Spending time with Augustus (Gus) Ben David 2nd at the World of Reptiles is a learning experience from start to finish.

But it is in the snake room, in the basement of his home in Edgartown, surrounded by over a hundred feet of slithering reptiles locked in wooden cages, where Mr. Ben David is in his element.

Today's lesson is turtles.

A tiny boy wearing a T-shirt, shorts and cap stands up suddenly and shades his eyes with his hands.

"I can't see, Gus - sorry!" he exclaims.

The Martha's Vineyard Land Bank, the Felix Neck Wildlife Trust and the Massachusetts Audubon Society closed on a land purchase last week that will

In a three-way partnership that will protect the last key piece of undeveloped land at one of the oldest wildlife sanctuaries on the Vineyard, the

Gus Ben David is an Island institution. For 30 years he has directed Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary.

It takes a warm-blooded naturalist to run a den of cold-blooded creatures. Gus and Shane Ben David’s World of Reptiles is now in its third year.