The New York Times spoke with Bob Mason, Professor of Integrated Biology at the Oregon State University, about his yearly trips to Narcisse, Manitoba (a short 4 and half hours North of Fargo-Moorhead) to see a mass of 75,000 plus snakes migrate to mate.
When IT2 reached out to Bob, he said he would be happy to educate and share his passion for nature with our listening audience. He even said that Amy and JJ could cure their snake phobias next year with a single trip to the Great White North.
Why do snakes love this little piece of land? The topsoil is very thin and rests on top of limestone that has a network of holes, caves and slides that are PERFECT for slithering.
Fast fact – after taking some major steps, less than 1,000 snakes are killed each year on the highway during the migrations. This number used to be much higher, but educating visitors and forcing the movement of the snakes has resulted in helping keep as many of these garter snakes alive as possible.
By the way, it’s not Gardener, or Garder – these are GARTER snakes. Named after the old fashioned ways of holding up socks before the advent of elastic.
Professor Mason is an avid promoter of the wonder nature provides. His annual trek to Manitoba is a mixture of education and fascination. The snakes migrate according to weather and, most Springs, can be seen in early May – although some years pushes it closer to Memorial Day or later. Thousands of people flock to this tiny Canadian town to witness the massive amount of reptiles converge – tourism is popping in Narcisse!
(Amy Iler & JJ Gordon are talk-show hosts at 790 AM KFGO in Fargo-Moorhead. “It Takes 2 with Amy & JJ” can be heard weekdays 11am-2pm. Check out the show page on
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