Post B6qoi9qrMY91nBarrc by Mikal@sfba.social
 (DIR) More posts by Mikal@sfba.social
 (DIR) Post #B6qoi5QTogfO4DDkBs by Mikal@sfba.social
       0 likes, 0 repeats
       
       Found cute snek!According to California Herps site, it seems like it is probably a California red sided garter snake, Thamnophis sirtalis infernalishttps://californiaherps.com/snakes/pages/t.s.infernalis.htmlSee my post last week about the poisonous rough skinned newts in the pond being eaten by the otter. Turns out that these garter snakes can also safely eat the newts, which in turn makes them at least temporarily poisonous to predators because the garter snakes retain some of the newt's toxin in their bodies. And I also just learned from the description that these snakes are also mildly venomous, but mostly not enough to hurt humans. This one was a little annoyed at being picked up, but generally fairly chill and not bitey. #snek #Snake #Herps #CaliforniaHerps
       
 (DIR) Post #B6qoi5gQrNQWrggU3U by Mikal@sfba.social
       0 likes, 1 repeats
       
       Here's another question for either grammar nerds or biology nerds, per the above post: An animal that can cause harm by injecting venom is "venomous."An animal that can cause harm to a predator when the animal is eaten is called "poisonous."What is it called when an animal can cause harm simply by being touched, as is the case with the rough skinned newts? The newt is not biting or stinging, just passively exuding a toxic substance on skin. My guess is that this is a version of "poisonous", as in "poisonous to the touch."
       
 (DIR) Post #B6qoi9qrMY91nBarrc by Mikal@sfba.social
       0 likes, 0 repeats
       
       Related, highway rest areas in Arizona have these signs. It's almost like the people who wrote them were intentionally trolling  grammarians and biologists.