Walking trails in Esmareldas Ecuador, looking for amphibians gave me lots of time to stop and play with beautiful snakes.

I spent a summer volunteering for Bilsa Biological Station in Esmeralda’s Ecuador with Juatun Sacha. We help with collecting and planting seeds and taking care of saplings. This project involved the cultivation of hardwoods for carbon sequestration. I also worked with a graduate student from the University of British Columbia to characterize the distribution and abundance of the amphibian fauna found in primary, and secondary forests. Learning Spanish and investigating the vast diversity of insects, amphibians, and birds was all consuming.

Here we are hard at work. Carrying saplings to be replanted in a larger nersery.
This is one of the best places to be in the world, but can you hack the mud!

Tasmanian Facial Tumor. (Are you kidding?)

 Arguably the nastiest visible pathology of any emerging infectious disease. Tasmanian facial tumor is one of the only viral cancers that we know of. A cancer that can be spread by contact most likely while feeding has decimated the Tasmanian devil which is for the most part endemic to the island. At the current rate of transmission and pathogenicity researchers argue we may lose this one beautiful creature in 20 years. Is there a current management strategy for the awesome creature.