South America, Part 2

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danh
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South America, Part 2

Post by danh »

Here is the second half of my pictures. I know I’m not quite the photographer some of you are, but I hope you enjoy these anyway! These were taken in Venezuela, Trinidad, Colombia and Panama.

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Savannah Side-necked Turtle (Podocnemis vogli). Los Llanos, Venezuela.

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Green Anaconda (Eunectes murinus). Los Llanos, Venezuela

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Matamata Turtle (Chelus fimbriatus). Los Llanos, Venezuela

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Amazon Tree Boa (Corallus hortulanus). Los Llanos, Venezuela. I am NOT a fan of pinning, especially for photography. Our guide did this, after insisting this was a Bothrops.

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Colombian Four-eyed Frog (Pleurodema brachyops). Los Llanos, Venezuela

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Spectacled Caiman (Caiman crocodylus). Los Llanos, Venezuela. One of thousands!

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Red-footed Tortoise (Geochelone carbonaria). Los Llanos, Venezuela

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Common Tegu (Tupinambis teguixin). Northern Range, Trinidad.

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Leatherback Turtle (Dermochelys corciacea). Blachisseusse Beach, Trinidad

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Central American Tree Boa (Corallus ruschenbergerii). Coroni Swamp, Trinidad. This is how I like to see my tree boas.

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Yellow-throated Rocket Frog (Mannophryne trinitatis). Northern Range, Trinidad. The male is the darker one. He turns jet-black when calling.

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Flying Frog (Hyla crepitans). Northern Range, Trinidad.

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Leaf-cutter Ants. Northern Range, Trinidad

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Tretioscincus bifasciatus. Tayrona National Park, Colombia. This guy had me completely fooled. I was sure he was a skink!

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Yellow-striped Poison Frog (Dendrobates truncatus). Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta National Park, Colombia.

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Leptophis santamartensis. Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta National Park, Colombia. This almost-unknown snake was found in the only place it’s ever been recorded.

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Rainbow Runner (Cnemidophorus lemniscatus). Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta National Park, Colombia. Beautiful and very variable species.

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Very cool butterfly. Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta National Park, Colombia.

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Green-and-black Poison Frog (Dendrobates auratus). Panama City, Panama.

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Striped Basalisk (Basaliscus vittatus). Chagres National Park, Panama

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Lichen-coloured Snail-eater (Sibon argus). Chagres National Park, Panama

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Cascade Glass Frog (Cochranella albomaculata). Chagres National Park, Panama

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Rainforest Rocket Frog (Silverstoneia flotator). Chagres National Park, Panama

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Brown Wood Turtle (Rhinoclemmys annulata). Barro Colorado Island, Panama

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Cat-eyed Snake (Leptodeira annulata) eating a Tungara Frog (Engystomops pustulosus). Las Lajas, Panama

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Smokey Jungle Frog (Leptodactylus pentadactylus). Las Lajas, Panama

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Strawberry Poison Frog (Oophaga pumilio). Bastimentos Island, Panama

And a couple mammals:

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Southern Tamandua (Tamandua tetradactyla). Los Llanos, Venezuela

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Giant Anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla). Los Llanos, Venezuela
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Dr. Dark
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Re: South America, Part 2

Post by Dr. Dark »

VERY nice! Love that Leptophis!
gretzkyrh4
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Re: South America, Part 2

Post by gretzkyrh4 »

Great set of shots. I really like the Pleurodema shot.

Chris
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Hans Breuer (twoton)
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Re: South America, Part 2

Post by Hans Breuer (twoton) »

Fantastic. Thanks for sharing!
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Josh Holbrook
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Re: South America, Part 2

Post by Josh Holbrook »

Awesome - love the amplexing glass frogs!
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xxxHERPERxxx
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Re: South America, Part 2

Post by xxxHERPERxxx »

Man I would love to go there! I cant believe you saw all that! I really like the Glass and Four-eyed Frogs!
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Rags
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Re: South America, Part 2

Post by Rags »

Nice series of photos, thanks for posting.

The Colombian Four-eyed Frog is stunning. Did you manage to see many other Oophaga colour variations whilst in Bocas?
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Martti Niskanen
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Re: South America, Part 2

Post by Martti Niskanen »

Very nice. Cheers for that.
Mourits
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Re: South America, Part 2

Post by Mourits »

Cool!
roadhunter
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Re: South America, Part 2

Post by roadhunter »

very nice post,i enjoy all of the posts here on this fourm. i never post ,just a ghost.all of you people that put so much of your money,time and passion into this lifestyle is one of the reasons i love animals and the people who also love animals. i pretty much don't waste any of my time on people who don't share this view.i figure that the time has come to make myself known on this wonderful fourm. i will start posting pics as soon as i figure out how. today i'm off to look for scarlet kings inthe tar paper piles and other ac that litter my area here in brooksville,fl. regards, roadhunter :thumb:
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Hans Breuer (twoton)
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Re: South America, Part 2

Post by Hans Breuer (twoton) »

Welcome to the forum, and congrats on your successful emergence from the closet! :D
i pretty much don't waste any of my time on people who don't share this view
I shared that view once. Then I discovered how fulfilling and rewarding it is to enlighten people. (Plus, you get to meet chicks)

Looking forward to your tarpaper kings!

H
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Brian Folt
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Re: South America, Part 2

Post by Brian Folt »

Great posts! There are too many awesome herps that I can't single out any one in particular. I would love to hear more about the places you visited and the traveling aspect, though.

The last anteater is impressive. I've seen tamanduas in Costa Rica, but I wonder how common the giant anteaters are anymore?

Cheers!
nickj1199
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Re: South America, Part 2

Post by nickj1199 »

cool post. :thumb:
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MHollanders
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Re: South America, Part 2

Post by MHollanders »

Holy crap, that's a fantastic post! You saw some great animals.
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DaneConley
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Re: South America, Part 2

Post by DaneConley »

The anaconda is cool to find, thats a snake everyone has heard of. But do what i do with people when they think non venomous snakes are venomous. Let it the snake bite you and yell, "Oh my GOD!!!!" (unless they have heart problems) But now that I think that its a amazon tree boa...that could hurt. Especially when I see the teeth on him.
danh
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Re: South America, Part 2

Post by danh »

Thanks for all the comments! It was a great trip and I wish I was still on it...

Rag - I saw a lot of pumilio, but they were all variations on the red-with-black spots theme. Some were more orangy, some a kind of dirty green-red, some with big spots, some with little or no spotting at all. However I didn't get to see anything really different, like green or blue ones.

Brian - Los Llanos in Venezuela and Santa Marta NP in Colombia I visited with backpacker tour companies. The other areas are all accessible by public transit, some with a little hiking. The tegu is from a well-known birder spot, the Asa Wright Nature Center. The rest are all just luck. The Leptophis was found at an archeological site known as La Ciudad Perdida.

Dane - I actually offered to let the tree boa bite me, but then the guide looked at me very sternly and said that if I got bitten, before they took me to the hospital, he'd have to cut the bite out with his machete. The bite I could have handled. A chunk of my flesh being cut out with a machete, not so much.
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klawnskale
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Re: South America, Part 2

Post by klawnskale »

Enjoyed your post. thanks for sharing.
joecop
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Re: South America, Part 2

Post by joecop »

WOW!!! I loved this post. Great photos. That butterfly looks like it has the number "89" written on it. Crazy. Too many good photos to single any out, but I love the strawberry frog shot.
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WSTREPS
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Re: South America, Part 2

Post by WSTREPS »

This snake is a Central American , Blacktail , Trinidad whatever tree boa (Corallus ruschenbergerii) and not an Amazon Tree Boa (Corallus hortulanus). The mainland ruschenbergerii generally are patterned and are smaller then the Trinidad / Tabago stuff.

ERNIE EISON

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joeysgreen
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Re: South America, Part 2

Post by joeysgreen »

Your Cascade's Frog looks like it has a back full of tadpoles. I never knew they did that. Did you look to see if it was the male or the female carrying them?

Excellent post by the way. You found a tonne of super cool herps, did a very decent job photographing them, and I'm sure you have more than just me drooling in jealousy :) I lov'm all, but am particularly fond of the turtle finds, especially the mata mata.

Ian
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Getula Hunter
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Re: South America, Part 2

Post by Getula Hunter »

The whole post is very nice. But those Cascade Glass Frogs WOW Thank you for posting!

J.P.
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DaneConley
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Re: South America, Part 2

Post by DaneConley »

danh wrote:Thanks for all the comments! It was a great trip and I wish I was still on it...
Dane - I actually offered to let the tree boa bite me, but then the guide looked at me very sternly and said that if I got bitten, before they took me to the hospital, he'd have to cut the bite out with his machete. The bite I could have handled. A chunk of my flesh being cut out with a machete, not so much.
I would be scared of the guide if I was there to hear that!
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Jeremiah_Easter
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Re: South America, Part 2

Post by Jeremiah_Easter »

OK, this was an awesome post. Your Strawberry poison frog image looks like a sure candidate for Herp Nation's snapshot department :)
danh
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Re: South America, Part 2

Post by danh »

Ernie - you're absolutely right. Sorry for the mistake.

Ian - it's the male carrying the tadpoles. I was tagging along with a couple of grad students surveying frogs in the area. Good fun!
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Crimson King
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Re: South America, Part 2

Post by Crimson King »

Your Strawberry poison frog image looks like a sure candidate for Herp Nation's snapshot department
Have to agree with that!
A great post, thanks!
The frog w/tads on its back is another that caught my eye immediately but all are really nice.
:Mark
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Mworks
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Re: South America, Part 2

Post by Mworks »

Excellant thread and fantastic photos. Especially interested in the Oophaga Pumilio as I currently keep two different morphs in my collection. Did you see any of the other morphs on your trip.

Regards
Marcus
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TimPaine
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Re: South America, Part 2

Post by TimPaine »

Nice to see a wild D. truncatus - even as a hard core dendrobater I've only seen a couple shots of that one in the wild.

Tim
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danh
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Re: South America, Part 2

Post by danh »

Tim, it's interesting you should say that because D. truncatus was extremely common in two of Colombia's most touristed National Parks: Tayrona and Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. If you're ever in the area, these places are very easy in terms of travel, very safe, and full of cool herps! Just try and stop the guides from killing all the snakes.

If you're looking for wild pics of rarely seen dendrobatids, check out this A. castaneoticus: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3772

And, since there seems to be some interest, here are some different looking O. pumilio:

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This pumilio is from the Long Beach area of Ilsa Bastimentos. It has no spotting and the red/orange even continues onto the outer edges of the belly.

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This is both the ugliest and sickest looking pumilio I saw. It's from the mysterious "graveyard" population of pumilio on Ilsa Bastimentos.

The pumilio I posted before represents the fine-spotted version, and I also saw some of the typical "Bastimentos" forms that were red with large black spots. Those were near Red Frog Beach, where, unfortunately, kids were catching the frogs to sell to tourists. I didn't want to attract attention to the frogs I saw by taking pictures.

Dan
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Mworks
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Re: South America, Part 2

Post by Mworks »

Hi Dan,

Thanks for that really interesting stuff. The two oophaga pumilio I currently keep in my collection are 'Isle Colon' and 'Bri Bri'. Hopefully going to make it out to Panama or Costa Rica myself soon!

Regards
Marcus
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