Deadly and Dangerous Snakes of Latin America

5 stars Fer de Lance Victim, June 30, 2008
By Ron Braithwaite "Hummingbird God" (El Indio, Texas United States) - See all my reviews

This is a terrific reference book but, I warn you, once you look at it, you'll be nervous about stepping south of the border. This book is an exhaustive study of the venomous reptiles of Latin America. The photographs are, for the most part, excellent. I had no idea how many coral snake species there are and now know that "red and yellow kill a fellow" has no meaning in Latin America. There are many coral snakes with patterns quite at variance with the two species of the U.S.

The text is good and the geographical distribution maps, excellent. I have a personal story relating to this book. Some years ago I was in Quintana Roo when a Maya Indian I was with was bitten on the top of the foot by....something. We didn't know what it is and, at first, I didn't want to believe it was a snake. When the man started bleeding from the nose and mouth, I became a true believer. Fortunately, just on a chance it was a snake bite, I had already started driving this fellow toward medical help.

By the time we got to the clinic my man was in desperate shape with blood oozing from the tissue between his teeth. I knew that the area held four basic kinds of poisonous snakes but only knew their names in Spanish. One was a cantil, which is a Mexican water mocassin. One was a cascabel, which is a rattlesnake. One was a coral which is, of course, a coral snake. The final possibility was a "quatro naris" [four nose]. I didn't know what kind of snake a quatro naris was but I reckoned it was a pit viper without a rattle which might describe a Fer de Lance.

Before treating my Maya friend I examined the vials of antivenin and learned, to my relief, that it was effective against the four snakes named above. The intern and I, delivered a whopping dose to my man and, by the next morning, he had recovered. The miracles of anti-venin.

On returning to the states I tried to learn as much as I could and somehow reached one of the authors of this book. He told me that this book had recently been printed and went on to tell me that, symptomatically and situationally, my Maya was surely bitten by a "quatro naris" which is a Fer de Lance known technically as Bothrops asper--one of the most dangerous snakes in the world. The author had personally studied snakes in Quintana Roo and said they were abundant and aggressive and were just the kind of reptiles to strike a passerby on the foot. So I am kindly disposed to this book and its authors. It is truly unfortunate that it is out of print.

Ron Braithwaite author of novels--"Skull Rack" and "Hummingbird God"--on the Conquest of Mexico