giant garter snake (a natural list, no. 15)

congratulations, you're now a snake person!

You’re reading a natural list, a series in which I (an amateur naturalist) share three delightful things every other week about an animal, plant, or fungus native to California along with an original illustration. It’s by no means an exhaustive list of delightful things, but it’s a start.

This series was inspired by the common tradition of naturalists keeping “life lists” that document the species they’ve seen throughout their lifetimes, and it’ll run as long as it takes to get through every California native species (which is to say, buckle in, because there are over 6,500 plants alone).

Another “giant” creature to add to the list — this time, a relatively unassuming garter snake found ONLY in California’s Central Valley. I know, second garter snake of this series, but I can’t resist.

I was lucky to learn about this delightful water-loving noodle through repping it in the California Academy of Sciences’ recent tournament that crowned the California Underrated Species of the Year. Spoiler alert, we devastatingly did not win (it’s hard to be a snake on the internet), but we did receive a stunning consolation prize.