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Matt Metcalf

@autigershark

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🐅 Auburn University '10
🦅 FGCU '17
🐍 Herpetologist
🐊 Key Largo
🇵🇪 Perú
🧭 Explorer
@swfl_rattlesnake_project

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🇸🇿 ESWATINI 🇸🇿

A beautiful country that deserves far more attention. Formerly known as Swaziland, the name of the country was officially changed to The Kingdom of eSwatini in 2018 by King Mswati III to move away from the colonial name and reflect the importance of its indigenous people. The Swati hold a strong commitment to the conservation of their culture and their natural environment, and are especially excited to share these experiences with outsiders. While here, @chaylamichelleh89 and I were able to see a majority of the countryside (+ a traffic ticket 😅), enjoy several exceptional safaris in two of the national parks/reserves, and attend one of eSwatini's most valued cultural festivals: the Umhlanga reed dance, including our own lihiya (traditional cloth) and ligcebesha (beaded necklace). Ngiyabonga eSwatini 🙏

📸 1: sunrise over the savanna
📸 2: females and young nyala
📸 3: a curious warthog
📸 4: a bull African elephant drinks in a drying pond
📸 5: our housing at Mkhaya Game Reserve
📸 6: at Hlane Royal National Park
📸 7: King Mswati III and his court at Umhlanga
📸 8: in my lihiya
📸 9: safari jeep
📸 10: umvangati (kiaat/bloodwood) tree by @autigershark

🇱🇸 LESOTHO 🇱🇸

The start of my southern Africa trip took us to Lesotho, a completely enclaved country within South Africa that is rich with history and an otherworldly landscape. It is a swath of mountains and arid lands, boasting the highest lowest elevation for any country in the world at above 1,000 meters! Many of its residents, the Basotho people, are cattle herders and you will see men wearing the traditional Besotho blanket moving their herds of sheep, cows, and goats throughout the countryside. Although only about 2% of the land is naturally forested, a few of the snow-melt waterways are crucially important sources of drinking water for Lesotho as well as providing a significant portion of potable water to northern South Africa, including Johannesburg. It is a stunningly beautiful country with such unique culture, language, style, and some of the friendliest people!

📸 1: Maletsunyane Falls 😍
📸 2:Maseru (capital city) at sunset
📸 3: First AUBURN alumni photo in Lesotho!
📸 4: Typical housing along the countryside
📸 5: Landscape views
📸 6: Kingdom of the Sky sunset
📸 7: Maluti lager - pride of Lesotho 🇱🇸

#Lesotho #Maseru #Maletsunyane #Waterfall by @autigershark

Welcome to South Africa 🇿🇦

I'll be posting some of my favorite photos and videos from my recent trip to Southern Africa, but this is dedicated to snake research!

A few weeks ago, I was able to assist (future) doctors @herpetellagist and @birkdiglin with Ella's PhD dissertation work on venom evolution in response to urbanization. We were able to visit and sample snakes from Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Reserve as well as urban snakes being relocated from the Durban suburbs. So, SO cool! Thanks again to everyone involved for allowing me (aka invite myself 😅) to join the fun 😁

📸 1: Black Mamba (Dendroaspis polylepis)
📸 2: Venom Team in Hluhluwe-Imfolozi
📸 3: Me with a possibly gravid Black Mamba
📸 4: Derrick pit-tagging a Black Mamba
📸 5: Mozambique Spitting Cobra (Naja mossambica)
📸 6: Mozambique Spitting Cobra
📸 7: Ella with extracted venom
📸 8: Twig Snake (Thelotornis capensis)
📸 9: Twig Snake venom extraction
📸10: Brown House Snake (Boaedon capensis; non-venomous)
📸11: Me with a Cape Grass Lizard (Chamaesaura anguina)
📸12: Cape Grass Lizard in situ by @autigershark

Your favorite mosquito content. Did you ask for it? Definitely not.

But, just another day in the life of wildlife biologists in Florida 🐍

Hand model: @sarahspayne1 by @autigershark

I absolutely love my job and this place is magical, but there's sometimes some cons 😅 All for science!

#Florida #Summertime #Nature #Science by @autigershark

Keys living is always good 😎

1. Grecian Rocks @pennekamppark
2. Liguus tree snail (Ligus fasciatus) at Dagny
3. No idea what this flowering plant is, but it's pretty

#FloridaKeys #Nature #Snorkel #Hiking #Wildlife by @autigershark

In 2016 (a decade ago 🤯🫠) I released a tagged male Eastern Indigo Snake for my master's thesis. Shortly after release, we were gifted with a glimpse into a rare look at Indigo behavior: male-male combat!

These two males were fighting each other for mating rights to a nearby female (also tagged for the study 😍). The video doesn't do it justice, but these combat rituals can be very violent and involve males rising up, wrapping around each other, and slamming their opponent to the ground. Once the winner was decided, he chased and pushed the losing male out of the territory and quickly came back to the burrow where the female was hiding.

To this day, it remains one of my most favorite nature moments! Indigos are incredible!! by @autigershark

🚨🐍 new rattlesnake publication! 🐍🚨

This was a very different topic than our typical work, but it was quite fun to learn more about the fascinating intricacies of brain lateralization evolution and function. Major thanks to all coauthors and especially the peer-reviewers and journal editors who provided thoughtful suggestions that significantly improved this manuscript. And, of course, a huge congrats to @herpetellagist on her first lead author full manuscript!

#Rattlesnake #Science #Research #Nature by @autigershark

Y̶e̶a̶r̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶H̶o̶r̶s̶e̶...
🐍Year of the Snake 🐍

Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake
(𝐶𝑟𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑠 𝑎𝑑𝑎𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑢𝑠)

#Nature #Love #Snake #Crotalus #Florida by @autigershark

Diamondbacks are on the move 💎 by @autigershark

Another exciting Boxing Day to assist @swfl_turtle_project with their annual survey for Box Turtles (and other species) in SWFL 🐢 Until next year, friends by @autigershark

Another outstanding #Herpeton in the books! 🐍 A huge thank you to @swfl_turtle_project 🐢 for hosting such a fantastic conference with a diverse array of attendees to discuss herpetofauna research, management, and outreach throughout the state of Florida (and a few non-Florida talks thrown in!). I was thrilled to present my work highlighting conservation needs of the eastern diamondback rattlesnake and eastern indigo snake in SWFL 🤩 it's always a blessing to reconnect with old friends and colleagues, and continue supporting great, and much needed, science. We're looking forward to next year!
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(feel free to tag yourself, friends, it's a lot and I'm tired 😂)
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#Herpetology #Research #Science #Conservation #Conference #Herpeton2025 #FGCU #FGCUBiology #RisingTideFL #RisingTideExplorers #NaplesOutfitters #FrogWatch #RookeryBay #Reserve #Drymarchon #Indigo #Crotalus #Rattlesnake #SWFL #Florida #Naples #SaveTheSnakes #AllSnakesAreGoodSnakes by @autigershark