If you ever come eye-to-eye with the Eyelash Viper, I want you to run the other way
Hi everyone, this is Jeff—I’ll explain that in a minute—this is Jeff, welcome to Plain English! You’re listening to episode 175 of the best podcast for learning English through current events. We’re creeping closer and closer to 200, you know? Couple months and we’ll be at episode 200, believe it or not. Anyway, today’s episode resources can be found at PlainEnglish.com/175. And we have JR, the producer, to thank for the great work on the web site.
Coming up today: A team of researchers went deep into the Honduran rainforest and discovered a treasure trove of biodiversity. Hundreds of species were discovered roaming around the rainforest, and many of those species were thought to be extinct. We’ll talk about some of the creatures they found, and I’ll count down my five scariest-looking creatures from the Honduran rainforest. Later on in today’s episode, I’ll explain what “at the behest of” means. This is an advanced expression, “at the behest of.” It’s a good one for some of our more advanced listeners. And it’s Thursday, so we’ll have an English song of the week.
Just a very brief reminder that JR sends out some additional episode resources every week by e-mail. To get those, just visit PlainEnglish.com/mail .
New species found in Honduras
A team of explorers has discovered a treasure trove of biodiversity in a previously-unexplored area in the Mosquitia rainforest in Honduras. The scientists were part of an organization called Conservation International and they were sent to this area at the behest of the Honduran government. Back in 2015, archaeologists discovered a “lost city” that dates back to the year 1400, which, in archaeological terms is not that far back. Even so, they don’t know anything about this civilization—they don’t even have a name for it. This is in an area of the world that is very isolated and not populated by humans. Honduran officials have not said exactly where this is because they don’t want people to purposely go and disturb it.
When the lost city was discovered a few years ago, scientists and the Honduran government wondered if the area might be rich in biological treasures, in addition to archaeological treasures, and it turns out that it is.
According to CNN, the researchers found 245 species of butterflies and moths; 30 bats; 57 amphibians and reptiles; and plants, fishes, mammals and insects. Many of them are rare or endangered. Many haven’t been seen anywhere on earth and had been thought to be extinct.
My favorites are the frogs. My absolute number-one favorite animal discovered in the Honduran forest is the red-eyed tree frog. He’s bright green; he’s got these long, spindly legs, and at the end of the legs he has bright orange webbed feet. His feet look like the Nickelodeon logo! Just a splash of bright orange. And his eyes are huge and red, with a vertical black pupil. And if that’s not colorful enough, his underbelly is bright blue. This guy, the red-eyed tree frog, is my favorite. The other guy I like is the glass frog. The glass frog is almost like a translucent green. Translucent means, you can partially see through it. And he’s got these huge eyeballs that look like ornately decorated pottery.
There were some pretty butterflies, too. The Morpho butterfly is a bright, bright blue, white and black butterfly. Sometimes the names of the animals are oddly specific and very descriptive. Take the worm salamander. If you look at this thing, that’s exactly what this is. It’s a worm-salamander. You know how the top of a mermaid is a person and the bottom is a fish? That’s what the worm-salamander is like. The front is a salamander and the back is a worm. It’s perfectly named: the worm-salamander.
I am all for biodiversity, but some of these creatures are downright scary. So I’m going to share with you the five scariest-looking animals discovered in the Honduras forest, starting with number five and counting down to the scariest animal that they found. Ready?
Starting off in position number five, the ornate hawk-eagle. The eagle, you may know, is a symbol of the United States and this bird is beautiful. Now that’s until I found out that it preys on—the means it eats—it preys on the great green macaw. The macaw is like a big parrot—he’s the same size as the eagle! So if this ornate hawk-eagle can eat a macaw, then no one is safe, least of all me. So that’s the number-five scariest creature found in the Honduran forest.
Number four is the water crab. He’s probably harmless. He looks like a slug, but he’s actually a crab. And crabs kind of creep me out.
Number three is the Harlequin beetle. He’s a beetle, so he’s small, but he’s big for a beetle. He has a bright yellow and orange back, but the really scary thing about him is his antennae. These antennae are at least twice, if not three times, as long as his whole body.
Now the second-scariest looking animal is the pale-faced bat. This guy has the snout of a pig, the teeth of a rat, the ears of cat, and he has like this cat-ear-like thing on top of his nose. This guy was last documented in Honduras 70 years ago. They thought he was extinct, but he survives in this area. The pale-faced bat.
Drumroll, please, the number one scariest-looking animal discovered in the Honduran rainforest is the Eyelash Viper. This is a yellow snake with a huge head, a huge jaw. And when he’s hungry, his jaw opens so wide that it looks like an alligator’s head on a snake’s body. And he’s got this creepy eye on the side of his head. He just looks right at you with that eye—his mouth open, his teeth! Wikipedia says he eats small rodents, frogs, lizards, and birds—birds!—but is not aggressive. I don’t think I’m going to take my chances with that. This guy is going to give me nightmares for a week.
It’s so strange to think that even today there are parts of the world that are unexplored by humans, especially in a small country like Honduras. I could understand Brazil—it’s a huge land mass. But in tiny Honduras there are parts that are still unexplored. I hope their conservation efforts are successful and that this area can be preserved.
I want to say thanks to Fanny from Honduras for suggesting this topic, and hello to Mauricio, Henry, Mario, and Sofia, our listeners from Honduras. I know we have more than that; those are just the ones I’ve heard from lately.
Quick hello to a couple other listeners who connected on WhatsApp. Cleber in Macaé, a small town in the state of Rio de Janeiro, is listening, probably on his way to work right now, since that’s when he listens. Hi Cleber. Abdel from the Dominican Republic is going to move to Calgary next month! Abel, you are in for a surprise! I want you to buy a heavy winter coat absolutely no later than September 1. You are going to need it! But I wish Abel the very, very best luck; he is going to study business in Calgary.
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