If you live in an area where you frequently see snakes dead on the road and can safely stop, consider saving up a few in your freezer to send to be preserved either through us or your closest natural history collection!

This particular snake will be quite useful in the future - was found in a geographic zone of admixture where the two understood species of Cottonmouth intersect. Having both tissue and the body to study morphology through this zone allows us to study hybrid zone dynamics in both DNA and phenotype.

This snake was relatively unscathed so despite being dead on the road (DOR), it can be used for research in a huge variety of ways. This group took tissue and preserved this snake so it will live on forever as a part of a permanent public museum collection as a snapshot in time of this population.

Just what I was looking for, Thank you! Feel free to add SEB to the list.

Alex McKelvy

If this interests you and you want to learn more, join us on a trip or need a snake identified, join our discord community here: discord.gg/QpBQthS3TZ

We also offer the best snake ID service on the web through our education arm on reddit - reddit.com/r/whatsthissnake
An active community with distinguished reliable responders and flaired users combined with an assistive bot get you an accurate ID and any questions you have about snakes answered.

Preserving these snakes and tissues is important as it offer researchers a snapshot in time from these populations. All tissues and vouchers are deposited in publicly held collections. Our efforts have resulted in collection of ~700 tissue samples that would have otherwise faded away on a roadway.

We have field classes twice a year where we meet to learn how to take tissues and make vouchers from snakes that are found dead on the road (DOR).

Some photos from our recent trip!
photos.app.goo.gl/C6YMhCa8zSdp...