#vipers

[sayxit]

twins

[antiqueanimals]

Natural History in Zoological Gardens, by Frank E. Beddard. Illustration by Winifred Austen. 1905.

Internet Archive

[snototter]

A northern cottonmouth (Agkistrodon piscivorus) in Arkansas, USA

by Alan

[uncharismatic-fauna]

Uncharismatic Fact of the Day

Animals usually use bright colors as a warning to others that they're dangerous, but that isn't always the case. Eyelash vipers come in pink, green, or yellow, and they can use those colors to hide among bunches of bananas! Because of their ability to hide in plain sight, Bothriechis schlegelii has occasionally been shipped to other countries among exports of bananas.

(Image: An eyelash viper (Bothriechis schlegelii) by Geoff Gallice)

If you send me proof that you’ve made a donation to UNRWA or another organization benefiting Palestinians, I’ll make art of any animal of your choosing.

[is-the-snake-video-cute]

Why do pit vipers have such chunky faces?

Lots of muscle, mostly.

Viper fangs hinge up to rest on the roof of their mouths, so they need room for that, and they have big venom glands. Those venom glands are operated using big compressor muscles in the cheeks - most of a viper's face is taken up by those muscles.

[illustratus]

The Head of Medusa by Peter Paul Rubens and Frans Synders

[fatmagic]

[lilyofthevalleyys]

Evan: I think you should apologise

Regulus: I think you should die but we don’t always get what we want bitch

Barty: Don’t kill him Reg. I rather like him

Regulus: And I think you should die too but you know, murder is illegal, blah blah blah

Evan:

Barty:

Regulus:

Regulus: Still won’t stop me though

[spinus-pinus]

Side-striped Palm Pit Viper Bothriechis lateralis

7/25/2023 Monteverde Cloud Forest, Costa Rica

[stearleart]

white-lipped pit viper ink drawing

Continuation of some snake doodles with this sketch of a white-lipped pit viper!

[gijoe-forever]

[antiqueanimals]

Asp (Vipera aspis)

Reptiles and Amphibians of the World. Written by Hans Hvass. Illustrated by Wilhelm Eigener. Originally published in 1958.

Internet Archive

[snototter]

Jerdon's pit viper (Protobothrops jerdonii) in Hubei, China

by cowyeow

[is-the-snake-video-cute]

Hi! in one of your recent asks you showed the spider tail mimic snake and mentioned there are more tail mimics, could you show us some of them? thank you! :D

Absolutely, but be warned they're not nearly as impressive! This is called caudal luring, and it's very common among vipers.

Many baby vipers will have tails that are colored bright yellow, red, orange, or green. This is to mimic caterpillars and worms and lure in amphibians, lizards, and other small prey! The coloration will fade as they age.

Then there's Cerestes vipera. They use their tails to mimic insect larvae, and burrow down in the sand until only their tails stick out to lure lizards. Like spider-tailed horned vipers, they've made an art out of moving their tails realistically to achieve this affect.

Saharan death adders (Acanthophis antarcticus), similarly, mimic grubs or larvae with their tails. Check out how realistically they move! Also note that this snake is keeping its lure close to its head to make it easier to catch prey lured in!

Caudal luring isn't as common among rattlesnakes (the rattle makes it difficult), but there's at least one species known to do it. Sistrurus miliarius barbouri has a small rattle, and holds it straight out to obscure its body and lure in unsuspecting grub-eating lizards.

As babies, it's not rare for rattlesnakes to have brightly-colored tails to use as lures, but S. m. barbouri is the only one known to science that continues to use the lure into adulthood.

[frakyeahbattlestargalactica]

[femmetay]

and swifties are confused about why she’s screaming at them with so much… borderline malice. i remember being offline all of last summer after my tour date because the entire dashboard was always this. twitter was always this. every taylor-centric place ive ever visited sounded like an echo chamber of this. it broke my heart to watch her be treated like a literal circus animal while her supposed alleged tabloid love life overshadowed all of her work and her tour- her announcement for speak now, her announcement for 1989 as well, were all overshadowed by discussions of the men she was surrounded by. we ask why speak now tv barely made any noise, because none of you would even listen to her speak back then if she had tried. i only have these screenshots because id text them to my best friend who was going to the eras tour with me, and i needed them to know how badly these conversations were affecting my anxiety about going to the show. to be surrounded by animals snarling at her and writing petitions, all while she was silent. silent. now we have songs like But Daddy I Love Him and Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me? and I Look in People’s Windows (you’re the deranged weirdos, not her). the popularity of this post above astounded me then and i hate that you all pretend you never sounded this disgustingly horrific and downright intolerably cruel. who are you to talk about a stranger in this way. who do you think you’re talking about? someone who never bites back? you try to take her agency away and she spins wildly out of your control. keep caging her, she’ll keep drifting away from everyone who sounds like you.