Mark O'Shea
On December 8, 2003, kingsnake.com was pleased to welcome Mark O'Shea from Animal Planet's "Mark O'Shea's Big Adventure" as our guest during our Sixth Annual Chat Week. Mark has travelled to some of the world's most exotic locations, encountering some of the planet's deadliest and most fascinating reptiles and amphibians. From Arkansas to Argentina, India to Indonesia, and New Guinea to New Caledonia, Mark has come face to fang with king cobras, beaked seasnakes and silent rattlesnakes. He’s got up close and personal with snapping turtles, snappy gators and cryptic crocs. And he’s rubbed snouts with Komodo dragons, giant geckos, and skinks with an “extraterrestrial” twist.

PHKiwi: Kingsnake.com is pleased to welcome Mark O'Shea, From Animal Planet's "Mark O'Shea's Big Adventure" as our guest during our Sixth Annual Chat Week.

PHKiwi: Tonight Mark O'Shea will discuss his adventures with all kinds of reptiles and amphibians. Thanks Mark, and welcome!

markoshea: Hello folks, hoping the gremlins have been sorted and I can take your questions

Question: mark what college did u go to?

markoshea: I went to the University of Wolverhampton

markoshea: ga

Question: Mark, at what age did you first become interested in reptiles?

markoshea: I became interested in reptiles very early and handled my first snake aged about eight, a boa at Dublin Zoo, then started to keep European species before American snakes

Question: Mark, what has been the biggest challenge in terms of handling a reptile?

markoshea: the biggest challenge, possibly some of the larger venomous species, a black mamba in the top of a tree, a king cobra in a nettlepatch, a bushmaster at night, taipan whatever

Question: Mark, how do you feel about the general public having potentially dangerous reptiles?

markoshea: the rules are different in the US to here in the UK. Here the Dangerous Wild Animals Act is supposed to control who can and who can't keep venomous snakes or tigers or ratits but it does not seem to work well with some people who would be good keepers being prevented and others who are not being allowed depending on area. Keeping venomous is a big step and not one to take lightly for many reasons. Provided they are kept for the right reason in suitable conditions by safe keepers it is okay

markoshea: The last exotic snakebite fatality in the UK was in 1897, the head keeper of reptiles at London Zoo who kissed a cobra when he was drunk. We do have bites every year but, touch wood, nobody has died for a long time. Our last domestic fatality, an adder bite, was 1975.

markoshea: ga

Question:Mark, what was your favorite reptile you've kept?

markoshea: favourite reptile kept, hard to say, I like monkeytail skinks especially but I also like many snake species. I don't really like to have favourites

markoshea: ga

Question:Mark, what is your favorite place to go herping?

markoshea: Papua New Guinea, I've been there many times and it is not called The Land of the Unexpected without good reason, but it is a dangerous place

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Question:Mark, how do you keep your show so realistic without getting hurt?

markoshea: what do you mean keep it realistic ? it is realistic because it is real, we do not stage captures or even re-shoot a capture if I mess up or the camera packs up, so it is real because it is real and I DO get hurt, dislocations, cuts, sprains, injured backs, near drownings (twice), snakebites etc etc

markoshea: ga

Question:Are you married? Have children?

markoshea: No and No

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Question:Mark, how much time do you spend filming?

markoshea: more than I could if I was married, i did four films this year in Mauritania, Senegal, S.Africa, Zambia, Tanzania & Peru plus I have been to US twice and Sweden once for symposiums/conferences so it is a lot of time away. In the 13 part series I spent almsot half the year away and when i was doing fieldwork before tv took me out of it I was away for 3-6 months at a time on projects in PNG or Brazil or somewhere

markoshea: ga

Question:In Jewels of the Jungle, you were looking for Agalychnis calcariser with Andrew Gray. That was excellent. Will you ever consider A. craspedopus on one of your shows?

markoshea: A.calcarifer, yes and did you notice we didn't find it but someone brought us two specimens for Andy's project which we could have stuck in the bushes and 'found' if we didn't have a Golden Rule on OBA - no setups. That was the first film we failed on during Series One. It would be hard to sell the idea of another so-similar film to the broadcasters unless there was a different angle

markoshea: ga

Question:Mark, have you ever worked with some of the other "TV herpers" such as Jeff Corwin or Steve Irwin?

markoshea: No I have not worked with Jeff or Steve

markoshea: ga

Question:Do you think the turmoil in Indonesia will affect the ecosystem there, and to what extent?

markoshea: could you be more specific about what you mean by turmoil because there has been a huge amount of turmoil there in the past such as the fire burning through the underground coal seams in Borneo which erupts to the surface occasionally and takes forest, villages, people and animals with it, and has been doing so for over 10 years, or the Krakatau eruption of 1883 - the loudest explosion in history

markoshea: ga

Question: Mark: Have you ever had a single "Life Threatening" moment that you wonder how you made it out alive from?

markoshea: more than one like being swept out to sea in the notorious shark infested waters of Durban, S.Africa during filming of Black Mamba or running out of air 80ft down during Sea Serpents or taking a full prey-taking bite from a 4ft canebrake rattler through the wrist which put me down in 5 minutes and then the encounters with aggressive people in remote locations etc plus a land cruiser accident in Brazil where I was thrown out and the vehicle went over me upside down, the odd bike crash at 60mph etc

markoshea: ga

Question:Mark, will your show be available on DVD or VHS at some point? I'd love to be able to view certain episodes over and over.

markoshea: I would like to see the shows on DVD or VHS but have been told there is not sufficient of a market to warrant producing them and since I don't own the rights

markoshea: ga

Question:Mark, would you ever consider keeping Bogertophis subocularus?

markoshea: Bogertophis subocularis is a snake I would possible keep if I was keeping snakes at home, but I'm not and haven't done for over 10 years, all my reptiles are in our Safari Park collection

markoshea: i would like to see it in the wild even more

markoshea: karl kauffield made thisspecies one of his particualr quest animals if you read keeper and the kept

markoshea: ga

Question:Mark, where is your Safari Park located?

markoshea: Bewdley, Worcestershire, England, there is a website www.wmsp.co.uk

markoshea: and my website for those who want to know is www.markoshea.tv but I have not had time to put the 4th series on there yet, working on a new book which is time consuming, and I want to update other sections too

markoshea: ga

Question: Mark, what advice can you offer to those of us who aspire to be like you?

markoshea: you do not have to be on tv to be a good herpetologist or a good fieldworking zoologist, there are top herpers in mos universities and nat hist museums. I think a degree is a good step towards climbing the ladder to become an accepted zoologist/herpetologist so study hard

Question:Mark, if you could have only one "tool" to use when working with snakes, which would you choose?

Question: Mark: Tell us more about the new book!! Who, what, when, where?

markoshea: this will be book no. 4 and a provisional title is O'Shea's venomous snakes but that is only a working title. I already have A Guide to the Snakes of Papua New Guinea, the DK/Smithsonian handbook to reptiles and amphibians and a new book out Nature Watch: Lizards which is ideal Xmas gift for youngsters and oldsters too

markoshea: a good snake hook like the one MidWest make for me www.tongs.com I use my hands for nonvenomous species obviously but venomous snakes, or cheeky snakes as the first Australians call them, need something a bit safer so a hook it is

Question: Mark, what can be done about the high numbers of animals iexported from Africa every year?

markoshea: I think more animals are probably exported from Asia and S.America but i don't know figures. With herps people should be prepared to pay that bit more a good quality captive bred specimen and avoid wild caught because if the market exists someone will supply it

markoshea: ga

Question:Mark what was your favorite episode of "Big Adventure?"

markoshea: I think the most important film I have made was Venom in the 3rd Series, Russell's viper snakebite in Sri Lanka, it would have been a good swan song if I had not made another film. I don't generally watch my own films though.

PHKiwi: Thank you so much for being with us tonight, Mark!