Hands-on Reptile and Amphibian Study at the Solon Dixon Forestry Education Center

Alabama is a global treasure in multiple areas related to nature, but one thing it really excels in is reptiles and amphibians. 

Our field study site, the Solon Dixon Forestry Education center, is in the middle of a global hotspot. On the nearly 6,000 acres that the center sits on, there are more salamanders than the continents of Africa and Australia and all of the tropical rain forests put together. 

Herpetologist Jimmy Stiles (who also led us on our night time frogging adventure), taught us all about the reptiles and amphibians of Alabama... and let us hold them! We got to handle a gopher tortoise, a federally endangered indigo snake, a two toed amphiuma, a marbled salamander, a mole salamander and an eastern glass lizard, among others. We didn’t touch the venemous specimens, like the copperhead!

Who knew we had so many cool things right here in Alabama? So many Alabamians don’t know the rare world treasure in our backyards, but these kids do, and they are the ones who will determine what happens to it in the future. Thanks to AMV RC&D and The Dekko Foundation for making this program possible. 


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