Rudy Mancke brings the skin of a corn snake to his lecture for the Golden K Kiwanis Club. The Golden K Kiwanis Club speaker for its weekly meeting at the Capital Senior Center was Rudy Mancke, curator of natural history at the USC McKissick Museum. His topic was "The Nature of Things."

Mancke has never met a snake he didn't like, and he usually brings a live one in a pillow case to his lectures. For this group, he brought the skin of a corn snake and told all about it.

Mancke challenged his audience holding up a skull of what turned out to be a grey fox. No one could identify it.

Now a professor of natural history for USC's Honor College, Mancke is best known for his years as host on SC ETV's "NatureScene."

He has an exhibit on the third floor of McKissick. The public is invited to his fall lecture in front of the museum September 22, 2009, at noon.