It was Sunday night, 1993. This may have been a usual night
except this Sunday was Halloween and what happened was ASU's most famous
reptile died. A Common Kingsnake,
Lampropeltis getula californiae, but this snake was anything but common.
From the title of our story, you may have guessed that our snake, or maybe
we should call it snakes, had two heads.
Spooky, you say? Our two headed friend had
already lived 17 slinky and to some creepy years before that Halloween night.
But to give up the ghost when demons and dragons are running about,
even if the demons and dragons are costumes filled with children, it was just weird!
Such a serpent also makes you think of myths. Is it possible that the
legends of dragons especially the two headed kind came from previous two
headed snakes? Maybe the accidental finding of a skeleton
of another two headed snake lead people to make up stories of mythical
flying dragons. What do you think?
If
you visit ASU you may want to stop by the snake collection, which includes a
fair-skinned, pink-eyed albino rattlesnake, an albino gopher snake and maybe the
ghost of our long time friend, the two headed snake. The reptile collection is
located on the first floor of the Life Sciences Building (A Wing). The exhibit
can be viewed by the public Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Here are some other places to read and learn about king snakes.
On the Web:
There are hundreds of sites on the web, but their web addresses often change.
It is best to look for them using a search engine like
HOTBOT using the key
words king snakes, Common Kingsnakes, Lampropeltis getula.
Books:
The King Snake, by Allan W. Eckert. With illus. by Franz Altschuler. 1968.
The Snake Book, by Mary Ling and Mary Atkinson. With photography by
Frank Greenaway and Dave King. 1997.
Photo by Sean Brady, courtesy of ASU Alumni Magazine
