Conference trip 'verts.

[defour]

Here are the two bespined critters that came home with me. The first is a stunning Western coachwhip (Masticophis flagellum testaceus) we found in northern NM. This is the first wild coachwhip I've seen, and it was extremely lucky that I managed to get hold of it. The speed of these things has to be seen to be appreciated. It started out at rest not 2 feet from me with no awareness that I was there (I teased it out of a rodent burrow by pouring water into it; I was surprised it worked. It wasn't so much coming out of the burrow to get away from the water as it was coming out to enjoy the rain: slow and cobra-like.). When I lunged at it I missed it by at least a foot, and it still had three feet of body in the hole when it made a break for it. I ended up climbing 12 feet into a tree to catch it. The really amazing thing is that it's as tame as a corn snake; I was expecting to be lacerated within a second of grabbing it. It stayed in the "staredown" pose it's in in the photo for a good 5 minutes. Oh, the snake is the red thing. The hairy thing is my fellow road tripper, who was not captured in a tree but rather in a net after being spat forth from a thermal vent in Star Vallety Wyoming in the mid 1800's.

 

[defour]

Here's the second one, found cowering in the right-hand lane of I-90 in southwest Minnesota. I was walking in a rest area at midnight and heard meowing. By the way he was frozen in his "waiting for death" pose, I think a car or two had passed over the top of him. His name is Worthington, in honor of the nearest town, and he's the smartest cat in the world. Once you consider that he's also the cutest, the odds make him mighty exceptional. Oh, he's the little orange fuzzy thing. The big flesh-toned fuzzy thing is me, and was not found in the interstate, but rather in a shoebox in a storage closet at the OSU Center for Whacky Anthropology in late 1970.

Steve

 

[minax]

(Masticophis flagellum testaceus)

I thought it was against the law to grab your " Masticophis flagellum testaceus" while on a public roadway!? ;P

 

[defour]

I thought it was against the law to grab your " Masticophis flagellum testaceus" while on a public roadway!? ;P

Not at all; what's more surprising is that it's encouraged and demonstrated at all the major border crossings. Here's a strategically cropped picture we snapped of a friendly ranger showing us the ropes.

 

[Deliverme314]

Is that snake venemous? Congrats on the two finds! Both are amazing in their own respects.

 

[wayneo]

The coachwhip snake is not venomous.

Wayne H