Why are there no snakes in Ireland? Thank St Patrick? No! Thank Science!

Handouts are available at the end of this post under the Resources Section.

Video Transcript

Hello everyone, welcome to REAL Science Challenge, I’m Kent Lui, REAL Science teacher.

Saint Patrick’s day falls on March 17, 2021. Today, we breakdown

• What drove all those snakes out of Ireland.
• and we tell you what you can do to make your world a better place.

Download our free worksheet for this episode from realsciencechallenge.com to help you follow along.

Let’s get going, this is REAL Science Challenge.

Intro

When we think of Saint Patrick’s day, we typically think of green, clover leaves, parades, parties, and, perhaps, this guy (show picture of Saint Patrick) – Saint Patrick, who had the power to drive out all those snakes out of Ireland. And, it worked: there are no snakes that are found naturally in Ireland

The thing that makes me go hmmm is how he did it? How was he able to make Ireland snake-free?

Illustrate your science

I want you to take a few minutes and come up with 2 explanations for this phenomenon. Link your explanations to some of the science you already know. Discuss with your partner. But don’t do an internet search. I don’t want to know what Google is thinking – I want to know what you’re thinking.You can draw out and label your ideas under the Illustrate Your Science Section of our worksheet. Set your timers for 3 minutes. Pause the video. Then come back afterwards when time is up. Ready? Begin.

Answer

Welcome back! Now, the big reveal.

It comes down to the ice age. Turns out, there weren’t ever any snakes in Ireland because of the ice age. Approximately 10,000 years ago, there was an ice age that froze a lot of the water in the oceans. As a result, there were no bodies of water separating some of today’s islands and continents. This was the case between Ireland, Britain, and France. Instead of water between these three places, land was exposed, allowing people and animals to cross between them. However, when the ice age started to end, the melting ice brought back the water separating Ireland and Britain first – the water between France and Britain did not return for another couple of thousand years. Snakes migrated to this region of the world between this time. Therefore, today snakes reside in both Britain and France, but not in Ireland.

As for Saint Patrick driving out all those snakes – well, that wasn’t true in the literal sense.The story of Saint Patrick driving out snakes is an analogy to how he brought Christianity to Ireland and converted non believers (represented as snakes).

Make Connections

Now, make connections between what you just heard and your prior experiences. Consider the ice age, snakes, and St Patrick. What does it make you think about? Write out your ideas under “Connection Corner” of our worksheet and follow the prompts to get you started.

Wrap Up

Let’s wrap up this up, people, with some direct messages from me to you to make this world a better place.

First, we need to stop introducing foreign plants and animals into our local ecosystems. This happens when people have exotic animals like snakes as pets. These pets sometimes escape or are set free – only to start a home in the local ecosystems and threaten the local wildlife. Parts of Florida are home to pythons, which aren’t a native species, for this reason. Countries like Ireland and New Zealand have laws that prevent individuals from having snakes as pets. We need to do the same in our own cities, states and provinces.

Second, change the world by geeking out. Do a deep dive into questions that may change the world. Who knows? Maybe you’ll develop a way in which we remove invasive animals species from your local environment. It all starts by asking a question. So, what makes you go hmmm about snakes and foreign species. And, what do you want to study next? Follow the templates under Question Composition on our worksheet to help you started.

Thanks for watching REAL Science Challenge. We have more science resources for the classroom on our website. Also, please subscribe to our channel by clicking the red button below.

Until next time, stay safe and be REAL.

Resources

Handout(s): Unfortunately, no handout available for this one – sorry!

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