Now that we have defined the ecological niche likely containing extant dawn age reptiles, we beg the question of how to both observe and also hunt and retrieve samples for research purposes. We already know about crocodiles and salt water crocodiles in particular. We want to go after critters that are much bigger and also quite aggressive, vegetarian or not.
They inhabit deep extensive swamps, notoriously difficult to penetrate at all and choked with vegetation mounted on masses of dead vegetation to boot. Mankind does not make this terrain his abode or even properly his hunting terrain because of these difficulties. Physical movement will mean traversing deep waters choked with dead falls and extensive climbing and crawling through and long detours in order to make any headway.
Access must be by flat boat as is somewhat accomplished in the Florida everglades. Most likely channels will have to be cleared somehow or the other in order to penetrate much of the ecology. Over country trails will need to be created to access the perimeter of prospective wetlands as in Arnim land in Northern Australia. This is clearly expeditionary work, and considering the target, potentially very dangerous, not unlike disturbing a bunch of rogue elephants or even cape buffalos. There is a fine line between hunter and bait.
For starters we need a flat boat capable of been trailered and stuffed inside a shipping container. That provides dimensions. Secondly we need a working cabin and enclosed observation in order to operate in an environment infested with hostile insect life since this vessel can expect to lay up as a blind in many locales for hours on end. The propulsion system needs to be fairly underpowered since speed is irrelevant while silence is. The soon to be available super batteries and hybrid systems appear to be a good option here. We must be able to move a mile without almost any noise whatsoever.
It also needs to mount a harpoon gun. That alone has the necessary stopping power and attached retrieval system that makes a recovery feasible. We may eventually get capture opportunities, but I think it will be more practical learning how to locate and trap recently hatched animals.
We now have five locales around world and I expect to locate a lot more to investigate once informants know where to send information. Right now, I am happy to accept emails. I will do up an observation report similar to that presently been produced by other collectors and post it initially here. If you are aware of anyone doing anything similar, do let me know.
There are several good historical reports sifted by Charles Forte in the first half of the twentieth century that are also compelling and I will be posting them here over the next while.
They inhabit deep extensive swamps, notoriously difficult to penetrate at all and choked with vegetation mounted on masses of dead vegetation to boot. Mankind does not make this terrain his abode or even properly his hunting terrain because of these difficulties. Physical movement will mean traversing deep waters choked with dead falls and extensive climbing and crawling through and long detours in order to make any headway.
Access must be by flat boat as is somewhat accomplished in the Florida everglades. Most likely channels will have to be cleared somehow or the other in order to penetrate much of the ecology. Over country trails will need to be created to access the perimeter of prospective wetlands as in Arnim land in Northern Australia. This is clearly expeditionary work, and considering the target, potentially very dangerous, not unlike disturbing a bunch of rogue elephants or even cape buffalos. There is a fine line between hunter and bait.
For starters we need a flat boat capable of been trailered and stuffed inside a shipping container. That provides dimensions. Secondly we need a working cabin and enclosed observation in order to operate in an environment infested with hostile insect life since this vessel can expect to lay up as a blind in many locales for hours on end. The propulsion system needs to be fairly underpowered since speed is irrelevant while silence is. The soon to be available super batteries and hybrid systems appear to be a good option here. We must be able to move a mile without almost any noise whatsoever.
It also needs to mount a harpoon gun. That alone has the necessary stopping power and attached retrieval system that makes a recovery feasible. We may eventually get capture opportunities, but I think it will be more practical learning how to locate and trap recently hatched animals.
We now have five locales around world and I expect to locate a lot more to investigate once informants know where to send information. Right now, I am happy to accept emails. I will do up an observation report similar to that presently been produced by other collectors and post it initially here. If you are aware of anyone doing anything similar, do let me know.
There are several good historical reports sifted by Charles Forte in the first half of the twentieth century that are also compelling and I will be posting them here over the next while.
