Bushmaster

Raymond Ditmars and the Hunt for the World's Largest Viper

The amazing true story of famous naturalist and zoologist Raymond Ditmars and his obsession with a mysterious and deadly reptile**.**

Bushmaster tells the story of Raymond Ditmars, the first curator of reptiles at New York’s famous Bronx Zoo, a remarkable man who brought cold-blooded animals to public attention as never before. Through wildly popular books and movies, he inspired a generation of zoologists with his love of snakes, insects, and other misunderstood creatures.

But one reptile in particular became Ditmars’ obsession: the mysterious bushmaster of the South American rainforest. Measuring up to thirteen feet in length, the bushmaster is the world’s largest viper, and its scientific name, Lachesis muta, translates as “silent fate.” Despite numerous expeditions to jungles from Honduras to Brazil, Ditmars could never capture a bushmaster for himself.

Now, British author Dan Eatherley follows in Ditmars’s footsteps, revisiting his early haunts in the United States and South America. He attempts to do what Ditmars himself failed to achieve: to find a bushmaster in the wild. Through Eatherley’s own quest, Bushmaster reveals the life of a pioneering herpetologist, wildlife filmmaker, and zoo curator.

“An intriguing story that’s also packed with details on the history of the Bronx Zoo, New York, snakebite treatments, zoology, and the development of the idea that nature conservation is important.” —Library Journal

“Dan Eatherley has [unearthed] . . . A plethora of new information about one of our famous and most productive herpetologists.” —James B. Murphy, research associate zoologist, Division of Amphibians & Reptiles, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History