How Bevo and Other UT Critters Beat the Summer Heat Halfway through the fall semester at the

University of Texas at Austin, relief from the summers high temperatures and lack of rain is finally within sight. After weeks of trudging between airconditioned classrooms wiping sweat from their brows, students can slowly begin breaking out their long pants, hoodies and umbrellas. However, students were not alone in coping with the heat. The Forty Acres is home to a variety of animals, including UTs mascot, Bevo, turtles in the pond behind the Tower and the wildlife in Waller Creek. With the help of caretakers and natural adaptations, most of the animals on campus were able to endure the hottest summer in recorded U.S. history. Members of the Silver Spurs, a service and spirit organization at UT, are responsible for caring for Bevo and transporting him to and from football games and other appearances. Trevor Tamlyn, one of Bevos handlers, said the group works hard to protect Bevo from any harmful effects of the weather. When we go on long road trips like to the game at UCLA, we take a lot of water and a lot of hay, Tamlyn said. Theres air conditioning in Bevos trailer, so when its hot, hes pretty cool. Hes always well taken care of. Tamlyn said Bevos safety is the Silver Spurs top priority. At football games, we try anything possible to keep him out there because thats his main event, he said. But well put him up if his health is in danger in any way. When he is not on campus or at another event, Bevo is kept at Sunrise Ranch in Liberty Hill, Texas, 15 miles west of Georgetown. Tamlyn said Bevos food supply of hay was threatened by the drought, which has reached the exceptional range in 73 percent of the state, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor map. Tamlyn said Bevos owners, John and Betty Baker, ensured that Bevo always had plenty to eat despite the dry conditions.

The owners do a great job of providing everything he needs, Tamlyn said. There are usually big lakes around the ranch, but now theyve pretty much dried up. So [the Bakers] make sure he always has water. Tamlyn said Texas longhorns have thin skin that helps keep them cool. Even if he wasnt Bevo, he would still spend every day of the summer in 100-degree weather, said Tamlyn. Longhorns can handle the heat. Approximately 150 turtles live in the pond located between the Main Building and the Biological Laboratories Building at UT. Dr. David Hillis, a biology professor at UT, said the turtles were not in danger this summer, partly because of how the pond is regulated. We always add water to replace evaporation, so their pond remains at a fairly constant level, Hillis said. We have had to add a little more water during the drought, but it has not been a significant amount more. We only allow native turtle species in our pond, so they are adapted to the local heat and cold conditions, Hillis said. They thrive in the heat and have no problems slowing down and living under ice in our most extreme winters. Turtles do this in the wild all the time. Dr. Travis LaDuc, assistant curator of herpetology at the Texas Memorial Museum, said human interference with the pond is a much bigger threat to the turtles safety than harsh weather conditions. He said students often try to feed the turtles, which can cause them to develop health problems. I dont know what people are feeding them, but Im going to guess its not high-quality turtle feed, LaDuc said. There is one turtle whose shell is very deformed, and thats caused by a protein imbalance.

LaDuc said the pond is overcrowded because people often abandon unwanted pet turtles there. He said this usually happens at the ends of semesters when students return home and decide not to take their turtles with them. Theyre adding to a system that already had enough turtles, said LaDuc. Animals will selfregulate at a carrying capacity for whatever the habitats resources will allow. If you start putting more turtles in there, you make everybody elses share of the pie much smaller. LaDuc said the pond was cleaned out and resealed in 2004, and that 40 turtles were put back into the pond after the work was complete. Theres probably three to four times that many in there now. Its all pet dumps, LaDuc said. Weve pulled out lots of non-native turtles that were obviously bought in the pet store. Those are mostly southeast Asian turtles, or box turtles and tortoises, which are not aquatic. LaDuc said turtles sometimes contract diseases while living in pet stores and can transmit them to wild turtles. Turtles are great little vectors for disease, LaDuc said. If a turtle is in a cage all by himself, he doesnt have a lot of stress, so his immune system is able to keep things in check. If you pick him up and put him somewhere new, his immune system will be compromised, and if hes been harboring something in his body, it will become active. When this happens, youll find things spreading around and killing wild populations. LaDuc said the wildlife in Waller Creek, which runs through the eastern part of the UT campus, is suffering because of drastic changes to their habitat caused by the drought. He said resources such as food and water are not sufficient to support a new generation of snakes, and that fish will have trouble surviving in the creeks shallow water.

I bet were going to lose the offspring from this year, LaDuc said. When theres not a lot of water moving it reduces oxygenation in the water, so fish are going to have a tough time unless they are fish that can deal with low-oxygen waters. Also, the water heats up when its shallower, and some fish dont like that. LaDuc said a disturbance to one aspect of the animals habitat can cause problems throughout the entire wildlife population. Fewer fish means a smaller food supply for snakes. They also feed on toads, but weve seen very few toads hopping around this year, LaDuc said. It just takes one little thing to really cause a domino effect on everybody else. Nagendra Pokala, a senior in the Deans Scholars Honors Program for biological sciences, is doing research for an honors thesis about the movement patterns of plain-bellied water snakes in Waller Creek. He began his study in August examining the behavior of two female snakes and two male snakes, but the females have since died. Pokala uses a radio antenna to pick up signals from an electronic chip implanted under the snakes skin, and notes their locations each time he visits the creek. Pokala said the snakes are not moving as much as they did in previous years when water levels were higher. When the creek is shallow, the snakes have a harder time navigating through obstacles in the water. When they dont get rainfall, thats a real strain on them, even though these snakes are pretty tough, Pokala said. Pokala said the decrease in movement might also be caused by fish populations that become trapped in small pockets of water. If a snake finds this rich food source, it will not stray far from that area.

Pokala said the rainfall Austin received on Oct. 8 was certainly beneficial, but that the sudden influx of water caused the creek to flow unusually rapidly for a short period of time. One of the snakes that never moves very much at all probably got washed out of his home, because I found him a lot farther south than Id ever found him before, he said. Pokala said that, like the turtle pond, Waller Creek is subject to human disturbances. Its location in the middle of an urban environment exposes the creek to pollution and puts it in contact with construction projects such as new bridges and the renovation project at the adjacent Clark Field. Sometimes Ill look down and think I see a snakeskin floating in the water, but its just a plastic bag, Pokala said. On the other hand, the snakes have been able to build homes in some of the manmade structures, so human interaction with the creek hasnt been completely harmful. Pokala said he hopes the animals on campus will be able to cope with the continuing drought and other challenges to their safety, because their presence allows students to gain hands-on experience with the animals and habitats they want to learn about. Access to Waller Creek has improved Pokalas study by allowing him to observe the snakes locations frequently. He said this will likely yield a more accurate estimate of the snakes actual movement over time. I live in West Campus and I dont have a car. If I had to go to a creek that was farther away from here, I would only be able to go about once or twice a week, if I was lucky. I can go to Waller Creek about three or four times a week, which is really nice. Ive been able to learn a lot.