WESTERN MORNING NEWS THURSDAY MAY 14 2015 NEWS 23WMN-E01-S222 NEWS THURSDAY MAY 14 2015 WESTERN MORNING NEWS WMN-E01-S2 westernmorningnews.co.uk

Dan treads carefully in thesteps of master of the vipersBY MARTIN FREEMAN

Dan Eatherley was on a mis-sion in the jungle: to find thelargest viper in the world –before the largest viper in theworld found him.

“The last thing I wanted todo was to put my foot on one,”says the man who has spentmuch of the last decade think-ing and writing about and pur-suing the bushmaster.

His – careful – footsteps on aCaribbean island were follow-ing those of a man who helpedcreate one of the world’sgreatest zoos and who is cred-ited with inspiring genera-tions of herpetologists.

Now Dan, who lives inExeter, has combined his questwith a biography of that sci-entist for his first book, Bush-master: Raymond Ditmars andthe Hunt for the World’sLargest Viper.

Ditmars (1876-1942) rosefrom an assistant conserva-tionist to honorary creator asBronx Zoo, New York, becamea world-class centre.

He was the David Attenbor-ough of his day, making morethan 80 natural history doc-u m e n t a r i e s.

Dan has trod a career in asimilar field, working with theBritish naturalist on two land-mark BBC series, Life of Mam-mals and Planet Earth, as anassistant producer.

His work also for NationalGeographic and the DiscoveryChannel took him all over theworld, seeking out creatures inswamps, deserts and jungles.

That put him in somebizarre situations – and indang er.

The most perilous was whilefilming a volcano off the coastof Indonesia, linked to one ofthe most devastating eruptionsin history: Krakatoa.

“Anak is the ‘daughter’ ofK r a k at o a , ” says Dan. “It hasemerged from the caldera thatKrakatoa created (in 1883). Itwas erupting, then stopped, so

we got closer in a boat and itstarted erupting again.

“Rocks were being blowninto the air and landing in thesea near the boat.”

For one documentary heprovided “moral support” tomandarin ducklings emergingfrom a nest 40 feet up a tree –the newborns fled a climbings n a ke.

The scene was set up as thecrew encouraged the serpentto climb.

Such interference withnature is not unique, says Dan.A t t e n b o ro u g h ’s big-budgetFrozen Planet series in 2011was criticised for filming polarbear cubs in a German zoolo-gical park and cutting theimage into sequences shot inthe wild, without revealing thetrickery to viewers.

“Many natural history pro-grammes are disingenuous, es-pecially low-budget ones,” s ay sDan.

“They will film as much asthey can and use pick-up(archive) shots to fill in.

“I once had to massage adead salmon to ‘s p aw n’ in afish tank in a studio under theM5, making it look like it washappening in the wild. Itw a s n’t even the right species ofsalmon, and the wrong colour.They had to change the colour

in the production process.”But there was nothing fake

about his pursuit of the bush-m a s t e r.

Lachesis muta, the species ofbushmaster Dan set out to findin Trinidad, is the largestviper in the world, reaching upto 12 feet.

Vipers have long, hinged

fangs allowing the snake tobite deeply into the victim, in-jecting a large amount ofve n o m .

A single bushmaster bite canbe deadly and they are capableof several.

“Ditmars was fascinated bythem,” says Dan. “He had oneposted over to his home fromTrinidad. He wrote how thebushmaster chased him allaround his bedroom.

“I had worked on a couple offilms about snakes, one of themabout bushmasters, when Iread about Ditmars. He was anamazing man.

“Herpetologists today knowhim because of his books.

“He pioneered the distribu-tion of anti-venom across theUnited States.

“He ‘m i l ke d ’ thousands ofsnakes to get the venom, butwas never bitten.

“In his day he was householdname. One of his films ran for37 weeks.”

Dan graduated with a first-class zoology degree fromOxford University in 1995before the TV work. He haswritten more than 100 articlesfor New Scientist, ScientificAmerican and BBC Wildlifemag azines.

His move into consultancycame after he completed amaster’s degree in sustainab-ility development at ExeterUniversity in 2006.

Dan, who is married withtwo young daughters, says do-mestic life is a lot easier nowhe is living in Heavitree andnot jetting all over the world.

He is also happier avoidingser pents.

“I am not a snake man,” hes ay s.

“I wouldn’t ever keep a snakeand or even want to hold one.”■ Bushmaster: Raymond Dit-mars and the Hunt for theWo rl d ’s Largest Viper will bepublished in June

‘He ‘milked’thousands of snakesto get the venom, butwas never bitten’

Dan Eatherley on Raymond Ditmars

Centuries of Cornish cider-making history have been lov-ingly preserved following anunexpected £100,000 donation.

The cider press at Godol-phin House, near Helston, isthe oldest agricultural build-ing on the 700-year-old Nation-al Trust-owned estate.

Due to its dilapidated con-dition, the trust has kept thesmall stone house covered upwith scaffolding until it couldfind funds to restore it.

But the charity has beenlucky enough to secure£100,000 to undertake a fullrenovation. The money was alegacy from local art teacherMargery Hall, who had de-sired that it be used to fund aproject within Cornwall.

Her executors, GeoffNankivell and Shirley Lavis,

decided to donate the money toGodolphin because of MissHall’s various links with theestate. The fund has been usedto employ stonemasons andcarpenters with specialistskills to restore the roof. Theyhave used traditional methodsto make sure any alterationsare as close to the originalbuilding as possible.

The trust has also insulatedand heated the cider pressusing cutting-edge conserva-tion techniques, in order tomake it “a viable space formany years to come”.

Claire North, Godolphin’shead of visitor services, saidthe improvements haveprovided the estate with a newspace which can be used to anumber of different uses.

“Miss Hall’s work with artand young people will not beforgotten here,” she added.

“This building has beensaved for future generations,as place for them to come andconnect with their heritage.”

Cider press issaved by shock£100k donation

Dan Eatherley graduated with a first-class zoology degree from OxfordUniversity and has written more than 100 articles for New Scientist,Scientific American and BBC Wildlife magazines

One of Dan’s most perilous situations was while filming a volcano off the coast of Indonesia, linked to one of the most devastating eruptions in history: Krakatoa

‘This building hasbeen saved for futuregenerations’

Clare North

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