National Geographic Herpetologist Opens "Faces of Our Planet" Series

Brady Barr, the resident herpetologist at National Geographic, gave a scaly start to the ’s “Faces of Our Planet” series as he gave a presentation on his work with reptiles and amphibians.

Barr is the host of Dangerous Encounters on the National Geographic Channel, and said he has been working with nature shows for 15 years. Though the presentation included photos and videos from his work around the world, Barr said that attendees should take home one point in particular: the danger to turtles as a result of human consumption.

“Turtles are in big trouble,” he said. “Close to 70 percent of turtle species are threatened or endangered with extinction.”

Barr said he has captured each of the 23 crocodile species in the world, and that about one third of them are endangered. These species, he said, have remained virtually unchanged in over 200 million years. Their bite force can be as strong as 4.5 tons per square inch or gentle enough to crack open their eggs, and they also have an impressive speed due to a powerful tail.

“They can launch themselves out of the water,” said Barr. “They can shoot straight up if they want to.”

Barr told the audience that he is sometimes frightened of the snakes he encounters, due to the lightning-fast speed with which they can strike. One danger associated with snakes, he said, is that bites often occur in isolated areas.

“You can play it by the book, you can take every precaution, and things can go wrong,” said Barr. “And that’s the nature of wild animals.”

Barr paused several times to play video clips from his show. These included a boa constrictor taking a bite at his nose, a komodo dragon chasing after him and a cameraman as they tried to lure the animal into a crate, and a crocodile crawling into his inflatable boat instead of back into the river after it was released.

Barr, a former teacher, also showed several drawings made by schoolchildren during his visits to elementary school classrooms. Oftentimes, their ideas have been put into practice. A 7-year-old’s idea to use a remote-controlled car to get closer to a crocodile has resulted in crocs eating a few camera-mounted cars, but Barr chalked this up to inexperienced driving skills on his part. Another idea, of disguising himself as a crocodile, evolved from a head to a full protective suit with which he was successful in approaching a group of the reptiles.

“Kids are capable of amazing things,” said Barr.