![]() Since 2012, the fund has invested more than $24.1 million in projects to support the restoration of the longleaf ecosystem throughout the South. NFWF marked another important milestone in 2017, surpassing 1 million acres of longleaf restored, enhanced or protected through its Longleaf Stewardship Fund and related programs. “This is one of the reasons we are so proud of this project reintroducing these snakes could only have happened after years of efforts to restore these areas back to health.” “You can’t have indigos without first providing a home and plenty of groceries to eat,” David Printiss of the North Florida Program of The Nature Conservancy said. NFWF also directly supports the 10-year effort to reintroduce eastern indigos to northern Florida. The Foundation has invested more than $2.6 million into efforts to restore and enhance longleaf forests in and around the preserve. The release of the reptiles, which were raised at Central Florida Zoo’s Orianne Center for Indigo Conservation, represents a significant milestone in NFWF’s 14-year history of support for longleaf conservation on public and private lands. Largely eliminated from northern Florida due to habitat loss and fragmentation, the indigo was last observed at the preserve in 1982. The species got a helping hand last July in the Florida Panhandle, when a diverse group of conservation partners gathered at The Nature Conservancy’s Apalachicola Bluffs and Ravines Preserve to release 12 eastern indigo snakes, eight males and four females. Endangered Species Act.īut now, thanks in large part to decades of conservation efforts focused on the longleaf pine ecosystem in Southern states, the eastern indigo seems poised to once again rule the piney woods. The glossy, blue-black coloration is unique to this species. Robust and alert, the Eastern Indigo Snake averages 5-6 feet in length, with a record of 8 feet, 5 inches. Indigos once flourished throughout the longleaf pine forests of Florida, Georgia, Alabama and eastern Mississippi, but their numbers have fallen so low that the species is listed as “threatened” under the U.S. The Eastern Indigo Snake is among the longest of all North American snakes in the USA, only the Bullsnake, Pituophis catenifer sayi, regularly rivals it in size. Indigos are nonvenomous, posing no threat to people, but they will take on just about any potential prey they run across, including venomous rattlesnakes and copperheads. ![]() They grow to more than 9 feet in length, making them North America’s longest native snake. These majestic reptiles sport jet-black scales that shine with a blue iridescence. The eastern indigo snake owes its scientific name, Drymarchon couperi, to a Greek phrase meaning “lord of the forest.” It’s a fitting description. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |