Folder 05: Academics: Biology

Local children at a biology workshop at Old Dominion University.

Gisela Grimm, a Norfolk botanist and long-time volunteer at Old Dominion, shares her expert on mosses with Adam Heintz, a graduate student in biological sciences. Grimm was the guest lecturer recently in a class on "Aquatic and Wetland Plants," taught by Lytton J. Mussleman, professor of biological sciences. A retired landscape architect, Grimm has been instrumental in the preservation of local parks and wildlife areas. She was given the honorary title of Curator of Bryophytes in 1988, in recognition of her study of mosses in the university's Ecological Preserve.

Biology instructor, Joe Daniel keeps an eye on Jesse and Rufus at the Virginia Zoological Park. Daniel is studying the rhinos for their eyesight.

Biology instructor, Joe Daniel keeps an eye on Jesse and Rufus at the Virginia Zoological Park. Daniel is studying the rhinos for their eyesight.

Biology instructor, Joe Daniel keeps an eye on Jesse and Rufus at the Virginia Zoological Park. Daniel is studying the rhinos for their eyesight.

Unidentified biological sciences instructors gather at the dedication of the Plant Succession Demonstration Project.

Unidentified biological sciences instructors gather at the dedication of the Plant Succession Demonstration Project.

Unidentified biological sciences instructors gather at the dedication of the Plant Succession Demonstration Project.

Rufus and Jesse, white rhinos currently housed at the Virginia Zoological Park, will be the first animals moved to a proposed endangered species breeding facility in Chesapeake.

With student Kevin Berger looking on, Alan H. Savitzky, associate professor of biological sciences, sutures the two sides of an incision in a canebrake rattlesnake after replacing a small radio transmitter. The snake, which helps control the rodent population and Virginia's largest venomous snake, was anesthetized for the procedure. Savitzky along with his wife Barbara, a faculty member at Christopher Newport University are studying the ecology of this endangered species for the state Department of Game and Inland Fisheries to determine its habitat requirements and seasonal activity patterns in order to recommend management procedures. The Savitzkys and a graduate student track the snakes in a wooded area of southeastern Virginia near the North Carolina line. Students from Savitzky's course in Comparative Vertebrate Anatomy observed the procedure in his herpetology lab.

A taxidermied rhinoceros on display at the university.

A taxidermied rhinoceros on display at the university, that has been taken apart.

William A. Velhagen, Jr. a doctoral student in the zoology department at Duke University, operates on a snake to remove her young. Velhagen studied the evolution of snakes through embryonic development with Dr. Alan H. Savitzky, associate professor of biological sciences at Old Dominion University.