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Posted by Doug T on January 17, 2003 at 13:59:09:
In Reply to: Big Yellow-tail posted by tvandeventer on January 17, 2003 at 13:55:06:
I must have just missed your Greentracks trip... I went on one with Bill Lamar at just about that time and our group tied the record for the LEAST herps seen. Still a great time. I would have loved to see that big YT.
Doug T
:
:I do have shots of the 9'1" Yellow-tail but they are Fuji 35mm transparencies. Bill Lamar and I were co-guiding a Greentracks expedition in Peru about four years ago. On a jungle trail at about 3:00 pm, a snake shot out at full speed behind me and in front of an older woman from Louisiana. As the snake crossed the trail between us, she screamed "copperhead!" As I turned I saw a three foot long boa constrictor that was moving like I've never seen a boa move. I grabbed it and sure enough, this woman knew what a copperhead looked like. It was fawn with dark hour-glass shaped crossbands...
:A second later there was a huge disturbance off to the side of the trail. Everybody joked later that the waving ferns and crashing about was reminescent of a scene from Jurassic Park! Bill took off in pursuit while I crashed around to head it off. Suddenly this fist-sized yellow head appeared right in front of my face. I grabbed but couldn't get a good hold because Bill was nine feet away on the ground, holding on to the tail.
:It was a killer and smelled the place up, but later was perfectly tame. We measured him three times with fishing line and seven pairs of hands. All three times the result was nine feet, one inch long. I still wonder if that little boa wasn't running for his life when we found him!
:This was the biggest colubrid snake I have ever been in on capturing. I have collected Spilotes and Chironius that were longer but never so overall massive. TV
