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tooth
Trad climber
The Best Place On Earth
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May 27, 2011 - 01:34am PT
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a guy i found one cold morning at J-Tree
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Howard71
Trad climber
Belen, New Mexico
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May 27, 2011 - 01:36am PT
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StahlBro:
Red rattlesnakes (Crotalus ruber) usually have a less speckled appearance, they rarely have laterally paired diamonds or blotches on their backs (diamonds or blotches are single) and the black bands on their tails are often complete and broad. Joshua Tree is within the range of C. ruber (http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/details/64331/0); so the snake certainly could be a red.
Howard
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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May 27, 2011 - 01:48am PT
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I'd say it is a Red also.
Tooth,
Don't let Mr Ranger see you handling the fauna! I know you mean no harm - jess sayin', ya know.
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tooth
Trad climber
The Best Place On Earth
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May 27, 2011 - 01:56am PT
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Being from BC I really wasn't aware that there were so many rules. Now that i've returned... I see what a difference there is and why California has no more Grizzlies!
PS, this weekend I woke up to moose tracks inches from my head/sleeping bag, bear, cat and porcupines and only 2 other human tracks over 40 miles of trail. No rangers.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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May 27, 2011 - 12:10pm PT
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Yes, hard to beat solitude. But then there was the time in Jumbo Rocks CG
when I looked up from my cuppa to see the 10 yr old delinquent in the adjoining
site proudly raise his BB gun over his head and loudly proclaim,
"Dad, I got one!"
HUH? That did more for me than eight cups o' joe ever would. I walked over to
Dad and relatively politely informed him that he was in a national park where
such behavior was rather frowned upon and maybe it would be a good idea if
he reigned in his little monster. Of course, he took umbrage at my insinuation
of his parenting and stoutly informed me that he would continue to parent as
he saw fit.
Without a word I wheeled and then wheeled down the road until I found a ranger
a couple miles away. After he screwed his eyeballs back into his head
upon hearing about the parenting class in Site 29 he proceeded to remove
about 1/4" from his rear tires' circumpherence.
"Go get some, Mr Ranger!"
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Lace
climber
las vegas, nv
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May 27, 2011 - 01:03pm PT
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Love this thread. This sunday National Geographic Channel will be replaying the Naked Science episode Venom Power with Bryan G. Fry. I've always admired that man.
What type of Spider is this?
We found it in the Red River Gorge, Kentucky along a riverbank
Looks like a wolf spider. I'm not sure of the species, Hogna carolinensis maybe? Really cool to see them carrying the babies around.
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DonC
climber
CA
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May 29, 2011 - 01:04pm PT
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Kelsey - great pictures! I particularly like the 3rd one. Very rich feel to the colors. What lens did you use on these? Any filters?
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Tony
Trad climber
Berkeley, CA
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May 31, 2011 - 01:35am PT
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A couple of months ago, while hiking out from Darwin Falls near Death Valley, a guy called me over to see this Coachwhip slowly eating a juvenile Chuckwalla. He told me that he had been watching it a short while before it dashed down some rocks to catch the lizard.
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StahlBro
Trad climber
San Diego, CA
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May 31, 2011 - 01:38am PT
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I guess the inflation technique didn't help this time :-) Great picture!
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Vegasclimber
Trad climber
Las Vegas, NV.
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May 31, 2011 - 03:52am PT
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Here is a pic of the lizard that was sunning itself next to us at a climb in Josh. Blue belly, but I've never seen one this size, you can't tell in the pic but he's a good 8 to 10 in long.
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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May 31, 2011 - 10:36am PT
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Stahlbro,
The inflation technique is more effective when the Sauromalus obesus wedges itself into a tight crack (as I have seen them do many times).
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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May 31, 2011 - 10:52am PT
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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May 31, 2011 - 11:35am PT
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I saw a tegu eat a rat.
It was the most violent and vicious animal attack I have ever seen.
He grabbed it behind the head and shook it so hard you could hear the bones snapping.
They call them "chicken wolfs" down there.
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BASE104
Social climber
An Oil Field
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Nov 15, 2012 - 05:28pm PT
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Where I grew up Collard Lizards were everywhere. The males get pretty colorful. We used to call them "Mountain Boomers" in my childhood days.
We used to have tons of horned lizards. I haven't seen one in twenty years, though. They vanished.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Nov 19, 2012 - 05:30pm PT
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B_E_S, the herpetologist I mentioned was in the field in Myanmar. It turns
out he was bitten by a Multi-banded Krait*. My memory isn't always perfect - :-)
Wiki:
In September, 2001, while doing research deep in an isolated region of
Myanmar, Dr. Slowinski was bitten by a juvenile multi-banded krait
(Bungarus multicinctus). He died 29 and a half hours later after several
failed attempts to procure medical attention. The weather of that night
was particularly bad, preventing a helicopter from transporting Slowinski
to a hospital, and making it impossible to carry medical supplies to the campsite.
*While not quite as venomous as a Russells the Krait isn't 'user-friendly' either:
The venom of the many-banded krait consists of both pre- and post-synaptic
neurotoxins (known as α-bungarotoxins and β-bungarotoxins, among
others). The average venom yield from specimens kept on snake farms is
about 4.6 mg[2]—18.4 mg[3] per bite. The venom is highly toxic with LD50
values of 0.09 mg/kg[3]—0.108 mg/kg[5][6] SC, 0.113 mg/kg IV and 0.08
mg/kg IP on mice.[5][6] Based on several LD50 studies, the many-banded
krait is among the most venomous land snake in the world.[5][7]
The local symptoms of victims bitten by the Many-banded Krait are usually
neither serious swelling nor pain, the victims merely feel slightly itchy
and numb. Systemic symptoms occur, in general, one to four hours after
being bitten by this snake. Symptoms may include discomfort in the chest,
general ache, weak feeling in limbs, ataxia, glossolysis, loss of voice,
swallowing paralysis, tunnel vision, and difficult breathing. In case of
serious bite, suppression of breathing may occur, leading to death.[3]
The untreated mortality rate caused by the bites of this species is
estimated to be 20-30%.[2
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Nov 19, 2012 - 06:55pm PT
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I got the krait info from Wiki so I can't vouch for its accuracy. 20-30%
untreated sounds way low to me. What really gets me is the initial lack
of symptoms.
A buddy of mine was in Nam and almost lost a buddy of his to a King Cobra,
without being bitten. They were out on patrol and had set up camp for the
night. They were in a fairly quiet area so there was considerable huffing
of an herb. Since it was deemed fairly safe they were going outside the
perimeter about 15-20 yards to do #2. My friend's buddy was out there
doing his deed when all of a sudden he starts screaming bloody murder and
running back to the perimeter with his pants at half-mast. A half a dozen
flashlights zeroed in on him and they saw a very large King Cobra supposedly
chasing him. In the ensuing hail of M-16 fire it was a miracle the buddy
wasn't lit up too. I'm sure my friend was telling the truth, at least the
first time he recounted it. :-)
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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Nov 19, 2012 - 06:58pm PT
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I heard kraits were like 5 steps but it all sounded like folk tales.
The stories that locals, once bitten, just sit down and relax and make peace with their demise sounds true.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Nov 19, 2012 - 07:34pm PT
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Well, Ron, sitting down to make peace is gonna be the best first aid in any
event if you're not gonna get any anti-venin, isn't it? :-|
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little Z
Trad climber
un cafetal en Naranjo
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Nov 19, 2012 - 08:44pm PT
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was looking for an excuse to post this photo, and it sort of fits into this thread, so here ya go... I thought about starting a "roadkill" thread but decided against it (I see a lot of cool things dead on the road)
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