Bushmasters are one of the greatest icons of untouched lowland rainforests in Central and South America. When we envision untouched rainforests, we think about jaguars hunting the shadows, monkeys feeding in the trees, and scarlet macaws flying overhead but we also need to think about the world’s greatest viper coiled in the buttress of a large fig tree. Bushmasters are one of the largest vipers in the world and the only viper in the New World that lays eggs. The Latin name for bushmasters comes from the Greek god Lachesis, a goddess who measured each person’s thread of life or how long they would live. Bushmasters are one of the deadliest snakes in the world and can in many ways decide the fate of many animals as they are a top predator in the lowland rainforests they hunt.

With every acre of lowland rainforest that is lost to logging and slash and burn agricultural practices, the bushmaster is becoming more endangered. As an example, Bushmasters in the Atlantic Coastal Forests of Brazil are close to being extinct in the wild as the forest disappears. Bushmasters are a symbol of rainforest wilderness and if we can save the bushmaster we can save many of the wildlife species that live in the untouched rainforest such as jaguars, monkeys, tapirs, and macaws.

The Orianne Society is working with the Friends of the Osa to determine the status of Black-headed Bushmasters on the Osa Peninsula in Costa Rica. As part of the status assessment we plan intensive surveys and field studies on the snake’s ecology. We are also working on developing partnerships that will lead to the conservation of the other species of bushmasters.