Saturday, 16 November 2013

Learning Not To Assume About Animals

When Hannah and I were walking to school yesterday morning about 7:30 a.m. we came across this snake.


There did not seem to be anything wrong with it, ie not partly flattened by a vehicle, no "guts" coming out, etc.  Of course I kept my distance but I was still curious.  Watching it for a minute or two, it did not move and I came closer.  It was very beautiful with a brilliant green colour and a flat, triangular head.  I asked Hannah to put her foot by it to show the relative size while I took a picture.  Later that night, after showing Garth the picture, he researched these interesting facts about it:





- it is nocturnal
- it can live off 3 meals per month
- it appears "sluggish" but strikes with ferocity when      prey is nearby
- its venom can be fatal to people
- it is one of the most venomous snakes in the world

Whoops!  Probably shouldn't have gotten so close to it, just in case it was in its "sluggish" phase.

If you remember a previous blog about when I was walking one night and a vehicle came along to warn me of a large snake close by me that I couldn't see (title of blog: After the Van Died, May 12, 2013), this green snake was about one half block away from where the other snake was.

Temple Viper (the site from which I took the above information; it also has more pictures)

This story reminds me of last Thursday when I was on duty in the cafeteria and a student came up to me and said there was a centipede on the floor by his chair.  Casually, I said for him to go pick it up and put it outside.  Another duty mom overhead me say this and leaned over to inform me that centipedes here are poisonous.  I promptly rushed over to the boy with a napkin and enclosed the little creature in it, disposing of it in a much less kindly way.

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