Mas boas por favor

I spent the past couple of weeks on Cayo Cochino Menor and Utila, Honduras, working on boas at the former and working on relaxation at the latter. Well, that was the plan at least...

A day and a half before leaving for the big trip, the Honduran army forcibly removed their President from his house and exiled him to Costa Rica. This "military coup," although authorized by the Honduran courts, made me (and especially my dad) a bit jumpy about my travel. I mean, traveling down there is already chaotic, what about during the first Central American coup in 16 years? I went for it anyway, hoping for a miraculous trouble-free journey. Trouble-free it wasn't, but perhaps not for the usual reasons...

We arrived in San Pedro Sula and found that our connection flights to La Ceiba were cancelled. Because of the coup? Um, no. Because TACA airlines didn't pay their taxes and the gobierno grounded their within-country flights. Huh. So they got us an alleged bus, that would allegedly take us to La Ceiba, through an allegedly road-block-free city in the middle of a coup. Not so. Citizen roadblocks there were, and the alleged bus was a no-go. Would a lack of flights and a blockade of the only road out of town deter us? Of course not. We just hooked up with a group of Baptist missionaries and chartered a plane to La Ceiba. No problem!

We spent the night in La Ceiba, went to dinner at Ponderosa. No guns allowed!

The next day it was off to Cayo Cochino Menor, a beautiful small island in the chain of islands known as the Bay Islands.

This trip was a bit different for me from my last two trips in winter 2008 and winter 2009, because for the first time there were more people on the island than just those of studying boas. In summer there is a research expedition on the island called Operation Wallacea (or Opwall for short), and professors and students mainly from the United Kingdom live there doing research and volunteering. Most of them are marine biologists, doing two dives a day and learning about things like reef ecology. And then partying.

Some of the Brits (or Limeys, or lads n lasses, as PJ called them) chilling at the pier party:

Aaron and Clare, the boa dissertation students:

Bailando con los Hondurenos!

The first day went as usual: hunt boas in the morning, lunch, hunt boas in the afternoon, process snakes and samples, dinner, listen to presentations, beber Flor de Cana...

PJ and Chad on the beach on the way to some choice boa spots:

A boa lounging in typical posture on a branch:

A boa sporting two ticks on its face (parasitism of Boa constrictor by the tick Amblyomma dissimile being the subject of our study), as well as a cataract:

I suppose it's just a matter of time on a Boa constrictor-infested island before you see one doing what they're named for. We watched this one constrict for about an hour (don't know how long it was doing it before we got there), then it took maybe 30-45 minutes to swallow. Adult female Boa constrictor constricting and eating a medium-sized spiny-tailed iguana Ctenosaura melanosterna. This is a major staple item in the diet of boas on this island.

Alas, the boa-hunt fun was short-lived for me. On the second day I threw out my back and was completely laid out for the rest of the week. The medic offered me a choice between codeine and an injection (of something) into my back... ummmmm... none of the above! Instead I lounged on the beach (luckily I had in tow Michael Pollan's Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food to kill the time) and hobbled around between bed and eating place. Disappointing, but still had a good time!

Here are a few more cool photos from the trails and beaches.

A hermit crab making good use of beach litter:

An orchid blooming on the mountain top:

Sea grapes next to the surf:

Next it was off to Utila, another of the Bay Islands, for some RnR. Utila is a major dive spot and attracts the international 20-something backpacking crowd, with whom we were unfortunately unable to mix due to the nationwide curfew imposed because of the coup... okay, so really I wanted to lay round and nurse my back. Here are a few photos from Utila:

Typical scene early morning on the street:

The Treetanic Bar, which is essentially a big ship built up in the mango trees and insanely decorated by a loony glass artist:

The trip home was perfect until I missed my train from LA to SLO, but hey, it was all good once I got home to my doggie, who seemed to have doubled in size once again while I was gone. Fun times in Centroamerica, see you in the winter!

Monster in California!!

Gila monster, that is!


This monster was recently discovered by Ron Ruppert and his Herpetology class from Cuesta College on a field trip to the Mojave Desert. Gila monsters are seen quite rarely in California because our eastern desert hills consitute the westernmost part of their range.

Here are excerpts from Ron's description of the find:

"When we sighted the lizard it was on the road and moving slowly to the north. The road is gravel at this location. The time was 16:20h and the air temperature was 76 degrees F as measured by my vehicle temperature gauge. The date was May 2, 2009. The Gila stopped by the bush it was near and all 21 of us exited the vehicles to watch and photograph it. After a few minutes it turned back south and crossed the road under the lead van which was parked at this point. It slowly moved into a loose bush where it stayed as we watched it for about 20 minutes longer. It was in this bush when we drove away. The terrain was rocky and gully washed. The canyon was fairly narrow at this point. The area was well covered with shrubs. There was mesquite, acacia, creosote, burro bush and cheesebush in the area.

The animal was bright in color. The coral color was bright and the black was deep black and the tail was banded as you can see in the photos. It’s tail was plump and the lizard looked healthy. Estimated length was 14-16 inches total length but no measurements were taken.

I have been in contact with Kent R. Beaman (his email is Heloderma, the genus for Gila Monsters). He sent a paper he published about the status of Gila Monsters in California. Prior to our sighting there have been only 26 individual sightings in California in 153 years (and 9 of those may be of the same individual on different days). California apparently has a different "banded" subspecies, Heloderma suspectum cinctum, from the more common Arizona subspecies (although it's admittedly a small sample size!). The last sighting in the Providence Mountains ... was in spring 1982. The last sighting in the entire state was in spring 2006 in the Kingston Mountains over 70 miles to the north of the Providence Mountains ... Prior to that there was one sighting in spring 1999 far to the south (Cadiz Mountains) and previous to that there were two separate sightings in 1982. The rest were previous to 1982 extending back through the 70's, 60's, 1906 and back to 1861. This is a rare animal in California!"

Indeed, this is quiet a find, and made the morning news today in SLO Co. (although our dingbat morning news reporter couldn't keep herself from exclaiming "I'm glad they're in the Mojave and not here!").

Hail Heloderma!

New season, new quarter

I love spring! Both spring season, with the emergence of hungry, feisty amphibians and reptiles, and spring quarter, where I get to teach introductory biology and herpetology. Hail Herpetology! It's the king of classes. It just makes me... happy. Here are some random happy stories, naturally involving herps, from the last week.

We had our first amphibian lab in herpetology last week, so I went out hiking one morning with Cosmo to find some slender salamanders (Batrachoseps nigriventris) under logs on my property. This is the only time of year we have much rain, so it is green and beautiful with the oak trees leafing out:


Cosmo is in heaven on these walks (and so are the ticks who blend so stealthily into his coat, only to die an ugly death upon tasting Frontline, HA!). I might like ticks, but not when attached to the Dog-child.



About 100m from my house I spied the perfect log:

Alas, there was no slender salamander in residence. Instead I found this, a juvenile rattlesnake (Crotalus oreganus). A much rarer sight!

(This snake was in the same spot and position yesterday morning, exactly one week later.)

By the way, I went on to find a salamander for lab, but my camera is macro-challenged and I don't have a photo that shows more than a worm-like blurr.

This week I took my herpetology class to catch amphibians and reptiles on some property near my old house, where the owner has converted man-made trout ponds into a herp haven. The students dove right in, quite literally, as their task included seigning (drag-netting) the pond to catch tadpoles:

One of the goals was to catch (and remove) these nasty bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana) tadpoles, which are invasive species. I donated some to the professor who teaches developmental biology so the students can watch the nasty babies metamorphose into nastier adults.

We also caught treefrogs (Pseudacris regilla), newts (Taricha torosa), fence lizards (Sceloporus occidentalis), and a slender salamander and alligator lizard (Elgaria multicarinata):

Max likes gator lizard earrings:

Much fun was had by all, and I think everyone is ready for some more field trips (next on agenda: Poly Canyon lizards, Home for Wayward Turtles and Tortoises, Mojave Desert reptiles).

The next few weekend are going to be so great! Read it and weep:

This weekend: Ride in Army Blackhawk helicopter, followed by rattlesnake and lizard catching at field site

Next weekend: Roided lizard-catching in Poly Canyon (you'll see)

Next n. weekend: Herpapalooooooooooza!!!

Next n. n. weekend: More rattlesnake and lizard catching at field site

Next n. n. n. weekend: Mojave Desert field trip

Next n. n. n. n. weekend: I don't know yet, but it's a 3-day weekend and is sure to involve some sort of herping shenanigans

Speaking of shenanigans, check out the crazy pet tortoises! Blacktop decided she needed to spend the night on top of the two little ones, and they were thus pinned with no say in the matter:

Happy herping!!!

Let the Field Season Begin!

It's mid-March in sunny central California, and that means two things: reptiles and mayhem at Chimineas! Last weekend we had the first annual PERL field season kick-off party. Friends were in from out of town, many new students have joined the lab, and our favorite hormone testosterone is in the air (lizard and rattlesnake testosterone, that is), so we thought it right to celebrate. So PERL hosted a weekend event attended by about 35 people, with some snake-tracking, hiking, and evening festivities.

My students took people out radiotracking snakes, and looking for new ones. Only males were out! We found some out basking, like this one:

And some were peeking from under rocks but unattainable:

And some we managed to yank from under the rocks:

Jordan, an undergraduate in the lab, demonstrating perfect snake-tubing form:

A favorite spot for Western pond turtles:

Matt, a prospective grad student lucky to be visiting during the festivities, holding a turtle:

For the evening festivities, each student in PERL (plus some visitors) gave 5-minute presentations on their research. Here's the crowd:

My grad student Nick doing his presentation. Yes, that's a bull with a hat glued to it in the photo. We've switched from horses to cattle (and rabbits) as tick-breeding fodder.




And here are two undergraduates in the lab, Stephen and Ben, presenting their research. Yes, those are lizard tails sticking out of ice.

Now for the real fun:

The infamous hot tub:

And finally, it wouldn't be a party if Cosmo didn't join in the fun:

Honduras!!!

I rang in the new year my favorite way- Central American style, on a beautiful Caribbean island full of snakes and friends. The purpose of the trip was to continue research on the ecology of boa constrictors initiated by Chad Montgomery and others several years ago, and also to begin a new study of the host-parasite relationship between boas and ticks. I spent New Year's Eve last year on the same island, but this year's trip was much better than last year's, considering that we retained our luggage and everyone smelled much better.

It's a beautiful place, not just because it is crawling with boas and iguanas.

The island is fairly small, but what it lacks in size it makes up for in relief. To get to the really good boa spots (places with names like the "Honey Hole" and "Bee Draw"), you hike up some very steep trails and bushwhack through some dense tropical vegetation.

Look at all the airplants!

The island also has some giant orchids:

The boas tend to be stretched out on horizontal-ish branches near the ground (or, there are probably lots up in the canopy too, but the ones we see are near the ground).

When someone finds a boa, we catch it, quickly take a blood sample from the heart for later analysis of hormone levels, collect data on the habitat, and bag the boa for measurements to be done later in the lab. Here are Chad and I bleeding a boa in the field:

Since so many boas could be found with six people searching for them, entire afternoons were spent processing these boas in the lab.

Boats brought massive tourist crowds to the island each afternoon. The tourists were allowed to traipse around the island for a grand total of about 10 minutes before being herded onto the boats again, and if they were lucky enough to commence traipsing during an afternoon processing sesion, Tony or Chad would treat them to an up close and personal lesson about boas:

One new focus this year was quantifying the number and placement of ticks (Amblyomma dissimile) in order to examine how things like sex, body condition, and hormone levels of the boas relate to tick load. Ticks mainly congregated on wounds or scars on the boas:

In addition to our studies, some goofing off was had by all. There's snorkeling, hiking, swimming, exploring beaches, iguana-catching, etc. As usual my favorite extracurricular activity involved food. Our cook Jani showed us how to make tortillas from scratch. Yummy gooey manteca-filled tortillas. Yup, that's lard. That's what makes them actually tasty, unlike the heart-healthy cardboard we call tortillas here.

And of corse, no Cayos trip would be complete without a party or two or three.

New Year's Eve dance party Central American style (lots of food, straight booze, hyper children, and really, really bad hip hop music):

We finished up the trip with a day on the mainland. PJ got some choice garments at Carrion (yes, the department store does indeed appear to be named after rotting flesh):

And Honduras trips always end with some beers n cocktails at Ex-Pats:

This summer we'll be heading back down for a longer, hotter and sweatier trip!

... And here's a completely unrelated photo, simply to show off my very cute dog getting his first bath yesterday. He finally forgave me a half hour later, but a rawhide was exchanged in the bargain.

Cosmo!!!

Introducing Cosmo!

I brought him home yesterday, after six weeks of waiting that seemed like six months.

No, he's not named after the drink or the magazine. Nor is he named after Kramer, because then he would be Kosmo. Although I don't mind that so much, because he's a spaz. But, he is just Cosmo.


Right now he is spending all of his time sleeping, playing, and eating. He's adjusting well to his new home. A particularly poignant moment for me was when he spent 10 minutes sniffing every inch of Kuma's dog bed, which hasn't budged from its position next to my bed. He just wanted to know whose smell was on his new turf. :-)

There will be lots more pix later! We're going to the beach tomorrow.