Synopses & Reviews
Dr. Robert Mason, the current recipient of the National Science Foundation's Young Investigator Award, has been studying a mysterious phenomenon for over fifteen years - one of the most extraordinary events of the natural world - the reemergence from a winter spent in a state of suspended animation in subterranean caverns of tens of thousands of red-sided garter snakes - the world's largest concentration of snakes. The work of scientists can often seem mysterious and intimidating to the nonscientist. No longer! Introducing an exciting perspective on the important work of scientists in all areas of research and study. Scientists in the Field show people immersed in the unpredictable and dynamic natural world, making science more accessible, relevant, and exciting to young readers. Far from the research laboratory, these books show first-hand adventures in the great outdoors - adventures with a purpose. From climbing into a snake den with thousands of slithering snakes to tracking wolves
Review
"The lively text communicates both the meticulous measurements required in this kind of work and the thrill of new discoveries." SLJ, starred School Library Journal, Starred
"A stellar example of how good such books can be." --Booklist, starred Booklist, ALA, Starred Review
Each spring, 18,000 red-sided garter snakes emerge en masse from three underground dens in Manitoba, Canada, where they have spent the winter stacked on top of one another like cordwood. As the snakes spill out of the dens, Earthwatch volunteers and students gather them up and stuff them in pillowcases bought in bulk at the Salvation Army. The captured snakes then participate in a day's behavioral experiments directed by Bob Mason, a zoologist at Oregon State University. (In 1989 Mason identified the pheromone, or scent, that draws the male to the female garter snake.) The snakes might interact in colorful "arenas" that look like upended box kites or attempt to follow a path marked with scent through a maze. Mason is trying to figure out why female snakes prefer bigger males and how the snakes find their way to the marsh twenty miles away from the dens....A solid introduction to the ethos of experimental science as seen by a genial scientist with a research topic whose kid appeal is hard to beat.
Horn Book
Review
"A stellar example of how good such books can be." --Booklist, starred
Synopsis
Dr. Robert Mason has been studying a mysterious phenomenon for over fifteen years: the reemergence of tens of thousands of red-sided garter snakes — the worlds largest concentration of snakes — after a winter spent in a state of suspended animation in subterranean caverns.
This gathering each spring in the forests of Manitoba, Canada, is one of the most extraordinary events of the natural world and is the subject of study for Dr. Mason, a.k.a. the Snake Scientist.
About the Author
Nic Bishop, who holds a doctorate in the biological sciences, is an award-winning author and photographer known for his outstanding stop-action wildlife photographs. Among his many successful books for children are two other titles in the Scientists in the Field Series: Digging for Bird Dinosaurs and The Snake Scientist, written by Sy Montgomery, winner of the 2000 IRA Children's Book Award for nonfiction. He lives in Kalamazoo, Michigan, with his wife and a bevy of animals under study.Sy Montgomery is an author, naturalist, newspaper columnist, documentary scriptwriter, and radio commentator who writes for children as well as adults. Among her award-winning books are The Snake Scientist and The Man-Eating Tigers of Sundarbans. She made four expeditions to Peru and Brazil to study the pink dolphins of the Amazon. She lives in New Hampshire.