Carl Linnaeus was a legend in his own mind.

In his autobiography, he doesn’t hold back on his own importance, writing that “No one has been a greater Botanicus or Zoologist,” “no one has completely changed a whole science and initiated a new epoch,” and “no one has become more of a household name throughout the world.”

To be fair, many others have agreed with his assessment. German author Johann Wolfgang von Goethe said that besides “Shakespeare and Spinoza, I know no one among the no longer living who has influenced me more strongly.” The queen of Sweden, Lovisa Ulrika, had a bit of a back-handed complement when she noted that he was a “shrewd man, even if he doesn’t look it.”

Linnaeus has many accomplishments to his name, but one of interest to this ophiophilist is his documentation of a snake. He originally called it Coluber sirtalis, and gave it the common name of garter snake. His name didn’t stick and has evolved through other scientists and systematics to become Thamnophis sirtalis, or eastern garter snake today.

The serpent’s scientific name, which roughly describes a “bush snake that resembles a garter,” becomes even longer when you include the more than 30 recognized species in the genus and more than 12 subspecies with the sirtalis surname. Garter is the name of the ribbon that would have held up socks or stockings in times past, perhaps alluding to the pattern of this serpent.

No matter what you call them, you have likely seen on of these common and abundant snakes on the Island. With the warmer weather, look for garters basking on rocks on sunny days to soak up the stone’s warmth. As heterothermic animals, their body temperature changes with their environment. This type of body temperature regulation is also called ectothermic, poikilothermic, poikilothermous or, the more familiar, cold-blooded.

Garter snakes spend the winters brumating (analogous to hibernating) in dens or other quiet secure locations. They emerge in the spring with a mission to mate.  To find a mate, these snakes will secrete male or female pheromones, chemical signals, to attract a suitor. 

Sometimes males can secrete both types of pheromones and attract both genders. There are various theories on why this is beneficial. Some suggest that these males lure other males away from the den then return more quickly and have an advantage to mate with the females. Another theory is that the male-on-male mating produces heat and those energized males have more energy for sex. Or perhaps in this month of Pride, love is love, snake or otherwise. 

As these snakes procreate in mating balls or large groups with more males than females, all advantages can help males spread their genes. Females can also hold sperm for later and will hatch dozens of young to help maintain a robust population. With many predators out there, most young garter snakes will only live a few years and may not even reach reproductive age. 

Like all of the native snakes on Martha’s Vineyard, the garter snake will not harm humans. While they can bite, they rarely do and are more likely to spray a musk from their anal gland to discourage predators. 

Perhaps the real icon is not Linnaeus but all of the creatures great and small that he documented and was privileged enough to have been credited with naming. It is those garter snakes and other animals whose lives and habits make them the true legends.

Suzan Bellincampi is director of the Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary in Edgartown, and author of Martha’s Vineyard: A Field Guide to Island Nature and The Nature of Martha’s Vineyard.