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Attendees touch a frog during the UTA Herpetology Club\u2019s night hike Sept. 11 at Elmer W. Oliver Nature Park in Mansfield, Texas. Frogs, toads, snakes and spiders were found during the hike.<\/p>\n
Photo by Maricela Gonzales<\/a><\/p>\n Under a pavilion at the Elmer W. Oliver Nature Park in Mansfield, Texas, a group gathered on the muddy ground \u2014 wet from the recent rain. <\/p>\n Each person had their own look of anticipation as Waylon Shinn, president of the UTA Herpetology Club, walked up with a plastic bucket and a cast net. <\/p>\n Shinn smiled at the group before leading them toward a small pond, the first location of many for the club\u2019s night hike. <\/p>\n The hike is a recurring event that gets students outdoors and educates them on the environment around them, Shinn said. <\/p>\n \u201cWe love teaching students how to identify plants and animals outdoors,\u201d Shinn said. <\/p>\n Environmental science junior Tobi Mojtaheb said she looked forward to enjoying a night of nature and connection. <\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re spending time with other people,\u201d Mojtaheb said. \u201cIt\u2019s a nice community thing.\u201d <\/p>\n John Winkler, visual communication design sophomore, left, learns how to document animals from Waylon Shinn, president of the UTA Herpetology Club, during the club\u2019s night hike Sept. 11 at Elmer W. Oliver Nature Park in Mansfield, Texas. Attendees used the iNaturalist app to document animals they found.<\/p>\n Photo by Maricela Gonzales<\/a><\/p>\n One of the things the club educates students on is venomous snakes in the area, Shinn said. <\/p>\n The most common venomous snake in Dallas-Fort Worth is the copperhead, which Shinn said students shouldn\u2019t be scared of but should avoid touching. <\/p>\n Herpetology Club officer Finnly More said events like this are important because they teach people who may not regularly connect with nature why they should care about it. <\/p>\n \u201cPeople have this inherent fear of reptiles and amphibians,\u201d More said. \u201cI\u2019m just trying to show them, \u2018Hey, these aren\u2019t scary creatures. They\u2019re animals and we\u2019re in their environment. Let\u2019s respect them and understand how fascinating they are.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n Shinn\u2019s excitement for nature was mirrored by the awed faces looking back at him as he explained plants and animals along the trail. <\/p>\n One way attendees could learn more about what they were seeing was through the iNaturalist app, which helps students identify plants and animals while collecting the data for scientists and conservationists. <\/p>\n \u201cWe need to do more to protect a lot of these areas and a lot of the species that are in these areas,\u201d biology senior James Wilhelm said. <\/p>\n Apps like iNaturalist help and encourage the community to become scientists in their own way.<\/p>\n \u201cTo get people to understand why things are important, we have to get them out to community events, and to do that, we have to make it seem like a thing that everybody is welcome to,\u201d Wilhelm said. <\/p>\n Waylon Shinn, president of the UTA Herpetology Club, holds a small fish during the club\u2019s night hike Sept. 11 at Elmer W. Oliver Nature Park in Mansfield, Texas. The Herpetology Club focuses on the captive care, field observation and biological study of reptiles and amphibians.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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