LOST FROGS & HOT SNAKES
The AI Illustrated Companion
Welcome. What follows here are fun (we hope) interpretations of the stories contained in Lost Frogs and Hot Snakes. Using an AI art generator, the marketing team has conjured up some weird and wonderful images to give a twist to the incredible, thought-provoking, authentic, humorous, and indelible tales from the field that fill the pages of Lost Frogs and Hot Snakes. With apologies to the field biologists and herpetologists who found themselves in these very situations, as well as to anyone trying to accurately identify the animals (or humans) portrayed here, we hope you find a little fun in these images. Nothing is meant to be too serious here! We selected a number of chapters from the book and looked for a sentence or paragraph that jumped out and begged for an image. With that in mind, accompanying each image is the chapter title, author, and the line that caught our attention. Enjoy!
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Chapter 1 THE IRREPLACEABLE ROLE OF NATURE IN SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY Robert E. Espinoza Line of Inspiration: “I spent most of my youth immersed in herpetological pursuits. By the time I was an early teen, I had countless pet frogs, salamanders, turtles, lizards, and snakes (both local and exotic) and raised my own mice and rats to feed them.”—page 10
Chapter 2 THE CRAWFISH FROG’S JAW Michael J. Lannoo
Line of Inspiration: “With these two facts—that Crawfish Frogs not only occupy a single crayfish burrow throughout the year but will return to that very same burrow following breeding the next year—Jen had discovered that each Crawfish Frog has a “home,” a place on the planet that is uniquely theirs.”—page 15
Chapter 3 JOURNEY TO THE AMAZONIAN RAINFOREST Janalee Caldwell Line of Inspiration: “Our boat was constantly battered about by large branches and entire trees floating downriver. The boat motor was attached to the end of a long pole that enabled the driver to lift the motor out of the water as we glided up and over large trees.”—page 21
Chapter 4 A RAINY EVENING IN THE PANTANAL Cynthia P.A. Prado
Line of Inspiration: “At dusk, I returned to the same site, and there were two males calling and fighting in the middle of the foam nest previously initiated. An hour later, there were four males calling and fighting.”—page 29
Chapter 5 TRACKING TURTLES Jacqueline Litzgus
Line of Inspiration: “In frustration and defeat, I dropped my chin down to my chest, and lo and behold, between my feet, revealed in the luminescence of a lightning flash, the lichen wiggled. There she was! Wearing the lichen on her shell like camo on an army helmet as she excavated a nest chamber in a shallow pocket of soil in a crack on the rock. Yes, I said rock.”—page 32
Chapter 6 FINDING THE FROG THAT SINGS LIKE A BIRD Jodi Rowley Line of Inspiration: “Suddenly, we heard a strange bird-like twittering from a boggy area to the side of the stream. We rushed over to the source of the noise and there, right in front of me, perched on a leaf, was a tiny, shimmering, turquoise frog!”—page 38
Chapter 7 BORNEO’S TADPOLE HEAVEN Indraneil Das
Line of Inspiration: “Just behind the frog pond is a shallow, flat stream that flows over sand, draining into the torrential (and oddly named) ungei Bawang (= Garlic River), where herpetologists have broken more than one bone trying to study the tadpoles that live in this dangerous (to humans) environment.”—page 42
Chapter 8 HOW THE BOG FROG GOT ITS NAME Paul Moler
Line of Inspiration: “I completed the draft and gave it to our typist, Terri Crown, to type. Two hours later as I was sitting in my office, there came a tap-tap-tap at the door. The door opened, and Terri stuck in her head and said with great conviction, ‘It’s a Bog Frog.’”— page 47
Chapter 9 MY FIRST SUMMIT CAMP Maureen A. Donnelly
Line of Inspiration: “As the helicopter hovered, we tossed our gear to the ground and then jumped out while dutifully following instructions to keep our heads down as the helicopter lifted skyward for its return to the base camp.”—page 51
Chapter 10 DOWN UNDER Danté Fenolio
Line of Inspiration: “Most of the opportunities to shoot the salamanders would be in a meter or less of water. To reduce the disturbance and vibration of my movements, hunching over and simply holding the rig, rather than lying down in the water, worked out far better.”—page 59
Chapter 11 LESSONS FROM THE FIELD Karen Lips
Line of Inspiration: “Hours later he left us and our packs at an abandoned farmhouse at the edge of the park where the trail began.”— page 65
Chapter 13 TRIP TO THE XINGU RIVER IN THE AMAZON FOREST OF BRAZIL Célio F. B. Haddad and Marcelo Gordo Line of Inspiration: “On the way back to camp, at dawn, when we drove on a small improvised bridge made of loose wooden planks, Adão lost control of the car and we overturned. Chaos ensued. In addition to the stress of the accident, the feeling of being under plastic bags containing live venomous snakes was really terrifying.”—page 77
Chapter 16 NEVER WORK ON A SPECIES THAT IS SMARTER THAN YOU ARE Rick Shine Line of Inspiration: “It’s difficult to feel superior when you come back to your tent after a hike to find the side of the tent slashed open, a steamy pile of lizard poo on your sleeping bag, and a giant lizard slumbering on a tree limb several meters above the remains of your camping gear”—page 96
Chapter 18 FOLLOWING THE MOLE (SALAMANDER) TRAIL Susan C. Walls Line of Inspiration: “Standing knee-deep in a temporary woodland pond, I lifted my dipnet from the water to find an odd creature with smooth skin, four legs, and big floofy, feathery, bright-red external gills wriggling in decaying leaves and muck in the net’s bottom.”— page 107
Chapter 19 CHANCE, MYTH, AND THE MOUNTAINS OF WESTERN CHINA Alan H. Savitzky Line of Inspiration: “Among reptiles we can see these elements of subconscious favoritism play out in two species nested in the family tree of lizards. At 3 m in length, the Komodo Dragon (Varanus komodoensis) is the largest living lizard, and biologists are as enamored of it as are other people.”—page 113
Chapter 20 DIVE IN THE AIR BESIDE A RICE PADDY Akira Mori Line of Inspiration: “Since I became a snake researcher nearly 40 years ago, the question I have most frequently been asked is ‘Why are you studying snakes?’ Of course, my answer is ‘Because I love snakes.’”—page 120
Chapter 22 HERPETOLOGY MOMENTS Patricia A. Burrowes
Line of Inspiration: “My mother used to say that it was a great idea to marry someone from your same profession because you would never run out of conversation. Well, that is certainly true for Ignacio De la Riva and me, but I would add that it also helps having a spouse who understands your needs to work at night and often in remote, faraway places.”—page 130
Chapter 26 SWAT TEAM TO THE RESCUE Joan (Diemer) Berish
Line of Inspiration: “Running out of options, I explained this challenging scenario to one of our wildlife officers, Captain Cook (really!), who had a brainstorm. He called the county sheriff ’s office because he knew that their SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) team had just returned from advanced rappelling school, where they had descended the Alltel Stadium in Jacksonville. Now this was a case of propitious timing. Captain Cook made the valid point that the SWAT team members could use more practice.”—page 152
Chapter 28 CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE GATOR KIND Whit Gibbons Line of Inspiration: “Michael also stood still, holding the baby, and said, “Dad, Dad, what do I do now?” Coming out of our collective trance, the three of us offered professional guidance. “Climb a tree!” yelled Jeff. “Throw the baby in the lake!” Tony shouted. “Run!” I roared.”—page 171
Chapter 30 A SNAKE TO DIE FOR Robert W. Hansen
Line of Inspiration: “I owned a near-new VW Beetle, and we decided that it would be a reliable and economical vehicle for our trip. Ron had expertise in fabricating stuff, so he built a large metal storage locker that would fit on the car’s roof rack.”—page 179
Chapter 31 GOOSE ON THE ROAD William W. Lamar
Line of Inspiration: “The Blue Goose was stalwart, as evidenced by the neverending quantity of fur distributed throughout the motor and dating from a violently unfortunate kerfuffle with a black bull that galloped, during dark of the moon, onto an unlit Mexican road. The bull lost.”—page 183
Chapter 32 LOST ON THE PUNA John E. Simmons
Line of Inspiration: “Altitude sickness, or soroche, begins with a severe headache, followed by respiratory and gastrointestinal distress; it affects about 25% of travelers who venture higher than 1900 m. In Peru, it is said that you can prevent soroche by eating raw nions or hot peppers, but I have not tested either remedy.”— page 194
Chapter 33 LOST AND FOUND Martha L. Crump
Line of Inspiration: “Would I spend the night alone in the darkness, unable to avoid the giant centipedes, marauding army ants, and Fer-deLance vipers that might be sharing my space?”—page 196
Within these pages, delight in the quirky, whimsical, and slightly odd interpretations of some of the wonderful stories within Lost Frogs & Hot Snakes, edited by Martha L. Crump. Inspired by eye-catching prose from each story’s authors, the marketing team at Cornell University Press manipulated AI-created art to bring you this fun illustrated companion book. Enjoy!