PAPUA NEW GUINEA SNAKEBITE PROJECT
BREAKING THE DUCK

Hayward arrived, we picked up fthe four boys and the seven of us set out for Heropa mini-estate again, we are desperate to find brownsnakes today, our last chance. I had transposed my 2006 GPS records for the six brownsnakes onto my Oregon 450 GPS and I discovered we were hunting in exactly the same locations - s0 where were the snakes?

Heropa mini-estate my brownsnake locality

Again we walked the paths, turned over the windrows of palm-frond rubbish and searched, frogs and lizards yes, spiders and centipedes yes, and many many rats, but no snakes.

Mantophryne lateralis	Wood frog, Hylarana sp.

We worked hard for several hours and then a manager came through to speak to me. He told me a snake had been killed the previous afternoon and thrown onto the 'road' (track). It was black with a pale underside and not very fat, like a brownsnake amongst other possibilities. I said I would like to see it so he led us to the place where the snake had lain for some 8-12 hours. I commented on the likelihood of a hawk having taken it and as we approached the snake on the track that is exactly what happened, a hawk flew in and snatched the snake off the road when we only about 50m and 1-2 minutes away. As the hawk took off I thought the dangling snake could easily have been a brownsnake. The manager also told me about another snake killed close-by and with his help I located a dead Amethystine python (Morelia amethistina). I collected the undamaged head as a voucher of the species' presence. Two dead snakes but we had to leave, Owen and I had another speaking engagement and we were already late. We also could not find Albert and Joseph so toured around the mini-estate looking for them.

The sad remains of the Amethystine python, Morelia amethistina

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