⚠️ Content Note: Snakes⚠️
This post features snakes as the main topic and includes descriptions and images of educational animal dissection.
If you have a severe phobia of snakes, please proceed with caution.
Mike Rutherford, Curator of Zoology and Anatomy at The Hunterian, shares how a mistaken ‘prehistoric fang’ became the inspiration for some innovative snake-themed museum programming. Here’s how ‘Snake Summer’ came to be...
At the Hunterian Zoology Museum, the past summer has been very much all about snakes – real, imagined, mythical and scientific.
Dr Will Tattersdill, from the Centre for Fantasy and the Fantastic in the School of Critical Studies at the University of Glasgow, Dr Jordan Kistler, Senior Lecturer in English & Creative Writing at the University of Strathclyde, myself, and Eleni Stavrou, Communications and Audiences Coordinator at The Hunterian, planned a series of talks, demonstrations and fun events to highlight this much maligned group of animals and inspire creative thoughts about giant creatures.
I had worked with Will and Jordan before; in April 2024 we conducted a creative writing session in the Zoology Museum – all about how to create a mythical beast.
However, they got back in touch later that year to discuss a new project…
Fangs and Fiction
This new project drew inspiration from an object in the museum: a single ‘poison-fang’ from a giant prehistoric snake – as described by Sir Graham Kerr, the first Professor of Zoology at the University of Glasgow, back in 1926.
He was given the ‘fang’ by a colleague, who found it in South America. Thinking it looked very similar to the venom-injecting tooth of a type of snake called the boomslang, he worked out from the size of the tooth that this prehistoric snake must have been 20 metres long!
Kerr named the new species Bothrodon pridii and had casts of the fang made and sent to museums all over Europe as gifts.
Unfortunately, it all turned out to be a case of mistaken identity!
A curator of malacology (molluscs) at the natural history museum in Berlin realised the ‘fang’ was in fact a broken piece of a Chiragra spider conch, a species of large sea shell.
This story was a catalyst for the new project with Will and Jordan, offering a brilliant way to combine fact and fiction in a series of collaborative events.
And so, ‘Snake Summer’ was formed!
Bringing Myths to Life
To start things off, Jordan developed a trail around the Zoology Museum with seven new temporary labels, detailing the stories of mythical animals from around the world.
These included creatures such as the kraken, to go with our giant squid, and the roc, to go next to our elephant bird leg.
Jordan also got crafty, and made a life-size model skull of Bothrodon pridii to give people an idea of how large the snake would have been if it had been real!
I used the event as an opportunity to learn more about 3D scanning and modelling. With the assistance of Dr Neil Clark, I scanned one of the casts of the fang and then, with the help of Graham Gibson, used a 3D printer in the Advanced Research Centre to make several new models.
For a bit of fun, I made these using a glow-in-the-dark type of plastic. One was added to the museum collection, with the others being given out as gifts and prizes.
Medieval Monsters and Victorian Sea Serpents
The first event of the summer was on 27th June, which saw around 40 people gathered in the Zoology Museum for two talks.
The subject of Medieval Wyrms was the focus of the first talk, where Dr Fraser Dallachy, Lecturer in the Historical Thesaurus of English in the School of Critical Studies, introduced the audience to the history of dragons and snake-like creatures through the Middle Ages.
This was followed by Jordan speaking about Victorian Sea Serpents. Even though science and the theory of evolution were helping to explain the world around them, people of the Victorian era still revelled in the idea of mysterious giant beasts.
Snake Summer: Debunking and Dissecting
The second event was on 8 August. Roger Downie, a retired zoology professor and herpetology (reptiles and amphibians) expert, gave a lecture entitled Snakes: Sensational Stories and Firm Facts, dealing with some of the great misconceptions about these fascinating animals.
This was followed by my contribution – which was the dissection of a recently thawed out Boa constrictor. This was the first time I had conducted a public dissection and, to make it even more personal, I was doing it on a snake that used to be my pet many years ago during my time as zookeeper at Newquay Zoo!
It had been in the freezer for 12 years, so I wasn’t sure what sort of condition it would be in. I started with an introduction to this very popular snake species and then proceeded to dissect the body and tell the audience what they were seeing.
I had set up a dissecting table in the centre of the Zoology Museum, then connected a webcam through my laptop to the large TV screen behind me. During the dissection, Eleni acted as my assistant and directed the webcam to any features of interest.
This meant that the whole audience could see close ups of the fangs, the heart, and so on, although I also encouraged people to come up for a closer look.
Cryptids and Lost Worlds
For the third instalment on the 29 August, there were two more talks. The first was by palaeontologist and cryptozoological (the pseudoscientific study of legendary and mythical animals) expert Dr Darren Naish on Cryptids, where he talked about giant snake-like creatures such as the Crowing Crested Cobra of southern Africa and the Tsuchinoko of Japan.
He was followed by Will’s talk on Lost Worlds, which looked at the fascination the public had for stories about newly discovered civilizations, or hidden lands where creatures like dinosaurs or mythical animals roamed.
Science Meets Cinema
For the final event on 5 September, we held a movie night in the Zoology Museum. Using a rented screen and projector, we set up several rows of chairs and provided drinks and snacks – including a popcorn machine with a vendor.
The movie – chosen by Jordan, who is a keen creature feature enthusiast! – was the second instalment in the film series, loosely based on giant anaconda snakes: Anaconda – The Hunt for the Blood Orchid.
This is a 2004 movie where, inexplicably, a population of giant anacondas are found on the island of Borneo (they are only known from South America!).
After the movie Will, Jordan and I had a quick question and answer session with the audience, addressing some of the film’s zoological issues – of which there were quite a few!
I then revealed the winner of the ‘Guess the number of snakes in the jar?’ competition, which was based on a large jar of European grass snakes (Natrix sp.) that I had conserved recently.
The tally was 30, and one person guessed it exactly, with two coming very close. They each got one of the 3D printed ‘poison-fangs’ as a prize.
Shedding Misconceptions
The whole summer was a great mix of science, mythology, creativity and fun. It has certainly inspired us all to start planning similar events for the future.
The feedback and comments – particularly after the dissection session – were very positive and enthusiastic.
I know there were definitely a few members of our audiences who went from snake-fearers to snake-champions.
I couldn’t have asked for a better outcome!
Interested in seeing more snake specimens from The Hunterian collection? Here are five that show a range of sizes and some different preparation methods:
1. Reticulated python taxidermy mount (GLAHM:Z1209)
2. Teaching poster: Anatomy of a snake (GLAHM:135162)
3. Rattlesnake skeleton (GLAHM:Z603)
4. Jamaican blind snake in spirit (GLAHM:108900)
5. Grass snake shed skin (GLAHM:117578)
There are more brilliant blogs stretching right across our collection for you to explore – covering art, coins, medals and much more!
Keep an eye out for all the latest events at The Hunterian via our website – or subscribe to our e-news mailing list.
