Handling snakes for science

I study snakes in Brazil s Ribeira Valley, an area where snake bites are very common. I focus mainly on the venomous lancehead (Bothrops jararaca), which is responsible for most of the 26,000 recorded snake bites in Brazil each year. In this photo, however, I m holding a juvenile red-tailed boa (Boa constrictor).

After my undergraduate biology degree at the Federal University of São Carlos, I spent two years at the Butantan Institute in São Paulo, studying snakes that live in São Paulo s rivers and urban parks. I then did a master s degree at São Paulo State University, researching the reproductive biology of the bushmaster (Lachesis muta) one of the largest venomous snakes in the Americas and one of the few snakes that show a form of parental care. It lays its eggs in underground burrows and remains curled around them for long periods of time to keep them warm and protected.

via www.nature.com

A lady and her snakes.