Austin Stevens

Infobox Person
name = Austin Stevens


image_size = 200px
caption = Austin Stevens
birth_date = Birth date and age|1950|5|19|df=y
birth_place = Flagicon|South Africa Sandton, Gauteng, Johannesburg, South Africa
occupation = Herpetologist, Wildlife photographer

Austin James Stevens (born 19 May 1950) is a South African-born herpetologist and wildlife photographer best known for hosting a series of snake documentaries.

Biography

Austin Stevens was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, and became interested in snakes at the age of 12. By the time he finished school, his reptile collection included some of the most exotic and venomous species in the world, and was considered one of the most important in South Africa

Early Snake Fascination

Stevens was first interested with snakes when he became a teenager.He brought snakes home when he found them.His house was inhabited by many snakes.His parents did not like this but they were proud to tell people of how their son kept snakes.

outh African Army

Austin served in the South African Army during the war in Angola, during which he was called upon to identify and remove snakes from the battlefield or anywhere where they bothered his fellow troops. During this time, he suffered his first bite from a puff adder while removing it from a machine-gun trench. As a result, he found himself in a desperate race against time to save his life that included a 480-kilometer trip through enemy territory and later a 1,600-kilometer flight, which made an emergency landing on the road at the front of a hospital in Namibia. Stevens remained in a coma for the next five days. Doctors worked for more than three months to save his hand from being removed. However he did lose part of his finger to the effects of the venom. [ [http://animal.discovery.com/fansites/austinstevens/videogallery/earlylife.html Animal Planet :: Video :: Austin Stevens ] ]

Transvaal Snake Park

After the war Austin left the army, to take up the position as curator of reptiles from the director of the Transvaal Snake Park. Over the course of six years, Austin underwent training and became a fully qualified herpetologist.

Photographer and film maker

After Austin left the Transvaal Snake Park he became increasingly interested in filmmaking and wildlife photography. In an effort to generate funds and public interest in the plight of African gorillas, Austin set a record by spending 107 days and nights in a tank with 36 of the most venomous and dangerous snakes in Africa. On the 96th day, he was bitten again by a cobra, but to many people's amazement he refused to leave the tank and was instead treated in the tank. Although he was very sick at that time, Austin completed the 107 days and beat the record. From this experience, he authored a book entitled "Snakes in my Bed".

Nowadays Austin indulges his hobby by making TV programmes about snakes. The main program ' is also known as ' on Animal Planet, and "Austin Stevens Adventures" broadcasted on five in the United Kingdom. His latest book "The Last Snake Man" had been published in the UK by Noir Publishing [http://www.noirpublishing.co.uk/wildlife.htm] .

Some of the cameras he uses while photographing wildlife include the Canon EOS 50E and the Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT.

Personal life

Stevens lives in Swakopmund, Namibia, sandwiched between the Atlantic Ocean and the desolate vastness of the Namib Desert. [ [http://hometown.aol.com/africawildfilm/myhomepage/photo.html Wildfilm Photographic Safaris ] ] Stevens stays fit and sharp by practising martial arts, in particular, nunchaku. He claims it keeps his reflexes heightened when working with venomous snakes.

Works

Some of his works:
* [http://www.parthenonentertainment.com/Pages/Programs/Natural1hours/dragonsofnamib.htm "Dragons Of the Namib"] , a documentary about the life of the Namaqua Chameleon. Listed as of the Producers and Director of Photography.
* [http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/ET/popup/200610061100.html "Africa's Deadliest Dozen"] , a documentary about the venomous snakes of Africa. Listed as Cinematographer.

Also, his photos are shown in these sites:
*Jeff Corwin's Carnival of Creatures, where a picture of a common krait was shown [http://animal.discovery.com/fansites/jeffcorwin/carnival/slithering/krait.html#] .
*Animals Animals/Earth Scenes [http://www.animalsanimals.com/index.asp] , where he has submitted images of not just snakes, but dozens of other animals such as birds and lizards(search for "Austin Stevens").
*He is a media donor on ARKive [http://www.arkive.org/donors/a3.html] and his photos used in the site are shown [http://www.arkive.org/search.html?q=Austin+Stevens&output=xml_no_dtd&client=default_frontend&site=default_collection&ie=utf8&oe=utf8&num=20&filter=0&getfields=* here] .

ee also

References

External links

*imdb name|id=1734420|name=Austin Stevens (II)
* [http://animal.discovery.com/fansites/austinstevens/austinstevens.html Austin Stevens: Snakemaster official fan site]
* [http://hometown.aol.com/africawildfilm/myhomepage/photo.html Small biography]
* [http://noirpublishing.co.uk Noir Publishing]