Pelodiscus sinensis submerged.
While doing some night herping near Fukuoka, Japan last year, I found this young Pelodiscus sinensis, Chinese Softshell or スッポン (Suppon), submerged near the shore of a large pond/small lake. I’ve encountered these a few times before in the wild; however, this is the first time one permitted me to get within a few meters without bolting. Actually, this one allowed me to get so close with the camera, I wondered if I was being set-up for a finger-nipping.
Again we woke up about 5:30am. My injured foot was really painful. I wasn’t sure if the tenderness was from it being crushed or from a developing infection but this had to be the last day of the hunt. However, I managed to convince my partner to allow me to continue searching for a few more hours before packing up and trying to get back to civilization.
When we got to the river, the water had receded further and was much more clear. Apparently the storm from the first day of the trip had impeded our search to a greater extent than we had realized.
We decided to go back upstream, noodling for the cryptic critters. I really felt miserable but I still had to smile a bit when we came across the toad we’d met the day before, in a still zen-like manner, sitting on the same in rock in the same position we last saw it in.
By 8:45 I became a bit nauseous and felt like I had a fever. It was definitely time to quit and try to find some medical treatment. Very reluctantly I began heading back to the tent.
At 9:24am, when we were about 1 minute from the camp site, right at the point we would be exiting the river, I saw it as my partner walked right past it. It wasn’t under a rock nor was it in a shadowy pool. It looked like a flabby brown infant as it was crawling right out in the open and straight towards me! I momentarily thought I was hallucinating. Finally, Andrias japonicus!
BOOYA! Andrias japonicus: The Japanese Giant Salamander
After directing my partner’s attention to it and some unintelligible happy yelling on her part, we sat and observed it for the next half hour as we basked in its cryptobranchid-ey awesomeness until it got swept out of sight by the current. I’d wanted to see one of these critters in-situ ever since I was 10 years old. The locals’ previous discouragement and repeatedly telling us it couldn’t be done made this find all the more sweet.*
Time for a post-giant-salamander-finding nap, then it's time to seek proper medical treatment.
*about 35% as sweet as an epic otter-skin tunic
Very few things can make me manage a smile at 6AM. Giant Salamander is hunting one such thing.
We got up at about 5:30AM and immediately resumed searching for Giant Salamanders. The river was noticeably lower and a bit more clear than it was the previous day. Apparently it had been swollen from the torrential storm that hit the area a few days prior. We searched downstream of the site for about 3 hours before returning to the tent to eat a breakfast consisting of anpan, oranges, dried-meat, green-tea and coca-cola.
On the forest floor near the tent, we found Cynops pyrrhogaster Japanese Fire-Newt/イモーリ(Imoori). As a child, I had seen these many times in pet-stores and in Innai we had seen a few splattered on the road, but seeing a live one in-situ brought me the amount of joy roughly equivalent to consuming a bucket of KFC.
Cynops pyrrhogaster: About $5.00 a pop in pet-stores but awesome nonetheless.
We returned to the river by 9:00AM and resumed the search. Continuing upstream, we came across a huge Bufo japonicus Japanese Toad/ヒキがエル(Hikigaeru) sitting on a boulder in a zen-like manner. This was easily the largest B.japonicus I’d ever seen firsthand.
Bufo japonicus
While I was climbing up a small waterfall, a boulder dislodged and rolled backwards carrying me with it. In that instant, I wondered whether I was about to be pinned under water or have my head cracked open on a rock. The answer was neither. When it stopped, it was on top of my legs, but I had been spared of having any crushed bones thanks to a gap in the rocks. I heard my partner yell “Oh my God! I’ll never get that off you!” I sat up and, with panic-induced andrenaline-fueled idiot-strength, pushed the thing off of myself. My already-injured foot had taken the worst of it; it was bleeding a bit and it was obviously going to have some major bruising, but I could still walk on it.
About 5pm, we walked (limped in my case) back to Innai. Our first purpose was to find a bus stop and check the bus schedule because, planning ahead, it was pretty clear I wouldn’t be able to make the approx. 30km walk back to the train station in Usa in a timely manner. The second purpose was to get more junk food from the liquor store. However, after locating the bus stop, we found that that there would be no buses running in Innai for the next several days because they don’t operate when the local schools are closed. But on the bright side, we bought some bologna at the liquor store; bologna always makes traumatic near-crippling events better.
This is pretty much what 90% of my day consisted of.
melanistic Elaphe quadrivirgata 20 seconds away from an ass-kicking
As we continued to walk from the village of Innai to the site, what happened next was definitely one of the highlights of the trip. We spotted a melanistic 4-lined Japanese Rat Snake E.quadrivirgata /カラスヘビ(Karasuhebi) by a ditch that was apparently flooded by the storm from the previous day. Upon seeing us, the snake slid into the water. After a few seconds, it emerged and approached us as we stood still. It seemed either unusually bold or very hungry (or both). As it investigated my shoe, a Tiger-keelback R.tigrinus/ ヤマカガシ(Yamakagashi) began moving towards us as well (I think it may have been chasing a frog). The E.quadrivirgata immediately turned and faced the Yamakagashi.
Karasuhebi versus Yamakagashi
I will not describe what happened next in detail since an account of the event is currently in press in a herpetological journal, but I will say the encounter ended badly for the E.quadrivirgata.
Elaphe quadrivirgata bleeding.
Yamakagashi: Pissed-off and victorious
We reached the site in the Amari Valley at 2:00pm. We set up the tent and finally proceeded to get down to the business of searching for Giant Salamanders (noodling, snorkeling and turning over rocks).
home away from home
I’ve crawled over and around slippery stones in many rivers in my time, but I must say this one was particularly treacherous. It seemed the force required to shift about half of the damned boulders in the river was roughly the equivalent of my body weight. Within the first hour, I had a couple of near-misses before having one roll over my foot. It seemed be a minor injury at the moment, so I ignored it; I would regret doing so later.
Welcome to Giant Salamander territory. Don't break your leg.
After about 5 hours of searching we decided to make the walk back to the liquor store in Innai to replenish our stock of junk food (and do some road-side herping in the process). On the way there and back, I had my first sighting of an Asian keelback snake Amphiesma vibakari/ ヒバカリ(Hibakari), which slipped away before I could photograph it, and after nightfall we found numerous Schlegel’s Tree-Frogs Rhacophurus schlegelii hanging out on the road.
Rhacophorus schlegelii froglet
Hyla japonica froglet
That morning we packed up our tent and resumed our trek at 6:30 am. Outside of Ajimu, we didn’t encounter many people in our walk, but whenever we did, we were always asked about what we were up to. Upon mention of the Giant Salamanders, reactions ranged from friendly to borderline-hostile, but we were always told one of three things:
1) “You can’t get to the site from here by walking.”
2)” The Giant Salamanders might be there but you can’t find them; you should look for them in Honshu.”
3)” Go see the specimen in the local museum.”
A few hours later we took a short rest at an old temple by the road.
Elephants in old Japanese art: its kind of like finding a french fry in an order of chicken nuggets; not really expected but not really unwelcome.
The temple was home to a Plestiodon japonicus Japanese Skink/日本のトカゲ(Nihon-no-Tokage).
An interesting feature of this area was 19th century bridges inspired by European designs.
Around noon we reached Innai, a village next to the site where the Giant Salamanders are said to be. The two biggest stores in Innai seemed to be a combination Post-Office/Cigarette-stand/Barbershop and a liquor store.
A Rhabdophis tigrinus Tiger-keelback Snake/ヤマカガシ(Yamakagashi). One of my favorite snake species. It might look like a mere garter-snake, but it’s a real bad-ass. Not only does it possess a hemolytic venom, it actually sequesters toxins from toads that it consumes, storing the poison in a nuchal gland behind its head for defensive purposes. After reaching Innai, we encountered these about once every hour.
After searching for mamushi/G.blomhoffii for another hour (and unnerving inquisitive tourists), I relieved my herping partner from watching our packs while she went to explore the shrine for herself.
While I waited under a pavillion, my sole companion was this duck. Though, as far as ducks go, he was pretty awesome.
After leaving Usa shrine and resuming our trek, we got caught in one helluva thunderstorm. With the way the clouds were rotating before the storm, I thought we were going to be treated to a tornado in Japan. It made me kind of homesick.
Eventually we made it to Ajimu, a tiny town that is very proud of their softshell turtles/スッポン(Suppon) Pelodiscus sinensis and their wine (As evidenced by the above statue depicting an alcoholic P.sinensis) . For the first night, we settled on setting up our tent in a campground here. The rain eventually let up and we decided to spend the rest of the evening exploring Ajimu and the surrounding area.
Statue of P. sinensis. The sign to the right is an advertisement for a “Suppon Center” where you can feast on the flesh of Ajimu’s beloved mascot.
A huge centipede Scolopendra subspinipes. Other than this guy, the only critters we managed to find that evening were froglets (mostly Hyla japonica and Fejervarya limnocharis).
the southwestern edge of Ajimu at sunset.
Usa Shrine
At Usa Shrine there were literally thousands of froglets (mostly F.limnocharis) . Interestingly in the drainage ditches where many of the froglets could be found, there was an usually large number of spider webs. I’m guessing the spiders positioned their webs to take advantage of the abundance of frog meat. As I walked along the canal, I saw a couple of spooked froglets jump and get stuck at the periphery of the webs, but free themselves before the resident spider could reach them. Out of (somewhat mordbid) curiosity, I was half-tempted to toss a froglet in the center of one of the webs, but my conscience got the better of me.
Takydromus tachydromoides
After the froglets (and tourists), the most commonly encountered vertebrate at the shrine seemed to be Takydromus tachydromoides AKA the long-tailed grass lizard/カナヘビ(kanahebi). I have seen these critters in abundance throughout Japan, but at Usa shrine they were more easily approached than anywhere I’ve ever been. Being accustomed to humans doesn’t really explain this, because T.tachydromoides I’ve found in more heavily populated areas seem just about as flighty as the ones I find in the middle of nowhere (which is pretty darn close to Usa).
Takydromus tachydromoides
Around the shrine there were signs warning of Mamushi, the pit-viper otherwise known as Gloydius blomhoffii. I searched around stagnant bodies of water in the shrine to no avail (I’ll have more on fun with Mamushis in a later post).
Stagnant water and tons o’ frogs=Prime Mamushi habitat
Kamakuras versus Megalon
Takydromus everywhere
Takydromus tachydromoides
Introduction:
Last year, I had a week off from work in the middle of August, which happened to coincide with the beginning of Japanese Giant Salamander breeding season. I didn’t have anything better to do, so I talked a friend into accompanying me on a trip to search for Andrias japonicus in Oita prefecture, the only region of Kyushu known to harbor these awesome caudates. I’d seen live specimens of A.japonicus, A.davidianus (Chinese Giant Salamander) and Cryptobranchus alleganiensis (the awesomely named Hellbender) in museums and zoos, but I was determined to observe a giant salamander in-situ.
Our plan was to take a train as close as we could get to the area where the salamanders are known to occur, walk the rest of the way (about 20 miles) to the site and camp out until we found the critters.
the route walked from Usa Station to our intended destination.
Usa Shrine:
An hour into our walk, we came to Usa shrine. With ponds and plenty of vegetation, there was herping to be done.
Glandirana rugosa. Common names: Wrinkled-Frog , ツチガエル (tsuchigaeru)
Fejervarya limnocharis. Common names: Alpine Cricket Frog/ ヌマがエル(numagaeru)
In between posting my monthly-ish dragon nonsense and the occasional dinosaur news item, I’ve decided do regular posts related to my herping activity in Japan.
Last September I got a call from a panicked apartment manager in Fukuoka, who asked me to remove a “giant snake” from his building. Before contacting me, he called the police, who came and, upon catching a glimpse of the snake, told him to call the zoo and left (‘cuz that’s pretty much how the Fukuoka PD rolls). Well the zoo was closed, so one of my friends told the manager about a “snake-man” she knows.
I arrived half expecting to find a big Elaphe quadrivirgata (a japanese “rat snake”), the only species I had yet encountered in the middle of the city, or an escaped pet Python. The search for the snake started with me wading into the building’s trash cage (hence the blue rubber gloves) and concluded with me dissecting a couch in a vacant room. Inside the eviscerated sofa, I found a near-chihuahua-sized rat* and this beautiful Elaphe climacophora (another japanese rat snake). Though certainly not a giant, this specimen does represent the (arguably) largest species that one can find on any of Japan’s main islands. E.climacophora is reputed to be somewhat nippy, but other than giving a threat display followed by a half-hearted strike, once caught, this fellow was pretty mellow.
After posing for more than a couple of cellphone photos (the hunt attracted a large gathering of tenants) I released my new friend in a wooded park on the edge of the city.
No more couch-rats* for you, buddy!
*If I can find about another half-dozen of those I can use the pelts to make myself a pretty sweet tunic
One bright and sunny day around 625 AD, a large strange dragon appeared on the Seine River of France and, as one would expect of a large dragon, immediately engaged in draconic ass-kickery. At first, it seemed primarily intent on amusing itself by capsizing boats and drowning/gulping down the occupants of said boats. However, once it had tipped every boat it came across, hapless onlookers were amazed as they watched it dip its snout into the river and began to suck up water at such a rate that its body ballooned to several times its original size until it looked like a massive scaled tick. It then pointed its strange maw towards the nearest town (and the hapless onlookers) and let loose with a violent blast of water that rivaled the power of many a natural disaster. Houses were flattened, nearby hapless onlookers were splattered, other people were washed away and crops were deluged. Thus began the Gargouille’s reign of terror.
After sometime, Romain, the archbishop of Rouen, had been approached to deal with the monster. He said he had a plan but he needed an assistant. He had requested to be given a convict who was sentenced to death; he was given Petey.
Petey was a heftily built, apple-headed ginger, with a seemingly perpetual smile and vacant eyes. From the moment he laid eyes on this fellow, Romain knew he was clearly dealing with some species of idiot. When Romain questioned Petey as to his transgressions, they only response he could get was “I dunno.” Romain had little doubt Petey was answering truthfully. Soon, the resolution of one mystery would lead to the manifestation of another;
The two almost immediately set out on foot, attempting to locate the dragon by following its path of destruction along the Seine River. In this time, Romain rapidly came to understand why Petey was given the sentence of death but could not understand why the sentence had not been carried out much sooner; Petey was annoying, damned annoying, and flatulent too. He had no concept of personal space and was entirely unable to keep his hands to himself. It also didn’t help that he was a mouth breather that smelled like bologna and soured milk. Anything that came out of his mouth was, at best, mind-numbingly pointless or boastful and, at worst, crass or infuriating. Within a span of 20 minutes Romain was treated to a string of gems, such as: “Hey, look at those two dogs!”;” Just between you and me, I don’t trust them dark fellows.”; “That chick has big booobs.”; “I could sure go for some boiled taters ’bout now.”; “I like booobs.”; “My other shirt ‘s a sweet otter-skin tunic.”; “I’m the smartest person I know.”; “I like boiled taters.”; “I think value of a female is based solely on ‘er booobs.”; “Petey ‘s got the skillz.”; “Man, you’d totally look like an ugly chick if you ‘ad booobs.” Petey was indeed testing the patience of a saint.
Soon, they caught sight of the dragon paddling on the surface of the river. The two crouched behind a sandbar and continued to observe the hideous creature. Petey whispered, “It looks like a giant duck.”
“No more nonsense out of you!” hissed Romain. This was probably the most innocuous statement Petey had made in the past hour, but something inside of Romain was about to give. The dragon then waddled to the opposite shore, quacked, and started dabbling in the mud. Petey opened his mouth to say something, but Romain silenced him with a glare and a violent gesture unbecoming of a man who was to be a saint.
Romain, in a shushed tone, then proceeded to detail his plan in which Petey was to act as bait so that Romain could approach the beast and subdue it using his crucifix. Petey interrupted, “Why not just use your fingers to make a cross?”
“What?”
“You know, like this,” replied Petey through a gap-toothed grin, forming a cross with his fingers. This was quite innocent but that something inside Romain that was about to give finally gave and it gave big time.
Romain stood up, yanking Petey up by his potato-sack/tunic. “Are you serious?” hissed Romain narrowing his eyes, and then raising his voice, “No wonder you are where you are you! No, you must be mocking me! That is one of the stupidest things I have ever heard! Are you freak’n serious?!”
“….”
“Geez, what is wrong with you?! I’m not sure if you said that out of audacity or your sheer lack of mental capacity! This is serious work here!! I can’t have you dropping the damned ball on this!!”
“….”
“I mean REALLY, what the F*** is wrong with you?! How DARE YOU try to tell ME how to do MY F***ING JOB?!! YOU STUPID FAT F***!” I AM ROMAIN! RO-F***ING-MAIN, ARCH-F***ING-BISHOP OF ROUEN!! AND DON’T YOU F***ING FORGET IT!!!
“…….”
Petey’s bottom lip started to tremble. Romain’s tirade had managed to do more than hurt Petey’s feelings and make him shut-up (a miracle in and of itself); it seized the dragon’s attention. It fired a blast of water in their direction that struck with the force of a cannon. It didn’t hit them directly, but the nearby impact sent them both flying.
After finding the strength to pick himself up, Romain, with dread, became aware of three things almost simultaneously: 1. The dragon was on their side of the river bank and was waddling towards them at a furious pace; 2. Petey, not looking unlike a ginger beached whale, lay motionless between him and the dragon; and 3. the crucifix he’d been carrying was shattered. Romain thought for sure the dragon would pause to gobble down a meaty morsel like Petey before coming for him. He thought wrong; the dragon waddled right past Petey’s unmoving form and went straight for Romain (Even dragons can be turned off by the smell of bologna and old milk).
Romain pulled his robes up over his knees and broke into a sprint. He momentarily managed to gain some distance between himself and the creature, but began to tire. The dragon would overtake him soon. It then occurred to Romain, panicked though he was, that anything with an ass that wide probably isn’t too good at turning at any rate of speed, so he suddenly did just that. The dragon attempted to follow suit and ended up rolling over a few times. Romain managed to put several yards between himself and the dragon by the time it got back up, shook itself off and, with a quack, resumed the pursuit. Within moments, it was gaining on Romain again. Again Romain made a sudden turn. This time the dragon only slowed down when it turned. However, this still gave Romain a bit more precious distance. As the dragon again drew closer to Romain, again he turned. And again. And again And again. And again. The dragon pursued Romain in an ever tightening ring, until Romain was simply running in a circle around the dragon while it turned in placed; a frantic, screaming white planet orbiting a lunging rubbery green sun.
After a couple of minutes of this, Romain’s physical reserves were almost spent. He wouldn’t last another 30 seconds. But he wouldn’t have to; Petey had regained consciousness and was valiantly barreling towards them. Petey picked up and lobbed the biggest rock he could toss with one hand at the creature’s head. Unfortunately, due to the stone’s weight, it was much too heavy to throw with any degree of accuracy over a significant distance. It arced through the air and, on its way down, hit Romain directly in the groin. The archbishop doubled over clutching himself, vomited, then fell on his face. By the time Romain rolled onto his back the dragon was towering over him. The dragon raised a webbed foot. Romain threw his arms in front of his face and tried to scream but, still suffering from the blow to his family jewels, only managed a hoarse wheeze. The foot came down on Romain. Lucky for him, his lower body was just pinned under the webbing. The dragon looked down at the pinned saint and cocked its head; Romain’s skull was about to be dabbled to a bloody pulp. Petey ran up to them both and threw up a finger cross. The dragon waddled back a couple of steps and stood motionless stunned in a divine daze.
Romain, wheezing, painfully looked up at Petey. Petey gave a proud crooked toothed grin and flashed Romain a thumbs up. Unfortunately, this also unformed the cross, breaking the dragon’s daze. The dragon immediately fired an ultra-concentrated jet of water in Petey’s direction. The stream struck Petey’s outstretched arm, atomizing the lower half of his forearm in a bloody spray. Petey tried to throw-up another finger-cross but that doesn’t quite work with only one hand. Romain, with a painful groan, pulled himself to his feet and made a finger-cross of his own, returning the dragon to a dazed state.
After instructing Petey to tie a tourniquet around the bloody stump that used to be his right forearm, Romain had him tie a rope around the dragon’s neck. In its dazed state, they were able to lead the dragon into a nearby town and tied it down in front of a church. The townspeople poured out of their homes with axes and pitchforks and totally went Tarasque on the stunned dragon’s ass. However, even their strongest blows were totally ineffective against its rubbery hide. Petey observed, “The axes are bouncing off it like water off a duck’s ba”*SMACK*”OW!”
Romain, still not in the mood for any more of Petey’s crap, had slapped his blubbery head. As Romain turned away, this time Petey retaliated, throwing a right haymaker at Romain’s head. However, since he no longer had a right forearm to connect with, Petey ended up spinning around once and falling forward, bumping into Romain, who then stumbled forward, knocking a lantern from a villager’s hand, shattering it on the dragon. The dragon’s (apparently highly flammable) rubbery hide ignited like a third-world disco, filling the sky with black smoke. By the time the dragon’s carcass finished burning, all that remained was the head and neck. Romain insisted that the dragon’s head be placed on the church to demonstrate the power of God (and to show what happens to stupid bastards that force him to exercise). In the end Romain got another miracle attributed to himself and Petey was set free; he could not have possibly been more pleased with his awesome new hook-hand.
