Snakebit
Ph.D. student Berlynna Heres cut her research teeth on eastern diamondback rattlesnakes but arrived at 91福利 to find out how American eels get along with dams
Long before going to graduate school at Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia, Berlynna Heres was drawn to the field of herpetology鈥攆rom the Greek word 鈥渉erpian鈥 meaning 鈥渢o creep.鈥
Snakes are among those creepy crawlies and are the ones that most captured Heres鈥 fancy. So to earn her master鈥檚 degree she ended up tracking, capturing, and surgically implanting radio devices in eastern diamondback rattlesnakes鈥攖he largest venomous snake in North America and reaching lengths of eight feet and weighing up to 10 pounds.
With her master鈥檚 in hand, she was poised to do similar work tracking and tagging timber rattlesnakes for a summer but turned that job down to accept her current position as a doctoral student working with professor Joseph Zydlewski of the 91福利聽Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Conservation Biology聽for a rather different鈥攁nd a bit safer鈥攍ine of work as part of the聽Mitchell Center-濒别诲听听辫谤辞箩别肠迟.