NOT many Boltonians get the chance to investigate and photograph reptiles and amphibians in the jungles of Honduras.

Biologist and adventurer George Lonsdale took these spectacular wildlife pictures in the Cusuco National Park in the Central American country.

The former St Joseph’s RC High School, Horwich, pupil got the opportunity to spend time in tropical climes while studying international wildlife biology at the University of South Wales.

He even missed his graduation ceremony because he was still conducting fieldwork specialising in pit vipers and collecting data on other critters as part of an Operation Wallacea conservation expedition.

The 21-year-old said: “For the past two summers I was living and working in Cusuco National Park, a mountain cloud forest jungle 2,200m above sea level.

“The aim of my work there has been to collect information about the venomous snakes in this national park as well as where they go, where they live, what they eat, and how to conserve them.

“This is incredibly important for their conservation as many of the reptiles and amphibians here are classed as critically endangered or endangered.

“Where we went there was very little research, or almost none, and we did a large scale sweep project to detail everything that is there – birds, mammals, insects, all the biodiversity.

“It turns out to be in the top 25 most important places for amphibians in world, and 99 per cent people have never heard of it.

“It’s a really nice place to be. It’s beautiful and the people are extremely welcoming.”

The project’s research was submitted to the president of Honduras who as a result agreed to formally protect the national park.

George, of Middlebrook Drive, Lostock, was involved in helping to set up a carbon credit swap scheme so income can be raised to fund the conservation of the habitat and stop locals resorting to deforestation for the sake of agriculture.

He also spent several months living on Isla de Utila off the coast of Honduras, where he contributed to a conservation program monitoring the spiny tailed ‘swamper’ iguana.

He co-authored a research paper that confirmed the species as critically endangered and outlined steps to help to save them from extinction.

Since returning to the UK, George has started a job for ZooLab, travelling the North West teaching about wildlife and conservation to primary and secondary school science classes.

He said: “I hope people enjoy my pictures.

“Every little helps promote the species because if people don’t know about them, they won’t want to conserve them.”

His mother Anne said: “What he does feels a bit like a local David Attenborough — like the Planet Earth TV programme but from Bolton!”