Bushmaster

July 1, 2015 By John E. Riutta in Newly Noted Books Tags: arcade, book, bushmaster, ditmars, eatherley, News, snake, viper

The most scared I have ever been as the result of an encounter with another living creature involved a close call with a Fer-de-Lance (Bothrops asper) along a trail in Panama. Even after the encounter was over, I felt physically ill for most an hour. Yet even so, my fascination for this astonishingly beautiful as well as highly venomous viper grew as a result of the experience.

So when I heard that Dan Eatherley had recently published Bushmaster: Raymond Ditmars and the Hunt for the World’s Largest Viper under the Arcade imprint of Skyhorse Publishing, I knew that this was a book I had to read. After all, for as remarkable as the Fer-de-Lance is, the Bushmaster, (Lachesis muta – “silent fate”) is the largest member of the entire Viperidae family. And as Ditmars, world renowned herpetologist that he was, devoted a substantial part of his remarkable life to finding one in the rainforests of South America… well, the story just about writes itself.

John E. Riutta

Founder and publisher of The Well-read Naturalist. Inveterate autodidact. Has repeatedly been found out standing in many fields. Plays well with otters.

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