#puff adders like gaboon vipers or european common adders

[firelord-frowny]

<3 <3 obviously one of the highlights of my visit to the national aquarium the other day was the reptiles <3 <3 specifically the snakes, SPECIFICALLY the death adder omgggg.

there is something so??????????? magical???????????? about being able to put your face just inches away from something that, if it were to bite you, would definitely kill you.

like, to have a thin lil pane of glass be all that keeps a small but very deadly beast from being able to end my life????????????

amazing.

#obligatory Fun Facts about death adders that nobody asked for lmao #“adder” is a term most accurately describing vipers belonging to the genus “bitis” #puff adders like gaboon vipers or european common adders #but death adders aren't true adders! because they're not vipers! they're elapids! #and they're remarkable among elapids for having a VERY different body shape! #elapids include cobras and mambas and coral snakes #and have morphology that is very similar to most colubrids #which include king snakes and rat snakes and garter snakes #they tend to be very slender relative to their length #with heads that are roughly the same size as their necks #but death adders are shaped pretty much exactly like a bona fide viper #with a stout and heavy body #a narrow neck #and a bigass triangular head! #somebody who didn't know they were looking at a death adder would have no reason to assume it wasnt a viper #and idk its just so rad to me that Science People can figure out when things aren't as they seem! #like omg how hard did they have to look at it to figure out it wasn't a viper???? #i woulda just taken one look at that thing and said 'yep thats a viper' and called it a day #fuck i look like getting close enough to a Very Deadly Snake to determine that its not what it looks like????? #i swear if it was up to me there would be like no science being done on dangerous animals lmaoooo #i love them but dear god put that thing back where it came from or so help me