Peru 2003

In March of 2003, I led a research team that consisted of Ellie Lindsay and Matthew S. Vaughan to the Madre Selva Field Station in Amazonian Peru. The trip was sponsored by The Dallas Zoo and The Fort Worth Zoo and was part of a project initiated by Ruston Hartdegen, current Curator of Herpetology at The Dallas Zoo. Our charge was to radio-track the Caiman Lizard, Dracaena guianensis, as it moved through the flooded forest. If additional specimens were found, we were to incorporate them into the study. We captured a small juvenile that was not large enough to fit with a transponder and we saw an adult male swimming across a channel. It was a rewarding experience and I hope to be involved with future research regarding this little-known lizard's ecology. This was both Matt's and my first foray into South American Rainforest and we were excited to experience all of the wildlife in the region. We photographed a number of Herps and had the opportunity to see both species of river dolphin found in the area. We were also lucky enough to experience Pilsen and Cristal in situ!

Many of these photos are taken by Matthew S. Vaughan (MSV)