29/10/2024
A bushmaster eating a rat in the wild that I photographed in the Peruvian Amazon a few years ago. The bushmaster is the largest viper in the world and the largest venomous snake in the Western Hemisphere with some reaching 12ft. I estimated this one to be 6ft+. In my opinion, the pinnacle of snakes in the Americas. They are large, rare, venomous and elusive. I can’t describe how excited I was to find one eating in the wild! This snake must have just envenomated the rat just a little before we made it down the trail! It scarfed it down in just a few minutes as I struggled to get as many photos and video as I could.
That night it was pouring rain, not just a light rain but an Amazon rainforest downpour. Thunder rattled the tin roof of our little bungalow as me and my six tour participants ate dinner. Not the sort of weather most people get excited about to go hiking in! When the rain lightened a little I decided I was heading out, knowing the rain would stir up some creatures and hoping to get lucky. Because of the weather I did not bring my full repertoire of gear and backpack for fear of it being destroyed in the storm, so I only brought my camera and 2 lenses under my rain jacket. We hiked a few hours with no luck, the conditions making things hard and making us wonder if it was worth it to be out. At 11:45pm I was rounding a narrow, winding, hilly trail with the rain coming down heavy when I spotted this 6ft bushmaster stretched out, freshly caught rat in its mouth! I hollered out over the loud rain BUSHMASTER!! BUSHMASTER!! and the rest of the group caught up to see. We were all in awe and fascinated, not only an impressive creature to see in the wild but I’ve never seen any other photos of one naturally eating prey in the wild. So amazing!!!
Photographed with a Canon 80D, 100mm macro lens. Feel free to share and see more at my website www.ChrisGillette.com
