Until recently, only six Cropan’s tree boa constrictors (Corallus cropanii) had been documented. Some ended up in the scientific collection of the Butantan Institute, preserved in alcohol and formaldehyde, and others were killed by residents of the Ribeira Valley. After a public awareness campaign ran in the community of Guapiruvu, in Sete Barras (SP), biologists led by Bruno Rocha of the Zoology Museum of the University of São Paulo and the Butantan Institute, showed that this boa constrictor is harmless to people and in January 2017, received notice that a specimen had been captured. The plan now is to investigate its habits by equipping the reptile with a radio transmitter and releasing it back into the wild.
Image by Bruna Rocha submitted by biologist Lívia Correa, a technician at the Butantan Institute’s Special Laboratory for Zoological Collections
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