Episode 11: The Serpent’s Lair

In the face of extreme habitat loss, wildlife biologist Dr. Chris Jenkins puts an ambitious plan in motion to save two uniquely American reptiles, the eastern indigo snake and the gopher tortoise, and the forest they call home.

The two threatened species are as important to their ecosystems as they are interconnected themselves. The eastern indigo snake is a prolific hunter that manages predator populations in the southeastern United States. In the northern part of its range, the snakes – along with more than 350 other species – rely on the deep burrows that the gopher tortoise creates to survive freezing temperatures every winter.

Both the indigo snakes and gopher tortoises are in steep decline, as their native habitat has been deforested for centuries and then further fragmented by roads with fast-moving vehicles. Dr. Chris Jenkins is part of a massive conservation effort that takes the reptiles’ homes into account. The team surveys the most critical tortoise land, purchases it, and then restores the native forests. From there, Dr. James Bogan, who leads the only eastern indigo breeding program in the world, can reintroduce new snakes to areas where they have previously gone extinct – with plenty of tortoise burrows to protect them.