Elaphe Slowinskii Namesake: ¿ Moron ? OR ¿ Leader of his fie

[Stormyva]

Here are two excerpts from a news article I just read:
.....Dr. Slowinski, a curator at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, had discovered at least 18 new species of reptiles and amphibians all over the world, making him a leader in his field.....
Notice that it says that he has discovered 18 new species and is considered a leader in his field

....On Sept. 12, 2001, he died from a paralyzing snakebite he received a day earlier while handling a snake he thought was harmless but turned out to be a krait, a relative of the cobra. ....

¿¿Is it just me or shouldn't a "leader in his field" now what he is picking up before he picked it up???

The Entire Article

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[JuliusSqueezer]

umm or atleast enough to know not to pick up a krait at nighttime.
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[telefrag]

well, it could of been misidentified.
There have been numerous cases where snakes were thought to be something else (due to a color or pattern mutation) and were handled inappropriately.

Brings back the memory of a older lady in Fla (many many years ago) that picked up an all black snake.

Well, does the US have any all black venomous snakes?
No,
she picked it up thinking it must of been a racer,or perhaps indigo?
She was bit on the finger, and it turned out to be a melanistic Eastern Coral snake.

It happens,
doesnt matter how much you THINK you know about herps.
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[BWSmith]

My understanding is that one of his helpers brought him the bag with the Harmless snake in it and told him it was a harmless species. Think about it, if someone you have been herping with for years hands you a bag with a Corn Snake in it, how careful would you be?
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	Corn Snake The Corn Snake or Red Rat Snake (Elaphe guttata) is a species of Rat Snake.

WOW That sux !
Does the krait even resemble a corn at all ? [ forgiving any type of morphing that is ]
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[WildManWilly]

guess not [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_confused.gif[/img]
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Kraits are found in Asia, not north america. And personally I don't think they look like a corn snake. Pics of various kraits

I think BW was merely trying to illustrate using north american species. Who's gonna worry if a corn snake bites you...

Well, an example I think of (in North America) is the scarlet king snake and the eastern coral snake. You could easily confuse the two, coloration wise, most likely even more so in the dark.
But I have no idea how many species of snakes live in Mynamar that look like a krait in the dark.

In any event, Dr. Slowinski was certainly not a moron by any stretch of the imagination. Perhaps he made a bad judgement that happened to cost him his life, but he also made an immense contribution to herpetology as well.
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	Corn Snake The Corn Snake or Red Rat Snake (Elaphe guttata) is a species of Rat Snake.

[ChrisRezendes]

<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font class="pn-sub">Quote:</font><HR></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT class="pn-sub"><BLOCKQUOTE> But I have no idea how many species of snakes live in Mynamar that look like a krait in the dark.

In any event, Dr. Slowinski was certainly not a moron by any stretch of the imagination. Perhaps he made a bad judgement that happened to cost him his life, but he also made an immense contribution to herpetology as well. </BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR></TD></TR></TABLE>

I have to agree with you on both fronts. I personally don't know too much about snakes from that region, just the more common and interesting ones. While Kraits are included in that, I have no idea just how many harmless snakes from that region look much like it.

I also have to say that everybody makes mistakes, stupid mistakes, and his just happened to be a lot more costly than would be typical.
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[BWSmith]

He did have good presence of mind after the bite. As soon as he was bitten (or so I have heard) he informed his companions the symptoms that he would soon be suffering. My understanding is that his friends gave him CPR for about 12 hours straight or so (2 of them alternating) until the helicopter arrived to the remote location. I hope we all herp with friends like that.
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