UNITY — Jamie Pastika, a wildlife photographer, zookeeper, and executive director of the Reptile and Amphibian Zoo in Minnesota, gave a presentation Tuesday night at the Unity Centre for the Performing Arts as part of Unity College’s Lapping Lecture Series.

A volunteer carried this boa around the room so audience members could get a better look during Tuesday’s Lapping Lecture on reptiles at the Unity Centre for the Performing Arts. MEGAN RICHARDSON (Reprints available online at www.MainePhotosNOW.com.)

Pastika’s lecture involved both slide shows and a presentation of live reptile specimens, followed by a question-and-answer session.

Pastika talked about the sometimes dangerous and sometimes dirty job of being a zookeeper, particularly one who specializes in reptiles such as crocodiles and snakes. Pastika also has a lot of background with amphibians, as he worked training poison dart frogs while working as a zookeeper at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Tuesday’s presentation was focused on lizards and snakes, though.

After a couple of years at Animal Kingdom, Pastika moved to Minnesota to start the Reptile and Amphibian Zoo. Part of the project was a traveling zoo that brought several different species to local schools. Pastika showed pictures of young students learning about and holding the animals. He said the traveling zoo aimed at teaching children about the animals, but it was also meant to create a connection between the children and the animals so that the children would care about preserving them.

Pastika said lizards are not nearly as threatened by extinction as other reptiles, and that amphibians are far more threatened than most reptiles. According to him, one third of all amphibians are threatened with extinction.

Pastika presented three kinds of lizards and two kinds of snakes at the lecture, including a bearded dragon, a ball python, and a boa constrictor.