Stella Raymond

Research Interests

I am a physiologist and behavioral ecologist interested in a wide range of tetrapod taxa. During my undergraduate at Cal Poly SLO, I was largely focused on marine organisms before joining PERL. I researched pinnipeds (seals & sea lions) in my undergraduate, surveying Northern Elephant seal populations and characterizing Weddell seal morphology and thermal physiology. My Weddell seal work introduced me to the realm of academia, bringing me to conferences as far as Seattle and Australia. Additionally, I worked at the Aquarium of the Pacific, The Marine Mammals Center, and marine science summer camps.

Upon taking Dr. Taylor’s Herpetology class in 2024, I took a sharp left turn into the wonderful world of reptiles. Shortly after joining PERL, I became the lead undergraduate author on a massive, cross-campus collaboration. Across 11 universities, we analyzed how urbanization influences microhabitat temperature and water availability, altering the seasonal hydric physiology of Western Fence lizards. Additionally, I worked with Project RattleCam by creating ID graphics and running the “Name a Snake” form. I established a social behavior study using Project RattleCam (PRC) but quickly realized I had high ambitions and wanted to devote more time to this project.

In my graduate years, I am studying the seasonal and annual social behavior of Northern Pacific rattlesnakes. I plan to identify all snakes that visited the California camera and run a social network analysis. Once that is finished, I hope to construct a machine learning algorithm to identify individual rattlesnakes based on their unique patterns. When I am not juggling side projects, I spend my time making art, rollerblading, board gaming, birding, and spending time with my baby kingsnake, Quill.