Lizards, snakes, frogs, and salamanders are among the various kinds of animals depicted in vibrant photographs that line the Student Center art gallery. “Did You Know?” style panels accompany the colorful pictures of reptiles and amphibians, all found in Georgia. Photographs display the
fiery reds of the rainbow snake, the charcoal black of the alligator snapping turtle and the golden spotted hue of the eastern box turtle’s skin and carapace.
The Student Center’s newest exhibit highlights the uniqueness and importance of amphibians and reptiles to the environment and humankind. Reptiles and amphibians are well known for their medicinal and environmental purposes, and the gallery also showcases them as art, set in Georgia habitats.
Some of the frogs on display can produce many different types of toxins, found in their skin, worthy of research for their therapeutic uses. Environmental scientists also recognize frogs and other amphibians as “biological indicators” of the general state of an ecosystem, due to their permeable skin and habitation of terrestrial and aquatic environments.
The settings and backdrops of each photo are reminiscent of a spread out of a nature magazine, taken in lush green, marshy and even desert-like environments, all surprisingly found in The Peach State. Frogs seemingly native to the rainforest can be found among salamanders and snakes that one would expect to see in places like the Southwest.
Georgia houses 85 species of reptiles and ranks third in the nation in the number of different species of amphibians and reptiles that live there.
Dirk Stevenson photographed the creatures of the exhibit. Stevenson is a herpetologist and Director of Inventory and Monitoring for Project Orianne of the Orianne Society, a non-profit group dedicated to conserving the eastern indigo snake.
The exhibit is part of a multi-organizational effort between The Atlanta Herpetology Club, based out of Georgia State and Georgia Southern University. The club’s president, Evan Hutto, a biology major at State, along with Michael Black, PhD. Lecturer in Neuroscience, and Adam Safer, PhD. Lecturer of Biology, brought the exhibit to Georgia State to highlight the importance of these creatures to the public and to raise interest in the Herpetology Club.
“The exhibit covers a little bit of everything: a few lizard species, tons of turtles, snakes and frogs, a few salamanders, which Georgia is really rich in. It also talks about the Eastern Indigo, one of the more rare snakes in North America, found in Georgia,” Hutton explained.
“Thanks to co-advisor Adam Safer, the Herpetology Club is also able to go out and do field work with the indigo snakes,” Black added. “We fairly recently went on a ‘bio-blitz’ with the Orianne Society in South Georgia, near Jesup.”
The art gallery will exhibit Georgia’s Amphibians and Reptiles at room 346 of the Student Center until Nov. 16th.
Black and graduate student Sean Graham started the Atlanta Herpetology Club in 2006. Hutto joined shortly afterwards and helped to increase the club’s membership from 10 to 15 students when it began to now over 100, according to Black.
The club has several opportunities for fieldwork and outings and often works with The Atlanta Zoo and The Atlanta Botanical Garden. Anyone can join the club through OrgSync.com.
