For anyone who recently visited the University of Wyoming Berry Biodiversity Institute, they may have noticed that its ambassador animals -- an assortment of amphibians and reptiles -- have new and improved public-display habitat enclosures where they can dig, climb, swim and explore.

That is due to the recent work of local K-6 students who helped create and build the naturalistic enclosure tanks through a program called Empowering Youth in Herpetology Conservation. Eleven students, ages 8-12, enrolled in the program that was funded through a Wyoming Youth for Natural Resources grant.

“The purpose of the grant program was to engage with the next generation of Wyoming decision makers and empower them to see themselves as stewards and ambassadors of Wyoming’s native reptiles and amphibians and their habitats,” says Mason Lee, senior project coordinator for UW’s Biodiversity Institute.

Students gathered eight times over seven weeks for workshops that included learning about Wyoming’s reptiles and amphibians; meeting the Biodiversity Institute’s ambassador animals; and learning to identify Wyoming species with specimens from the UW Museum of Vertebrates.

Additionally, the students met with various professionals. Alyssa Baldwin, a UW graduate student in the Ecosystem Science and Management Program, taught the students about beaver dams and their benefits to amphibian habitats. Students gathered building materials to create their own beaver dams for amphibians.

Mo White, a landscape architect from Tessere, a firm based in Wichita, Kan., talked with students about designing attractive enclosures that met the needs of the reptiles and amphibians. Wendy Estes-Zumpf, herpetologist coordinator for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, allowed students to practice using field herping tools to safely catch toy snakes and lizards. Students also took a field trip to sagebrush habitat near Saratoga to conduct visual encounter surveys for horned lizards.

“When horned lizards were found, students collected habitat data to understand the variety of habitat requirements reptiles and amphibians have,” Lee says. “Students found 10 horned lizards and the data they collected illustrated that, when horned lizards were spotted, they were in habitat patches that were primarily bare ground. But, when lizards saw the observers, they fled to nearby habitat patches that consisted primarily of shrubs and grasses. The Biodiversity Institute’s ambassador animals have these same habitat requirements within their enclosures.”

After completing the hands-on workshops and field trips, participants used their newfound knowledge and art and technology skills to design and build enclosures in which the animals would feel safe and comfortable, but that would still allow visitors to see the animals and learn about the habitats that the animals are found in Wyoming, Lee says. Students conducted research into the habitat requirements for each of the ambassador animals and then split into groups to discuss what they wanted to create in the UW Makerspace that would go in the enclosures.

“Students did an incredible job. Many of them built structures that the animals could use to hide in, such as caves and logs,” Lee explains. “One group even built a food bowl that looks like a rock, which helps contain the toad’s food, so the worms don’t escape into her substrate and also prevents the toad from getting a mouthful of dirt when trying to eat.”

Students also built water bowls and decorative structures that they thought the animals would enjoy climbing on and in. In addition to the Makerspace items, students installed live, native plants that they grew from seed in the UW Williams Conservatory. The idea was to replicate the ecosystem where the ambassador animals can be found, encouraging the reptiles and amphibians to engage in natural behaviors.

All of the ambassador animals were moved into bigger enclosures. One of the ambassadors, the bullsnake, the longest snake in Wyoming, needed a much bigger tank that did not arrive until after the program’s sessions concluded. As an extension of the program, a middle school student at Laramie Montessori Charter School interned with the Biodiversity Institute to design and build the new enclosure for the bullsnake.

“This was such a fun and rewarding program. It was a blast to connect with the next generation of Wyoming decision makers and help their passion for reptiles and amphibians grow,” Lee says. “The students made thoughtful choices in their enclosure designs and really considered the needs of the animals and the people viewing them.

“I hope these students will come back often to see the ambassador animals thriving in their new homes that the students lovingly built for them, and I hope these students carry their love of reptiles and amphibians with them through life,” she says.

Lee encourages the campus community and public to visit the ambassador animal enclosures located in the Kid’s Corner on the first floor of the Biodiversity Institute and in the Biodiversity Institute’s second-floor office.

For more information, email Lee at mlee37@uwyo.edu.

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