tysmiths favoriter

I found this poor bugger of a goanna on the side of Namatjira Way in the west Macdonnels with its head stuck inside a beer can that some arsehole had tossed from their car. I managed to get the poor bugger's head out and cooled it with some water and sat it in the shade of a clump of grass to recover. This picture is exactly as found, cooking in the sun on the edge of the road.

Young adult male (Tyrosinase positive albino?) collected AOR on Hwy 90 3.2 miles W of Brackettville by Cam and Brenda Posey on 6/11/2010 @ 12:50 a.m.

Pattern is consistent with area splendida (I have seen others from Highway 90 in the 1990s) and this type of albino is not represented in L. (g.) splendida in captive snake collections, thus it is not likely an escaped or released pet snake. The specimen was several years under my care (2015-2018) and acted like a wild snake as well (musking frequently even after years in captivity). It is still alive at these additional notes (May 2022) and has been bred by myself (first time in 2016) and Cam Posey producing six heterozygous offspring. None of those have been bred at this time.

Map point is approximate.

Two of them. One had the other's head clasped in it's mouth and they would periodically roll around. Their bellies had blue in them but I failed to get a picture of that. I got video and will upload that to YouTube and link here.

https://youtu.be/zFis1_j54Jk

Gainer Springs
Econfina Creek Water Management Area
Northwest Florida Water Management District NWFWMD
Bay County, Florida

Olympus OM-D E-M5
14-42mm II Lens
PT-EP08 Underwater Housing,
PPO-EP01 Lens Port
& 14-42mm Zoom Gear

29 September 2017

Watched this Creature/s for about five minutes and cannot figure out WHAT it is. In a very old Millpond. Appears to have long FIN/S but very coarse ones. Was just under the surface most of the time, then emerging as in photos. Seems Reptilian....? Please Help!?