snakes [Archive] - Kung Fu Magazine Forums

GeneChing

12-14-2015, 11:02 AM

Oh no, snakes! 25 cobras collected from streets of Shanghai (http://shanghaiist.com/2015/12/14/snakes_in_shanghai.php)

http://shanghaiist.com/attachments/shang_shanghaiist/snakes-shanghai.png

Firefighters received a distress call on Thursday from a woman in Shanghai's southwestern Minhang District stating that two snakes were seen slithering along a road. Within an hour, firefighters had collected eighteen snakes in the area, each of which were at least a meter long and three finger widths wide. The evening prior, a firefighter had collected seven more.
They caged the snakes and delivered them to the zoo. A zoo staff member said all of the snakes are non-native species and a type of cobra which is a class II protected species in China.

http://shanghaiist.com/attachments/shang_shanghaiist/cobra.jpg

The wild animal protection station believes the snakes were released by someone with good intent, a loon that believed they were doing right by freeing the snakes from captivity. Or perhaps their owner just lost them.
Experts warn that releasing wildlife poses a threat to the ecological environment if they are not indigenous species. Not to mention, the venomous snakes could have caused serious harm to nearby residents. Thankfully they were still in hibernation state.

http://shanghaiist.com/attachments/shang_shanghaiist/snakes3.jpg

By Mary DeMay
[Images via Sina]
Contact the author of this article or email tips@shanghaiist.com with further questions, comments or tips.
By Shanghaiist in News on Dec 14, 2015 1:00 PM

Poached this off the main forum for your Monday enjoyment.

GeneChing

08-01-2016, 01:46 PM

Gotta acknowledge this. It's so old skool.

North Korea accuses Seoul of 'cunning plot' to release snakes over border (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jul/27/north-korea-accuses-seoul-of-cunning-plot-to-release-snakes-over-border)
Soldiers sceptical after unseasonably high numbers of reptiles lead Pyongyang to suspect South Korean infiltration

https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/5e61208b6f2eaf76d620fd9a2b5f2eca934f5788/0_103_3773_2264/master/3773.jpg
North Korean soldiers march near the demilitarised zone separating the two Koreas. Photograph: Kim Jae-Hwan/AFP/Getty Images
Kang Mi-jin for DK News, part of the North Korea network
Wednesday 27 July 2016 01.00 EDT Last modified on Friday 29 July 2016 07.01 EDT

North Korean border patrol guards have been ordered to capture snakes apparently released by South Korea to wreak havoc in its northern neighbour, sources have claimed.

Pyongyang is said to have told the military that Seoul’s spy agency is behind the unseasonably high number of snakes in Ryanggang province, which borders China.

“Earlier this month, border patrol units received orders to capture snakes before they crawl over the banks of the Yalu River,” said a source in the province.

He added that the core message from Pyongyang was that South Korea’s National Intelligence Service was using the reptiles “as part of a ‘cunning scheme’ to challenge our unity”. Multiple sources in Ryanggang province are said to have corroborated these claims.

But not all soldiers are convinced of the plot. “Some grumble about the nature of the state’s claims. They point out that not even a three-year-old would believe the South would attack us with snakes over [anti-regime] propaganda leaflets or CDs,” said the source.

Despite the skepticism, North Korea’s Ministry of People’s Security and other public agencies are reportedly urging residents to stay alert to the danger of snakes at all times. In some areas, there have been rumours of people dying from snake bites.

According to the source, Pyongyang’s claims of an attack from outside forces could be an attempt to “psychologically arm the people during the 200-day battle”, one of Kim Jong-un’s so-called speed campaigns to boost the economy.

State propaganda has previously proclaimed that the large number of stick insects plaguing corn fields was due to imperialist scheming by the United States, said the source.

“Of course, a dearth of pesticides was the actual cause of the infestation,” he said. “The rhetoric will taper off eventually because, contrary to this outlandish narrative, few people have actually spotted any snakes.”

Meanwhile, rumours that a single snake bite could be fatal have led smugglers, who spend much of their time in or around the Yalu River, to buy high-quality rubber trousers. Demand briefly surged, driving up the cost of one pair of trousers by 60,000 won ($7).

GeneChing

10-14-2016, 10:03 AM

Clearly China has more snake issues than we do here. :eek:

Escaped toxic snakes pose safety hazard in east China (http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2016-10/11/c_135745968.htm)
Source: Xinhua 2016-10-11 15:47:22

NANJING, Oct. 11 (Xinhua) -- Workers in Nanjing City, east China's Jiangsu Province, are searching for around 50 snakelets, which had escaped from a local farm, fearing the venomous reptile will pose a treat to residents.

According to a statement released by Liuhe district Monday evening, over 200 adolescent Monocled cobra escaped from Chunyi livestock farm from August 26 to 29. Some 150 snakes were retrieved or killed, but more than 50 remain at large.

Monocled cobra are highly venomous snakes. The escaped snakelets are about 20 centimeters in length, and their venom is less toxic than mature snakes, the government officials said.

On Oct. 8, a villager from Liuhe district discovered and killed a snake he had found at home. The local government of Liuhe said it was not informed about the escape until Oct. 10 when the villager's discovery alerted the local government.

The district government has transported snake-venom serum from Shanghai, and arranged medical personnel and ambulances in case anyone is bitten.

A search for the snakes in a five kilometers radius of the farm started Tuesday morning. Government employees are disseminating information with residents.

Chunyi livestock farm is on a river bank in the district. It brought Monocled cobra eggs from the southern province of Guangdong on Aug. 6 without official approval. Of the 1,820 hatchlings, 1,500 survived.

The farm has been closed and those in charge will be held responsible for the incident.

GeneChing

11-07-2016, 03:00 PM

Samuel L. Jackson is a mother****ing prophet!

Snake on a plane: Poisonous reptile sparks panic after dropping from overhead compartment during flight (http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/snake-plane-poisonous-reptile-sparks-9214076)
14:41, 7 NOV 2016 UPDATED 15:36, 7 NOV 2016
BY GERARD COUZENS
Passengers were horrified by the sight of the reptile which appeared to have slithered onto the plane during boarding

A poisonous snake sparked panic on a plane after it dropped from an overhead compartment mid-flight.

Shocked passengers travelling to Mexico City took footage of the five-foot-long green viper as it dropped down to the seats below.

A university professor who was on the flight told how he helped capture it with a blanket - but showed he had retained his sense of humour and joked he had kept it entertained by giving it an in-flight magazine to read.

The jaw-dropping incident is said to have happened on Sunday afternoon during a two-hour Aeromexico flight between Torreon in the northern state of Coahuila and the Mexican capital.

http://i2.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article9214025.ece/ALTERNATES/s615b/Screen-Shot-2016-11-07-at-135959-1.jpg
Passengers panicked after the snake dropped from the overhead compartment

The plane’s pilot was reportedly given permission to make a priority landing when he reached his destination and animal control experts alerted so they could board when it arrived and take the reptile away.

Professor Indalecio Medina, whose video was today going viral, joked: “The flying snake. A unique experience on Aeromexico flight 231 from Torreon to Mexico City.”

He later added on social media: “I had to catch it with a blanket and obviously we gave it some magazines to read for a while.

http://i2.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article9214026.ece/ALTERNATES/s615b/Screen-Shot-2016-11-07-at-140125.jpg
The plane was forced to make an emergency landing for the snake to be removed

“The snake arrived alive and kicking, frightened but without having paid its airfare.

“And best of all, priority when it came to landing and animal control experts waiting for the unexpected traveller.”

There was no immediate word from the airline.

It is not known how it managed to get on board the plane.

wolfen

11-10-2016, 02:31 AM

Snakes in Taiwan : Shou Shan Near Kaohsiung

Shou Shan (壽山), Longevity Mountain, AKA Monkey Mountain, AKA Chaishan (柴山) Firewood Mountain is a Coral reef mountain on the West Coast of Taiwan by Kaohsiung. It was once a coral reef under the sea. It's weird to hike in in some places because going through some of the coral canyons there is no way to differentiate going up from down. Banyan trees grow out of coral reef cliffs It is a very exotic mountain with rich plant and animal life and home to tribes of about 500 monkeys and very dangerous snakes.
The hundred pacer is common there , especially near the mountain side of Sun Yat Sen University. also prevalent is the green bamboo snake

I hiked there many times. There are signs warning of the 100 Foot Pacer (think Kill Bill) and the Green Bamboo Tree Snake. One thing a hiker should be cautious of is to grab on to the Bamboo trees for support while hiking because you might be grabbing onto a green bamboo snake. A hiker would be advised to use a walking stick if necessary... and wear thick boots!

Shoushan (Chinese: 壽山, also commonly known in English as Monkey Mountain) is a mountain located in Gushan District, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, to the north of (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoushan_(Kaohsiung)#History)the main entrance to Kaohsiung Harbor. It was named Ape Hill by the Dutch in the 17th century to describe many monkeys on this mountain.

The mountain is made up of coral reefs and calcium carbonate, with evidence of the landscape rising above sea level. The Calcium Carbonate is generally consisted of coral, sea algae and shells, further supporting the theory. Due to its rise from sea level, the landscape of the mountain is severely effected by erosion from the sea, resulting in jagged cliffs and even calcium carbonate formed caves with stalactite.

Climbing Kaohsiung City's Monkey Mountain (Chai Shan) & Longevity Mountain (https://www.englishintaiwan.com/travel-in-taiwan/south-taiwan-travel/kaohsiung-city-longevity-mountain)
(Very Good Directions, Pictures and information on this webpage)

10146 "One of the main easy walkways"

HIKES IN THE KAOHSIUNG AREA:
If you enjoy hiking or just need to get some fresh air, greenery, and wildlife, Shou Shan and Chai Shan are quick, easy, and convenient to find. Both mountains are busy early every morning with hikers getting a jump on the day. As the afternoon cools down, a new set of hikers will enjoy the sunset and city lights.

Chai Shan and Shou Shan are both for non-hikers and serious hikers alike. There are so many trails, it's easy to find new paths, however, for the day visitor, the main trail and wood stairs make it easy to find a way up.

10147 "Warning of Green Bamboo Snake"

Exhibition of Venomous Snakes in Taiwan (http://culture.teldap.tw/culture/index.php?option=com_content&id=1124)

The Six Common Venomous Snakes in Taiwan (Partial Replication)

1. Hundred Pacer (Deinagkistrodon acutus)
10148

Features:

A venomous snake with a potent hemotoxin. This egg-laying mid-sized snake has a short, thick body, large triangular head, thin neck and upturned snout. The top of the head is brown in color while clear triangular patterns can be seen along the sides. The belly has black spots while the tail is a black-brown color.

Behavior:

Active during the day and night. Usually lives at the bottom level of deciduous forests with birds and rodents making up the majority of its diet. When disturbed, it raises its head while also making a warning hissing sound and constantly waggling its tail.

Distribution:

Found at medium to low altitudes in broad-leaf forests, bamboo groves and river valleys throughout Hualien, Taitung, Pingtung and Kaohsiung.

Bite Symptoms:

Within a few minutes of the bite, the surrounding flesh dies and turns black highlighting the puncture wounds. The wound is deep with widely spaced tooth marks and quickly becomes swollen. The skin and muscle turn black from necrosis, blisters form around the tooth marks and the wound begins bleeding. The victim feels a burning pain and the size of the necrotic region depends on the amount of snake venom injected and the depth of the bite.

Bite Treatment:

Hundred pacer anti-venom.

2. Pointed-scaled Pit Viper (Trimeresurus mucrosquamatus)

Features:

A medium-sized venomous snake with a potent hemotoxin. The back is a brown or tan-brown color, with three rows of irregular dark-tan colored round patches.

Behavior:

Active at night. Inhabits abandoned houses and log piles. Feeds on birds, rodents, frogs and lizards. When disturbed, it raises its head and coils its body. The tail waggling restlessly is a sign that it is about to attack.

3. Chinese Green Tree Viper (Trimeresurus stejnegeri stejnegeri)

10149
Features:

A small venomous snake with a potent hemotoxin. It has a thin neck, large triangular head, green body and red eyes. There is a white or two red-white lines running along either side of the body. Due to its brick red colored tail, it's also known as the Red Tail.

Behavior:

Ovoviviparous, mainly active at night and is found coiled around branches in brushwood. Diet consists mainly of birds, rodents and frogs. When disturbed, it raises its head and coils its body. The tails waggling restlessly is a sign that it is about to attack.

Distribution:

Found at medium and low altitudes in brushwood, bamboo groves, mountain gullies, river valleys and dry farmland throughout Taiwan.

Bite Symptoms:

When bitten, black puncture marks can be seen. The surrounding area quickly becomes swollen, with the skin and muscle turning necrotic and blisters forming in the surroundings. The wound bleeds and feels as if on fire.

Bite Treatment:

Pit Viper or Green Tree Viper anti-venom.

4. Russell's Viper (Vipera russellii formosensis)

Features:

A medium-sized venomous snake with a toxin that is both hemorrhagic and neurotoxic. There are three rows of a chain pattern along the back made up of round patches that have a grayish-white border and brown or dark brown inside. The belly is white and covered with small black spots.

Behavior:

Ovoviviparous, feeds on rodents. It moves slowly with a lateral motion. When disturbed, it coils into a circle, makes a hissing sound and makes sudden strikes.

..

5. Banded Krait (Bungarus multicinctus multicinctus)

Features:

A snake with the most deadly neurotoxin among terrestrial venomous snakes. It is relatively placid and rarely attacks human unless wounded or threatened. The head is an oval shape while the back has a very distinctive black and white banded pattern.

.

6. Common Cobra (Naja naja atra)

Features:

A medium-to-large sized snake with neurotoxic venom. May be tan-brown, brown or dark brown in color. Those with a black belly tend to be larger in size and the head is usually oval in shape.

...

====>

Monkey Battles Cobra (猴子大戰眼鏡蛇)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCYhXhjJUxU

This could be Shou Shan 壽山 but maybe it isn't.

GeneChing

02-03-2017, 02:45 PM

Whole lotta NO! in this here story.

By JENNIFER EARL CBS NEWS February 2, 2017, 12:16 PM
Family finds rattlesnake in toilet, then 23 more underneath their house (http://www.cbsnews.com/news/family-finds-rattlesnake-in-toilet-then-two-dozen-more-underneath-their-house/?ftag=CNM-00-10aab6a&linkId=34057095)
Last Updated Feb 2, 2017 4:52 PM EST

For the past 20 years, Nathan Hawkins has been working with snakes in the small Texas town of Buffalo Gap.

So when Hawkins, the owner of Big Country Snake Removal, received a frantic call from a family in Abilene, Texas, about a rattlesnake peaking its head out of a toilet — he thought it was “very unusual,” but not something he couldn’t handle.

“They’re actually very, very amazing creatures that are really misunderstand,” Hawkins told CBS News. “There are irrational fears around them.”

http://cbsnews1.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r/2017/02/02/177378cb-7ae4-4d52-a344-5668f5ffe043/resize/620x/0e316316472070031becc05045a5d0f2/screen-shot-2017-02-02-at-11-19-03-am.png
Nathan Hawkins, owner of Big Country Snake Removal, shares photos of his unusual catch at a family’s house in Abilene, Texas. BIG COUNTRY SNAKE REMOVAL

But to young Isac Mcfadden, who simply got up to use the bathroom Tuesday morning, the snake was an unwelcome surprise.

The little boy’s mom told her son to grab a shovel, and when he returned with the tool, she killed it.

Hawkins was surprised to find a dead snake upon his arrival, but he removed it from the toilet bowl and asked the family if he could do a quick house inspection to give them peace of mind.

http://cbsnews3.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r/2017/02/02/d531f1ac-892a-47e3-9970-ca7e85353117/resize/220x/b96a519db9d0359edf9bbd6346b078a2/screen-shot-2017-02-02-at-11-34-11-am.png
“Just because you can’t see them, doesn’t mean they aren’t there,” Nathan Hawkins, owner of Big Country Snake Removal in Texas, says. BIG COUNTRY SNAKE REMOVAL

“It’s kind of intuition,” Hawkins said. “If you do this long enough, you kind of understand snakes and what they do during certain times of the year.”

The first place Hawkins looked: an old storm cellar. Sure enough, he found 13 snakes huddled in the corner.

“With rattlesnakes, western diamondbacks in particular, they’re real communal animals during cooler months,” Hawkins explained. “They tend to live together in dens.”

But Hawkins’ search didn’t stop there. He then got down on his hands and knees and crawled around underneath the house. When he spotted a corner with old sheet metal, he predicted he would find another den.

With a flashlight in one hand and a snake tong in the other, he caught another 10 rattlesnakes — 5 babies — in that location, adding up to 24 snakes in total.

To outsiders, that number may sound high. But to Hawkins, it’s just another day’s work.

Over the course of a year, since Hawkins opened his snake removal business, he has caught several hundred snakes.

He fields about 50 to 75 calls a day. Some people call to ask questions, others request help with a snake on their property. Either way, Hawkins encourages residents who encounter a snake to “leave it alone” and phone an expert.

“I would say 90 percent of snake bites occur when someone’s trying to harm the snake,” Hawkins said.

Hawkins is proud that his business does not kill any of the creatures they catch. Instead, he relocates the snakes or donates them to local colleges to study.

“I get to keep snakes alive that would typically end up with a gunshot wound,” Hawkins said.

MarathonTmatt

02-04-2017, 05:37 PM

here is a 15 minute documentary about re-introducing rattlesnakes to the Quabbin Reservoir in MA. Different views are expressed in this short film regarding the issue. Also note @ 1:48, there is a stone wall ruin with a stone snake effigy shown. Link to the doc:

https://youtu.be/JPxiIxAstpM

On the island of Mt. Zion. Gotta love it.

GeneChing

03-29-2017, 09:05 AM

Why is this even a thing? MuthaFing Samuel L. Jackson movie. :mad:

Snake found on a plane. Yes, really... snake on a plane (http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/39349326/snake-found-on-a-plane-yes-really-snake-on-a-plane)
FROM THE TOPIC LIFE 7 days ago

http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/976/cpsprodpb/F11E/production/_95262716_apcabin.jpg
A snake has been found on a flight to Anchorage, Alaska.
It was left on a commuter flight after a passenger had left the animal, which was listed as a pet, in the cabin on a previous flight.
Passengers were first made aware of it when the pilot announced: "Guys, we have some loose snake on the plane, but we don't know where it is."
The pale yellow five foot snake wasn't venomous and was first spotted by a boy who was climbing his seat.
snake in a bag

http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/976/cpsprodpb/2DCE/production/_95262711_apduffelbag.jpg
The snake was first spotted under a bag

When he saw it, the snake was asleep and partially covered by a duffel bag near the back of the plane.
According to his mother, Anna McConnaughy, there wasn't much of a panic on board.
She explained a pilot came back to lead a short discussion with a flight attendant on how to capture it.
Staff then grabbed the snake by the belly and dropped it into a plastic trash bag.
It spent the rest of the flight in an overhead storage bin, and the plane reached Anchorage on schedule.

http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/976/cpsprodpb/CA0E/production/_95262715_apcabin2.jpg
The crew were first made aware of the snake when an unnamed passenger reported his pet was missing after he got off a flight to Aniak, which is also in Alaska, and suggested the reptile was likely to be on the return trip to Anchorage.

Ravn Alaska spokesman William Walsh said the airline was thankful for the heads up but added the passenger had violated airline policy by bringing the snake aboard without declaring it.
He didn't confirm the type of snake or whether the passenger could face charges.

GeneChing

04-06-2017, 11:16 AM

Time to stock up on anti-venom.

Look out for rattlers: 'Bumper crop' of snakes expected in Bay Area this year (http://www.sfgate.com/outdoors/article/Snake-season-Bay-Area-more-than-ever-11043852.php)
By Michelle Robertson, SFGATE Updated 7:59 am, Tuesday, April 4, 2017

http://ww3.hdnux.com/photos/60/20/31/12650078/3/920x920.jpg
Snake season has arrived in Northern California, which means venomous rattlesnakes will be slithering around the East and South Bay. Pictured above: Northern Pacific rattlesnake. Photo: David Allen/Got Snakes?

Snake season has arrived in Northern California, which means venomous rattlesnakes will be slithering around the East and South Bay. Pictured above: Northern Pacific rattlesnake.

The sun is out, and so too are the snakes in the Bay Area.
Warm, dry weather brings the slithering serpents out of seasonal hibernation, and after months of slumber, these creepy crawlers are looking for a feast.
Humans need not fear falling prey to a hungry snake, although rodents most certainly do. Mice, rats, squirrels and other snake food are frolicking in abundance this year, thanks to the region's heavy winter storms. Water feeds the grasses, which feeds the rodents, which feed the snakes. It's a perfect storm for the cryptic creatures to thrive.
David Allen, a modern-day snake charmer and owner of humane snake removal service Got Snakes, says the season is just getting starting. He's expecting snakes in abundance this year as fewer are dying from dehydration and starvation.
"We're experiencing a boom in rodent productivity, and snakes will reap the rewards of that," he said. Female snakes are especially in luck; their ability to reproduce is directly correlated to a steady food supply. Allen predicts a "bumper crop" of baby snakes – the effects of which will last for the next three to four years.
The torrent of snakes isn't something to worry about, says Allen, as most of the serpents around the Bay Area are totally harmless. In fact, they're beneficial.
"Snakes are free pest control," he said. "They're like living, breathing mousetraps."
While common gopher and king snakes are nothing to fear, their rattlesnake cousins can pack a venomous punch.
Northern Pacific rattlesnakes are the only poisonous snakes in the region, and they're mostly found in dry areas, like the East and South Bay.
The easiest way to distinguish between species is through sight and sound. That characteristic rattling noise – similar to the sound a baby's rattle makes– is your first clue that a rattlesnake is lurking nearby. Often, the snakes are heard and not seen.
Rattlesnakes can also be identified by their triangular-shaped heads (most other species' skulls are oval-shaped). Although friendly gopher snakes complicate things, as they sometimes mimic rattlers by flattening their heads into a triangular shape (see above photos).
When in doubt, Allen advises, call a professional. Only they have the experience and proper equipment – snake tongs, hooks, steel-toe boots – to catch a snake safely.
In the case that you find yourself up-close-and-personal with a rattlesnake, give it space (rather than embarking on a hot pursuit with a shovel).
"That's how most people end getting bitten," Allen said. "Snakes become dangerous when you corner them."
If you are bitten by a rattlesnake, Allen says to keep your heart rate down and seek immediate medical attention. Most hospitals carry an anti-venom that counteracts the effects of a rattlesnake bite, meaning the likelihood of dying is very low when proper steps are taken.
Who's truly to blame in the clash of snake and man? Well, humans, who continue to encroach on the serpents' grassy habitats.
"We attract things like rodents by watering our lawns and planting veggies," said Allen. "By altering our habitats, we're making the snakes come to us."
Read Michelle Robertson’s latest stories and send her news tips at mrobertson@sfchronicle.com.

GeneChing

06-22-2017, 10:08 AM

Snack stall shut down after customer finds a snake in her noodles (http://shanghaiist.com/2017/06/21/snake-noodles.php)
BY ALEX LINDER IN NEWS ON JUN 21, 2017 3:45 PM

http://shanghaiist.com/attachments/alexlinder/snake_noodles.jpeg

A campus snack stall has been forced to close down in Nanning after one customer happened to discover a little something extra in her bowl of rice noodles -- a snake.
The female student said that she discovered the secret ingredient in her bowl of take-out snail rice noodles when she returned to her dorm room on Friday and started to eat. Grossed out, she snapped a photo of the noodles before flushing them down the toilet.
She later uploaded that photo to her WeChat account where it quickly went viral on Chinese social media and eventually caught the attention of local health authorities who paid the snack stall a visit on Saturday.

http://shanghaiist.com/attachments/alexlinder/snake_noodles2.jpg
http://shanghaiist.com/attachments/alexlinder/snake_noodles3.jpg
http://shanghaiist.com/attachments/alexlinder/snake_noodles4.jpg

The owner of the stall vehemently denied that the snake had come from his kitchen. Nevertheless, officials discovered that the stall's food storage was unhygienic and its sourcing undocumented, ordering the shop to temporalily close down until changes were made, the Nanning Evening News reports.
But who knows, maybe raw snake is the perfect complement to snail rice noodles?
[Images via Weibo]

snakes (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?50682-snakes) + Noodles (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?69740-Noodles)

GeneChing

07-12-2017, 11:11 AM

Cobras no less. :eek:

Live cobras found in package at JFK mail facility (http://www.fox5ny.com/news/267319080-story)

http://static.lakana.com/media.fox5ny.com/photo/2017/07/11/JFKSnakes3_1499829055310_3768279_ver1.0_640_360.jp g
Federal authorities found live cobras in a package from China. (CBP)

http://static.lakana.com/media.fox5ny.com/photo/2017/07/11/JFKSnakes2_1499827915122_3768202_ver1.0_640_360.jp g
http://static.lakana.com/media.fox5ny.com/photo/2017/07/11/JFKSnakes1_1499827915200_3768203_ver1.0_640_360.jp g

By: FOX5NY.COM STAFF
POSTED: JUL 11 2017 10:52PM EDT
UPDATED: JUL 12 2017 09:59AM EDT
NEW YORK (FOX 5 NEWS) - A package labeled "plastic tray" that arrived at Kennedy Airport from China turned out to contain live venomous snakes.

On June 29, U. S. Customs and Border Protection officers at the JFK international mail facility inspected the package after an X-ray showed what appeared to be snakes in a round container.

Officers called in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to take a closer look. They carefully opened the outer box and discovered five juvenile king cobras and three geckos inside a foam casing.

"Our CBP officers perform numerous daily tasks to protect the United States from potential dangers," CBP's Leon Hayward said in a statement. "This seizure demonstrates our wide-ranging responsibility in protecting our borders and our partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service."

GeneChing

09-12-2017, 09:07 AM

Chinese man gets five days’ detention for releasing snake in park (http://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2110784/chinese-man-punished-freeing-snake-and-releasing-it-park)
It is latest case of people freeing wild animals on the mainland in so-called ‘mercy releases’
PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 12 September, 2017, 12:48pm
UPDATED : Tuesday, 12 September, 2017, 5:00pm

https://cdn1.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/styles/980x551/public/images/methode/2017/09/12/a5909cfc-976e-11e7-a089-5a7a21c623ca_1280x720_170021.JPG?itok=x3iCSfht

He Huifeng
huifeng.he@scmp.com

A video of the man releasing the serpent in Xiangtan, Hunan province, on Saturday has been widely shared online.
Several internet users contacted the police after watching the footage, warning that the cobra was dangerous, the news website Rednet.cn reported.
Firefighters tried to find the snake on Sunday, but failed, according to the article.
The park’s operators later had to issue a warning about the cobra to tourists.
Freeing captive animals is a tradition in Buddhism and is said to create good karma.
Animal rights and environmental groups, however, have raised concerns about the practice on the mainland. They say it can lead to the death of animals, potentially spread disease and fuel illegal trading in wild creatures.
A large number of snakes, turtles and other captive animals were freed in “mercy releases” on a beach in Haikou in Hainan province in January to mark the new year. Tourists at the beach called the police for help after they found animals, including pythons, slithering in the sand.
Several women tried to release about 500 Brazilian turtles into a lake on the campus of Peking University last October, but were stopped by students.

snakes (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?50682-snakes) and Buddhist 'life release' (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?68129-Buddhist-life-release)

GeneChing

10-11-2017, 09:24 AM

I had a similar experience once. I was just coming back from China so very jet lagged and there was this snake on the floor. The cat probably brought it in. But I thought it was a new toy snake that my kid had so I reached down to pick it up. My old house had pergo floors and snakes can't really crawl on pergo - too slippery - so it wriggled. I screamed like a girl. :o

‘Realistic toy snake’ gives Chinese family the fright of their lives (http://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2114422/realistic-toy-snake-gives-chinese-family-fright-their-life)
Child unpacks box from online toy shop to find something not to be trifled with
PUBLISHED : Sunday, 08 October, 2017, 3:42pm
UPDATED : Sunday, 08 October, 2017, 6:31pm

https://cdn4.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/styles/980x551/public/images/methode/2017/10/08/e06e3d1e-abe8-11e7-ac3e-6a4e39b7ad7c_1280x720_183139.JPG?itok=3RRNsV9S

Viola Zhou
viola.zhou@scmp.com
https://twitter.com/violazhouyi

The woman first thought the 20cm snake was plastic when her six-year-old son took it out of the packaging in Haining, Zhejiang province, Haining Daily reported late last week.
Marvelling at its soft patterned skin, the woman showed the snake to her husband, remarking on how realistic toys were becoming, the report said
But the husband looked at the snake’s head and soon worked out that it was real – albeit dead.
Forestry authorities said the animal was a non-venomous Mandarin rat snake and might have slithered into the parcel for warmth.
“I’m glad it was dead,” the woman was quoted as saying. “I dare not imagine what would happen if it weren’t.”
The online toy shop said it had no idea how the snake got into the parcel, but agreed to offer the family a refund, the report said.

GeneChing

11-08-2017, 10:08 AM

Call me callous, but I don't have a lot of sympathy for bitten snake handlers. Same goes for gored matadors. :o

1 day ago
Star teen snake wrangler fighting for life after bite from 'world's deadliest snake' (http://www.foxnews.com/science/2017/11/07/star-teen-snake-wrangler-fighting-for-life-after-bite-from-worlds-deadliest-snake.html)
Fox News

http://a57.foxnews.com/images.foxnews.com/content/fox-news/science/2017/11/07/star-teen-snake-wrangler-fighting-for-life-after-bite-from-worlds-deadliest-snake/_jcr_content/par/featured_image/media-0.img.jpg/931/524/1510084882993.jpg?ve=1&tl=1
The inland taipan is usually quite shy and is known to only strike when it is provoked or mishandled. (Credit: Nathan Chetcuti, Facebook)

A famous 19-year-old snake wrangler from Australia is fighting for his life after being bitten by his pet snake, one that is regarded as the world's most venomous.

Nathan Chetcuti, from Brisbane, Australia, was attempting to put his pet inland taipan back into its enclosure on Sunday when the snake lashed out and bit him. Nathan's father immediately called emergency services after seeing the horiffic attack.

Toxicologist Dr. Geoff Isbister told the Australian Broadcasting Company that the snake's poison can cause major issues for humans. “In terms of its effects, it causes blood not to clot, but its most important effect is it causes neurotoxicity," Isbister said. "So if it’s not treated early, it can cause paralysis.”

As of Nov. 7, Chetcuti was still in serious condition in the intensive care unit of Redcliffe Hospital in Queensland, where his family has remained by his side.

On Chetcuti's YouTube page, Australian Pythons And Other Reptiles, which has more than 4,000 subscribers, he has several videos of non-venmous snakes and other reptiles, according to a report in news.com.au, which first reported the story.

The inland taipan snake, however, is known as a fierce snake from central east Australia and is regarded as the most venomous snake on the planet. A bite from the inland taipan could kill a person in 45 minutes if left untreated, according to a 2013 report from the University of Melbourne.

Unlike the saw-scaled viper or the king cobra snake, the inland taipan is usually quite shy. It is known to only strike when it is provoked or mishandled, so the strike on Chetcuti comes as a surprise to some.

In 2013, a 17-year-old male was bitten by an inland taipan in New South Wales, but he eventually recovered from the attack.

Following the bite, Hunter Valley snake catcher Judy Martin kept the snake and said they're usually very docile. “They are a very placid snake, they rarely bite,” she said, according to news.com.au.

GeneChing

11-27-2017, 09:57 AM

There's a vid behind the link. The dude is pretty nonchalant about it.

MAN HAILED AS HERO FOR KILLING SNAKE ON A TRAIN WITH BARE HANDS (http://www.newsweek.com/man-hailed-hero-killing-snake-train-bare-hands-720620)
BY SOFIA LOTTO PERSIO ON 11/23/17 AT 5:52 AM

A commuter on an Indonesian train was hailed as a hero on social media for his cold-blooded reaction to a finding a snake on the carriage.

A video of the man's encounter with the reptile quickly spread online Tuesday, getting more than 170,000 views and nearly 4,000 enthusiasic comments.

The video showed the man, wearing glasses and a backpack, on the train from Bogor to the capital, Jakarta, lifting himself to grab the snake with his bare hands from an overhead compartment.

Carefully holding it by its tail, the man, whose identity is unknown, then swung the snake to the floor with one swift blow, appearing to kill the reptile before kicking it outside the door onto the platform, where a security guard and a military officer were in attendance as the train made an emergency stop.

The reptile appeared to be around three feet in length, but it remains unclear what kind of snake it was and whether it was poisonous.

The Commuter Line train operator Kerata Commuter Indonesia (KCI) believes the snake was intentionally brought on the train, sneaking out of a passenger’s bag, but it is unlikely that the culprit will ever be found. "It will certainly be difficult because no one wants to confess," company spokesperson Eva Chairunnisa said in a statement to local media.

KCI also apologized to the passengers. "We regret the incident and apologise to train travelers who were disturbed by it," Chairunnisa told the AFP news agency.

http://s.newsweek.com/sites/www.newsweek.com/files/styles/full/public/2017/11/23/1122snakeindonesia.jpg
Workers hold a snake before killing it at a slaughterhouse at Kapetakan village near Cirebon, Indonesia's West Java province, February 8, 2013. A man appeared to kill a snake found on a commuter train in Jakarta on November 21.
BEAWIHARTA/REUTERS

The train operator is a subsidiary of the state-owned railway company Kerata Api Indonesia. The Transport Ministry opened an investigation into the incident.

"The discovery of a snake inside a railcar on the Bogor-Angke line caused passengers to panic, so the train had to stop at Manggarai Station [in Central Jakarta]... to prevent a potential accident resulting from the panic," the directorate general said in a statement to local media on Wednesday.

Creating disturbances or danger to passengers on trains is an offense that can be punished with up to three weeks imprisonment.

GeneChing

03-08-2018, 10:05 AM

After a decade of dormancy, we're overdue to ttt this OT: AI and Artificial Life forms (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?51915-OT-AI-and-Artificial-Life-forms) thread. I'll copy it to snakes (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?50682-snakes) too, just because I can't quite wrap my coils around it. :D

Snake joke slithers into New York Times story (http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-43331054)
3 hours ago

https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/660/cpsprodpb/14D5/production/_100333350_gettyimages-585196598.jpg
GETTY IMAGES

The New York Times has corrected an article that mistakenly referred to the "Great Recession" as "the time of shedding and cold rocks".

One of its editors had installed software that adds references to snakes to websites.

The substitution was missed and published online, but did not appear in the print edition of the newspaper.

The newspaper blamed an "editing error involving a satirical text-swapping web browser extension".

The Millennials to Snake People add-on for Google's Chrome browser was created by coder Eric Bailey, who had noticed a surge in news stories blaming so-called millennials for the world's problems.

He decided changing the term "millennials" to "snake people" in news articles and on websites, and making other snake references, would be funny.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DXs58z0WAAA2ugC.jpg
View image on Twitter (https://twitter.com/bankonjustin/status/971433955785404416/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.com%2Fnews%2Ftechnolo gy-43331054)

Justin Bank
✔
@bankonjustin
I'm horrified to be the guilty editor here. But thankfully @YLindaQiu's excellent work stands so far above it.

Also, I have now deleted the excellent Millenial-Snake Person Chrome extension. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/06/us/politics/07dc-tradefacts.html …
9:14 AM - Mar 7, 2018
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End of Twitter post by @bankonjustin
The New York Times correction offered readers a "pro tip" to avoid mistakes, advising: "Disable your Millennials to Snake People extension when copying and pasting."

The mistake appeared in an article fact-checking President Donald Trump's claims on trade deficits.

In 2016, Wired magazine made a similar mistake and published an article in which Donald Trump's name was replaced with "someone with tiny hands".

The error made it past the magazine's production team, who had assumed it was an intentional joke.

I want a satirical text-swapping web browser extension for Kung Fu Tai Chi (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/magazine/index.php)...only I don't know what it would say. :confused::p

GeneChing

03-19-2018, 08:07 AM

Snake-catching fireman dies after cobra bite (http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2018/03/16/snake-catching-fireman-dies-after-bitten-by-cobra/)
Bernama | March 16, 2018

Abu Zarin Hussin headed the King Cobra Squad of the Fire and Rescue Department and had helped train firefighters to catch the venomous animals.

http://s3media.freemalaysiatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Snake-catching-fireman-dies-after-bitten-by-cobra-malaysia.jpg
Abu Zarin Hussin had been bitten by snakes several times before and even spent two days in a coma after being bitten by a cobra in 2015.

TEMERLOH: Abu Zarin Hussin, the firefighter renowned for his snake-catching skills, died early today after being bitten by a cobra three days ago.

The 33-year-old died at 12.54am in the intensive care unit of the Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah Hospital here, Pahang Fire and Rescue Department director Abdul Wahab Mat Yassin said.

Abu Zarin, who was in critical condition after being bitten by the snake he was attempting to catch in Bentong, was admitted to the Bentong Hospital on March 13 before being transferred to the Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah Hospital.

“Abu Zarin’s remains were taken to Kampung Permatang Gading, Pasir Puteh, Kelantan at 5am and are expected to be buried before the Friday prayers today,” said Abdul Wahab when contacted.

Abu Zarin, who hailed from Pasir Puteh, had served the Fire and Rescue Department for over 10 years. He was attached to the Muadzam Shah Fire and Rescue Station in Pekan before being transferred to Temerloh.

He headed the King Cobra Squad of the Fire and Rescue Department, established at the end of 2015, and helped train firefighters to catch the venomous animals. He also delivered public talks.

Abu Zarin had been bitten by snakes several times before and even spent two days in a coma after being bitten by a cobra in 2015.

He tried his luck in the “Asia’s Got Talent” competition last year but failed to win over the judges with his dangerous snake feat.

In the West, he's known as the 'snake whisperer'. Search "Famed ‘snake whisperer’ dies after cobra bite" to see a less heroic, more sensational, portrayal of his life. :(

GeneChing

03-20-2018, 07:54 AM

What is it about snakes and toilets? I remember my fencing team mascot (a 13 ft. boa) liked hotel bathrooms because she'd wrap around the hot water pipe under the sink, but toilets aren't hot water driven.

SIX-FOOT PYTHON COILS AROUND TEEN'S LEGS AS HE SITS ON TOILET (http://www.newsweek.com/six-foot-python-coils-around-teens-legs-he-sits-toilet-852291)
BY BRENDAN COLE ON 3/20/18 AT 5:07 AM

A teenage boy groggily taking a late night toilet stop got the shock of his life when he came across an unexpected intruder.

The unnamed 17-year-old in Mountain Creek in Queensland, Australia, found that he was sharing the toilet with a large carpet python.

Snake catcher Luke Huntley was called to the house in the Sunshine Coast and said that the teenager did not realize until the serpent wrapped itself around his leg and tried to bite him.
http://s.newsweek.com/sites/www.newsweek.com/files/styles/full/public/2018/03/20/gettyimages-90719337.jpg
A Centralian carpet python lies coiled at Sydney Wildlife World on September 11, 2009.
GREG WOOD/AFP/GETTY IMAGES.

He quickly managed to fight off the snake, which was not poisonous, and beat a hasty retreat.

Huntley told Australia’s ABC News: “He flicks it off with its other foot and it sort of recoils. So he pulls his pants up and he runs out of there and he closes the door behind him. His mum said she tried to move it on herself but it kept striking at her,” he added.

Huntley put the snake’s aggression down being in hunt mode, the fact that it was hungry and that it had been cornered.

“It had to fight because it couldn’t run away and that’s what the snake did. It’s an unusual behavior for a snake to wrap itself around a person and try to strike.”

He said it was lucky that the boy was not injured and although it was not the first time he had to get a snake out of the toilet, it was the biggest and most aggressive one he had had to capture, describing it as being in a “grumpy mood”.

“I think he’s going to make sure all the doors and windows are always closed now, that’s how a snake would’ve got in,” he added.

“This is the stuff nightmares are made of. Of all the places to have that happen, when you’re at your most vulnerable,” he added.

In February, the Sunshine Coast Snake Catchers warned Queenslanders to be cautious if they came across snakes in their home because often they might mistake deadly ones for harmless ones.

The National Coronial Information Service says that around 300 people are bitten by snakes in Australia each year, although only 35 people have died between 2000 and 2016.

GeneChing

06-08-2018, 08:19 AM

I was told about the ability of decapitated snakes to strike out of reflex in Wilderness Survival training. Guess that's true...

Severed Rattlesnake Head Bites Texas Man (https://www.snopes.com/news/2018/06/07/severed-rattlesnake-head-bites-texas-man/)
A Texas man discovered in the most unpleasant way possible that a decapitated rattlesnake can still bite.
By Kim LaCapria 7 June 2018

https://us-east-1.tchyn.io/snopes-production/uploads/2018/04/rattle_snake_feature.jpg?resize=865%2C452
Tom Reichner / Shutterstock.com

A man from Corpus Christi, Texas is recovering after he was bitten by a rattlesnake in May 2018 — after he decapitated the creature with a shovel.

South Texas’ KIII-TV reported (https://www.kiiitv.com/article/news/local/corpus-christi-man-bitten-by-severed-rattlesnake-head/561750856) the victim’s wife said that the snake discharged “all its venom.” She said her husband’s condition was touch and go at first:

Jennifer Sutcliffe and her husband were doing weekend yard work when she spotted a four-foot rattlesnake. She said her husband quickly took his shovel and severed the snake’s head, but moments later when he bent down to dispose of the snake, the snake’s head bit him … Sutcliffe said the first 24 hours were the worst. Doctors told her husband might not make it, even after giving him vast amounts of antivenom.

“A normal person who is going to get bit is going to get two to four doses of antivenom,” Sutcliffe said. “He had to have 26 doses.”

Sutcliffe’s husband is now in stable condition, but his kidney function is still weak. Trauma surgeon Michael Halpert said although dying from a snake bite is rare, it happens.

“There are about 6,000 to 8,000 snake bites per year in the country, and 10-12 people die,” Halpert said.

The incident in Corpus Christi was not the first time in recent years that a decapitated snake bite made news. In 2013, a video of a decapitated copperhead in Alabama went viral. After a 2014 incident in China, biologists affirmed that removing the head of a venomous snake doesn’t instantly eliminate the threat it poses.

According to experts, venomous snakes bite differently than many other species:

Snakes in general are well known for retaining reflexes after death,” said Steven Beaupré, a biology professor at the University of Arkansas. Many ectothermic, or cold-blooded, vertebrae— including species of reptiles and amphibians— share this quality, he said.

In fact, there have been previous [to 2014] reports, including in the U.S., of people being bitten by the severed heads of snakes.

For venomous snakes, such as cobras and rattlesnakes, biting is one of the reflexes that can be activated in the brain even hours after the animal dies, Beaupré told Live Science.

The bite reflex is stronger in venomous snakes than it is in some other carnivores because these snakes use their bite differently than other meat-eaters, Beaupré said. Unlike a tiger, for instance, which kills prey by sinking its teeth into an animal’s flesh and holding on, snakes aim to deliver just one, extremely quick bite and then move away from their prey before getting trampled.

Sutcliffe’s husband remained in stable condition after receiving doses of antivenin, but continued to have impaired kidney function as a result of the incident. Biologists warn that most bites from venomous snakes occur when people try to neutralize the snake by killing it, rather than simply leaving it alone.

GeneChing

06-18-2018, 08:15 AM

This is way up there for me as one of the worst ways to die. :eek:

23-foot python swallows Indonesian woman near her garden (http://www.latimes.com/world/asia/la-fg-python-20180616-story.html)
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
JUN 16, 2018 | 5:05 AM
| JAKARTA, INDONESIA

http://www.latimes.com/resizer/vb5tkL5vZOB75o93-_V8G8ha59g=/1400x0/www.trbimg.com/img-5b24ff17/turbine/la-1529151251-p8pw7u0q7r-snap-image
An Asiatic reticulated python. (De Agostini / Getty Images)

A 23-foot python has swallowed a woman in central Indonesia, a village official said Saturday.

The victim, 54-year-old Wa Tiba, went missing while checking her vegetable garden near her village on Muna island in Southeast Sulawesi province on Thursday evening, according to the village chief, Faris.

On Friday, her family went to look for her at the garden but found only her belongings, including sandals and a flashlight, said Faris, who uses a single name.

The family and villagers launched a search for the woman, and found the snake with a bloated belly about 50 yards from where her belongings were found.

The villagers killed the snake and carried it to the village.

“When they cut open the snake's belly they found Tiba's body still intact with all her clothes,” Faris said. “She was swallowed first from her head.”

Videos posted on some websites showed villagers slicing open the python's carcass to reveal the woman's body.

Faris said the victim's garden, about a half-mile from her house, is in a rocky area with caves and cliffs believed to contain many snakes.

Reticulated pythons, which are widespread in Indonesia and other parts of Southeast Asia, grab onto their prey with dozens of sharp curved teeth, then squeeze it to death before swallowing it whole.

Reports of humans being killed by pythons are extremely rare. In the wild they are known to eat monkeys, pigs and other mammals.

It was the second python attack on a human in Indonesia since March last year, when a 25-year-old man was swallowed whole by a python in West Sulawesi province.

GeneChing

07-02-2018, 07:58 AM

VENOMOUS VIPERS MYSTERIOUSLY LEAVE FOREST TO INVADE WORLD CUP HOST CITY, RUSSIA SENDS TEAMS TO CAPTURE (http://www.newsweek.com/world-cup-fifa-snake-venom-1000478)
BY DANIELLE KOGAN ON 6/29/18 AT 9:28 AM
Advertisement 0:08

Following a fly infestation in Volgograd—a southwestern city in Russia and one of the places hosting the 2018 World Cup—snakes are now migrating down the Volga River to the Volga Sports Arena. Among the snakes are black vipers, the species Vipera nikolskii, whose bites could be fatal. The vipers are about 2 and a half feet in length when fully grown.

Blocknot, one of the first local news sources to cover the sightings, reported spotting this species Monday, when team members of the city's search and rescue recorded five sightings of snakes in a single day from.

On Tuesday, Volgograd's head of search and rescue, Alexander Sivolobov, said this species can easily cover distances of 2 miles and has the ability to creep ashore on land, according to The Moscow Times.

The vipers' arrival was just in time for the World Cup's last H game, which includes matches between Senegal and Columbia as well as Japan and Poland. Russia's response has been to send search-and-rescue teams to divert and remove all the snakes before they incite panic among the city's 5,000 visitors and general population. How or why the endemic species migrated has so far stumped the ecological and biological communities in Volgograd. Also known as Nikolsky's viper, the snake usually resides in a forest.

"All vipers are venomous, but not necessarily poisonous. They naturally avoid human areas," said Dr. Frank T. Burbrink, curator of herpetology at the American Museum of Natural History.

http://s.newsweek.com/sites/www.newsweek.com/files/styles/full/public/2018/06/28/nikolskys-viper.jpg
Nicolsky's Viper, pictured above, is a native endemic species that lives in the forest.
BENNY TRAPP

When a viper bites, its two swiveling fangs operate like syringes. According to Burbrink, two types of venom that can be found in snakes are hemotoxic or neurotoxic venom. Burbrink said hemotoxic venom is the type that destroys tissue—the reason why hemotoxic bites tend to hurt—whereas neurotoxic venom would damage the nervous system. However, according to Burbrink, a venomous snake bite may not necessarily be fatal.

"It depends on what the snake was doing," Burbrink said. Snakes who have eaten have injected their venom into their prey and will inevitably allow less venom to pass through in the case of a second bite. This is known as a "dry bite," which Burbrink estimated makes up approximately 25 percent of snake bites.

swivelling fangs. kinda biblical. :eek:

GeneChing

07-10-2018, 07:56 AM

MIAMI TSA AGENTS DISCOVER PYTHON HIDDEN IN A HARD DRIVE IN PASSENGER'S LUGGAGE (http://www.newsweek.com/miami-tsa-agents-discover-python-hidden-hard-drive-passengers-luggage-1015599)
BY EWAN PALMER ON 7/10/18 AT 8:30 AM

Authorities in Florida have managed to stop a man who attempted to smuggle a python onto a flight by hiding it inside a hard drive.

Transportation Security Administration agents discovered the snake placed inside a nylon stocking and hidden in the hard drive enclosure at Miami International Airport on July 8.

Officials said the man attempted to sneak the snake inside his checked bag onto a flight towards Grantley Adams International Airport (BGI) in Barbados.

"The snake, that didn’t get on a plane thanks to our officers' diligent screening, had been artfully concealed inside the electronics of a hard drive and placed in a checked bag headed for a flight to Barbados," TSA spokeswoman, Sari Koshetz, told the Miami Herald.

"Upon the TSA officer’s discovery of the organic mass, one of our TSA bomb experts was called into the baggage screening room to investigate the innards of the hard drive and that is when he discovered the mass was a live snake."

Koshetz explained that while the snake was not in any immediate danger, there is a real risk that the animal could have escaped and chewed through wires, threatening the lives of other passengers, reports WSVN.

“This organic mass was not explosive, but it shows you can’t hide any threat from us,” Koshetz added on Twitter.

http://s.newsweek.com/sites/www.newsweek.com/files/styles/full/public/2018/07/10/dhszirvuwaeobde.jpg
The python seen wrapped in a stocking an placed inside the hard drive at Miami International Airport on July 8.
TSA

The passenger, who has not been named, was stopped from flying and later fined an undisclosed amount with the snake taken into custody by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services, reports the Associated Press.

“Agent Neville Flynn would be extremely proud of our officers at the Miami International Airport (MIA),” a spokesperson for TSA said, referring to the character played by Samuel L Jackson in the 2006 film Snakes on a Plane.

“You see, Agent Flynn has HAD IT with snakes on planes, and our officers prevented a young Ball Python from flying the friendly skies this past Sunday."

“If you think airplane seats can feel constricting, imagine how this little guy felt.”

The snake in question was identified as Ball or royal Python, which is considered a non-native species by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

"Ball pythons are one of the most popular nonnative snakes in the pet trade,” the FWC states on its website.

“While they can be confused with Burmese pythons, adult ball pythons rarely grow longer than four feet. Although ball pythons have been found in the wild, there are no known reproducing populations.”

Snakes on a Plane - I really should see that some day.

GeneChing

07-11-2018, 01:09 PM

Snake restaurant in Hong Kong to close after 110 years, marking end of an era (https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/2154739/snake-restaurant-hong-kong-close-after-110-years-marking-end)
Family-run She Wong Lam in Sheung Wan was hugely popular, with actor Stephen Chow a regular customer. But its snake handler is nearly 90, and no one in the family wants to continue the business

PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 11 July, 2018, 6:48pm
UPDATED : Wednesday, 11 July, 2018, 7:20pm
Bernice Chan
bernice.chan@scmp.com
http://twitter.com/beijingcalling

https://cdn2.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/styles/980x551/public/images/methode/2018/07/11/2bfe6334-8416-11e8-99b0-7de4d17a9c3a_1280x720_190721.JPG?itok=J_6kPQvT

One of Hong Kong’s oldest snake restaurants is closing for good, ending more than 110 years of history in Sheung Wan.

Family-run She Wong Lam was hugely popular in the 1960s and 1970s, but with no one from the family’s younger generation keen to continue the business of looking after snakes and preparing them for soup, the restaurant will close its doors on July 15.

According to Lo Tin-yam, the fourth-generation owner, She Wong Lam’s manager, Mak Dai-kong, is in his late 80s and has decided to retire, so the Lo family feels it is the right time to close the Hillier Street shop.

“Master Mak is almost 90 and he is the boss of the shop. He has worked for four generations of our family,” Lo says by phone from Vancouver, Canada. “Since my grandfather passed away, my father [Lo Yip-wing] didn’t know much about the snake business and I know even less,” he says.

His family trusts Mak but are unfamiliar with the shop’s other employees, making it hard for them to continue the business, he explains.

https://cdn4.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/images/methode/2018/07/11/5660b884-8416-11e8-99b0-7de4d17a9c3a_972x_190721.JPG
Mak joined She Wong Lam in 1948, when he was 18 years old. Photo: Oliver Tsang

Lo says the date for closing She Wong Lam was chosen by his uncle and father, the latter now in an old people’s home in Hong Kong. Lo, an accountant, and his younger sister have lived in Vancouver since he was about eight years old and he does not intend to return.

“It’s very difficult to find people to work in this particular industry. It’s not for everyone,” Lo says.

Mak joined She Wong Lam in 1948, when he was 18 years old, and the founder, Lo Tai-lam, encouraged him to help out around the shop and eat snake soup to help build his strength.

https://cdn2.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/images/methode/2018/07/11/d2b8146e-8415-11e8-99b0-7de4d17a9c3a_972x_190721.JPG
She Wong Lam in Sheung Wan in 1972. Photo: SCMP

Mak gradually learned how to handle snakes, remove their fangs, extract the gallbladder, and make the shop’s signature snake soup.

The ingredients of snake soup include the meat of various snake species, chicken, pork, sugar cane, mandarin peel, and white pepper. It is garnished with chrysanthemum petals and finely sliced lemon leaves.

“In the past, when I saw my colleagues handling snakes, they told me I didn’t have to be afraid of them,” Mak said in an interview with the Post late last year.

https://cdn3.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/images/methode/2018/07/11/f7f500de-8415-11e8-99b0-7de4d17a9c3a_972x_190721.JPG
Bottles of snake wine for sale at She Wong Lam. Photo: James Wendlinger

“Once their fangs have been pulled out, they are not venomous … I remember my first attempts at handling snakes. I got bitten by them but it wasn’t painful at all. Since then, I have never been afraid of snakes.”

Sidney Cheung Chin-hung, professor and director of the Centre for Cultural Heritage Studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, has a copy of a flier from She Wong Lam promoting its snake gallbladder seasoned with ginger or pepper that dates back to 1910, and believes the shop was established in the early 1900s.

While fourth-generation owner Lo didn’t learn much about the snake business, he has a few fond memories to share about the business. The shop moved a few times during its more than 110-year history, but has always been in Sheung Wan. He also revealed how the shop got its name.

“My great-grandfather used to be busy in the back of the shop dealing with the snakes, and because people couldn’t see him, they assumed he was being lazy, which is why he got the nickname ‘Se Wong’, or ‘Snake King’,” says Lo. “She wong” is a Chinese euphemism for a lazy person.

Lo isn’t sure how or when his great-grandfather came to Hong Kong from the southern Chinese province of Guangdong, but Cheung is convinced the business was founded back in the dying days of the Qing dynasty.

One of his former anthropology graduate students, Esther Chok Wing-sum, says that in 1885 there were about 115 snake shops in Guangzhou. At the turn of the century, many snake handlers, including Lo’s great-grandfather, brought their knowledge and skills to the British colony of Hong Kong.

The younger Lo attributes the family’s financial success to the hard work of his great-grandfather and grandfather. At one point She Wong Lam sold snake gallbladder and soup not only in Sheung Wan, but at two other locations in the city.

https://cdn3.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/images/methode/2018/07/11/1ce4d0b8-8416-11e8-99b0-7de4d17a9c3a_972x_190721.JPG
Mak gradually learned how to handle snakes, and defang them. Photo: James Wendlinger

Hong Kong historian Cheng Po-hung says one of the shops was on the corner of Hennessy and Fleming roads in Wan Chai. The other was in Kowloon, he says, though no one we spoke to remembers the exact location.

Before the 1950s, Chok says, snake was a delicacy on par with shark’s fin and bird’s nest, which only the well-off could afford.

“A snake gallbladder was a few days’ salary at the time,” she explains. “It cost HK$20, but at that time the average person’s monthly salary was only HK$250.”

However, from the 1950s onwards, eating snake became increasingly affordable for the working class and grew more popular. “A bowl of snake soup would cost HK$8, but then it went down to HK$2 to HK$3,” Chok says.

continued next post

GeneChing

07-11-2018, 01:09 PM

https://cdn2.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/images/methode/2018/07/11/3f35710e-8416-11e8-99b0-7de4d17a9c3a_1320x770_190721.JPG
Snake soup served at She Wong Lam. Photo: Edmond So

Lo says there was a Chinese opera theatre in Sheung Wan in the 1960s, close to She Wong Lam, and opera singers would patronise the shop regularly, downing snake gallbladder with alcohol to boost their stamina.

Celebrities such as actor Stephen Chow Sing-chi and former senior police officer Tsang Kai-wing (actor Eric Tsang Chi-wai’s father) were regular visitors. Lo says Chow would tell the staff to contact him when they had a particularly large cobra in stock, such was his appetite for the snake.

Historian Cheng says he has tried the reptile’s gallbladder, which his friends used to buy regularly from other snake shops. “They put it in a spoon, or a shot glass, and added alcohol to it,” he says.

“One time a group of us drank the gallbladder of three different snakes mixed with alcohol … it was translucent green in colour and tasted bitter. People think it helps you become physically stronger, but the gallbladder has bacteria in it,” he says.

Despite She Wong Lam’s success, Lo’s elders were acutely aware of how important it was that a member of the next generation learn the snake trade if the business was to continue.

“My great uncle asked me when I was in my 20s if I would go into the business, otherwise no one else would do it. But I have my life in Canada. I’m 50 years old now and I don’t even live there [in Hong Kong],” he says.

https://cdn2.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/images/methode/2018/07/11/09331e12-8416-11e8-99b0-7de4d17a9c3a_972x_190721.JPG
Mak extracts the gallbladder, and then makes the shop’s signature snake soup. Photo: James Wendlinger

Lo points out that other traditional trades in Hong Kong, such as making lanterns, bamboo noodles, hand-carved mahjong tiles, and neon signs, are also disappearing.

The younger generation move away and can’t come back. [Old] Hong Kong will disappearLO TIN-YAM
“The younger generation move away and can’t come back,” he says. “[Old] Hong Kong will disappear and instead have shops like Zara, McDonald’s and Fairwood, especially with rent being so expensive.”

A search on restaurant guide OpenRice shows 36 restaurants with the Chinese character for “snake” in their name still open in Hong Kong, at least four of them with more than one location. They may not necessarily be specialists like She Wong Lam, however, nor have live snakes on the premises.

https://cdn1.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/images/methode/2018/07/11/134a592e-8416-11e8-99b0-7de4d17a9c3a_1320x770_190721.JPG
Snake boxes with the word ‘poisonous’ on them at She Wong Lam in Sheung Wan. Photo: James Wendlinger

Historian Cheng thinks there is still a decent number of places to get a bowl of snake soup, and doesn’t expect them all to close any time soon. He says the owners of Shia Wong Hip in Sham Shui Po, for example, have taught their siblings the snake trade, and adds there are still many snake shops in that neighbourhood and in Yau Ma Tei.

After the closure of She Wong Lam, the Lo family, which owns the shop space, will rent it out. In the meantime, Lo says, they have contacted the Hong Kong Museum of History about collecting the snake cabinets, cages and tables. The wooden cabinets are more than 100 years old.

https://cdn4.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/images/methode/2018/07/11/0ed883dc-841d-11e8-99b0-7de4d17a9c3a_1320x770_190721.JPG
Diners enjoy bowls of snake soup at She Wong Lam. Photo: AFP

Lo says Mak designed his own pocket knife to make a sharp slit to extract the snake’s gallbladder, and to skin it quickly and efficiently. According to Cheng, designing their own knives is common practice among those in the snake business.

For Lo, the closure of She Wong Lam is also the end of a long chapter in the family’s history, and tinged with sadness. Five years ago, Hong Kong public broadcaster RTHK made a documentary featuring Lo and his son Lo Yun-hei, then three years old, visiting the shop. At the time he hoped the business would continue to the fifth generation.

The reality is that the family respects Mak’s wishes to retire, and Lo hopes to keep the shop’s name alive. “I do have the intention to move back to Hong Kong when I retire, and I still have the rights to the name, so maybe I’ll open a restaurant with the same name,” Lo says.

THREADS:
Chinese food (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?16444-Chinese-food)
snakes (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?50682-snakes)

GeneChing

07-12-2018, 08:31 AM

Chinese woman in coma after being bitten by deadly snake she bought online (https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2154993/chinese-woman-left-coma-after-being-bitten-poisonous-snake-she)
The 21-year-old is believed to have decided to keep the venomous many-banded krait as a pet
PUBLISHED : Thursday, 12 July, 2018, 4:11pm
UPDATED : Thursday, 12 July, 2018, 9:36pm
He Huifeng
huifeng.he@scmp.com

https://cdn2.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/styles/980x551/public/images/methode/2018/07/12/8920f8e4-858b-11e8-99b0-7de4d17a9c3a_1280x720_213633.JPG?itok=2SBC62To

A 21-year-old woman is in a coma and on life support in a hospital in northwest China after she was bitten by a highly venomous snake she is thought to have bought online, local media reported on Thursday.

The woman, identified only by the pseudonym Xiaofang, was bitten on her finger at her home in Weinan city in Shaanxi province on Monday, according to China Business Report.

The report suggested the woman had been keeping the many-banded krait, a species found in much of China and Southeast Asia – including Hong Kong where the government warns it is “lethal” – as a pet.

The woman’s parents were quoted as saying their daughter had called for help after being bitten and she reported feeling dizzy and nauseous about an hour later.

They took her to a local hospital but she soon lapsed into a coma.

The hospital did not have any supplies of antivenin to treat bites from the many-banded krait, which has the scientific name Bungarus multicinctus, because the species is not common in the region. This meant she was not given a shot of the antidote until the following evening.

On Tuesday the woman’s parents reported to police that the snake was missing and later that day a dead snake – subsequently confirmed to be a many-banded krait – was found a short distance from the family’s home.

Xiaofang’s family said chat logs from her phone suggested she had bought the snake via an online shopping platform, but did not have any further information about the seller or how she had taken delivery of the snake.

Many-banded kraits are on a list of protected rare and endangered species in China, and it is illegal to hurt or sell them.

However with so little information to go on – even the name of the platform used to buy the snake remains unknown – there is little the police can do at present.

Records indicated that the seller had informed Xiaofang that the creature was venomous, the report said.

Although Xiaofang told the seller she planned to use it to make “snake wine”, a traditional Chinese medicine made by leaving the animals to ferment in alcohol, her parents said she apparently had second thoughts and had been keeping the animal as a pet.

THREADS:
snakes (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?50682-snakes)
Cobra Wine (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?46069-Cobra-Wine)
TCM Fails (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?69777-TCM-Fails)

GeneChing

09-07-2018, 07:35 AM

This is a bad neighbor. :mad:

Texas Animal Control Seizes More Than 500 Snakes and Rodents From a Single Home (http://time.com/5389527/texas-animal-control-500-snakes-rodents/)

https://imagesvc.timeincapp.com/v3/mm/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftimedotcom.files.wordpress .com%2F2018%2F09%2Fap18249625142382.jpg&w=800&q=85
An San Antonio Animal Care Services officer carries bags containing snakes removed from a home in the 500 block of Kayton Avenua on San Antonio's Southside, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018. Josie Norris—AP

By ASSOCIATED PRESS September 6, 2018

SAN ANTONIO — Animal control officials have removed more than 100 snakes and more than 400 rodents from a San Antonio home following concerns about the animals’ living conditions.

Animal Care Services seized 136 reticulated pythons and ball pythons Wednesday after weeks of attempting to work with the reptiles’ owner to improve the living conditions, The San Antonio Express-News reported .

The San Antonio animal owner was breeding and selling the nonvenomous constrictors, investigators said. The man wouldn’t disclose how many snakes he had or address their living conditions, which prompted authorities to get a search warrant, said Joel Skidmore, a field operations supervisor. Two of the snakes were 10-foot (3-meter) pythons.

Animal Care Services officers found the snakes in cages and plastic tubs, some of which were stacked in a shed. Officials also removed 415 mice and rats that were being used as the snakes’ food source.

The city’s animal ordinance bans venomous snakes but doesn’t have specific limits for nonvenomous snakes. The ordinance does require that reptiles are provided with care and treatment, such as access to fresh air and water, and appropriate food and shelter.

The city’s Dangerous Assessment Response Team, a herpetologist from the San Antonio Zoo, city code enforcement officers and SeaWorld experts assisted in the reptiles’ removal.

The owner must appear in court within 10 days to determine who will get custody of the snakes, Skidmore said. If Animal Care Services is granted custody, the agency will work with local rescue shelters and zoos to find appropriate placement for the reptiles, spokeswoman Lisa Norwood said.

GeneChing

09-12-2018, 08:32 AM

German 'TSA' sucks.

I should really watch Snakes on a Plane someday. I reference it often. :o

SNAKES ON A PLANE: MAN SUCCESSFULLY BOARDS FLIGHT WITH 20 REPTILES IN HAND LUGGAGE (https://www.newsweek.com/snakes-plane-man-successfully-boards-flight-20-reptiles-hand-luggage-1117554)
BY DAMIEN SHARKOV ON 9/12/18 AT 7:34 AM

Flying from Germany to Russia, the passenger, whose name and nationality were not given, packed a small hand luggage bag that apparently passed without issue through authorities at Dusseldorf Airport. Once landing in Moscow, however, the Environmental Protection Agency noticed the curious contents and flagged up the reptilians inside the bag.

The man stated he had purchased the non-venomous animals from a market in Germany, RP Online reported, according to a translation by The Local website. The Russian capital’s Sheremetyevo International Airport confirmed the incident in a statement.

“The reptiles were in canisters, packed in bags, carried in hand luggage. There were no documents provided for the reptiles," the airport’s press service said in a statement. "The species of snakes will be determined by specialists, but according to preliminary information they are not of a venomous species.”

Russian authorities determined that the passenger did not have proper documentation to transport the animals into the country, seized the beasts and placed them into quarantine in Moscow.

Germany’s federal police said officers had not reported an incident at the time when the passenger checked in for the flight from Düsseldorf, meaning the person may have had the necessary documents to take the reptiles out of the country, which is not illegal. However, Russia requires additional information if someone is bringing in animals from another country. This includes information about the creatures’ origin and health from vets.

The rules about bringing animals on board planes is a contentious topic, especially letting them in the cabin as emotional support pets. Earlier this year one woman was forced to drive cross-country, following her attempt to check in her peacock as an emotional support animal, despite the airline’s insistence that she had to purchase a separate seat for the bird.

Meanwhile staff at Texas’s San Antonio International Airport were left scrambling to recapture an escaped monkey that fled from its crate and bolted for the baggage area. After the incident was caught on camera, officials announced they had managed to catch up with the monkey and put it back into a crate, placing it back on track to its destination—the ironically named Born Free USA Primate Sanctuary in La Salle County.

GeneChing

09-14-2018, 08:16 AM

Hurricane Florence could spread killer snakes across the Carolinas
By Tamar Lapin September 13, 2018 | 3:26pm | Updated
Modal Trigger

https://thenypost.files.wordpress.com/2018/09/180913-snakes-displaced-by-hurricane-florence-feature.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=618&h=410&crop=1
Composite; Reuters; iStockphoto

Hurricane Florence could displace venomous snakes from South Carolina’s wetlands — and send them slithering down local streets, local zoo officials are warning.

The monster storm may uproot some 38 species of snakes — including dangerous cottonmouths and copperhead vipers — from their coastal habitats, Thad Bowman of the Alligator Adventure zoo in Myrtle Beach told the Sun News in S.C.

“They inject venom, which causes tissue destruction, platelet loss, causes bleeding, it can cause death,” said Gerald O’Malley, with Grand Street Hospital.

Residents shouldn’t be out during the storm, but if they are, and get bitten by a snake, they should rush to a hospital that isn’t closed. Many medical facilities in the area will be shut down, but the Conway Medical Center is still open, the paper reported.

Horry County officials are asking people not to call 911 unless it’s serious. A bite from a cottonmouth, for example, would count as an emergency.

Wayward snakes are common during devastating storms.

“They can be found swimming in water or hiding under debris and they should be avoided,” Accuweather warned.

After Hurricane Harvey passed over Houston, Texas, in September 2017, people found snakes, fire ants and even alligators in their homes.

All three of those animals are also native to the Carolinas, which lie in Florence’s path.

Bowman said the zoo is doing everything to keep their animals safe during the storm. The zoo boasts seven different species of snakes, including a boa constrictor, and multiple types of alligators.

This seems more credible than the Sharknado claims (https://www.sfgate.com/weather/article/Rush-Limbaugh-sharks-hurricane-florence-myth-13227144.php).

GeneChing

10-04-2018, 03:21 PM

...snake loose in the restaurant.

Live snake escapes from Guangzhou restaurant’s kitchen, gets caught by customer (https://shanghai.ist/2018/10/05/live-snake-escapes-from-guangzhou-restaurants-kitchen-gets-caught-by-customer/)
At least you know your snakehead soup is fresh!
by Alex Linder October 5, 2018

https://i0.wp.com/shanghai.ist/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/snake-restaurant.jpg?w=1024&ssl=1

Recently, a live snake escaped from the restaurant of a kitchen only to be caught and returned by one customer. This happened where else but in Guangdong province.

Video shows that the snake’s escape caused quite a stir in the Guangzhou restaurant, causing some diners to flee and others to step forward to help catch the creature. In the end, it was a brave uncle who snared the serpent and presented it back to restaurant staff.

In China, the people of Guangdong have a well-earned reputation as adventurous eaters — a popular saying goes that they will “eat anything that has four legs except for a table, anything that flies except for an airplane, and anything that swims except for a submarine — while restaurants there do not have such an impressive reputation for food safety, at least you know that the snakehead soup is made fresh.

I hope that 'brave uncle' got his meal comped, at least.

THREADS
snakes (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?50682-snakes)
Chinese Food (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?16444-Chinese-food)

GeneChing

12-26-2018, 09:20 AM

A New Snake Species Was Found in Another Snake’s Stomach (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/new-snake-species-was-found-another-snakes-stomach-180971100/)
The so-called “mysterious dinner snake” represents not only a new species, but an entirely new genus

https://thumbs-prod.si-cdn.com/dwlbRRhYRAxUWjXffoW6n7dUFlI=/800x600/filters:no_upscale()/https://public-media.si-cdn.com/filer/30/44/3044de7a-00d7-497b-9825-ee54c2af312c/venomous_and_nonvenomous_coral_snake_coloration_il lustration.jpg
This isn't the first time snakes have been found inside of coral snakes' stomachs, but it is the first recorded instance of a new genus being identified from the remnants of a fellow serpent’s last meal. (John Livzey Ridgway 1859-1947)

By Meilan Solly
SMITHSONIAN.COM
DECEMBER 21, 2018

The elusive Cenaspis aenigma, or “mysterious dinner snake,” has never been captured alive. In fact, Jake Buehler reports for National Geographic, the slithering serpent has only surrendered itself to scientists once—and even then, in a distinctly roundabout manner.

Unwittingly trapped in the belly of the beast—specifically, the venomous Central American coral snake—Cenaspis first landed on researchers’ radar in 1976, when palm-harvesters working in the Mexican state of Chiapas caught a coral snake that had recently snacked on the smaller species. Due to the partially digested specimen’s irregular stripes, spineless hemipenes and skull shape, Cenaspis defied categorization for decades. But now, 42 years after this initial discovery, biologists from the University of Texas at Arlington have finally shed some light on the enigmatic snake’s origins.

The team’s findings, newly published in the Journal of Herpetology, identify Cenaspis as not only a new species, but an entirely new genus. As Buehler notes, the sole 10-inch male that represents both genus and species boasts an underside decorated with three triangular marks, affording its ventral scales a striped appearance divergent from that of other New World snakes.

Additionally, Cenaspsis’ hemipenes—branched sexual organs that essentially amount to dual *****es, according to National Geographic’s Tina Deines—lack the spines commonly seen along the organ, instead featuring cup-like structures known as calyces that Buehler likens to “some kind of otherworldly honeycomb.”

Michelle Starr of Science Alert adds that Cenaspis further differs from known species because of its elongated skull and undivided subcaudal scales, which are plates on the underside of the tail. Combined with the “unremarkable, … uniformly pale brown” coloring described by the researchers, these characteristics offer a strong argument for Cenaspis’ classification as a burrowing snake that spends most of its time underground.

Still, the scientists point out that the reptile’s triangular ventral scale pattern complicates this categorization: “Why a secretive burrowing snake would have such a distinctive ventral pattern is unknown,” the team writes in the study. “The ventral pattern is not replicated in any other Middle American snake."

Cenaspis’ teeth also suggest the snake is more complex than your average woodland burrower, which typically feasts on soft-bodied prey such as slugs and earthworms. The snake’s mouth and teeth—14 short chompers in the upper jaw—appear to be equipped for wrangling hard-bodied prey, including insects and spiders.

It may seem like the unusual manner of Cenaspis’ discovery outweighs its singular physical characteristics, but actually, the researchers write that “prey items, especially small snakes, are frequently encountered” in coral snakes’ stomachs. As far as the team knows, however, this study marks the first time a new genus has been identified from the remnants of a coral snake’s last meal.

The fact that scientists have yet to identify more than one Cenaspis specimen doesn’t mean the animal has vanished from the face of the Earth. Lead author Jonathan Campbell, a herpetologist at the University of Texas at Arlington, tells Buehler he thinks the mysterious snake still roams Chiapas, perhaps burrowing underground or adopting similar tactics to evade detection.

“This provides evidence of just how secretive some snakes can be,” Campbell says. “Combine their elusive habits with restricted ranges and some snakes do not turn up often.”

About Meilan Solly

Meilan Solly is a Washington, D.C.-based arts and science journalist. She has previously served as Smithsonian's American Society of Magazine Editors intern and a Kiplinger.com editorial intern. Website: meilansolly.com
r

dual *****es :eek:

GeneChing

01-28-2019, 09:03 AM

...or maybe no crap. snakes in the crapper!

Australian woman bitten by snake in toilet (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-46996559)
25 January 2019

https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/660/cpsprodpb/112C7/production/_105334307_21208ece-9b33-4c8e-bee2-7c80eb4b5393.jpg
JASMINE ZELENY
A professional snake handler was called to remove the 1.5m (5ft) python

An Australian woman "jumped off her seat" after being bitten by a snake on the toilet, a reptile handler says.

Helen Richards, 59, received the non-venomous strike in the dark at a relative's house in Brisbane on Tuesday.

She received minor puncture wounds from the 1.5m (5ft) carpet python.

Handler Jasmine Zeleny, who retrieved the reptile, said it was common to find snakes seeking water in toilets during hot weather.

Ms Richards told local media she had felt a "sharp tap".

"I jumped up with my pants down and turned around to see what looked like a longneck turtle receding back into the bowl," she told The Courier Mail newspaper.

https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/624/cpsprodpb/C4A7/production/_105334305_50623492_947707382084542_63128393708564 64384_n.jpg
JASMINE ZELENY
The carpet python was most likely seeking water, handler Jasmine Zeleny says

Ms Zeleny said Ms Richards had treated the minor bite marks with an antiseptic, describing carpet pythons as relatively harmless.

"Unfortunately, the snake's preferred exit point was blocked after being spooked by Helen sitting down, and it lashed out in fear," Ms Zeleny told the BBC.

"By the time I got there, she had trapped the snake and calmed down. Helen treated the whole situation like a champion."

Carpet pythons are a common species along the east coast of Australia. They are not venomous but tetanus shots are recommended for bites.

Australia has experienced a fortnight of extreme heat that has broken dozens of records across the nation.

Several wildlife species have suffered, with reports of mass deaths of horses, native bats and fish.

PalmStriker

01-28-2019, 03:45 PM

:) Snakes are definitely "paranoia strikes deep" material to contend with. I have been snake-sitting for a Lemonblast Ball Python (hybrid) over the last 6 months that lives in a glass aquarium tank in the computer room where I am sitting that is next to my bedrm. She has been growing all along from babysnake to half-grown. she will continue until she is 5' long and pretty thick for a strangle-hold to equal that of an arm wrestler. Son & daughter-in-law had to get it out of the house where they rent so they put her tank on top of a bookcase where she is not bothering anyone. She has showed up in my dreams at night, though... I don't feed or handle her but she knows me. She comes out of her cave when she knows her owners are in the house. http://www.theurbanpython.com/files/reptiles/lemon_blast_3.jpg

GeneChing

02-27-2019, 02:10 PM

snakes on a plane could easily have its own thread here. :eek:

Snake on a Plane: Australian python makes 9,000-mile flight in woman's shoe (https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/python-australia-scotland-flight-scli-intl/index.html)
Rob Picheta, CNN • Updated 25th February 2019

(CNN) — It's the Samuel L. Jackson sequel we've all been waiting for: A Scottish woman has survived a real-life case of a snake on a plane, finding a python curled up in her shoe after a 9,000 mile flight from Australia.
Moira Boxall was shocked to discover a live spotted python in her suitcase after traveling from Queensland to Glasgow on Thursday.
The serpent had taken up residence in a shoe, and had even started shedding its skin during the lengthy journey.
The incident brings to mind the 2006 cult film "Snakes on a Plane," in which Samuel L. Jackson plays an FBI agent battling a crate-load of deadly serpents on board a flight.
But rather than putting in a call to the Oscar-nominated actor for help, Boxall rang animal protection organization the Scottish SPCA, which took the snake into quarantine.

https://dynaimage.cdn.cnn.com/cnn/q_auto,w_634,c_fill,g_auto,h_357,ar_16:9/http%3A%2F%2Fcdn.cnn.com%2Fcnnnext%2Fdam%2Fassets% 2F190225114332-03-spotted-python-trnd.jpg
The python was taken into quarantine.
Courtesy Paul Airlie

"I responded to a call from a woman who had just returned from a holiday in Australia who had found a small snake inside her shoe in her suitcase," animal rescue officer Taylor Johnstone said in a statement sent to CNN.
"When I arrived, the snake had been contained by the caller, so I safely removed the snake from the property. Upon examination, the snake was found to be a spotted python which is not venomous," Johnstone said.
"The snake is now in quarantine at our animal rescue and re-homing centre in Edinburgh."

https://dynaimage.cdn.cnn.com/cnn/q_auto,w_634,c_fill,g_auto,h_357,ar_16:9/http%3A%2F%2Fcdn.cnn.com%2Fcnnnext%2Fdam%2Fassets% 2F190225113131-02-spotted-python-trnd.jpg
The snake was in a shoe in Moira Boxall's suitcase.
Scottish SPCA

This isn't the first time a snake has skipped security and made its way onto an aircraft.
In 2016, a passenger filmed the terrifying moment a snake dangled down into the cabin during an Aeromexico flight from Torreon to Mexico City.
And in 2012, an EgyptAir flight was forced to make an emergency landing after a snake reportedly bit a Jordanian man who smuggled a reptile onboard.

GeneChing

04-16-2019, 11:14 AM

Man releases 40kg of live snakes into wild for good karma, gets investigated for wildlife trafficking (https://shanghai.ist/2019/04/10/man-releases-40kg-of-live-snakes-into-wild-for-good-karma-gets-investigated-for-wildlife-trafficking/)
By setting the snakes free, he was hoping to boost the success of his real estate business
by Alex Linder April 10, 2019 in News

https://i2.wp.com/shanghai.ist/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/release-snakes2.jpg?w=1024&ssl=1

After releasing plague-like quantities of snakes into the wild in hopes of improving the fortunes of his business, a man is now under investigation for illegal wildlife trafficking.

The man, surnamed Yu, reportedly bought 40 kilograms of live snakes for 5,000 yuan ($744 – what a bargain!) from a market in (where else but) Guangdong province, along with an additional 11,000 yuan ($1,600) worth of fish and eels early last week. A few days later, he dumped out these animals alongside the Lancang River in Yunnan province.

The act is a Buddist ritual known as “fangsheng” (放生), literally “release life,” where one can gain merit by releasing captive animals back into nature. In Yu’s case, he was hoping that the move would help out his real estate business.

It remains to be seen how the incident will affect Yu’s enterprises, though it hasn’t exactly endeared him to the locals who voiced concern about the hundreds of (non-venomous) snakes being suddenly introduced into their environment. A team of 50 foresty and fishery officials were dispatched to attempt to recapture the snakes, they have only managed to catch 12 of them.

THREADS
Buddhist 'life release' (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?68129-Buddhist-life-release)
snakes (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?50682-snakes)

GeneChing

04-19-2019, 07:52 AM

This reminds me of that lyric from Vampire Weekend's Harmony Hall
"And the stone walls of Harmony Hall bear witness
Anybody with a worried mind could never forgive the sight
Of wicked snakes inside a place you thought was dignified"

Snakes force Liberian President George Weah out of office (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-47987971)
By Jonathan Paye-Layleh
BBC Africa, Monrovia
3 hours ago

https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/660/cpsprodpb/E170/production/_106521775_gettyimages-942012582.jpg
AFP/GETTY
President George Weah will return to his usual office on Monday

Snakes have been found in Liberian President George Weah's office, forcing him to work from his private residence, the BBC has learnt.

Press secretary Smith Toby told the BBC that on Wednesday two black snakes were found in the foreign affairs ministry building, his official place of work.

All staff have been told to stay away until 22 April.

"It's just to make sure that crawling and creeping things get fumigated from the building," Mr Toby said.

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs hosts the office of the president, so it did an internal memo asking the staff to stay home while they do the fumigation," he said.

The office of the president has been based in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs since a fire in 2006 gutted the nearby presidential mansion.

A FrontPage Africa news website video shows workers trying to attack the snakes when they appeared near the building's reception.

"The snakes were never killed," Mr Toby said. "There was a little hole somewhere [through which] they made their way back."

Police and presidential security were seen guarding Mr Weah's residence in the capital Monrovia. A fleet of vehicles including escorts jeeps were parked outside.

Mr Toby said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs started to fumigate on Friday.

"That building's been there for years now, and [because of] the drainage system, the possibility of having things like snakes crawling in that building was high," he said.

The president is definitely returning to his office on Monday after the fumigation whether or not the snakes are found and killed, Mr Toby said.

GeneChing

04-22-2019, 09:53 AM

‘It’s moving and it’s huge!’: An 18-foot-long snake on a roof horrified a Detroit neighborhood (https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/04/19/its-moving-its-huge-an-foot-long-snake-roof-horrified-detroit-neighborhood/?utm_term=.03e8a8ca5635)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/resizer/MNnn4daWvroBfksynChk2TtHOk0=/984x0/arc-anglerfish-washpost-prod-washpost.s3.amazonaws.com/public/IHY3QHMAYFGILGC6EISDEHCIGI.png
Juliet, the 18-foot-long reticulated python, found her way onto the garage roof on Thursday. (Latonda Harvey/Facebook)

By Timothy Bella April 19

If she’d wanted to, Juliet could have probably eaten the dog that was barking at her on Thursday. But the 8-year-old is a friend, not a fighter. Instead, she climbed up onto the garage roof for safety.

But when dozens of neighbors started to gather in front of the home, snapping photos and live-streaming from their cellphones, they all had the same question: What exactly was an 18-foot-long snake doing on a roof in the middle of Detroit?

“Oh my God!” exclaimed Latonda Harvey, a neighbor who live-streamed the scene Thursday on Facebook. “It’s moving and it’s huge!”

The scare-turned-spectacle had residents and police in awe of the reticulated python, a nonvenomous species native to South and Southeast Asia that is the longest snake in the world.

“She’s about 18 feet long, 18-plus feet, so I can understand people worried about seeing a big snake sitting on top of a garage like that,” Devin Jones-White, her 25-year-old owner, later told WXYZ.

While it’s unclear how the docile Juliet found her way up to the shingles atop the home in Detroit’s East Seven Mile neighborhood, Jones-White had a theory. As first reported by WXYZ, Jones-White said he did not lock up her cage properly. And he suspected Juliet slithered out toward the front of the home on Thursday afternoon, where one of his dogs probably barked at her. Startled, Juliet made her way to safety — and a part of the home she where hadn’t been before.

“That’s what snakes do in the wild. They try to get somewhere safe,” he said. “[If] they don’t want to eat it, they’re trying to get away from it.”

Soon, word got around that a giant snake was on a neighbor’s roof, drawing a curious crowd who had to see it to believe it.

“Everyone kept coming here, driving by, taking pictures, getting out of their cars and video recording,” neighbor Kashires McReynolds said to FOX 2.

Once police arrived, one neighbor wondered aloud what authorities could do to address the unorthodox situation.

“What the flashlight gonna do?” Harvey asked during her live-stream, laughing. “Oh, that’s his walkie-talkie. He’s like, ‘Hell no!’”

But Juliet’s newfound attention got to the python, Jones-White said. She probably wanted to get as far out of reach as she could in that moment. The anxiety only worsened with the growing neighborhood commotion, he guessed.

“When everybody came out and crowded around her, she was spooked even more with the crowd,” Jones-White told FOX 2. “That’s why she never came down and stayed up there, doing her own thing.”

Once Jones-White was alerted, he said he was scared for Juliet. He asked a friend on the scene to make sure police didn’t do anything to the snake. When he arrived, he made his way to the roof to retrieve his 18-foot-long pet. Adults, children and cops alike gawked at the prospect of a human coming so close to a creature of cartoonish length.

“Is he really about to go up there?” Harvey wondered.

He did. Slowly but surely, Jones-White began the clunky process of carrying Juliet down the side of the roof. One onlooker could be heard yelling excited obscenities as the rescue unfolded. As he led Juliet down, Jones-White tripped and nearly fell off the roof, perhaps the most drama-filled moment of a situation involving an 18-foot-long snake in residential Detroit. Foot by foot, Jones-White patiently waited as Juliet wrapped around his torso until the 8-year-old made it safely to the ground.

Embedded video

Brian Abel
✔
@BrianAbelTV
Made a new friend today. This is Juliet and she created quite the scare in a Detroit neighborhood. 😳

233
5:04 PM - Apr 18, 2019
107 people are talking about this
Twitter Ads info and privacy

Brian Abel
✔
@BrianAbelTV
· Apr 18, 2019
Replying to @BrianAbelTV
He said the dog part to make the point that she is friendly. Has a diet of thawed out rabbits.
Here is Juliet's owner Devin Jones-White:

Embedded video

Brian Abel
✔
@BrianAbelTV
The python that escaped in #Detroit and climbed on a roof is now safe and sound.
See this gal's primetime debut at 11 on @wxyzdetroit pic.twitter.com/9vluYIRu3E

30
7:29 PM - Apr 18, 2019
Twitter Ads info and privacy
Embedded video
30 people are talking about this
Jones-White said he took in Juliet about five years ago from an older couple who had raised her for her first three years. For food, she eats thawed-out rabbits, he said. Since Juliet is nonvenomous, Jones-White told Fox 2 he has a special permit to own the python.

“She’s been around people her entire life,” Jones-White said to WXYZ. “She was born in captivity, raised in captivity. She doesn’t really know anything about the wild.”

So why would someone have an 18-foot-long snake native to Asia in a Detroit home? Jones-White is hoping to start a small zoo in the city, something that doesn’t exist in Detroit’s city limits, WXYZ reported. The Detroit Zoo, which hosts more than 1.5 million visitors annually, is actually located in Royal Oak, Mich., about three miles north of the Motor City.

No one was in danger Thursday, which is par for the course for the species. As The Washington Post’s Amy B Wang and Avi Selk have reported in recent years, the chance of a reticulated python attacking a human is, to put it lightly, rare. Emily Taylor, a professor of biological sciences at California Polytechnic State University, once wrote that the odds of a human getting eaten by a snake like the reticulated python are “lower than the chances of being struck by lightning at the exact same time as winning Mega Millions.”

Even with that you’ve-got-to-be-kidding-me scenario, there have been at least two recent instances in which people were eaten by a reticulated python. In 2017, a 25-year-old Indonesian man who was missing was gruesomely discovered when villagers cut open a 23-foot-long reticulated python to find the man’s legs, Wang reported. Last year, another Indonesian villager, a 54-year-old woman, was devoured by another 23-foot-long reticulated python so bloated that it could barely move, Selk wrote.

Despite Juliet’s impressive length, she does not come close to being the longest python of her kind. That honor goes to Medusa, who, at 25 feet, 2 inches, is the longest snake ever recorded in captivity, according to Guinness World Records. In 2011, the 350-pound reticulated python needed 15 men to hold her to be measured at full length. Based out of Kansas City, Mo., Medusa shares Juliet’s taste for rabbits but also devours hogs and deer, according to her owner, Full Moon Productions.

Inevitably, the excitement near East Seven Mile gave way to exhaustion. And the only one to blame was Juliet, the reticulated python on the roof.

“I’m gonna need a drink after this one,” Harvey said.

Correction: A previous version of this article said the Detroit Zoo is about 13 miles northwest of Detroit. It is approximately three miles north of the city.
That's a big snake...:eek:

GeneChing

10-07-2019, 07:33 AM

Florida trappers capture record-setting python in Everglades (https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/florida-trappers-capture-record-setting-python-everglades-66095686)
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESSBIG
CYPRESS NATIONAL PRESERVE, Fla. — Oct 6, 2019, 12:15 PM ET

https://s.abcnews.com/images/US/WireAP_2f87d524d10a45b0b24e69000f02d8ca_12x5_992.j pg
In this Sept. 22, 2019 photo from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Florida trappers Jonathan Lopez, left, and Cynthia Downer pose with a record-setting python they captured at the Big Cypress National Preserve, west of Miami, Fla. A statement by the Fish and Wildlife Commission says it was the largest snake captured by the new Python Action Team and the largest ever captured at the Big Cypress National Preserve. The agency says it is the second-largest python ever caught in the wild in Florida. (Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation
Officials say Florida trappers have captured a record-setting python as part of a growing effort that encourages hunters to remove the invasive snakes from the Everglades.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission says the 18-foot, 4-inch-long (5.58 meters) female python weighed 98 pounds and 10 ounces (45 kilograms). A statement by the Fish and Wildlife Commission says it was the largest snake captured by the new Python Action Team and the largest ever captured at the Big Cypress National Preserve, west of Miami.

The agency says it is the second-largest python ever caught in the wild in Florida. The commission says hunting female Burmese pythons is critical because they add between 30 and 60 hatchlings each time they breed.

That's a lotta snake. :eek:

GeneChing

11-01-2019, 08:10 AM

Woman found dead with a python wrapped around her neck in a home with 140 snakes (https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/31/us/snake-python-death-trnd/index.html)
By Allen Kim and Rebekah Riess, CNN
Updated 10:19 AM ET, Fri November 1, 2019

(CNN)A woman was found dead with an 8-foot python snake wrapped around her neck, according to Indiana State Police.
The snake was a reticulated python, which is native to southeast Asia and is considered to be the longest snake in the world.
The Benton County dispatch in Oxford, Indiana, received a 911 call Wednesday night after Laura Hurst, 36, was found unresponsive.

https://cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/191031155340-woman-python-death-medium-plus-169.jpg
Laura Hurst was found dead with a reticulated python wrapped around her neck.
Medics arrived and attempted life-saving measures on her but were unsuccessful.

Police say there were 140 snakes at the property, and that approximately 20 of the snakes belong to Hurst. According to police, Hurst frequented the property "about twice a week."
The home is owned by Benton County Sheriff Donald Munson, according to property records. Munson did not return a CNN call for comment Thursday afternoon.
Munson told the Lafayette Journal & Courier that Hurst's death was a "tragic accident" and that he was "being fully cooperative with everybody."
Indiana State Police Sgt. Kim Riley told CNN that no one lives in the home and that it had been renovated and set up specifically for the collection of snakes.
He said that Hurst was "apparently there checking on her snakes. For whatever reason, she apparently got the snake out and she was doing what people do with snakes."
Riley said that the snake may have caused Hurst's death and that an autopsy will be performed on Friday to provide an official cause of death.

CNN's Tanika Gray contributed to this story.

What a horrible way to go. And on Halloween (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?17340-Happy-Halloween!/page10) no less.

Wonder what became of the snake...

GeneChing

12-13-2019, 08:42 AM

Woman finds 10-foot python in her Christmas tree (https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/13/australia/three-meter-python-christmas-tree-intl-scli/index.html)
By Amy Woodyatt, CNN
Updated 6:05 AM ET, Fri December 13, 2019

https://cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/191213044133-three-foot-snake-in-xmas-tree-exlarge-169.jpg
Leanne Chapman was alerted to the python's presence by birds "kicking off on the balcony."

(CNN)There are many ways to decorate a Christmas tree -- from monotone minimalism to old-school kitsch.
But for one woman in Australia, the seasonal theme was very big snakes, when she got home to find a 10-foot python adorning her tree.
Leanne Chapman and her partner returned to their home in Brisbane, Queensland on Thursday, and noticed a commotion on their balcony.
"We came home from work and there's a couple of butcher birds that visit every day and they were just kicking off on the balcony, going crazy," Chapman told CNN affiliate 7News.

https://cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/191213055509-02-three-foot-snake-in-xmas-tree-exlarge-169.jpg
The snake eventually slithered away.

Chapman, who is originally from England, told 7News that her partner started to video the birds, and leaning on the tree -- not realizing what lay wrapped around it.
"As he's turned around and stepped back, he didn't realise he was leaning on the Christmas tree with the snake wrapped around it," she told 7News.
The couple left the snake alone, and later that night, it slithered away.
"It wasn't bothered by us. It just stayed there for a good few hours as we watched it through the window," Chapman said.
It was only when the reptile moved from its position that the couple realized how big it was.
"It was big -- really big," Chapman said.
"After the initial shock wore off, it was a really beautiful snake," she said.
"It was actually quite nice to see it that close up because I've never seen anything like it before," she added.

THREADS
snakes (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?50682-snakes)
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?52814-Merry-Christmas-and-Happy-Holidays)

GeneChing

01-17-2020, 08:32 AM

We had a tarantula invasion this year in our area. My cousin, who lives in SF's sunset district, found one in his house. He told me about that last Wednesday.

I'll take tarantulas over pythons.

ENVIRONMENT JANUARY 17, 2020 / 4:23 AM / UPDATED 3 HOURS AGO
'It was going for my throat': Florida python hunters wrestle invasive snakes (https://www.reuters.com/article/us-florida-python-hunt/it-was-going-for-my-throat-florida-python-hunters-wrestle-invasive-snakes-idUSKBN1ZG16F)
Zachary ***enson
4 MIN READ

OCHOPEE, Fla. (Reuters) - Thomas Aycock’s life flashed before his eyes one night in the Everglades as a 13-foot Burmese python squeezed his arm and a leg in its coils. Aycock, who was trying to bag the snake by himself, still recalls feeling its tail across his back.

https://s2.reutersmedia.net/resources/r/?m=02&d=20200117&t=2&i=1477698924&w=1200&r=LYNXMPEG0G0X3
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission staff bag an invasive Burmese python in the Everglades Wildlife Management Area, Florida June 23, 2019. FWC/Alicia Wellman/Handout via REUTERS

“I knew what it was doing, it was going for my throat,” said the 54-year-old Florida Army National Guard major who was able to wrestle free during that incident in the summer of 2018. “I said to myself, ‘It can’t go down like this.’”

That scare has not stopped him from returning again and again to the sprawling wetland, devoting almost every spare moment to searching the thick brush and sawgrass for more snakes, as he was doing during this interview.

The state encourages hunters to capture or kill the giant, invasive south Asian snakes that are decimating local wildlife. Dozens of hunters are prowling the Everglades during Florida’s 10-day Python Bowl, which ends Monday. Armed with long metal hooks that resemble fireplace pokers and bags, many hunters catch the snakes and take them in live.

Those who take the most longest and heaviest pythons each will win $2,000 in cash. Other prizes include off-road vehicles.

Aycock and his fellow hunters are spending days and nights slowly creeping across the webs of levees that span the Everglades by foot, bicycle and souped-up SUV looking for the glint of an eye or the shine of brown and black scales.

First found in the Everglades around the year 2000, the snakes were introduced by pet owners and possibly a snake research facility that was destroyed when Hurricane Andrew struck the region in 1992.

The behemoths, some of which measure more than 18 feet (5.5 m) long and weigh more than 100 pounds (45 kg), have wreaked havoc on the fragile ecosystem. A 2012 study in Everglades National Park by the United States Geological Survey found 99% fewer raccoons, 98% fewer opossums and 87% fewer bobcats. Massive snakes have even been found trying to eat alligators.

“I saw an opossum last night out on the levee and it was the first small animal I’ve seen in probably five or six months,” Aycock said.

Agencies including the South Florida Water Management District and the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission have all launched python removal programs in recent years, offering hunters hourly wages and bonuses depending on the size and weight.

According to a 2019 report, contracted python hunters brought in about 1,900 snakes since the program launched in March 2017.

The success has been hard fought. Despite their size and numbers, which some estimate in the hundreds of thousands, Aycock said it can take eight hours on average to find a snake.

From the start of the program to mid-2018, the most current data available, hunters working for both agencies spent 14,000 hours in the field yielding 1,186 snakes. Some larger females have been found holding up to 100 eggs.

“We’re targeting removal in bird rookeries, in sensitive ecological areas, so regardless of the snakes’ population we know every one removed makes a difference,” said Kristen Sommers, the state’s wildlife impact management section leader.

Yet on Wednesday night, finding even one proved impossible for Aycock. The cooler weather meant the cold-blooded serpents stayed hidden and out of sight.

“Every python removed out of this ecosystem serves a purpose in restoring this ecosystem,” Aycock said. “We have a good time out here, but it’s also a mission we take seriously and are willing to work at.”

Editing by Scott Malone and David Gregorio

GeneChing

01-23-2020, 10:53 AM

I liked the Bat theory (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71666-Coronavirus-Wuhan-Pneumonia&p=1317405#post1317405) better (although there is a connection)

Snakes could be the source of the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak (https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/22/health/snakes-wuhan-coronavirus-outbreak-conversation-partner/index.html?fbclid=IwAR21103JPAUkUT1Qbfc2LmMEv09Z62-ikoUFN43YiIH4PA9tT8eTWFKLo9w)
By Haitao Guo, Guangxiang "George" Luo and Shou-Jiang Gao, The Conversation
Updated 6:32 AM ET, Thu January 23, 2020

(CNN)Snakes -- the Chinese krait and the Chinese cobra -- may be the original source of the newly discovered coronavirus that has triggered an outbreak of a deadly infectious respiratory illness in China this winter.
The many-banded krait (Bungarus multicinctus), also known as the Taiwanese krait or the Chinese krait, is a highly venomous species of elapid snake found in much of central and southern China and Southeast Asia.
The illness was first reported in late December 2019 in Wuhan, a major city in central China, and has been rapidly spreading. Since then, sick travelers from Wuhan have infected people in China and other countries, including the United States.
Using samples of the virus isolated from patients, scientists in China have determined the genetic code of the virus and used microscopes to photograph it. The pathogen responsible for this pandemic is a new coronavirus. It's in the same family of viruses as the well-known severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), which have killed hundreds of people in the past 17 years. The World Health Organization (WHO) has named the new coronavirus 2019-nCoV.
We are virologists and journal editors and are closely following this outbreak because there are many questions that need to be answered to curb the spread of this public health threat.
What is a coronavirus?
The name of coronavirus comes from its shape, which resembles a crown or solar corona when imaged using an electron microscope.
The electron microscopic image, reveals the crown shape structural details for which the coronavirus was named. This image is of the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV). National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
Coronavirus is transmitted through the air and primarily infects the upper respiratory and gastrointestinal tract of mammals and birds. Though most of the members of the coronavirus family only cause mild flu-like symptoms during infection, SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV can infect both upper and lower airways and cause severe respiratory illness and other complications in humans.
This new 2019-nCoV causes similar symptoms to SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV. People infected with these coronaviruses suffer a severe inflammatory response.
Unfortunately, there is no approved vaccine or antiviral treatment available for coronavirus infection. A better understanding of the life cycle of 2019-nCoV, including the source of the virus, how it is transmitted and how it replicates are needed to both prevent and treat the disease.

Zoonotic transmission
Both SARS and MERS are classified as zoonotic viral diseases, meaning the first patients who were infected acquired these viruses directly from animals. This was possible because while in the animal host, the virus had acquired a series of genetic mutations that allowed it to infect and multiply inside humans.
Now these viruses can be transmitted from person to person. Field studies have revealed that the original source of SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV is the bat, and that the masked palm civets (a mammal native to Asia and Africa) and camels, respectively, served as intermediate hosts between bats and humans.
In the case of this 2019 coronavirus outbreak, reports state that most of the first group of patients hospitalized were workers or customers at a local seafood wholesale market which also sold processed meats and live consumable animals including poultry, donkeys, sheep, pigs, camels, foxes, badgers, bamboo rats, hedgehogs and reptiles. However, since no one has ever reported finding a coronavirus infecting aquatic animals, it is plausible that the coronavirus may have originated from other animals sold in that market.
The hypothesis that the 2019-nCoV jumped from an animal at the market is strongly supported by a new publication in the Journal of Medical Virology. The scientists conducted an analysis and compared the genetic sequences of 2019-nCoV and all other known coronaviruses.
The study of the genetic code of 2019-nCoV reveals that the new virus is most closely related to two bat SARS-like coronavirus samples from China, initially suggesting that, like SARS and MERS, the bat might also be the origin of 2019-nCoV. The authors further found that the viral RNA coding sequence of 2019-nCoV spike protein, which forms the "crown" of the virus particle that recognizes the receptor on a host cell, indicates that the bat virus might have mutated before infecting people.
How influenza jumped from animals to humans
But when the researchers performed a more detailed bioinformatics analysis of the sequence of 2019-nCoV, it suggests that this coronavirus might come from snakes.
The Wuhan Huanan Wholesale Seafood Market, where the coronavirus outbreak is believed to have started, is now closed.

From bats to snakes
The researchers used an analysis of the protein codes favored by the new coronavirus and compared it to the protein codes from coronaviruses found in different animal hosts, like birds, snakes, marmots, hedgehogs, manis, bats and humans. Surprisingly, they found that the protein codes in the 2019-nCoV are most similar to those used in snakes.
Snakes often hunt for bats in wild. Reports indicate that snakes were sold in the local seafood market in Wuhan, raising the possibility that the 2019-nCoV might have jumped from the host species -- bats -- to snakes and then to humans at the beginning of this coronavirus outbreak. However, how the virus could adapt to both the cold-blooded and warm-blooded hosts remains a mystery.
The authors of the report and other researchers must verify the origin of the virus through laboratory experiments. Searching for the 2019-nCoV sequence in snakes would be the first thing to do. However, since the outbreak, the seafood market has been disinfected and shut down, which makes it challenging to trace the new virus' source animal.
3 reasons the US is not ready for a pandemic
Sampling viral RNA from animals sold at the market and from wild snakes and bats is needed to confirm the origin of the virus. Nonetheless, the reported findings will also provide insights for developing prevention and treatment protocols.
The 2019-nCoV outbreak is another reminder that people should limit the consumption of wild animals to prevent zoonotic infections.

THREADS
Coronavirus (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71666-Coronavirus-Wuhan-Pneumonia)
Snakes (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?50682-snakes)

GeneChing

08-16-2021, 08:59 AM

Drunk Man Dies After Biting Venomous Baby Snake in Apparent Revenge Attack (https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/drunk-man-dies-after-biting-venomous-baby-snake-in-apparent-revenge-attack/ar-AAN9wuX)
Jack Beresford 6 days ago
A man in India has died after chewing on a baby snake in an apparent revenge attack on the reptile.

https://img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/AAN9e4l.img?h=533&w=799&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f
© Evgenyi_Eg/Getty Stock image of a small snake - a man in India died after biting a venomous baby snake.
According to the Times of India, Rama Mahto, 65, captured and bit a baby viper in retaliation for an earlier attack outside his home in the village of Madhodeh in the Nalanda district of Bihar.

Mahto, who was allegedly under the influence of alcohol at the time, was sitting out the front of his house on Sunday when the baby snake reportedly bit him on the leg.

He eventually managed to capture the viper and, in a surprising twist, decided to enact his own unique form of vengeance on the animal, reported India TV.

In a statement issued to police and reported by the news outlet, Mahto's family said he was "bitten more than 10 times" on the face while chewing the snake.

He eventually discarded the reptile in a nearby tree.

Despite his family urging him to go to the hospital and seek treatment, "he refused and went to sleep" believing the snake's bite carried no venom due to its age.

Mahto went to bed and was found dead on Monday morning. The official cause of death has not yet been recorded.

Untreated venomous snakebites are a serious problem in several regions of the world.

The U.K. Centre for Snakebite Research & Interventions (CSRI) estimates that snakebites kill 81,000 to 138,000 people annually.

A further 400,000 victims are also left with permanent physical disabilities and disfigurements as a result of venomous animal bites of this kind.

"It is the rural impoverished African and Asian communities, and particularly the most economically important and educationally vulnerable 10-30 year olds, that suffer disproportionately high rates of snakebite mortality and morbidity," the CSRI states.

Another recent story from the U.K, has further highlighted the dangers of leaving a snake bite untreated.

An 11-year-old schoolgirl ended up being hospitalized after she was bitten by a venomous adder while out walking with her family.

Grace Roys' father did not initially believe she had been bitten by a snake, given how rare attacks of this kind are in the U.K.

However, he soon realized something was amiss when she began to suffer with stomach pains and vomiting while her foot eventually turned black and blue.

She went on to spend several days in the hospital, during which time her leg swelled to three times its normal size. Worse still, doctors discovered some of the adder's venom had reached her kidneys.

Newsweek has reached out for the Centre for Snakebite Research & Interventions for comment.
According to some reports, this drunk dude bit the baby snake in revenge. When you walk the road of revenge, dig two graves.

highlypotion

08-18-2021, 02:09 AM

GeneChing

10-15-2021, 09:18 AM

Indian man gets life sentence for killing wife with cobra (https://nypost.com/2021/10/15/indian-man-gets-life-sentence-for-killing-wife-with-cobra/)
By Joshua Rhett Miller
October 15, 2021 9:54am Updated

An Indian court has found a man guilty of murdering his wife with a cobra

A man in India convicted of murdering his wife with a cobra has been sentenced to life in prison.

Sooraj Kumar, 28, was handed the sentence Wednesday for killing his wife, Uthra, 25, in May 2020 in what prosecutors dubbed the “rarest of rare” cases, Agence France-Press reported.

Prosecutors said Kumar, a bank employee, was unhappy in his marriage and feared that divorcing Uthra would force him to return a large dowry, including a new car and roughly $20,000 in cash.

Kumar, who was convicted of murder Monday after pleading not guilty, first decided last March to set loose a highly venomous Russell’s viper in Uthra’s bedroom, where she was bitten by the snake and spent nearly two months in a hospital, authorities said.

As she recovered afterward at her parents’ house, prosecutors said Kumar carried out his twisted plot using a cobra that he obtained from a snake handler and tossed it at his sleeping wife, prosecutors said.

Kumar even stayed in the room after his wife was bitten and continued about his morning routine when alerted by Uthra’s mother the following day, prosecutors said.

“The mode of execution and the diabolic plan of the accused to murder Uthra, his wife who was bedridden, makes it [the case] fall into the category of rarest of rare,” a prosecutor who sought the death penalty said.

https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/killed-wife-cobra-01.jpg?quality=90&strip=all
Sooraj Kumar was unhappy in his marriage and feared that divorcing his wife would force him to return a large dowry, so he set a snake loose in her bedroom.
Getty Images/iStockphoto
Uthra’s parents became suspicious of their son-in-law after he tried to take control of her property after she died, Agence France-Press reported.

Kumar was sentenced after being found guilty of murder in the state of Kerala, NBC News reported. Prosecutors accused him of marrying his wife for financial gain and conspiring to kill her upon becoming dissatisfied in their marriage.

“If he divorces her, he will have to part with all her wealth,” assistant superintendent of Kerala police Hariram Shankar told NBC News. “If he kills her through an explicit murder weapon, the wealth would also have to be returned. So he wanted to get rid of her through something that would resemble an accident.”

But the woman’s death was clearly a “well-planned murder,” Shankar said.

The snake handler, identified only as Suresh, was also arrested for supplying the snakes to Kumar, the Indian Express reported.

Fatal snakebites in India are not uncommon, according to NBC News, citing World Health Organization data showing 1.2 million such deaths from 2000 through 2019.

The country’s Supreme Court, meanwhile, has suggested murder by snake may be part of a growing trend in India, where another man, Krishna Kumar, was one of three defendants accused of murdering a woman from Rajasthan in June 2019 by leaving a poisonous snake in a bag near her bed.

India’s Supreme Court denied bail to Kumar on Oct. 6 in the slaying of Subodh Devi, NBC News reported.

Devi was killed after she found out her daughter-in-law, Alpana, was having an affair, court documents show. When confronted by Devi, Alpana and her partner allegedly went to a snake charmer with Kumar and bought a poisonous snake that bit Devi, killing her.
cold blooded murderer

GeneChing

03-25-2022, 10:51 AM

Chinese man bitten by venomous snake he thought was dead inside a wine bottle he bought for his son (https://nextshark.com/chinese-man-gets-bitten-by-snake-inside-snake-wine-bottle/)
Bryan Ke
2 days ago
https://nextshark.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/snake-wine.jpg
Representational purpose only. Image: Jacek Karczmarczyk/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0)

A Chinese father from Heilongjiang Province, China, was reportedly rushed to the hospital after a venomous snake, which he thought to be dead inside a jar of snake wine, bit him.

The father claimed to have bought three jars of snake wine a year ago to cure his son, who has been suffering from a chronic illness.

He purportedly let the snakes marinate for a year before deciding to administer the traditional Chinese medicine to his son.

All of the snakes were reportedly still alive, and after one of them attacked him, he was treated immediately and managed to survive the incident.

A Chinese father had the shock of his life when a supposedly dead snake inside a jar of snake wine he bought a year ago suddenly bit him.

The man from Heilongjiang Province, China, reportedly bought three jars of snake wine, believing that the drink could help cure his son, who has been suffering from a chronic illness. Instead of opening the jars, the father purportedly left them untouched for a year so that they could have “enough medicinal properties.”

After the year-long marination, the man claims he decided to finally open the jars and administer the traditional Chinese medicine, only to find that all three of the venomous snakes “came back to life” before one of them bit him.

After being rushed to the hospital, he was treated immediately and reportedly survived the incident.

Traditional Chinese medicine practitioners believe that snake wine contains several health benefits and can even be a cure for rheumatism, arthritis and the flu. The drink is often prepared by fitting a snake inside a jar of alcohol, usually rice wine, and leaving it there to marinate for months.

Some experts said that what happened to the father was not entirely strange since snakes can supposedly live inside a jar of alcohol for 12 months without dying, especially if the lid is left slightly open for air to enter.

However, herpetologist Wolfgang Wüster argued that what happened was “biologically impossible.”

“No snake can survive submerged in any kind of liquid in a bottle for more than an hour or so as a maximum,” Wüster told Newsweek. “Snakes have no magical powers, they are made of flesh and bone like any other animal, and require food, water and oxygen to survive.”

Some snake species are able to enter a state of brumation, which is similar to hibernation for reptiles, when certain conditions are met, such as very low temperatures. During brumation, they require less oxygen and their metabolism slows.

threads
snakes (https://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?50682-snakes)
Cobra-Wine (https://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?46069-Cobra-Wine)

GeneChing

04-17-2022, 12:06 PM

Maryland man with 124 snakes in his home died of a snake bite, officials say (https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2022/04/14/maryland-man-124-snake-dies-bite/7312105001/)
Marina Pitofsky
USA TODAY

A man found dead with 124 snakes in his home died of a snake bite, officials confirmed this week.

David Riston, 49, died of snake envenomation, the Maryland Department of Health confirmed to USA TODAY. Officials also confirmed his death was accidental.

Riston died in January in Pomfret, Maryland. Some of the snakes in his home included rattlesnakes, cobras, black mambas and a 14-foot-long Burmese python, according to multiple reports. The snakes included venomous and nonvenomous varieties.

Officials entered Riston’s home on Jan. 19 after they received a call from a concerned neighbor, the Charles County Sheriff's Office confirmed at the time. Riston was pronounced dead at the scene.

Some of the snakes were illegal, and experts in exotic animals removed the creatures after Riston’s death, NBC News reported.

Riston had a valid captive reptile and amphibian permit in Maryland, according to the state’s department of natural resources.

But venomous snakes cannot be kept as pets under the permit, 7News confirmed.
live by the snake
die by the snake

GeneChing

05-06-2022, 08:38 AM

Just gonna leave this here...

2 male dolphins were seen playing with an anaconda while sexually aroused in a perplexing encounter captured by researchers (https://www.businessinsider.com/dolphins-seen-playing-with-anaconda-while-sexually-aroused-study-2022-5)
Kelsey Vlamis May 4, 2022, 6:52 PM

https://i.insider.com/62732945b13afd00189c8f58?width=1000&format=jpeg&auto=webp
A case of playful interaction between Bolivian River Dolphins with a Beni Anaconda. M Entiauspe Neto, Omar; Reichle, Steffen; Rios, Alejandro dos (2022). Figshare. Media. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.19236462.v1
Researchers in Bolivia captured a rare encounter between Bolivian river dolphins and Beni anacondas.
At one point, two adult male dolphins held onto the snake and swam in unison while sexually aroused.
The researchers said the dolphins were more than likely playing, though many questions remained.

Two Bolivian river dolphins were seen swimming around and playing in the Tijamuchi River in Bolivia. The unusual part? They were carrying a Beni anaconda, an apex predator, in their mouths.

Researchers captured the rare encounter in August 2021 in photos and described it in a paper published last month in the journal Ecology.

The research team spotted a group of dolphins immediately upon arriving to the site and began taking photos. Only when they reviewed their first images did they realize the dolphins were carrying the snake, according to the study.

The researchers said it became clear the dolphins were playing with the snake rather than trying to eat it, in part because the interaction lasted for at least seven minutes.

At one point, they observed the adult males each holding onto the anaconda and swimming in unison. Upon reviewing the photos later, the researchers realized the dolphins had erect *****es, which also supported the idea that it was a playful interaction.

Playing is a well-documented behavior in mammals and dolphins generally, but the encounter was the first-ever recorded between a Bolivian river dolphin and a Beni anaconda.

The researchers said many questions remained and offered possible alternative explanations for the behavior, including predation.

https://i.insider.com/62732593b13afd00189c8f24?width=700&format=jpeg&auto=webp
A case of playful interaction between Bolivian River Dolphins with a Beni Anaconda. M Entiauspe Neto, Omar; Reichle, Steffen; Rios, Alejandro dos (2022). Figshare. Media. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.19236462.v1
Beni anacondas are large semi-aquatic snakes, generally reaching more than 6 feet long, and typically have no known predators. Other than one record of cannibalism, there's no published record of an animal eating a Beni anaconda.

Because the snake was submerged for much of the encounter, the researchers said it most likely died.

The researchers said it was also possible the adult male dolphins were teaching the juvenile dolphins that were present about the Beni anaconda, or that the dolphins were engaged in an attempt at courtship. They said male Amazon river dolphins have been observed in the past carrying objects in what appeared to be an attempt aimed at females.

Diana Reiss, a marine mammal scientist at Hunter College who was not part of the study, told The New York Times the dolphins may have been sexually stimulated by the anaconda: "It could have been something to rub on."

GeneChing

05-25-2022, 08:31 AM

‘They’re everywhere’: Why California’s rattlesnake population is booming (https://www.sfgate.com/centralcoast/article/why-California-rattlesnake-population-is-booming-17195152.php)
Andrew Pridgen
May 25, 2022
Watch your step: A rattlesnake can release about 130 different toxins during a bite. Fortunately for San Francisco residents they're the one major metro in California that doesn't have a discernable rattlesnake population, yet.
Watch your step: A rattlesnake can release about 130 different toxins during a bite. Fortunately for San Francisco residents they're the one major metro in California that doesn't have a discernable rattlesnake population, yet.
https://s.hdnux.com/photos/01/25/71/34/22517533/5/2000x0.jpg
George Wilhelm/Los Angeles Times via Getty Imag
California lost 117,552 human residents in 2021, but it gained tens of thousands of new residents that love the state’s increasingly hot and arid climate.

Rattlesnakes are thriving here, according to a recent joint Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and University of Michigan study, which reveals that the seven species of rattlesnakes found in California are among the fastest growing animal population in state. Why? It’s the same answer that may be driving some to leave the Golden State altogether: climate change.

The snakes are thermoregulators, which means they are able to change their own body temperature to suit their surroundings. Coastal rattlesnake species have internal body temperatures of around 70 degrees, and their inland counterparts average around 74 degrees, the study says.

But as California gets warmer, the rattlers find that they can get to more comfortable body temperatures, like their preferred range of a toasty 86 to 89 degrees Fahrenheit. In the study, researchers said the increase in number of snakes in California can affect the ecosystem. Rattlesnakes play an important part as both predator and prey. They help regulate the population of ground squirrels, and also serve as food for owls, hawks and eagles.

“A warmer climate may help these snakes heat up to temperatures that are more optimal for digestion or reproduction,” said Hayley Crowell, a University of Michigan student researcher and the project’s lead, in a statement.

What a rattlesnake actually sounds like
When I relocated to the Central Coast a decade ago, a trail running friend told me to enjoy the many unexplored coastal switchbacks and easily accessible ocean view peaks. But then he gave me a word of caution: watch out for rattlesnakes.

I laughed. I thought he was kidding.

He wasn’t.

https://s.hdnux.com/photos/01/25/71/34/22517530/5/2000x0.jpg
A Northern Pacific rattlesnake adjusts to its new surroundings after being released into the wild in an uninhabited area of a Northern California forest by Len Ramirez of Ramirez Rattlesnake Removal on Sunday, June 30, 2019. The rise in temperatures across the state may have created a rattlesnake boom in recent years.
San Francisco Chronicle/Hearst N/Hearst Newspapers via Getty Imag

Over the years, I’ve caught glimpses of rattlers sunning themselves here or there or slipping in and out of the brush when they feel my approach. And unlike your co-workers who claim to be one right before inviting you out to drinks — rattlers are nature’s true introverts. They are notorious for trying to avoid trouble and wanting to be left alone. But once in a while, when agitated or surprised, they’ll ball up and give you their signature warning.

The first time I heard the rattle go, it was ... surprising. It doesn’t sound like it does in the movies. Instead of a steady low maraca shake, it’s more of a high-pitched buzzing similar to an old brick Nokia left to vibrate on a tabletop — quick and urgent and annoying. When you hear that noise, my running friend said, run, don't walk, in the other direction.

That advice has served me well over the years as I’ve seen a rattler here or there. I’ve only gotten close because from a near distance, they closely resemble dead manzanita branches in the middle of the trail. I even unwittingly strode over one who was having a midday siesta, only to turn around when the warning buzz started up in my wake.

This spring thus far, however, has been a different story. Since April 1, I’ve had four rattler sightings, and there’s more to come — at least according to one expert.

https://s.hdnux.com/photos/01/25/71/34/22517531/5/2000x0.jpg
Len Ramirez of Auburn-based Ramirez Rattlesnake Removal travels up and down the state from April through October wrangling rattlesnakes. He says he's started this season busier than ever as recent studies show California's rattlesnake population may be booming with increasingly warmer temperatures.
Photo Courtesy Len Ramirez

“In California, the climate is perfect,” Len Ramirez, owner of Ramirez Rattlesnake Removal, told me earlier this week on a quick break between jobs. He’s busier than ever as the snakes started to come out of hibernation in droves last month. “It’s getting warmer. There’s development moving into more remote, previously undisturbed areas — that’s a part of it, too. I’m so busy, it never ends. I can’t even cut my lawn. Once the season gets going, it’s nonstop.”

Ramirez, who lives in Auburn and has been in the snake wrangling biz since 1985, travels up and down the state to help people or businesses mitigate their rattlesnake issues, always releasing them back into the wild. He says he’s seeing rattlesnakes crop up in new areas all the time, noting that more coastal regions like Marin, Sonoma and Monterey counties — places where he never saw snakes in the 1980s and ’90s — are starting to see population increases. And places like the Bay Area and the Tahoe corridor (towns along Highway 50 between Sacramento and the lake) are becoming rattlesnake boomtowns.

“In these spots where there is so much development near wildlands, everybody’s got a story, everybody’s got a sighting,” he says. “People don’t like to have snakes around their yards or around their pets, small children — but at the same time, they build houses on rock piles or in areas that run up right against open space or wildlife. And when that happens, we’re going to have encounters.”

And while he’s worked some of the bigger metros like Sacramento or Bakersfield or Fresno, there is one place Ramirez says he’s never received a call: San Francisco. The city is cut off from the wildlands of Marin and Alameda counties and still has a marine layer that creates a cooler climate that is suboptimal to the vipers, two factors that are central to the snakes’ lack of presence in SF proper, the snake wrangler explains.

“That’s not to say that someone might accidentally take one home from camping — those things do happen,” he says. “But in San Francisco, unless you go visit the Academy of Sciences, you won’t see one — which is good for those folks.“

‘If they feel threatened ... they’ll defend themselves’ continued next post

GeneChing

05-25-2022, 08:31 AM

But what happens when you do see one?

“That’s a great question,” says Ken Paglia, a spokesperson for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife who, like rattler wrangler Ramirez, says that rattlesnake population in California is growing and vipers are now found in previously rattlesnake-free, or at least sparsely rattlesnake-populated areas. “There are some basic safety tips we share, but a lot of it comes down to awareness.”

https://s.hdnux.com/photos/01/25/71/34/22517532/5/2000x0.jpg
A very young Mojave desert sidewinder rattlesnake is seen shortly after dawn near Amboy Crater at Mojave Trails National Monument. Now through early fall is the time to be on the lookout for rattlesnakes as their populations continue to spike in California.
David McNew/Getty Images

Paglia says people should stay on trails and watch where they’re stepping. Avoid rock, wood and other debris piles. Store wood away from the footprint of your house and if you do see one, give it space, don’t poke it or stay and have a staring contest. “Given the opportunity, they’ll move away, but if they feel threatened or prevented from escaping, they’ll defend themselves.”

And never, ever step in places where you can’t see, he says.

“It’s really about paying attention to your surroundings.”

What you should do if a rattlesnake bites you
“I always say the best immediate rattlesnake bite treatment is your car keys and your cellphone,” Ramirez says.

About 250 Californians a year are bitten, according to the LA County Public Health Department. Those who do suffer a bite should gently wash the wound, elevate it above the heart and go immediately to their nearest emergency room or medical stop for further treatment. Do not apply suction to the wound, further lacerate it or apply open flame to it.

Californians will likely encounter rattlers outdoors this summer
This is the first summer in two years where Californians are planning to hit the road and go exploring, fish and wildlife spokesperson Paglia says. This means there might be a lot of wild habitat that has been previously left alone during the height of the pandemic, so native animal populations — including rattlesnakes — may be prolific.

https://s.hdnux.com/photos/01/25/71/34/22517534/5/2000x0.jpg
Rattlesnake warning sign in Ballona Wetlands, Playa Vista, Los Angeles. If you're out and about hiking this spring and summer, do what the sign says and always be on the lookout for the vipers and stay on the marked trails where they're less likely to travel.
Citizens of the Planet/Universal Images Group via Getty
Rattlers are also thriving because they live on less. The Cal Poly-University of Michigan study says these vipers need only 500 to 600 calories per year, the equivalent of a single ground squirrel or half a Chipotle burrito, no guac, to you and me.

Because they love the current climate and we’ve built on or trudge around their turf, the chances of a rattler encounter loom ever larger, Ramirez says.

It’s good to remember, he says, that we’re the ones on their turf.

“I got a million hits on my website in early spring,” he concludes. “They’re everywhere and people are thirsty for knowledge. They deserve to be here, and we’re treading on their territory. They don’t know if it's your house or garage. They don’t know you’re out for a hike. They’re just trying to exist and when you come into contact with one — which is increasingly more common — just start by giving them the respect they deserve.”

'Snakes...why'd it have to be snakes?' - Indy

GeneChing

07-06-2022, 06:36 AM

Florida Biologists Capture Record-Breaking 215-Pound Python (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/florida-biologists-capture-record-breaking-215-pound-python-180980363/)
Invasive Burmese pythons are wreaking havoc on native wildlife and ecosystems in the Everglades

Sarah Kuta

Daily Correspondent

July 5, 2022 1:30 p.m.
https://th-thumbnailer.cdn-si-edu.com/tdATnscUDmKT3Qmv26TGBo26kZI=/1000x750/filters:no_upscale():focal(510x384:511x385)/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer_public/41/11/41113b5d-989d-495e-8418-2f8848aa9b2e/screen_shot_2022-07-05_at_100900_am.png
The female python weighed 215 pounds and measured 18 feet long. Courtesy of the Conservancy of Southwest Florida
18
Since the late 1970s, invasive Burmese pythons have been wreaking havoc on southwest Florida, gobbling up native species and harming the area’s biodiversity. With no natural predators to keep the population in check and plenty of tasty animals to feast upon, the pythons are getting bigger and more fertile.

Now, biologists say they’ve captured the heaviest snake ever found in Florida: A 215-pound, 18-foot-long Burmese python that had likely eaten an entire adult white-tailed deer for her last meal. Biologists also found 122 eggs developing inside the snake, which they believe is a new record for the number of eggs a female python can produce during a single breeding cycle. An average clutch is around 43 eggs, officials said at a June 22 news briefing.

Scientists with the Conservancy of Southwest Florida, a nonprofit environmental advocacy group, tracked down and humanely euthanized the monster snake as part of the organization’s efforts to curb the invasive python population in the Florida Everglades. Native to southeast Asia, Burmese pythons have been gaining ground in southwest Florida since 1979, when the first snake was likely released by a pet owner or escaped into the wild, according to the nonprofit Nature Conservancy.

Though it's impossible to know for sure, biologists believe the large female they recently captured could be the original python that found her way into the wilderness decades ago, reports Amy Bennett Williams for the Fort Myers News-Press.

Since then, the snakes have been thriving in the Everglades—so much so that biologists now ask members of the public to help them hunt for pythons every August. Participants can compete for various prizes, including $2,500 for capturing the most pythons during a two-week stretch. Last year, more than 600 people from 25 states hunted the snakes.

These and other python control efforts have been successful. Since 2013, scientists and citizen hunters have removed more than 1,000 of the snakes from a 100-square-mile region of southwest Florida. Biologists captured the previous record-holder—a female python that weighed 185 pounds—in June 2021.

Scientists, in particular, tend to focus their efforts on removing large, reproductive females to help disrupt the breeding cycle. To hunt this mammoth female snake, biologists deployed a male “scout” snake named Dionysus, or Dion for short, equipped with an implanted radio transmitter. Dion led researchers right to the large female, which wrestled with the biologists for about 20 minutes before finally surrendering.

“How do you find the needle in the haystack? You could use a magnet and, in a similar way, our male scout snakes are attracted to the biggest females around,” says Ian Bartoszek, a wildlife biologist with the Conservancy of Southwest Florida, in a statement.

After hauling the snake through the trees to a field truck, researchers took her to a lab for a necropsy. In addition to the 122 eggs, they also found hoof cores, which suggests she swallowed a deer somewhat recently. When stretched out, the snake's length was equal to the height of a giraffe, reports Insider’s Alia Shoaib.

Over the years, researchers have found dozens of other types of wildlife inside the stomachs of pythons, including 24 species of mammals, 47 species of birds and two species of reptiles. Pythons have contributed to the decline of some mammal species, including marsh rabbits, cottontail rabbits, foxes, racoons, opossums and bobcats, particularly in remote parts of Everglades National Park, per the U.S. Geological Survey.

“This is the wildlife issue of our time for southern Florida,” says Bartoszek in the statement.

Sarah Kuta | READ MORE

Sarah Kuta is a writer and editor based in Longmont, Colorado. She covers history, science, travel, food and beverage, sustainability, economics and other topics.

Big snake

...plus 122 eggs.

GeneChing

09-05-2022, 10:34 AM

...somehow a ***** snake attack seems worse.

Sea Snakes Attacking Humans Probably Just *****, Scientists Say (https://www.vice.com/en/article/5dbajk/sea-snakes-attacking-humans-probably-just-*****-scientists-say?utm_medium=social&utm_source=vice_facebook&fbclid=IwAR10uIZThJiIfNGSxqXwRSSTiO8dMFpgIM-zJg1zcJt4G1eg5z75k6GwKs8)
Sea snake attacks are mysterious and sometimes deadly, and now scientists say they may just be 'highly aroused.'

By Becky Ferreira
August 19, 2021, 8:00am

https://video-images.vice.com/articles/611e7039dad17e0094474614/lede/1629384792512-image-1.jpeg
OLIVE SEA SNAKES ARE AMONG THE LARGEST MARINE SNAKE SPECIES, AND ARE ABUNDANT ON SOME CORAL-REEF AREAS. CREDIT: JACK BREEDON

Picture yourself snorkeling or scuba-diving along a lush coral reef, abundant with color and life. All of a sudden, this serene underwater experience morphs into a horror show as an aggressive sea snake slithers into view and attacks you for no apparent reason.

Should you ever face this scary situation, ocean scientists have some sage words of advice: don’t panic and stay still, because the snake may just be trying to mate with you.

That’s the upshot of a new study led by Tim Lynch, a senior research scientist at Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, which is based on his 158 encounters with olive sea snakes (Aipysurus laevis) as a diver in the Great Barrier Reef.

Lynch and his colleagues observed that unprovoked aggression from these animals almost always involves males during the breeding season, suggesting that these encounters are a result of “mistaken identity during sexual interactions,” according to a study that offers “the first quantitative evidence on sea snake ‘attacks,’” published on Thursday in Scientific Reports.

These insights about olive sea snakes were recorded in dives Lynch conducted from 1994 and 1995, but it wasn’t until the coronavirus pandemic hit in 2020 that the opportunity finally arose to publish the results.

“You can blame COVID for this,” said Richard Shine, a professor of biology at Macquarie University and an emeritus professor at the University of Sydney who co-authored the study, in an email.

“Tim Lynch did the work as part of his PhD,” he continued. “I examined his thesis in 2000, thought it was great, but he never published it. Stuck at home with COVID, I contacted Tim to ask if he was interested in collaborating with me to turn bits of his thesis into published papers. He agreed (bless his heart!), and this is the first one.”

Though Lynch captured this data decades ago, the lessons from the study remain just as relevant today. Sea snake attacks are rare, but they can be fatal, according to another recent study that Shine co-authored.

Some snake species are extremely venomous, including olive sea snakes. Victims tend to be fishers because “snakes caught by fishermen are stressed and can’t escape, so they retaliate,” Shine noted. However, recreational swimmers and divers could be threatened by encounters as well: even if a snake doesn’t bite a diver, the panic from an unprovoked attack could put the person’s life at risk.

It’s easy to see why a sea snake that has been captured by fishers would retaliate and defend itself, but Lynch, Shine, and co-author Ross Alford, an ecologist at James Cook University, wanted to understand the motivations behind unprovoked attacks. The authors note that it is extremely rare for snakes that live on land to charge or bite people for no reason, making this behavior in their marine relatives something of an anomaly in the larger snake family.

By examining diver reports and Lynch’s own observations, the researchers discovered that aggression toward humans almost always occurred during the winter breeding season, which lasts from May to August. Males approached humans much more often than females, and displayed behaviors that could be related to courtship, such as coiling around a diver’s limb.

“Agitated rapid approaches by males, easily interpreted as ‘attacks,’ often occurred after a courting male lost contact with a female he was pursuing, after interactions between rival males, or when a diver tried to flee from a male,” the authors wrote in the study.

These encounters suggest that a “reproductively active male, highly aroused, mistakes the diver for another snake (a female or a rival male),” they added. “At first sight, the idea that a snake might mistake a human diver for another snake seems ludicrous, given the massive disparity in size and shape between those two objects. Nonetheless, this offers the most plausible explanation for our observations.”

Indeed, the study suggests that sea snakes may have poor eyesight compared to land snakes, which could also explain the rare instances of females charging divers. These females were often fleeing from pursuant males, and may have mistaken humans for coral formations that they could hide behind.

As tempting as it might be to try to escape these encounters, the team notes that a sea snake might give chase—and you are simply not likely to outswim these speedy ocean animals. The best course of action is for the person to stay still and let the snake explore them by “tongue-flicking,” or even making contact with the skin or wetsuit, which is likely to de-escalate the conflict as the animal realizes its mix-up.

“If mistaken identity underlies most ‘attacks’ by sea snakes on divers, the best strategy for divers in such a situation may be to allow the snake to investigate them and in particular to allow for the snake to investigate chemical cues with its tongue; a bite is unlikely unless the animal is threatened or injured,” the team said in the study. “Attempting to flee is likely to be futile and may even increase the ardour of the pursuit; and attempting to drive the animal away may induce retaliation.”

Shine and his colleagues also point out that male sea snakes are far from the only species that “court inappropriate objects,” in the words of the study, and provide many colorful examples of other mistaken courtship attempts. Dolphins, dugongs, sea lions, and sea turtles have all been observed attempting to copulate with humans, and “some beetles famously court beer bottles,” the study notes.

Shine hopes that these recent studies into sea snakes will motivate people to better understand these mysterious and important marine animals.

“Sea snakes are very understudied, so the potential is huge,” he said.

GeneChing

09-05-2022, 10:36 AM

Our forum censors h0rny? Oh man, that's hilarious. :p

GeneChing

11-13-2023, 08:47 AM

Pizza Hut in Hong Kong rolls out snake-meat pizza for limited time (https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/food/2023/11/08/pizza-hut-snake-meat-topping-hong-kong/71511289007/)
Doc Louallen
USA TODAY

Pizza Hut introduced a new and exotic pizza option available only in Hong Kong that's garnering attention around the world. The new pizza is topped with finely shredded snake meat, giving it a distinctive texture and flavor.

Pizza Hut and Ser Wong Fun teamed up to create a 9-inch pizza inspired by traditional snake stew. The pizza features shredded snake meat, black mushrooms, and Chinese dried ham.

The pizza will only be available until November 22nd.

According to CNN, customers who have tried the pizza claim that the texture of the snake is similar to dry chicken.

No strings attached:Krispy Kreme wants to gift you a dozen donuts on World Kindness Day.

https://www.usatoday.com/gcdn/authoring/authoring-images/2023/11/09/USAT/71511408007-microsoft-teamsimage-120.png?width=660&height=390&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp
Pizza Hut pizza with snake meat.
Inspired by popular regional dish

Snake meat is believed to have medicinal properties and Pizza Hut claims that it can boost blood circulation.

“Combined with pizza, it marks a breakthrough from the conventional concept of what maintaining good health means while challenging one’s taste buds,” Pizza Hut Hong Kong said in a statement to CNN.

A popular Hong Kong and southern China snake stew inspired the dish.

Pizza Hut Hong Kong has announced its plans to introduce unconventional menu items, such as a pizza topped with Chinese preserved sausages. This move is part of a trend among Asian franchises of American brands to celebrate local food culture with gastronomical creations, including pizzas featuring durian, pig blood curds, or Tonkotsu ramen.

Fast-Food-Nastiness (https://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?65208-Fast-Food-Nastiness)
snakes (https://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?50682-snakes)

GeneChing

02-25-2024, 10:50 AM

Gigantic new snake discovered in Amazon rainforest could be biggest in world at ‘astounding’ half a ton (https://www.stltoday.com/news/nation-world/worlds-biggest-snake-amazon/article_4eaff19c-ac88-5fb4-8e23-3368e01594a6.html)
AMY WOODYATT, CNN Feb 24, 2024 0
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Scientists have made a remarkable discovery in the Amazon rainforest, uncovering a previously unknown species of giant anaconda. This discovery was made while filming National Geographic’s Disney+ series "Pole to Pole" with Will Smith. This newly documented species, named the northern green …

Scientists working in the Amazon rainforest have discovered a new species of snake, rumored to be the biggest in the world.

A team from the University of Queensland traveled to the Ecuadorian Amazon to search for the previously undocumented northern green anaconda (Eunectes akayima), following an invitation from the Waorani people to observe anacondas “rumoured to be the largest in existence,” according to the scientists.

The team joined the hunters on a 10-day expedition to the Bameno region of Baihuaeri Waorani Territory, before paddling down the river system to “find several anacondas lurking in the shallows, lying in wait for prey,” Professor Bryan Fry, a biologist from the University of Queensland, who led the team, said in a statement.

https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/1/7a/17ae263f-947d-51c4-b6a3-222f412674d8/65d90adf4015d.image.jpg?resize=990%2C557
A Northern green anaconda on a riverbank.
Bryan Fry, The University of Queensland

Anacondas are giant, non-venomous constricting snakes found in or near water in warm parts of South America.

“The size of these magnificent creatures was incredible — one female anaconda we encountered measured an astounding 6.3 meters (20.7 feet) long,” Fry said of the team’s discovery, which was made while filming for National Geographic’s upcoming series “Pole to Pole with Will Smith.”

The team also said they had heard anecdotal evidence that snakes of 24.6 feet and 1,100 pounds had been sighted in the area.

Green anacondas are the world’s heaviest snakes, according to the UK’s Natural History Museum, which noted that the heaviest individual ever recorded weighed 500 pounds. It measured 27.7 feet long and was 3.6 feet wide.

https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/6/47/647402d8-00b9-57d4-9ab8-214beaa7922c/65d90adea9545.image.jpg?resize=990%2C557
Close-up of a northern green anaconda head.
Bryan Fry, University of Queensland
While another species, the reticulated python, tends to be longer — often reaching more than 20.5 feet in length – it is lighter.

But experts studying the creatures discovered that the newly identified northern green anaconda species diverged from the southern green anaconda almost 10 million years ago, and they differ genetically by 5.5%.

“It’s quite significant — to put it in perspective, humans differ from chimpanzees by only about 2%,” Fry said. The findings are described in the journal MDPI Diversity.

The team then set out to compare the genetics of the green anaconda with other specimens elsewhere to assess them as an indicator species for the health of ecosystems, and warned that the Amazon is facing numerous threats.

“Deforestation of the Amazon basin from agricultural expansion has resulted in an estimated 20-31% habitat loss, which may impact up to 40% of its forests by 2050,” Fry said.

Habitat degradation, forest fires, drought and climate change threaten rare species like the anacondas, which exist in such rare ecosystems, he added.
That's terrifyingly big.

GeneChing

03-05-2024, 10:18 AM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IN_TDfNMiB0

GeneChing

05-07-2024, 09:56 AM

Venomous snakes likely to migrate en masse amid global heating, says study (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/may/03/venomous-snakes-migrate-global-heating-study)
Researchers find many countries unprepared for influx of new species and will be vulnerable to bites
Neelima Vallangi
Fri 3 May 2024 05.35 EDT
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Climate breakdown is likely to lead to the large-scale migration of venomous snake species into new regions and unprepared countries, according to a study.

The researchers forecast that Nepal, Niger, Namibia, China, and Myanmar will gain the most venomous snake species from neighbouring countries under a heating climate.

Low-income countries in south and south-east Asia, as well as parts of Africa, will be highly vulnerable to increased numbers of snake bites, according to the findings published in the journal Lancet Planetary Health.

The study modelled the geographical distribution of 209 venomous snake species that are known to cause medical emergencies in humans to understand where different snake species might find favourable climatic conditions by 2070.

While a majority of the venomous snake species will experience range contractions due to loss of tropical and subtropical ecosystems, habitats for some species such as the west African gaboon viper will increase by up to 250%, the study found.

The ranges of the European asp and the horned viper were also forecast to more than double by 2070.

However, some snakes, including the variable bush viper endemic to Africa and the hognosed pit viper of the Americas were projected to lose more than 70% of their range.

“As more land is converted for agriculture and livestock rearing, it destroys and fragments the natural habitats that snakes rely on,” said study authors Pablo Ariel Martinez at the Federal University of Sergipe in Brazil and Talita F Amado at the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research in Leipzig, Germany.

“However, some generalist snake species, especially those of medical concern, can adapt to agricultural landscapes and even thrive in certain crop fields or livestock areas that provide food sources like rodents.”

“Our research shows that when venomous snakes start showing up in new places, it’s a wake-up call for us to start thinking about how we can keep ourselves and our environment safe,” the study authors said.

The World Health Organization estimates 1.8 to 2.7 million people are bitten by venomous snakes each year, causing up to 138,000 deaths and at least 400,000 amputations and permanent disabilities. The WHO categorised snakebite envenomation as a neglected tropical disease of the highest priority in 2017.

“We are now finally getting a better handle on how snakes will change their distributions with climate change but there is also a major concern that they will bite more people if warm temperatures, severe wet weather events, and flooding that displaces snakes and people get more frequent,” said Anna Pintor, a research scientist with the WHO’s neglected tropical diseases group. “We urgently need to understand better how exactly this will affect where people get bitten, and how many people get bitten, so that we can prepare.”

“Snakebite is in essence a human-animal-environment conflict. The modelling does not take into account how humans themselves will adapt/change to climate change. [But] the global study addresses a significant gap in knowledge,” said Soumyadeep Bhaumik, a medicine lecturer at the University of New South Wales in Sydney who was not involved in the study. “The need for countries with high [snakebite] burden to collaborate with neighbouring countries is something that the new study underlines.”

“After all, international borders are not for snakes, they are for humans,” he added. yikes :eek:

GeneChing

05-28-2024, 08:26 AM

https://images.ladbible.com/resize?type=webp&quality=70&width=1920&fit=contain&gravity=auto&url=https://images.ladbiblegroup.com/v3/assets/bltcd74acc1d0a99f3a/blt341c41b389bd1da0/664f28b09e3f9715c0b2b64c/paul-rosolie-eaten-alive_(1).png

Published 14:54 23 May 2024 GMT+1
Man who tried to get eaten alive by snake immediately regretted it (https://www.ladbible.com/news/animals/paul-rosolie-eaten-alive-green-anaconda-snake-amazon-557635-20240523)
Paul Rosolie offered himself up on a plate for the largest, heaviest snake in the world
Olivia Burke

We've all watched some kind of wildlife documentary before and been absolutely fascinated by the way snakes secure their lunch - but I'll bet seeing a bloke offer himself up on a plate to one will blow all of that out of the water.
Most people would run a mile if they saw a slippery serpent making a beeline towards them, as all those hours watching David Attenborough have left us pretty clued up on their killer capabilities.
Honestly, you'd probably be better off doing ten rounds with Tyson rather than taking your chances with one of the most powerful snakes on the planet, like the green anaconda.
But for Paul Rosolie, these semi-aquatic species are sort of his pals - and the same goes for every other animal in the Amazon rainforest, as the conservationist has made it his life's mission to try and save it.
https://images.ladbible.com/resize?type=webp&quality=70&width=1920&fit=contain&gravity=auto&url=https://images.ladbiblegroup.com/v3/assets/bltcd74acc1d0a99f3a/bltdd9a310166cddbbc/664f3fd083392acfe6c05fdb/paul-rosolie-snake.jpeg
Paul Rosolie in the Amazon. (Instagram/@paulrosolie)
He's dedicated everything to protecting creatures, their habitats, and essential ecosystems over the last 16 years, spending time in countries such as Indonesia, Brazil, India and Peru.
The researcher has spent years studying the green anacondas which call the Amazon home, while dually watching their 'habitats decrease and decrease' helplessly - so he knew he needed to pull out the big guns to help try and save it.
Rosolie reckoned that people needed to see something which would give them a 'shock' to actually stir up support for their mission to save the rainforest - so naturally, he volunteered to get eaten alive by a green anaconda.

Back in 2014, the nature lover embarked on a daring mission that saw him offer himself up for dinner to the largest and heaviest snake in the world, which also doubled as a 'massive fundraiser to protect the rainforest'.
The Junglekeepers founder, whose organisation claims to have protected more than 77,000+ acres of Amazonian habitat and wildlife, quickly came to regret this decision though when it came down to it.
Rosolie's incredible quest was featured in an episode of the Discovery Channel series Eaten Alive and showed how the 38-year-old spent weeks trying to track down a green anaconda with a 10-strong team.
Luckily, they found the perfect candidate - a 20ft long, 18 stone snake - in the Peruvian Amazon.
Rosolie was donning a carbon-fibre suit for the bizarre experiment, which had been custom-made by a team of engineers using 3D technology to ensure he wouldn't get crushed by the snake.
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He wore a custom-made carbon fibre suit to protect himself (Discovery Channel)
It was streamlined so that it would not irritate the animal's insides and was strong enough to survive its digestive fluids too.
The animal lover was slathered in pig's blood to make sure his journey into the snake's gob went as smoothly as possible.
Rosolie's specialist suit was also rigged out with a radio mic and built-in cameras, so his team could communicate with him about what was going on at all times.
He also sported a face mask which was connected to a crush-proof hose that trailed behind him which was attached to a three-hour oxygen supply - just in case he did get completely eaten and ended up suffocating in the snake's stomach.
Rosolie approached the anaconda 'on all fours' in a bid to fool the snake into thinking he was a wild boar and it only took a matter of seconds before the female anaconda had her 5ft 9ins victim exactly where she wanted him.
It latched onto Rosolie's head and began constricting his arms and body by wrapping itself around him.
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Rosolie approached the green anaconda on all fours (Discovery Channel)
"I'm getting coils over me," he told his team at the time. "She's got my arms pinned. She knows there's nothing I can do."
Rosolie was then heard saying 'Oh god,' but reassured his colleagues that he was okay, even though his heart rate had shot up 'pretty high' and his breathing had become 'really laboured', according to one of the team.
He said he was 'trying to stay calm' as the green anaconda began to tighten her grip around his body as he wriggled on the rainforest floor, later admitting that he is 'the type who’ll say, 'I’m fine, I’m fine'...until I’m dead'.
The daredevil didn't respond when another colleague checked in with him, before the snake then latched onto his head.
Rosolie then screamed to his pals: "Stand by guys, I'm starting to feel like she's consuming me. Guys, my face is down.
"I'm calling it, I need help!"
The team immediately rushed over and wrestled the snake off of him, despite only part of his head being consumed.
https://images.ladbible.com/resize?type=webp&quality=70&width=1920&fit=contain&gravity=auto&url=https://images.ladbiblegroup.com/v3/assets/bltcd74acc1d0a99f3a/blt27346dd51197530e/664f419a04029d49ca0e22c9/paul-rosolie-eaten-alive.jpg
The 20ft long snake latched onto the daredevil's head while wrapping itself around him (Discovery Channel)
Speaking of his attempt at getting eaten alive afterwards, Rosolie said: "The last thing I remember was her mouth open wide and everything went black. I went limp and let it constrict. All the while I was just thinking: 'Eat, eat, eat!'
"She wrapped around me and I felt my suit cracking and my arms ripping out of their sockets," he recalled.
As you can tell, the animal lover realised very quickly that he could be inches away from death.
He explained that he feared the snake was going to 'snap' his arm, as 'her force was fully on his exposed arm', which is why he decided to 'tap out' of the experiment.
But Rosolie insisted he 'wasn't terrified' during an interview with MSNBC, as he was confident that his carbon-fibre suit was 'strong' and that he 'wouldn't get crushed', adding that there were 'experts on hand' in case of any issues.
"We took a lot of care," the author added. "It was really all about showing people the power of these snakes with the mission of protecting their habitats."
The fact he was between the jaws of a green anaconda that was squeezing the life out of him and that he lived to tell the tale while dodging asphyxiation is certainly a mean feat - but let's leave the 'eaten alive' stuff to the movies, eh?
Featured Image Credit: Discovery Channel
What some people will do for the spotlight...:rolleyes:

GeneChing

06-09-2024, 09:02 AM

Large Snake Found Coiled Up In Upper West Side Backyard: NYPD (https://patch.com/new-york/upper-west-side-nyc/large-python-found-coiled-uws-kitchen-sink-nypd)
The five-foot-long serpent found its way into an Upper West Side home and has now been relocated to the ASPCA, police said.

Vianella Burns,
Patch Staff

Posted Wed, Jun 5, 2024 at 12:20 pm ET
Updated Thu, Jun 6, 2024 at 10:01 am ET

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The five-foot-long serpent found its way into an Upper West Side home and has now been relocated to the ASPCA, police said. (Google Maps/Shutterstock)
UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — A massive snake slithered into an Upper West Side apartment on Wednesday morning, according to police.

Authorities reported that the serpent slid into the building at West 87th St., between Columbus and Amsterdam Avenues, and was discovered in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Police were called to the building when a resident saw the snake slither on an exterior gate attempting to enter the basement apartment, cops said.

Upon arrival at the scene, police discovered the five-foot-long python perched in the backyard of the apartment, an NYPD spokesperson said.

https://patch.com/img/cdn20/users/25811147/20240606/091226/styles/raw/public/processed_images/ESUsnake.jpg?width=726
The five-foot-long serpent found its way into an Upper West Side home and has now been relocated to the ASPCA, police said. (NYPD)

Emergency Service Unit members assisted in removing the snake from the apartment, and it was then taken to a nearby ASPCA chapter for further care, police said.

It was not made immediately clear where the python came from, but the investigation remains ongoing, police said.

This article has since been updated with additional information from the NYPD.
5ft ain't that large for a python.