Director of Oak Mountain Interpretive Center, David Frings
Q&A with David Frings
Alabama native David M. Frings served the city of Alabaster for 12 years as mayor before becoming director of the Oak Mountain Interpretive Center. A graduate of the University of Alabama at Birmingham with a degree in geology and biology, Frings worked as a licensed geologist for Alabama Power Company until his retirement in 2006 and has had a life-long fascination with nature.
1. When did your love of nature begin?
I began to notice and love nature at age 5.
2. What sparked your interest?
We moved to a new house in a subdivision near Bluff Park that was very rural at that time. We had numerous lizards, snakes and turtles that were in the yard and I began catching them. It grew from there and my parents were very supportive.
3. What is your favorite bug, reptile, animal or plant and why?
As far as a favorite that lives in Oak Mountain State Park, it would be the fox squirrel. They are much larger than the gray squirrel and I like to watch them scamper through the trees
4. What is the craziest or most unexpected animal you have seen?
Duck-bill platypus on a trip to Australia two years ago.
5. Do you have any pets of your own? What are they?
Yes, one green-cheek conure (parrot), a sulcata tortoise named Walter (weighs 75 pounds), pancake tortoises, red foot tortoise, leopard tortoise, snake-neck turtle, blue-tongue skinks, Argentine tegu, bearded dragon, woma python, ball python, Dumerils boa constrictor, tomato frogs, white tree frogs, and one dog named Abby.
