Today we have installment three of Robert Lang’s photos of the family trip to the Pantanal in Brazil. Robert’s IDs and captions are indented, and you can enlarge his photos by clicking on them.
Readers’ Wildlife Photos: The Pantanal, Part III: Reptiles and Invertebrates
Continuing our mid-2025 journey to the Pantanal in Brazil, while most of the wildlife were mammals and birds, reptiles and invertebrates did not entirely escape our notice. Among the latter, we found this nymph shell of a cicada (family Cicadidae) on a tree trunk. I have no idea what the species was; to my untrained eye, it could have been one of the Magicicadas we picked off the trees when I was growing up in Georgia and Ohio:
Night-time brought out some shy critters. This tarantula was spotted by one of our guides as we drove back to camp after dark. No idea what species it is. (I have a note that says it’s a “curly-haired tarantula,” but the rest of my notes from that trip are now contributing to global warming.):
The most common animal we saw anywhere there was water was the caiman (subfamily Caimaninae). Because we were well into the dry season, the water holes were drying up, and caimans congregated massively in the few shrinking pools that were left:
Sometimes so dense that it looked like you could walk across the water on them without getting your feet wet (a la a memorable scene from the James Bond movie Live and Let Die.):
Here’s a close-up of one. A toothy grin:
We also saw a few red-footed tortoises (Chelonoidis carbonarius), one swimming across a river (!), another just plodding along beside the road:
Also kids, when a Daddy Tortoise and a Mommy Tortoise love each other very much, he gives her a special kind of hug, and soon the Tortoise Stork brings little baby tortoises! Or something like that:
A black and white tegu lizard (Salvator merianae):
And finally, a yellow anaconda (Eunectes notaeus), which was curled up under the dock where were embarked on our boat trips:
Next: lots of birds.
“Tortoise Stork”
That’s an evolution, right? 😄!
Beautiful scenes!
The aerodynamic performance of a tortoise stork is intriguing to contemplate.
Very cool! I can’t tell for sure, but the form of the tarantula suggests it’s a male looking for a lady friend. A male will have distinct pedipalps and large spurs on the forelegs.
I had a red-legged tortoise for several years as a pet when growing up. He/She had the run of the kitchen and would come running when the cat was fed. The cat hated that tortoise!
Excellent pictures! When we lived in rural Virginia there was a big cicada extravaganza one year. The cast-off exoskeletons were so thick on the ground that they crunched!
Tarantulas, gators, turtles. Very cool, Brazil.
D.A.
NYC
“…which was curled up under the dock where we embarked on our boat trips.”
Just an ordinary boat trip. No need to panic or worry, says Robert.
Jeez, I jump ten feet when a garter snake surprises me, coming out from under the rocks around my dock.
Very cool pictures! Am looking forward to the Pantanal birds.
That was going to be my comment, word-for-word!
Nice herps (and tarantula, of course)!
It looks as though there’s a small bird (orange body, greenish head) between the eyes of that caiman in the head portrait. Are my eyes deceiving me?
Very handsome tegu and tortoises. Do you have any idea of body sizes?