REQUIEM FOR JIM THE PITUOPHIS: HOW LIVE REPTILES JOIN WITH MAMMOTHS TO TEACH PLEISTOCENE PALEONTOLOGY

Morrison Natural History Museum explains Ice Age extinctions with combinations of live reptiles and bones from hairy behemoths. Visitors pet the jaws from both Woolly and Columbian Mammoths, plus ground sloths, giant bears and saber tooth cats, all members of the New World maxi-fauna who suffered near total extinction during terminal Pleistocene event, about 11,000 years ago. The docents ask: who survived? Answer, nearly all the reptiles and amphibians we have today. Example: Jim, genus Pituophis, commonly known as gopher snakes, rat snakes or bull snakes, a mostly North American cluster of species who first evolved about 4 million years ago. South America, Europe, Asia and Australia show the same pattern: nearly all mammals weighing three quarter ton or more died out; snake species were mostly untouched. Rodents, except giant species, survived with similar high frequency, as did mini possums, shrew-like mammals and mole-like mammals. Big reptiles in freshwater environs - crocodilians and swimming turtles - survived far better than big terrestrial species -- giant land tortoises and super-giant monitor lizards.

Jim the Bull Snake has passed away last July, beloved veteran of hands on geo-education. Jim was part of a lineage of Pituophis, along with the late Sugar and Spice, who introduced Pleistocene ecology to museum visitors. Records show that 80,000 plus visitors touched him -- small children could stroke him gently with two fingers. Even serpent-adverse adults were charmed, an important result because snake history has much to say about our entire ecosystem.

The probability of extermination during Ice Age die-offs was determined by what habitats were occupied and the body size. Does the pattern suggest a cause? Perhaps. On several continents, extinctions occurred shortly after human hunters invaded. In the New World, humans probably arrived about 13,000 years ago and did hunt megafauna, using spear throwers (atl-atls). Could it be that early hunters culled the behemoths but ignored smaller prey? Perhaps. But well documented 19th century hunting cultures, such as those in northern Australia, did not eschew reptilian game of modest size. The problem requires additional, careful thought about live reptiles and extinct pachyderms.