Friday, July 3, 2009

Cottonmouth

Today, hiking down an old jeep path in Curritick National Wildlife Refuge, I crossed paths with this cautious cottonmouth (Agkistrodon piscivorous) commonly called a "water moccasin." It clearly showed me how it gets its name by opening wide, exposing the white lining of its mouth, to let me know not to approach to closely. This snake is highly venomous and is the only semi-aquatic pit viper in the world. It showed very little aggression, just due warning, and when I gave it a clear path it bounded, alternately coiling and springing forward, towards and into a nearby drainage canal.

8 comments:

Sharon Elin said...

Yikes! William, you had thick socks & shoes and long pants on, right? I don't think it liked having its picture taken! Thanks for sharing ~ glad you and the snake are OK.

William Vann said...

Thanks, Sharon, for commenting on my blog. I was beginning to make the "tree falling the forest" analogy to all my blog posts. It can be lonely out here in the "blog-o-sphere"!

Janet Hughes said...

I saw it, too! Remind me not to go walking with you if that is what you attract! Snakes are my major fear--

William Vann said...

You know Janet, even Laurie knew better than to go with me on this little hunt.

pcuomo_llf said...

Holy crap William. Awesome pics. I used to deal with water snakes in Florida. I hope it wasn't the same type of snake.

Unknown said...

OMG! Someone should have warned me about the snake! I keep shivering all over. I HATE SNAKES!

Ben Pegram said...

Reminds me of the rattler you ran us into....hope that was with a telephoto lense :)

techbulldog8 said...

Was it really terrifying coming that close to a snake that size???