April 13th Herp Education Expo was a Success thanks to you!
Thank you to everyone who participated in this fun and successful event at the Ozark Community Center in Ozark MO. The event was sponsored by the SW Missouri Herpetological Society (SWMHS) in conjunction with their 25th Anniversary. The focus of this free event was to bring attention to the wonderful and often misunderstood world of amphibians and reptiles that we call Herps. The activities were educational and interactive for the public.
The day was filled with several live animals and herp artifacts from Dickerson Park Zoo. They had lizards, toads, snakes, and turtles from the Education programs. Their critters were beautiful and quite photogenic.
We were treated to a wonderful display from the Springfield Conservation Nature Center. They had replicas and puppets of many of our native herps. They also provided free booklets of our native herps.
Our club President, and student at MO State University (MSU), showed equipment and techniques used to study local herps of SW Missouri. The work of MSU spans not only Missouri but around the world to learn and protect herps.
Three of our local chapter of the MO Master Naturalists provided an exciting competition of wooden frogs and turtles. This was an alternative activity to using live frogs and turtles during summer festivals. By wooden frogs and turtles, it saves the lives of local herps.
Our biggest thanks of the day goes to our SW Missouri Herpetological Society (SWMHS) members who hosted this years education day event. Club members provided an incredible crafts and activity tables for children of all ages. They even got to take home their own beaded turtle or lizard. They also provided live frogs, tadpoles, and egg masses for an amazing outdoor amphibian display. Club members provided a live box turtle and turtle artifacts outdoors to show off our State Reptile and the amazing turtles we enjoy. Club members also staffed our T-shirt sales and donations table. All proceeds from these sales will go to education and conservation programs this year.
Finally, our thanks to the wonderful staff of the Ozark Community Center (The OC) for their beautiful facility and hospitality.
If you would like to learn more about the SWMHS please visit us for more information on Facebook. We also encourage questions at swmoherpsociety@gmail.com
Thank you again for being a part of this amazing event.
Photos were taken during the event. Visitor’s faces were grayed out to post on our page.