{"id":1825,"date":"2013-05-03T10:01:00","date_gmt":"2013-05-03T10:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/?p=1825"},"modified":"2015-01-08T17:45:06","modified_gmt":"2015-01-08T22:45:06","slug":"marte-latham-queen-of-the-jungle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2013\/05\/03\/marte-latham-queen-of-the-jungle\/","title":{"rendered":"Marte Latham, \u201cQueen of the Jungle\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>
\"In <\/a>
In 1956 Mrs. Latham found giant earthworms in Colombia. (Photo credit: Unknown) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Mrs. <\/a>
Mrs. Latham with famous zoologist and TV host Marlin Perkins. (Photo credit: Unknown) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"The <\/a>
The Latham home in Wexford was home to a collection of wild animals. (Pittsburgh Press photo) <\/div> <\/div>
\"Newspaper <\/a>
Newspaper account of a close call. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

Marte Latham was warned against venturing into the remote, unexplored jungles of Colombia without a military escort. It\u2019s too dangerous, state department officials said. But she got tired of waiting. Giant earthworms could be found in those jungles. There was no time to waste.<\/p>\n

So into the rugged rainforest went Mrs. Latham, packing a Winchester 88 rifle and accompanied only by native Colombians. Experts scoffed and said this housewife from Mt. Lebanon would never find the worms. It was the summer of 1956. The last reported sighting of the worms had come 26 years earlier.<\/p>\n

High in the Andes Mountains, Mrs. Latham hired one of the native Colombians to dig a hole. Six feet down, Mrs. Latham found what she was looking for: worms that measured as long as 5 feet. She found 11 of the slimy beasts, packed them in crates marked \u201cPrecision Instruments\u201d to ensure safe handling, and brought them to the United States, where they ended up in places like the Smithsonian Institution.<\/p>\n

Mrs. Latham, a Pitt graduate, was described in Pittsburgh newspapers as an explorer, a research scientist, a naturalist, a \u201chuntress,\u201d a dealer in wildlife and \u201cQueen of the Jungle.\u201d By the mid 1950s, she was living with her family along Pearce Mill Road in Wexford and making frequent trips to South America to find rare animals. Her travel kit contained a toothbrush, a machete, a .38 snubnose revolver and lipstick.<\/p>\n

Her Wexford house became a sort of menagerie that included animals such as an anteater, a slender loris, a boa constrictor and a variety birds and turtles.<\/p>\n

By the early 1960s, Mrs. Latham had written a book titled \u201cMy Animal Queendom\u201d and was appearing on television programs such as \u201cTo Tell the Truth\u201d and \u201cThe Tonight Show.\u201d Newspapers reported that she\u2019d discovered a tiny frog that produced one of the most powerful poisons on Earth, and had them sent to scientists seeking new drugs for human ailments.<\/p>\n

But it wasn\u2019t all science and research for Mrs. Latham. She had a flair for fashion. On her head, Mrs. Latham sometimes wore live plumage. She trained canaries, parakeets and an Australian cockatiel named Sir Topper to perch nearly motionless atop spring hats. She claimed she\u2019d worn such a hat into department stores and had walked through crowds without ever losing a bird.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Marte Latham was warned against venturing into the remote, unexplored jungles of Colombia without a military escort.<\/p>\n

Look at the picturesMarte Latham, \u201cQueen of the Jungle\u201d<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1829,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[1066],"tags":[961,962,967,1173,1034,1036,1169],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/tumblr_mm6u14nxd51rr5swxo4_1280.jpg?fit=1280%2C1003&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2185,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2012\/12\/24\/christmas-parades-in-mt-lebanon\/","url_meta":{"origin":1825,"position":0},"title":"Christmas parades in Mt. 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