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Christine Kaiser

Stories

Where it began

A northern prairie lizard, one of the two parent forms, in colour. This one was photographed in Nebraska.

The Lizards Time Left Behind

A small brown frog with a bumpy back and a large dark eye sits on a green leaf

A Frog Named for a Furrow

The groundsnake files

A preserved reddish-brown snake coiled loosely on a black background, with a museum tag reading 31199 tied around its neck

The Missionaries' Snake

A glossy dark grey-brown snake coiled on bright green moss, its head slightly darker than its body

The Dark Head of Kinabalu

A glossy reddish-brown snake coiled on dry leaves, its scales shading from dark brown to cream

A Snake in the Sawdust

Detectives in the archive

A small, pale brown preserved snake lies coiled on a black background, with a museum tag numbered 46844 tied around its body

Unpicking a 164-Year Tangle

Pieter van Oort's unpublished painting almost certainly shows the snake Müller described, with a small sketch of its head scales at upper left.

The Third Snake from Semau

Dejima, the small fan-shaped Dutch trading island, with Dutch ships at anchor nearby. For over two centuries it was one of the few windows between Japan and Europe.

Three Places Called 'Toad'

The art of looking closely

Close-up of a queen snake resting on a weathered wooden plank, its brown back and pale striped side in sharp focus

Reading Supper in a Skull

A coiled, pale orange preserved snake lies on a black cloth stretched in a white plastic frame on a worn lab bench, next to jars of snakes and a small torch taped to a cardboard box

Papua New Guinea

Portrait of a Pickled Snake

Two preserved snakes with bold yellow and dark brown bands lie twisted into stiff coils in a white dissecting tray

How Long Is a Coiled Snake?

Caught in the act

A mottled brown anole lies stretched out along the midrib of a bright green fern leaf, its head pointing toward the stem

Home, Sweet Fern Leaf

Looking down into a grey plastic pipe: a spotted toad lies over a garden tap while a large black scorpion grips it from below

Trapped in a Pipe

In shallow water on a green leaf, a small reddish-brown frog with a dark side stripe clasps a larger brown frog with golden eyes around the waist

The Wrong Frog

Many hands

A banded brown and orange snake coiled in wet grass at night, with a silvery fish half swallowed in its mouth, held in place by long metal forceps

Putting Snakes on the Map

A dark, knobbly-skinned newt with bright orange fingertips resting on dead leaves

Counting Crocodile Newts

A black-tailed rattlesnake with a dark snout and olive, scaly head lying on pale gravel

A Rattlesnake in the Medicine Cabinet

A bright green rhinoceros ratsnake resting its head on a branch, showing the pointed, scaly horn on its snout and a thin black line above its pale lips

The Snake with Two Faces