms, is to actually prove that the Dusky Pygmies are being affected by these diseases - i.e. the genetic responses to diseases and population decreases will provide a more accurate picture beyond "do the snakes have the disease?". Furthermore, this genetic will contribute insights into the genome of the species itself, which will likely be used by future researchers investigating the genetics or ecology of the Dusky Pygmy Rattlesnake in Florida.

We are eagerly awaiting the results of Jenna's research, and ready to take further action to aid this species and assist researchers in protecting them for the future!

If you feel passionately about a certain species, then be sure to join this year's Battle of the Buzztails - happening now! Pick a team or start your own and support the species of your choice! If you are a researcher, land manager or other form of snake-lover with a plan and proposal to benefit wild rattlesnakes and their habitats, then be sure to apply for our yearly Conservation & Research Grants!