Most of you – okay… ALL of you who read this column like the outdoors. Some like it for its peace and beauty, some for recreation opportunities, some like it for both. One activity I have found many enjoy is seeking creatures from a list. A sort of “bingo” approach to observing nature.
For many, they have a list of birds they would like to see. I have a colleague who wants to see each species of turtle in the U.S. in the wild. I heard of a group that was trying to photograph a selected list of turtles in the wild. I have a list of animals I hope to see while camping out west. It is a lot of fun to do. Many like the challenge.
I am not sure how it started, but earlier this year I began asking people to report snakes they see while out and about. Again, it started as just a list but then I decided to see how many of the 40 species and subspecies that call the Pensacola Bay area home we might find in one year. The challenge was on.
I broke the types of snakes into size categories following a guide published by Dr. Whit Gibbons and others. In our area there are seven species of small snakes, eight species of mid-sized snakes, seven species of large snakes, 13 species of water snakes, and four species of venomous snakes. There is one species of introduced snakes. Here are the results so far –
Category
# Known species
# Seen
Small snakes
7
0
Mid-sized snakes
8
3
Large snakes
7
5
Water snakes
13
5
Venomous snakes
4
3
Introduced snakes
1
0
Snake sightings in the Pensacola Bay Area (Jan-Jul 2022)
Seeing no small snakes makes sense… they are small and are mostly nocturnal.
Seeing most of the large snakes also makes sense… they are large and easier to notice.
Not seeing a lot of water snakes also makes sense. First, you have to spend a lot of time on our rivers and lakes to see them. Second, they are not easy to tell apart. That said, we have seen almost half.
It is interesting we have seen three of the four venomous snakes. Cottonmouth encounters are quite common, but the two species of rattlesnakes (pygmy and eastern diamondback) are not. But… the one that is missing… is the eastern coral snake.
The eastern coral snake.
Photo: Ed Lewis
Seeing a coral snake is actually a rare thing. I bet if you asked 100 people “how many of you have seen a live coral snake in the wild?” very few would reply yes.
Why so few encounters?
Is this species declining?
I personally have only seen only two corals snakes in the wild in my life. Three if you count the time my dad said I was playing with one in the first grade – but I do not remember that. The two I saw were both at the Naval Live Oaks section of the Gulf Islands National Seashore near Gulf Breeze.
The first was when I was a Boy Scout camping there in the late 1960s. We came across the snake coiled around the base of a palmetto. We all knew what it was and did not get close, but all enjoyed watching it thinking how lucky we were. I remember how docile it was. No angry rattle. No nasty gaping white mouth. Just chillaxing and enjoying the day. Being boys, we had to see it move. We got a stick and nudge it. It just looked at us as if to say – “What are you doing? You know who I am? You know what I can do?” We left it alone, but it was an amazing experience.
The distinct black head of the coral snake.
Photo: Ed Lewis
The second encounter was also at Naval Live Oaks, but many years later. I was conducting a box turtle survey within the Seashore and following a transect I had set to search. I was moving slowly, looking hard, when I heard to some rustling in the leaves to my right. The type of rustling you hear when an armadillo is moving nearby. But there was no armadillo. I continued to hear the noise and searched for a small mammal when I realized it was coming from beneath the leaf litter. Using my hiking stick, I moved the leaves to find a large coral snake crawling. You can imagine my excitement. At this stage of my life, I had been a science educator for a long time and had taught about these snakes a lot, but only had seen one in my life.
The eastern coral snake (Micrurus fulvius fulvius) is found across much of the coastal southeastern United States. There are records in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Alabama, and Mississippi. They do seem to be more common in Florida than other states. They can easily be recognized by their classic red/black/yellow banded colors. There are mimics who have this coloration but the old song “red on yellow will kill a fellow” does work with this subspecies. Also, the mimics in our region have red heads, where the eastern coral has a black one. The literature states they prefer dry sandhill environments but can be found in hardwoods (which where I found them) and wet flatwoods dominated by pines.
The best chance to find one is in the spring and fall and most often found during or after rain. As I found, they spend most of their time beneath the ground or under leaf litter but when they do move above ground, they seem to prefer mornings.
Coral snake found near Eglin AFB.
Photo: Carrie Stevenson
Their food of choice are lizards and snakes. They will grab their prey and chew releasing the venom. They do have their predators. Kingsnakes, notorious for eating other snakes, are one, but indigo snakes, and black racers will also consume them. When they encounter a potential predator their first response is usually to try and hide underground. If this does not work, they will flatten their bodies hiding their heads beneath a coil and sometimes raise their tails to appear as the head end. As I observed, they are not terribly aggressive snakes but anyone seeing one should keep their distance.
Coral snakes have a neurotoxin, different than the hemotoxins find in the pit vipers. They are more closely related to sea snakes and cobras, who have a similar toxin. Deaths from this snake are rare, but encounters and bites are also rare.
Do I encourage you seek out this snake for our project?
No… The bite from this animal can be very serious. Though the majority of venomous snake bites come from copperheads, and most fatalities from western diamondback rattlesnake, this is NOT a snake to mess with. If you do see one, let us know and consider yourself lucky. But keep a safe distance. It is amazing to see one.
It has been a few months since we have posted an article on the changing wildlife over the course of a year on our barrier islands. I took the month of June off and just could not schedule a hike in July. But it is now August, and we DID get out this week.
This is no surprise… it is hot and humid. I think everyone has noticed this. We are also in the rainy season. Based on the NOAA site I track, we are currently at 45.73” for the year. This is an average of 6.53 inches a month which would lead us to an annual amount of 78” if we keep that pace. This would be another wet year.
This rainfall does a lot to cover up tracks I am looking for. It will spook some creatures into hiding waiting out the weather, but there are plenty of others who enjoy the rain and are more on the move.
This rainbow indicates how wet this part of the year can be on our barrier islands.
Today I took my grandson with me on the hike. He loves the outdoors and reptiles and amphibians especially. We began, as we always do, walking a section of the Gulf beach to see what we could see.
We immediately encountered a sea turtle nest. I understand that it has been a good year for sea turtles in our neck of the woods. The turtle patrol had roped this one off, but I did see human footprints inside the roped section. We encourage people NOT to do this. Compacting the sand can be a problem and if they hatch and detect vibrations they may not emerge. It is cool to see one, but do not go past the roped section.
The sea turtle patrols mark the nest with stakes and rope. People should not enter beyond the roped section.
We always search the wrack line for cool things and today we ran into a few. First, there were hundreds of small dead anchovies washed ashore. I am not 100% sure what happened but I am guessing a strong storm came and washed them in. Anchovies are a great source of food for many marine fish and these dead ones will certainly feed the numerous birds and ghost crabs that live along the shores. Anchovies play an important role in the ecosystem and, even though these were dead, it is nice to see them.
We did find several catfish heads. Saltwater catfish are not prized by Gulf fishermen. Many prefer to cut their heads off and leave them on the beach. The thing is that this does little to deter the population of this unpopular fish and the spines can be dangerous for beach combers walking barefoot. But the ghost crabs usually collect and feed on them.
The serrated spines of the hardhead catfish are still on this discarded head. beach combers should be careful when walking near these.
We also found a few comb jellies. These are members of a different phylum (Ctenophora) than the classic jellyfish (Cnidaria). They lack stinging cells and move using their rows of ctenes (cilia) that resemble the bristles of a comb as you run your finger over it. This is where it gets its common name. They do produce blue colored bioluminescence in the evening and are beautiful to watch.
Comb jellies do not sting and they produce a beautiful light show at night.
As we crossed the road and enter the dunes, I explained to my grandson how the foredune is dominated by grasses. These plants can tolerate the strong winds off the Gulf and the salt spray as well. On the other side of the road, you enter in the secondary dune field. This region is a mix of grasses and small shrubs, which can grow due to the primary dunes blocking some of the strong Gulf winds.
Today we saw several species of flowers in bloom. Different plants bloom at different times of the year and it is neat to see who is blooming at different times. The low swale areas were full of growing plants and flowers. There were plenty of sundews and ground pine. Some standing water but much was dry. We did find a plant in one of the wet swales I did not know. I am listing it here as redroot but I am not confident in that identification and would love if someone who knows it will share its name.
This once barren flat of sand is now full of grasses and flowers. This common secondary dune plant is what I call “square flower”. I am not sure what type of plant this is. I am calling it red root and hope someone with a better identification will let us know.
There were numerous tracks of armadillos but little else from the animal world. Again, the rains wash them away. The milkweed was still blooming awaiting for the now listed monarch butterflies. And the beach side rosemary was releasing its characteristic odor that says “Pensacola Beach” to me. The plants looked great and seem to enjoy the rain. FYI – we did get rained on during the hike, but not too bad. We had seen the parasitic dodder earlier in the year and the vine was still evident in August.
Though many of the tracks were washed away in the rain, some are still there. The animals are still moving. We first saw milkweed blooming in April. Here in August some are still in bloom. Seaside rosemary is one of the more aromatic plants on our barrier islands. Dodder is a parasitic vine often called “Love Vine”.
In the tertiary, or back dunes, is where I always hope to find tracks or animals of some kind. Today there was little evidence of any. There were raccoon tracks moving along the edge of tallest dunes and along the trails leading to Santa Rosa Sound. But not much else. The pines were bearing their cones and the sweet bay magnolias had their young blossoms forming.
Many of the pine trees growing in the back dunes are now producing cones. Sweet bay is in the magnolia family and produces a similar blossom.
One species my grandson did not enjoy were the numerous devils’ joints. This branching cactus has very sharp spines and were all over the back dunes. We had to stop and remove them several times. He definitely wanted to find a different way back!
The Devil’s Joint is not one of the more pleasant plants to encounter in our dunes. We encountered plenty today!
We did reach the Sound and walked along its edge towards the old fish hatchery. He saw TONS of fish (as he put it) and the grass looked thick and healthy. We did get to explore and talk about the old fish hatchery. And then headed back towards the Gulf and our truck.
I think we got started a bit late to see a lot of the wildlife. This time of year, they will be hunkered down somewhere early in the morning to prepare for another hot day. With the overhead clouds I was hoping to see some movement, but we did not. We will try earlier in the day in September.
I hope you get out and explore our barrier islands. They are fascinating places. But plan to get into the water this time of year. We did. It was hot. We went snorkeling and saw numerous pinfish, a flounder, and snapper, and a nice sheepshead. This is a good way to spend the hot parts of the day. Let’s see what September may bring.
The University of Florida/IFAS Extension faculty are reintroducing their acclaimed “Panhandle Outdoors LIVE!” series. Conservation lands and aquatic systems have vulnerabilities and face future threats to their ecological integrity. Come learn about the important role of these ecosystems.
The St. Joseph Bay and Buffer Preserve Ecosystems are home to some of the one richest concentrations of flora and fauna along the Northern Gulf Coast. This area supports an amazing diversity of fish, aquatic invertebrates, turtles, salt marshes and pine flatwoods uplands.
This one-day educational adventure is based at the St. Joseph Bay State Buffer Preserve near the coastal town of Port. St. Joe, Florida. It includes field tours of the unique coastal uplands and shoreline as well as presentations by area Extension Agents.
Details:
Registration fee is $45.
Meals: breakfast, lunch, drinks & snacks provided (you may bring your own)
Attire: outdoor wear, water shoes, bug spray and sun screen
*if afternoon rain is in forecast, outdoor activities may be switched to the morning schedule
Space is limited! Register now! See below.
Tentative schedule:
All Times Eastern
8:00 – 8:30 am Welcome! Breakfast & Overview with Ray Bodrey, Gulf County Extension
8:30 – 9:35 am Diamondback Terrapin Ecology, with Rick O’Connor, Escambia County Extension
9:35 – 9:45 am Q&A
9:45- 10:20 am The Bay Scallop & Habitat, with Ray Bodrey, Gulf County Extension
10:20 – 10:30 am Q&A
10:30 – 10:45 am Break
10:45 – 11:20 am The Hard Structures: Artificial Reefs & Marine Debris, with Scott Jackson, Bay County Extension
11:20 – 11:30 am Q&A
11:30 – 12:05 am The Apalachicola Oyster, Then, Now and What’s Next, with Erik Lovestrand, Franklin County Extension
12:05 – 12:15 pm Q&A
12:15 – 1:00 pm Lunch
1:00 – 2:30 pm Tram Tour of the Buffer Preserve (St. Joseph Bay State Buffer Preserve Staff)
2:30 – 2:40 pm Break
2:40 – 3:20 pm A Walk Among the Black Mangroves (All Extension Agents)
3:20 – 3:30 pm Wrap Up
To attend, you must register for the event at this site:
One of the programs I focus on as a Sea Grant Extension Agent in Escambia County is restoring the health of our estuary. One of the projects in that program is increasing the encounters with estuarine animals that were once common. Currently I am focused on horseshoe crabs, diamondback terrapins, and bay scallops. Horseshoe crabs and bay scallops were more common here 50 years ago. We are not sure how common diamondback terrapins were. We know they were once very common near Dauphin Island and are often found in the Big Bend area, but along the emerald coast we are not sure. That said, we would like to see all of them encountered more often.
Horseshoe crabs breeding on the beach. Photo: Florida Sea Grant
There are a variety of reasons why species decline in numbers, but habitat loss is one of the most common. Water quality declined significantly 50 years ago and certainly played a role in the decline of suitable habitat. The loss of seagrass certainly played a role in the decline of bay scallops, but overharvesting was an issue as well. In the Big Bend region to our east, horseshoe crabs are also common in seagrass beds and the decline of that habitat locally may have played a role in the decline of that animal in our bay system.
Salt marshes are what terrapins prefer. We have lost a lot of marsh due to coastal development. Unfortunately, marshes often exist where we would like houses, marinas, and restaurants. If the decline of these creatures in our bay is a sign of the declining health of the system, their return could be a sign that things are getting better.
Seagrass beds have declined over the last half century. Photo: Rick O’Connor
Salt marshes have declined due to impacts from coastal development. Photo: Molly O’Connor
For over 10 years we have been conducting citizen science monitoring programs to monitor the frequency of encounters of these creatures. All three are here but the increase in encounters has been slow. An interesting note was the fact that many locals had not heard of two of them. Very few knew what a horseshoe crab was when I began this project and even fewer had heard of a terrapin. Scallops are well known from the frequent trips locals make to the Big Bend area to harvest them (the only place in the state where it is legal to do so), but many of those were not aware that they were once harvested here.
I am encouraged when locals send me photos of either horseshoe crabs or their molts. It gives me hope that the animal is on the increase. Our citizen science project focuses on locating their nesting beaches, which we have not found yet, but it is still encouraging.
Volunteers surveying terrapin nesting beaches do find the turtles and most often sign that they have been nesting. The 2022 nesting season was particularly busy and, again, a good sign.
It is now time to do our annual Scallop Search. Each year we solicit volunteers to survey a search grid within either Big Lagoon or Santa Rosa Sound. Over the years the results of these surveys have not been as positive as the other two, but we do find them, and we will continue to search. If you are interested in participating in this year’s search, we will be conducting them during the last week of July. You can contact me at the Escambia County Extension Office (850-475-5230 ext.1111) or email roc1@ufl.edu or Chris Verlinde at the Santa Rosa County Extension Office (850-623-3868) or email chrismv@ufl.edu and we can set you up.
Bay scallops need turtle grass to survive. Photo: UF IFAS
Volunteers participating in the Great Scallop Search. Photo: Molly O’Connor
Final note…
Each June I camp out west somewhere and each year I look for those hard-to-find animals. After 10 years of looking for a mountain lion, I saw one this year. Finding these creatures can happen. Let’s hope encounters with all three become more common in our bay.
Well, the answer to this question should be obvious, right? However, when we take a closer look at these interesting creatures, the first impression created by their frightful name will likely evaporate completely. First, scorpions are considered venomous, rather than poisonous (I know, a technicality). They have many predators that eat them with no ill effect so they are not poisonous. Anything that has the ability to deliver a toxin by means of injection is classified as venomous. Next, the name is a true misnomer because the group of animals referred to as blue-tailed scorpions are actually a type of lizard called a skink.
Hatchling broadhead skinks sport a brilliant blue tail but lose this color as they mature. Source: NSF-EID
Scincidae is just one of sixteen families of lizards worldwide but it contains some of the most beautiful species of reptiles. Florida is blessed (yes, blessed) with at least seven species of skinks, with one being divided into five sub-species. Three of the five sub-species of the mole skink have “protected” status under state or federal laws.
Several of our native skinks in the Panhandle are challenging to identify at first glance, particularly during their younger years. The five-lined, southeastern five-lined and broadhead skink are all striped and have blue tails as youngsters, hence the origin of the frightening title for this article. According to folklore, these animals have the ability to deliver a painful sting with their tail. Well, as a lifelong reptile enthusiast, I have had the experience of catching many young, blue-tailed skinks without any stings.
Now, back to the question of whether or not these blue-tailed skinks are poisonous. From everything that I have read, there is no scientific evidence that skinks are inherently toxic when eaten by other animals. It is theorized that they could potentially harbor Salmonella bacteria but I have never heard of a documented case of this either. Many people hold the belief that when a skink in eaten by a dog or cat, it causes the animal to hold its head cocked and wander off to one side when walking. Veterinarians refer to these symptoms as vestibular syndrome and often cannot diagnose a cause. Vestibular syndrome is related to the inner ear or the parts of the brain that control balance and a sense of orientation to gravity. Our family witnessed this once with a beagle that we had and it lasted for several weeks but gradually improved to the point of normalcy. We did not witness her eating a skink, although she could have. However, there are many other more likely causes for this behavior including, inner ear infections, cysts or tumors, head trauma, parasites, etc. I suspect that inner ear issues are a common cause.
The largest species of skink in the Southeastern U. S. is the broadhead (or broad-headed) skink, reaching lengths of nearly thirteen inches. When mature, these skinks lose the blue tail and most of their striping to become a tannish brown. Males are larger than females and have a reddish color on the head, which intensifies during the breeding season. If you want to identify this species as a juvenile, you will need to look at the scales on the underside of the tail to separate it from the two species of five-lined skinks that inhabit our area. The central row of scales will be significantly wider than the other rows on either side. Broadheads have powerful jaws and will bite if harassed. If you want to see two males engaged in epic combat, give a watch to this YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8qbexnZWew . Their stamina is truly amazing and they definitely come out with some battle scars.
As the Sea Grant Extension Agent in Escambia County, one of my program areas is to help restore a healthy estuary. To do this we focus on educating the public how to improve water quality, restore habitat, and manage invasive species, but we also focus on how to monitor fish and wildlife. The fish and wildlife I focus on are those that were once common in the bay and are trying to make a comeback – such as scallops and horseshoe crabs. But there is another estuarine creature we are interested in that does not fall into the classic “bring them back” model and that is the estuarine turtle known as the diamondback terrapin.
The diamondback terrapin. Photo: Molly O’Connor
Unlike scallops and horseshoe crabs, this is not an animal that people remember as a kid. In fact, very few Floridians in the panhandle have ever heard of it. Some older distribution maps of their range show that they exist from Cape Cod MA to Brownsville TX, but with a gap in the Florida panhandle. That was because there was no scientific literature of the animal’s existence here. And that was when the Panhandle Terrapin Project began – to confirm whether or not terrapins existed here.
In 2005, working with students at Washington High School in Pensacola, we began our search by placing “Wanted Posters” at boat ramps in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties near good terrapin habitat, which is salt marsh. We began to get calls almost right away, but for a variety of other turtle species. Folks were calling us with photos of box turtles, yellow-bellied sliders, and cooters. It showed there was interest in the project but was evident they were not familiar with the terrapin.
Around 80% of the terrapin nests are depredated by raccoons, or some other predator. Photo: Bob Blais
Volunteers log the number of female tracks they see on their beaches. Photo: Cindy Marvel
I interviewed several ole gill netters to see if they remember ever capturing them – same response, “I never heard of those”. I did show one gill netter a photo and he responded – “you know, I think we did catch a couple of these”. But no confirmation of their existence here. It was time to begin searching ourselves.
The team began to survey good terrapin habitat and walking potential nesting beaches looking for any evidence. We did not find it. Then one day in 2007 a gentleman working on a construction site responded to one of our “Wanted Posters”. He said he had seen one of our terrapins. After all of the calls that led to other species, I was not so sure – but he convinced me it might be. So, we checked it out. The sign was placed in good habitat and there were potential nesting beaches nearby. We searched… and we found. What we found were nests that had been depredated by raccoons. There were empty eggshells laying around and two dead hatchlings. There were also tracks in the sand. Confirmation… there were terrapins here!
It was now time to take the show on the road and see if terrapins exist in other counties along the panhandle. My wife and I would take part of our summer vacations and camp along the coast searching. We found at least one record of a terrapin in each of the counties between the Alabama state line and Apalachicola River. All of this was presented to the Florida Diamondback Terrapin Working Group of which there are members from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Word was out.
Terrapins prefer sandy beaches and lay their eggs during daylight hours. Photo: Molly O’Connor
A terrapin hatchling. Photo: Molly O’Connor
The next step was to assess their status. How many are here and how are those populations doing?
We did this by following a method developed by Tom Mann with the Mississippi Department of Wildlife. Tom was monitoring terrapins in that state and the subspecies he worked with, the Mississippi Terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin pileata) was the one that was thought to be in Pensacola Bay. So, it was Tom’s method we decided to follow. This includes walking nesting beaches and logging individual tracks and depredated nests in 16-day cycles. Tom’s model assumed that all mature females in the population nest each season and that they do not lay more than one clutch in a 16-day period. The idea is that each track and nest represented one female, and assuming the sex ratio of male to female is 1:1, doubling the number of tracks and depredated nests found in that period would give an idea of how many adult males and females are in this group. Seemed easy enough so these surveys became part of our project.
Another method learned by attending conferences was a 30-minute head count. If you can find the lagoons where the terrapins actually live you can sit and count the number of heads you see in a 30-minute period. It is true that 23 heads does not mean there are 23 terrapins, but the relative abundance can be monitored. If you typically see 20-23 heads and over time that decreases to 11-15, then the relative abundance is declining. It is a method that citizen science volunteers can do and so was included in the project.
Modified crab traps is one method used to capture adults. Photo: Molly O’Connor
A diamondback terrapin being measured and marked before release. Photo: Rick O’Connor
We also wanted to try and capture individuals to mark and tag. Mark recapture is a method used to estimate populations but capturing terrapins has been historically difficult to do. Several methods have been used by members of the Working Group and we have tried them as well. We have captured terrapins, but very few.
In 2018 the Team partnered with the U.S. Geological Survey to increase the robustness of the project. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission became interested in tissue samples from captured animal to study the genetics of the terrapins in this area. Since 2015 we have trained 228 individuals to conduct surveys, and some have been with me that entire time. Many of them have spent countless hours helping assess the status of this animal in our bays. Many days they see nothing. Others a few tracks or depredated nests. Some locations have good luck with head counts, but many of them finding nothing.
The Mississippi terrapin found in Pensacola Bay is darker in color than the Ornate terrapin found in other bays of the panhandle. Photo: Rick O’Connor
This terrapin has the coloration of the Ornate terrapin but was found much further west than the literature suggest it lives. Photo: Rick O’Connor
I keep track of “Frequency of Occurrence” (FOO) – the number of surveys where some sort of terrapin encounter happens. This encounter can be as simple as a track in the sand, but they had SOME encounter. It is my hope that over time encounters with them will increase, just as I hope it does with scallops and horseshoe crabs. Since 2007 the FOO has ranged from 12-86% of the surveys conducted, with an average of about 25%. The best year was 2011 (86%), just after the Deepwater Horizon spill. There was a steady increase in FOO from 2007 to 2012 when it took a significant drop. However, this is not because the relative abundance of terrapins suddenly dropped. 2012 was the year I moved from the marine science program at Washington High School to Florida Sea Grant Extension. There were all new volunteers and the learning curve started over. They were not as good at detecting them as the previous group. But that is changing. 2022 is looking to be a busy year for the team.
So far this year we have seen terrapin activity on almost every nesting beach between here and Apalachicola. One site had 49 heads in a 30-minute head count! There have been several active nests, numerous tracks, and plenty of depredated nests. In addition, we have found one dead hatchling and captured two adults. Tissue from these have been collected for the genetic study. But the strangest story this year… a security guard has told us of terrapin hatchlings that have been dropped on their guard shack by birds. Sea birds are known to do this to try and crack open shells of mollusk so they can feed on them. I have never heard of this with terrapins, not here or anywhere.
A dedicated volunteer is rewarded with a capture. Photo: Rick O’Connor
It seems it is going to be a terrific year for the terrapin project this year. It is exciting for our volunteers to have so many encounters and nice to know that the public is becoming more familiar with this animal. I cannot say whether the population is increasing or not but our knowledge, understanding, and encounters are.
