Catching a Caiman seemed to be an event worthy enough to spur me to restart this blog. It was an exciting night the night I lived up to my original high school superlative nomination of "The Next Crocodile Hunter" (the teacher in charge of Yearbook did not get the pop culture reference and so vetoed the nomination, changing it to "Most Likely to be a Missionary"). The dogs were barking oddly and incessantly out in the cow pasture behind out house. I went to investigate only to find a pair of eyes reflecting the light of my flashlight out of the bushes accompanied by angry hissing. At first I thought it a small wildcat but to my delight discovered the Spectacled Caiman pictured above. After a minute or so of dancing around the jumping, snapping jaws of this small alligator relative, I managed to get a hand behind its head. I then drug my 4.5 foot prize up to the house to display to Jenna after crawling under a barbwire fence, Caiman in hand.
No this is not a baby alligator, it nearly an adult Spectacled Caiman. Females only get about 4.5 feet long but males can get up to 6-7 feet; not exactly a man-eater. This is a fairly common Crocodilian. I have seen them elsewhere here in Bolivia as well as Peru and Costa Rica in all kinds of aquatic habitats but this is the first chance I have had to catch one. Usually they do not let you get anywhere near them. Its common name comes from a bony ridge that connects the eyes like a pair of spectacles. They usually feed on small animals and fish. Supposedly they keep Piranhas under control in parts of the Amazon. This sure was a fund catch, now on the bigger and better things. Maybe I'll head over to Africa and try a Nile Croc next!
Spectacled Caiman in the wild
