Snakes get a real bad reputation.
When I ask people why the dislike, you can expect the usual answers: 'scaly', 'slimy', 'gross' and 'dangerous'.
While there are some pretty dangerous snakes in Costa Rica, I asked a fellow REU why she isn't equally disgusted with other fearsome/dangerous animals.
"Look at the way they eat. What a horrible way to die. Death by snakebite would be the worst."
My counter-point:
Family Pompilidae (Tarantula Hawk) Once this picture is explained, I'm hoping you'll realize that these wasps are the clear winner for worst way to die.
This wasp has paralyzed this giant spider. I didn't get to witness the epic battle. I hear the wasp flies around the spider, trying to land on its back. The spider normally recognizes the wasp and tries desperately to fend them off.
This spider wasn't so lucky.
When I found them the wasp was slowly dragging the paralyzed spider back towards its den.
It builds J shaped holes in the ground that stay moist, but don't get flooded by the tropical rain. It drags the paralyzed spider into the dark hole and injects it with its young.
Keep in mind the spider is alive the entire time. The process, which can take weeks, must be terrible. The larvae hatch inside the spider and then start to consume it from the inside out!!!
Next time you think snakes are terrible. Remember the fate of this poor tarantula. Paralyzed, dragged into a wet, dark hole, injected with young, and eaten alive!
I'd choose death by snake any day.
Just in case you're not convinced insects aren't terrifying, try this!
I don't know what this thing is. Clearly sent form hell to haunt my dreams though.
Aside from terrifying invertebrate experiences, today was a lot of CTmax experiments. 24 lizards can take a loooong time to experiment on.
Two of lizards had a CTmax of 41.1! That's a little over 106 F!
If the human body gets over ~104 F the electrical sheathing around your neurons called myelin starts to degrade and your brain can stop working...
These are some tough critters!
Here's some pictures of my new little babies.
Gonatodes albogularis (Yellow-headed Gecko) The males have red or yellow heads, when you put two males next to each other in bags their colors get even brighter and they try to fight on another. I learned the hard way these things are impossible to catch alone. But with two people, one can scare them into the others hands. Gotcha!
Here's the female... not nearly as pretty.
Hemidactylus frenatus (House Gecko) You can hear these things making a weird laughing noise at all hours of the night. They love to hang out near bright lights in buildings. Unfortunately this means they're normally on the ceiling and take some serious trickery to catch... I've found a broom is the best weapon in my house-gecko-catching arsenal.
Norops capito (Pug-nosed Anole) Since this is only the 2nd one of these I've seen and only the first one I've caught, I'm not sure if this is a 'for sure' species. Hopefully I can scrounge up a few more though.
Still plenty of lizards left to catch.
But progress is progress!
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