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Hinrich Kaiser

Stories

A black-and-white striped lighthouse stands on the rocky islets of Race Rocks.

The Frogman Who Found Frogs

A mottled brown whistling frog sitting on a dark green leaf

The Frog That Hitchhiked

A tiny brown frog with orange legs and a pale stripe along its side sits on moss.

Of Copper Eyes and Ample Nymphs

The forested slopes of La Soufrière volcano rising above the coast of St. Vincent

Hidden Passengers

This hatchling American crocodile came from the same channel as the female. Its umbilical scar was still visible.

Central America

The Crocodile in the Burrow

Cyrtodactylus tiomanensis, a bent-toed gecko found only on Pulau Tioman, was photographed on the Tekek–Juara trail.

Island-Hopping with a Classroom

This large female broad-headed frog (Strabomantis biporcatus) comes from Paria. Her orange colouring is very unlike the dark frogs of the same species farther west.

Six New Frogs in the Clouds

A group of field researchers on a beach holding the flag of Timor-Leste and an Explorers Club flag

A Blank Canvas Called Timor

A large saltwater crocodile lying in murky green water

Grandfather Crocodile and the Card Game

The thirteen members of the 2011 Phase IV team pose together on a rocky beach in Timor-Leste

Snakes on a Plane

"The Carlia spot" south of Baucau: a footpath through banana plants and palms, with mountains on the horizon

Machetes on the Venilale Road

A very thin reddish-brown blindsnake lying in loops on a piece of coconut bark

The Fantastic Voyage

A reticulated python with a golden head resting on its own iridescent, patterned coils

Shield Names

A clear, rocky river runs between banks of rainforest at Sesaot on the island of Lombok

Three Bites on Lombok

A small, faded preserved gecko photographed from above and below, with old museum tags tied to its body

The Gecko That Waited 90 Years

The 1969 specimen, coiled in preservative with its museum tags, sat mislabelled in Harvard's collection for decades.

The Snake Hiding on the Shelf

Salomon Müller's handwritten description of Coluber lividus is dated April 1829 on Semau. He never published it.

A Snake in Müller's Handwriting

A slender gecko with a grey body and a head striped in red, yellow, and white, walking across a reddish surface

The Timor Gecko From South America

A green treefrog with purple flanks on a branch at night; its orange eye has two dark pupils

The Toad That Came Back

A slender brown skink with a bright orange-red stripe along its side, on pale wood

Skinks, Mites, and Ticks

A pale, cream-coloured sand boa with dark eyes lies coiled on grey gravel

The Snake Called Double Engine

This is the green form of the emerald tree skink, from Lombok. On other islands the same species is half green or entirely brown.

How Islands Make Species

A pale grey Barkly Tableland death adder with dark crossbands lies coiled on bare ground.

Deadly Snakes, Doubtful Names

An Eastern Vinesnake on sandy ground has its jaws around the head of a bright green Flap-necked Chameleon.

Counting Frogs in the Miombo

Close-up of a green anaconda's dark head resting against its own yellow-blotched coils in a tree

A Tangle of Anacondas

A Western Fence Lizard suns itself on a blue plastic slide, its regrown tail splitting into two tips, one pointing straight up.

The Lizard With Two Tails

A king cobra rears up beside a stack of steel railway tracks at Chandor station, where it had been hiding.

Do King Cobras Take the Train?

Three mummified house geckos stuck to the green circuit board of an air conditioner

Massacre on the Motherboard

A Russell's Viper rescued in Surat has a long white scar down its back, most likely from a grass trimmer.

Which Snake Bit You?