Another oh.. so rare - Bitis heraldica

in #snakes8 years ago

The Angolan adder.

This tyke is so rare,(just like the plain mountain adder) and to compound the difficulty it is found in a country known for its forgotten war - Angola

A place that had an ongoing civil war for over 26 years. One of the final stages of the Cold War, what the rebel forces would have liked to have turned into Cuba's Vietnam.

Large game was decimated, millions of landmines were planted and much of the country has been a no go zone for decades.

These photos are likely the first and only pictures of a live specimen of this species publicly available.

They were posted to a South African forum in 2011

Probably less than 20 specimens are known to science and very little about its venom and behavior.

Quite a stunning species....

Supposedly, if the photographer had known what he was photographing he would have taken more photos than just these two, or is that just the myth that is growing up around this species?

Sort:  

This post has been ranked within the top 10 most undervalued posts in the second half of Dec 08. We estimate that this post is undervalued by $34.11 as compared to a scenario in which every voter had an equal say.

See the full rankings and details in The Daily Tribune: Dec 08 - Part II. You can also read about some of our methodology, data analysis and technical details in our initial post.

If you are the author and would prefer not to receive these comments, simply reply "Stop" to this comment.