Why can’t the pine snakes cross the road? Hint: New Jersey traffic might have something to do with it.

Drexel students will bring to light these and other findings about the plight, perils and peculiarities  of the Northern Pine Snake in several presentations and posters at the Ecological Society of America annual meeting next week (ESA 2013), based on their research with Dr. Walt Bien’sLaboratory of Pinelands Research in the New Jersey Pinelands.

Northern pine snakes are charismatic ambassadors for the Pinelands National Reserve, an ecologically important region –designated as a U.S. Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO and as the first National Reserve in the United States.  The pine snakes are large, nonvenomous, docile and beautiful (at least to the non-phobic).

Northern Pine Snakes grow to about 6 feet in length. Photo courtesy of Dane Ward

The population in New Jersey is threatened, and the next-nearest population of northern…