{"id":396183,"date":"2026-01-09T00:06:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T00:06:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/396183\/"},"modified":"2026-01-09T00:06:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T00:06:11","slug":"illustrated-guidebook-for-dismal-swamps-snakes-gets-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/396183\/","title":{"rendered":"Illustrated guidebook for Dismal Swamp’s snakes gets update"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"GeorgeGeorge Jackson, at his family\u2019s Kill Devil Hills cottage, shows the original sketches used for the book. Photo: Catherine Kozak<\/p>\n

At first glance, the four, multi-colored snakes might be crawling across the cover of the long out-of-print paperback. <\/p>\n

The chilling dead-eyes, the intricately patterned scales, the pointed heads and slender bodies are practically lifelike illustrations drawn by Donald R. Brothers, the same man who wrote \u201cAn Introduction to Snakes of the Dismal Swamp Region of North Carolina and Virginia\u201d in 1992.<\/p>\n

But what was then another modest nature guidebook, is now a remarkable collection of precise drawings created by a self-taught artist, a professional natural scientist and lifelong snake lover raised on the edge of the Dismal Swamp.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone that would see it would say, \u2018Oh, man, this is so good to have,\u2019\u201d George Jackson, Brothers\u2019 first cousin, said from his family\u2019s cottage in Kill Devil Hills. As he showed off an old copy of the book, he added, \u201cThat\u2019s what led to me pushing him to do it again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jackson, 76, grew up with his older cousin in Elizabeth City, where Jackson still lives with his wife Blair. Brothers, 88, who is now retired and resides in Boise, Idaho, where he spent much of this career, was initially reluctant to do an update because of health issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said, I\u2019ll do all the legwork. All you have to do is say yes, and I\u2019ll make it happen,\u201d Jackson recalled, adding he was relieved when his cousin agreed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think one of the real jewels of this is that it\u2019s written by a guy who was born here, lived here throughout his high school years, and this is when he developed this fascination with snakes.\u201d<\/p>\n

What\u2019s also so impressive about his cousin, Jackson added, is that he had failed three years of school before he finally managed to graduate from high school, and it was only years later that he was diagnosed with dyslexia. Even more surprising to Jackson, he never saw his cousin draw, and had no idea he was such a talented artist. To him, the drawings provide the most unique value.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re trying to get straight on snakes, by looking at something \u2014 rather than it being a shot of a snake in the wild \u2014 it is from someone like Donald who just spent hours and hours and hours with a specimen, looking at it and drawing it,\u201d Jackson said. \u201cBut there is an art form here that is important,\u201d he added, not just for art\u2019s sake, but as a depiction of nature as viewed by the artist.<\/p>\n

When the Virginia state herpetologist J.D. Kleopfer, with the Virginia Division of Wildlife Resources, saw the drawings, he told him that he was amazed at Brothers\u2019 accuracy in his illustrations. In fact, he said he had counted every scale on one of the snake drawings, and it was completely accurate.<\/p>\n

In an interview, Kleopfer agrees that the book shines the most thanks to Brothers\u2019 hand-drawn artwork.<\/p>\n

\u201cBiological illustrations are a kind of a thing of the past,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re a dying art form.\u201d Elaborating on what he had conveyed to Jackson, Kleopfer was impressed at the beauty of the drawings.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s such incredible detail with the scale count or the scale pattern on the head and on the belly and on the animal itself,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s really finite detail to have as a biological illustrator, and because photography, basically, you know, took over.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AnAn identification guide to snakes of Dismal Swamp. Photo courtesy of the author.<\/p>\n

After consulting with Kleopfer and other herpetologists, Jackson made relatively minor updates on species and taxonomy. <\/p>\n

Although the information is accurate, the book, then and now, is intended for nonprofessional readers, or as the revision says, \u201ca cultural artifact that provides a snapshot\u201d of the snakes in the region, and the author\u2019s relationship to them. Two appendices are included with details on snake name changes and identifying shed snake skins.<\/p>\n

The 2025 book was published in August, with a suggested retail cost of $24 from select outlets or tidaltalebooks@gmail.com.<\/p>\n

But Jackson, who is a semi-retired lawyer, admits he doesn\u2019t particularly like snakes, and still remembers his revulsion as a kid when Donald Ray, as he was known then \u2014 the oldest of his eight cousins \u2014 had asked him to carry a burlap sack filled with live water snakes. And then there was his bedroom, smelling of formaldehyde, lined with big, snake-filled jars.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt that age, snakes are like monsters,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I just remember my grandparents letting me go in there and you didn\u2019t have to be told \u2018Don\u2019t touch anything.\u2019 I didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, Jackson said he appreciates the importance of snakes in the natural world, and the value of a guide book on snakes in the region to all the nonscientific folks who enjoy the outdoors, or are curious about the snakes in their yard.<\/p>\n

The guide is as thorough as any nonscientist could want or need. There\u2019s information about the appearance, habitat, diet, behavior and even reproduction of numerous regional snakes, from worm snakes to rattlesnakes, and whether they\u2019re venomous and how to identify them.<\/p>\n

Brothers, who has six children, 24 grandchildren, and\u00a0eight great-grandchildren has been married to his wife Judy for close to 50 years. In addition to a full career in various natural sciences positions, the author, along with his wife, also managed to build a passive solar-powered home with a huge garden and numerous livestock they raised for food.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe did the forming, framing, glazing, roofing, painting, plumbing, electrical, interior work and cabinets,\u201d Brothers wrote on his website. \u201cOnly pouring the concrete, countertops and carpeting were done by others. Our home would be one of the first thermal envelope home build in Idaho.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

As he described his youth, Brothers said he grew up about a 10-minute bicycle ride from the southernmost edge of the swamp \u2014 \u201ca fine place to study snakes.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an earlier memoir Brothers wrote, \u201cSwamp Water in My Veins,\u201d he told how he began collecting articles about snakes when he was young and writing things down. But he continued to struggle in school, with one teacher reporting that \u201cDonald is interested in snakes and not much else.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDispelling false popular beliefs about snakes was one of the primary objectives of the book,\u201d Brothers wrote, explaining why he wrote the 1992 guide. \u201cThis was important because such beliefs contribute greatly to anxiety and fear.\u201d<\/p>\n

A partial list: snakes are slimy, they can jump, their tongues can sting, they can hypnotize their prey, they don\u2019t die till sunset, the hiss of a snake is poisonous and some can crawl as fast as horse can run.<\/p>\n

\u201cMore education is needed to dispel false popular beliefs and appreciate these interesting and important creatures of the animal kingdom,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"HerpetologistHerpetologist Don Brothers handles a brown water snake. Photo courtesy of the author.<\/p>\n

As someone who also loves snakes, Kleopfer, who has served as Virginia\u2019s state herpetologist for 20 years, agrees that snakes are misunderstood.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, snakes can be very polarizing,\u201d he said. \u201cOf course, you have the whole Garden of Eden story, which doesn\u2019t help. There\u2019s probably no other animal, group of animals that has more misinformation and folklore about it than snakes.\u201d<\/p>\n

But snakes eat lots of things we don\u2019t want to deal with\u00a0\u2014\u00a0such\u00a0as carrion, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSnakes play an incredible role in the ecology of our ecosystems and controlling rodents and pests and stuff like that,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re also food for other animals as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

And snakes want nothing to do with people, so the best thing is to accept them and let them be.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always said that resolves 99% of all wildlife interactions, particularly with snakes,\u201d Kleopfer said. \u201cJust follow those four easy words: \u2018Just leave it alone.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Even venomous snakes are not nearly as sinister as their reputations have them.<\/p>\n

\u201cCottonmouths, or water moccasins, have a curiosity factor about them, but those things are big babies,\u201d he said. \u201cI mean, you really have to do something extraordinarily stupid to get bit by one. Yeah, they\u2019re venomous, but they\u2019re quite reluctant to strike.\u201d<\/p>\n

But all the better if Brothers\u2019 well-illustrated book helps educate people about the value of snakes and basic science of\u00a0herpetology.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s just a very cool historic document,\u201d\u00a0Kleopfer said.\u00a0\u201cIt would be a nice addition to anybody\u2019s literary collection if they\u2019re into that kind of natural history or regional type of history.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though sleek and beautiful as they may be, he conceded, snakes fall short of the cute and winsome\u00a0appeal\u00a0of other animals that share their neighborhoods.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re never going to be embraced like our furry and feathered friends are.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"George Jackson, at his family\u2019s Kill Devil Hills cottage, shows the original sketches used for the book. Photo:…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":396184,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[79,201],"class_list":{"0":"post-396183","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-science","9":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=396183"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396183\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/396184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=396183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=396183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=396183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}