Reader Malcolm called my attention to a spot-the-snake piece that appeared on msn news. Some information:
The Sunshine Coast Snake Catchers based in Queensland, Australia have challenged their followers to spot a deadly and ultra-aggressive rough-scaled snake [Tropidechis carinatus] hiding in the picture below.
[Snake-catcher Lochi] said the snake was over four feet long and was found in the Sunshine Coast bush while he was out walking.
Can you spot it? This is a hard one! Answer at noon Chicago time.
Does it have a greenish tinge?
I _think_ I see it but the resolution makes it hard to zoom in to verify.
The only snake-like thing I see is on the left lower side.
Got it. It helps to look up the snake on Wikipedia for a picture.
One of the most difficult ones yet. I’m not sure, but what I think might be the snake doesn’t look real. It looks like a still shot of a fake snake from an action sequence from a ‘B’ movie.
I can’t spot it. As my late father used to say, “If it had been a snake, it would have bitten you,” and I sure wouldn’t want to be bitten by this snake.
Fairly certain that I’ve spotted it. If I’m correct, it’s a “presentation” that’s not uncommon for some venomous snakes here in South Texas (Western diamondback rattlesnakes in particular). Always have to be alert out in the brush.
Can you please explain what a “presentation” is re snakes? I’m not familiar with the term and can’t find anything online other than people giving “presentations” on snakes, and I know that’s not what you’re referring to.
Nothing more than the arrangement of the snake with respect to its surroundings. I would think that adopting positions that increase crypsis might be selected for in evolution. I didn’t mean to imply that “presentation” is an official scientific term in this context by any means (that’s why I put it in scare quotes).
As an aside, the typical presentation for a juvenile rattlesnake in my friends’ horse barn is coiled up between the outer and inner doors of the tack room. In which case I would close the outer door gently, and say, “Right, I didn’t want to go riding this morning anyway.”
Got it. Thank you. I thought it might have some specific herpetological usage and imagined that it was the opposite of crypsis, such as a rattlesnake in strike mode.
‘Spot the Snake!’ is a constant reminder a) that snakes don’t want to be found, and b) with all the hiking I’ve done I’ve still miraculously passed my genes on.
I think I see it, but sure I’m more likely to have either trodden on it or walked past in blissful ignorance than actually spotted it in the wild.
Just the head peeking out, right?
Well, no, more like back.
I cheated, looking it up elsewhere. I have a hard time actually seeing it in the photo even after having seen it in close up.
Glen Davidson
If I still can’t see it after the reveal, I’m calling foul.
Found it easier than those mantids and katydids, though.