While at Baboon cliffs (see previous post for silly pictures of me watching the sunset) we found a snake that had been fairly well eaten by a bird. The bird was gone but the snake was still pretty intact (viscera were missing but the head and body scales were actually in good shape) so we decided to bring it home with us to try to identify. Lucky we did, it ended up being a new species for Mpala! This is a boomslang carcass, as near as we can tell. Boomslangs are pretty famously venomous in South and East Africa. While wikipedia says they aren’t well known for causing human death they’re very well respected/feared here as one of the particularly dangerous venomous snakes. I’m going to have to ask around about this apparent discrepancy. Nonetheless this is a pretty cool arboreal snake with a famous name and a serious reputation. Don’t worry, I don’t anticipate running into any poking around in my trees. Apparently they don’t like the ants hanging out in my acacias. Whew!
Colin Donihue 