snake wranglin' in mexico

i worked with a phd candidate from notre dame studying the endangered ridgenosed rattlesnake (crotalus willardi) in northern mexico near agua prieta (lower right corner of map) in 2004. the abstract: the forest service was designing a fire management/species recovery plan for some land in arizona and wanted to understand the snakes survival and response to burned areas. but because the snakes are extremely rare on the american side but somewhat plentiful on the mexican side of the border they had to send us across to find a large enough sample population. we had a couple different plots: frequent fire presence, sporadic fire presence, and control as well as different forest types.

the crew included kirk sester, the phd candidate, estrella, masters student from mexico, three other mexican students. the typical day was a drive to a remote canyon, park and split up to hike the narrow ravines looking for well-camouflaged venomous snakes, sounds smart right. the easiest way to find them is to listen for a rattler underneath your foot, im not joking these boogers are well camouflaged. they are this beautiful light pinkish-purple and black. which when you think pink you dont think blending in but...



when this is the habitat you understand



our tools of the trade were a pair of 20" tongs and a handful of pillow cases. we would find a snake, catch it with the tongs and ease it into the sack, tie it off, record gps coordinates and habitat composition. next came the crazy part, the other crew members would tuck the knot of the sack under their belts, essentially resting the snakes on their thighs as the bumped and bounded their way through the canyon for the rest of the day. at first i was hesitate about going indiana jones style for the sake of science but it was the only way to keep your hands free so i too ended up doing it. which on a good day you could have 3 or 4 venomous snakes gently bouncing on your legs for 8 hours. but no one was ever bitten, move over southern baptist snake handlers and indian cobra charmers theres a new sheriff in town.



"back at the lab" came the processing of the snakes. we implanted a radio chip, the size of a grain of rice, so that we could relocate them with telemetry equipment to track movement. we also took blood samples to determine genetic variance from the american group.






to handle the animals we would slide them into a sealed tube with a chemical that would sedate them, after a couple minutes they are like play-doh.



we werent opposed to using child labor for this dangerous work either, just kidding this is the daughter of the ranch family that worked the canyons in one of the plots


we also worked with the non-venomous arizona mountain kingsnake (Lampropeltis pyromelana)






ridgenosed rattler caught after a meal

ridgenosed rattler after eating a bird i suppose check out the feather in the mouth

paintball at wilson

matt mo, jack, i forgot, justin conley, dave tormey, nate jones, joseph jeffers, me, wilbur jeffer, jedediah brown, tom hughes

the morning after the all night paintball war with the boys

water buffalo anyone?

the villagers of thanh hai wanted an american meal so we tried our best to recreate hamburgers, ketchup, mashed potatoes, salad, coca cola, and cauliflower?? oh well. it made for an interesting story... we couldnt find beef at market so we decided on a huge water-buffalo tenderloin, which was amazing to watch these tiny old women with massive meat cleavers pummel this cut of meat into ground chuck!!

sorry guys but we're gonna need a tenderloin


the ladies chop-chop-chopping away


helping prepare for the sumptuous repast


the final product... ta da... it worked. it was funny to see the petite viet namese women politely try to eat these HUGE water buffalo burgers sandwiched between good ol' white bread dripping with liquidy ketchup.

an interesting observation: normally we would break for lunch and be treated to grand home-cooked viet namese meals and stuff ourselves to the gills with dish after dish of delicious food. then we would return to work for the rest of the afternoon, no problem. after our "american" meal there was this pervasive bloatedness that could be seen on everyones face as we lethargically staggered back to the job site. it just seems to show how our different cultures approach eating and life in general. the viet namese have a saying you only eat until youre 90% full, a good adage to live by in my opinion.

viet nam

i spent a winter "service" term in northern viet nam with warren wilson college. the group was hosted by the ymca of viet nam, a christian organization in a majority buddhist country. we spent a week or so assisting in the building of a elementary school in a small village outside phong. the educational components were a little lacking as we were supposed to be studying the economic, social, and psychological effects of the "american war" on the people but it being a communist country (government suppression) it felt much more like a tour of disneyland. it seemed to be more of a sightseeing vacation. we were hustled from one westernized attraction to next n restaurant by our ymca hosts. nevertheless i have never felt as genuinely welcomed or interested in as by the people of viet nam, i know it sounds cliche but i was amazed.


the crew in front of a museum dedicated to the viet namese struggle for independence


street barbershop: notice the barbers mask; many viet namese wear masks outside for one reason or another (pollution i suppose)


typical view of the countryside outside of thanh hai; where we did our service project


mixing concrete with the women


the girls painting doors for the school


can you find the professor in this picture? dr. kusujiarti with the ladies


the local men would sit all day in the child size chairs and watch us. one day roasted corn was brought by a family for a snack. notice the pith helmet, a remnant of french rule. although the men sat, the women would work alongside us, in fact the hired laborers were some of the hardest working women i had ever seen. dressed in nice clothes, the typical conical hat, and a mask the women were strangely mysterious.


thanh hai pagoda in the village's center


wowing the children with my high school skills

lunchtime break in thanh hai in the village center playing soccer with the kids


at the dedication ceremony for the school


two worlds collide; in sapa in the northern highlands, native hmong women and some of the girls in the group. sapa has turned into a tourist town for buying hmong goods and jump-off town for trekking through mountains


the group hiking in the northern highlands among the terraced rice fields



for a nation to have survived so many atrocities at the hands of americans and in one generations time seem to forgive their antagonists is beyond me. before leaving i thought about what the peoples reactions would be like and i almost welcomed some hostility, i felt that if someone would yell at me i would take it as an apology for my country but surprisingly i never encountered the least bit of harassment.