Links to Organizations & Websites I Trust
Arizona Poison and Drug Information Center in Tucson, AZ. APDIC is loaded with some of the best qualified pharmacists, toxicologists, and other experts, concerning treatment of venomous bites and stings. Many of the clinical trials of new antivenoms have been managed out of APDIC.
Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, Tucson, AZ. ASDM is a world-famous 98-acre zoo, aquarium, botanical garden, natural history museum, and art gallery that was founded in 1952. The staff and docents also produce many educational programs and classes for adults and children.
The U. S. Department of Agriculture's Carl Hayden Bee Research Center in Tucson, AZ, provides up-to-date information on Africanized honey bees, including valuable safety suggestions for first responders and schools, as well as for the general public.
Chiricahua Desert Museum in Rodeo, NM, is owned and operated by Bob and Sheri Ashley. It is a non-profit educational and research facility that houses the most impressive collection of live rattlesnakes, as well as memorabilia and artifacts associated with rattlesnakes and the famous (and not so famous) herpetologists, physicians, and educators that made names for themselves with rattlesnakes. CDM also features a world-class gift shop, including the reptile art of Tell Hicks and herp-related books, many published in-house by ECO Publishing.
Medtoxin Venom Laboratories, LLC, located in Deland, Florida, produces venom from dozens of species of venomous snakes for pharmaceutical companies and research institutions around the world. Since 1999, they have added a very nice public serpentarium where visitors can also watch live venom extractions. If you are in Central Florida, stop by The Reptile Discovery Center.
Ninja Rat is the website containing incredible videos of wild Mohave rattlesnakes and sidewinders ambushing kangaroo rats, created by students associated with the Laboratory for Animal Behavior Research at San Diego State University, the Higham Biomechanics Laboratory at UC Riverside, and the Chiricahua Desert Museum. To quote from the website, "Kangaroo rats earned the name 'ninja rat' from their lightning quick evasive jumps and ability to re-orient themselves in mid-air, kick snakes out of the way, and then right themselves to land on their feet!" Additional new videos can be found on their YouTube Channel.
San Diego Natural History Museum is located in San Diego's Balboa Park. Besides being an historic nature museum, it is also a fine research facility and educational center. SDNHM's Herpetology Department houses one of the largest collections of preserved rattlesnakes in the world, including Laurence Klauber's personal collection of more than 8,600 specimens. Additionally, Klauber's field notes, specimen data sheets, and diaries are archived in the Museum's Research Library.
Spider Research at UC Riverside is the website created by now retired arachnologist Rick Vetter, who spent a career becoming the internationally recognized authority on recluse spiders (genus Loxosceles), including their distribution, identification, and the medical consequences of their bites. The website also addresses other spider-related issues, especially myths and hoaxes. Rick's 200-page book, The Brown Recluse Spider (2015, Cornell University Press), is the ultimate reference on these notorious spiders and is full of the author's outstanding photographs and wicked wit. The Brown Recluse Spider is available on Amazon and other online booksellers.