13: Brown Snake

Hisss,

I write to you from Arapahoe, Ute, and Cheyenne land. I am interested in learning about the different animals that live in the place where I was born. I want to mention that biological classification as taught by western science has its roots in racism, sexism, and transphobia – here’s a good explainer about why.

I feel bad for the Brown Snake (Storeria dekayi), because the name is so unimaginative. Their description in the Colorado Parks and Wildlife guide is also pretty unimaginative, where it says they are most likely to be found “crawling on the ground”. Surely this snake has a bit more going on?

Reading further… “Range: Possible Colorado Distribution: Museum records indicate that one specimen was collected in Las Animas County in southeastern Colorado by Arthur E. Beardsley in 1883. Unfortunately, the specimen has disappeared and its identity cannot be confirmed. The nearest definite occurrence of this species is in southwestern Kansas. Because several of Beardsley’s questionable records have proven reliable, it is possible that it was indeed this snake that Beardsley found and that the brown snake at least formerly inhabited Colorado.”

I found this entry to be genuinely funny – the exasperation at Beardsley and his questionable records! A good reminder that the officious doings of other humans are always going to preoccupy us while the brown snakes hang out crawling on the ground, eating their diet of mainly earthworms and other invertebrates, having their own rich inner lives.