Now this little rascal you wont find just anywhere. The irascible Berg Adder
Limited to wet cool mountains in the of Southern Africa its a rare opportunity to see one. But best leave it at seeing them.
In the exuberance of youth I took some home and decided to tame them... Bad Choice... the books mean it when they use the words "highly irascible" and "never tamed". But kids being kids I decided to try.
That is where I learned first hand that snake handlers are the ones most likely to be bitten by their captives. I also got to experience first hand the effects of a very unique neurotoxin.
This little adders venom is not life threatening but knocks out the facial nerves in humans.
By JonRichfield , CC BY-SA 3.0, Link
I lost my sense of smell, taste, eyelids were paralised, my eyes could not adjust to light, and I could not squint inwards... each eyeball stared straight ahead resulting in a blurred triple vision.
Wow... that is some long lasting effects for something that is not supposed to be toxic to humans!
Toxic, just not deadly, because unlike other neurotoxins that may affect the heart and lungs and you die due to these malfunctioning. With the berg adder, I suppose you could die falling off a cliff, if you get bitten in the mountains because you cant see clearly.
Yikes... That, or next to the highway ;)
Apologies for being so "Bright" Gav
Yea, Yea...
God! I am too afraid of snakes. Nice post. :)
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@perfectionist
Makes one hope there aren't too many Berg Adder multipliers... ;) :D
Good and interesting post