#Elapid

[lanecross]

Red-headed Krait (Bungarus flaviceps) one of the highly venomous elapid snake that has awesome striking colouration. Red-headed kraits are nocturnal, semi-aquatic and inhabits rain forests in mountainous and hilly regions.

First time road cruising and our guide Steven spotted this beauty. Honestly, I was fighting not to fall asleep in the car, but that moment and their excitement woke me up. Good memory for our first road cruising :)

[vintagewildlife]

Egyptian cobra By: Dubois From: The Desert 1977

[exotic-venom]

(Dendroaspis polylepis) black mamba

[hasellia]

TW DEAD SNAKE, A BUNCH OF ANTS AND A SINGLE FLY

I saw an interesting insect behaviour and I accidentally bummed someone out when I thought it was okay for them... So I'm going to try and see if anyone here found it interesting! So, on my way to sketch club, I found a dead Yellow Faced Whipsnake (Demansia psammophis) smack-dab in the middle of the entryway to my property. My current belief is that a cat killed it. I took some photos, ID'd it, moved it into my garden and was on my way.

2 hours later, I come back to check on it. Nothing has taken it, no noticeable deteriation. A single stable fly (Stomoxys calcitrans) came in to do it's business... Except that it couldn't find an opening into the carcass, and it was covered in ants.

It flicked it's wings to kick off the occasional curious ant. Then it did, what I have to describe as a MOVE GET OUT THE WAY technique. To get the ants away from it, it actually buzzed it's wings to create an air current and just... Tried to walk through the ants to find an opening.

I feel like I shouldn't be surprised that a fly evolved a behaviour to get other scavengers off a carcass. But I find this so fascinating.

[methoxyacetyltryptamine]

This finally satisfied me but...

We really don't 😭😭

This just confuse me cuz is red headed krait and blue coral snake the same or they're different!??????

THEY LOOK THE SAME IDK IF THEY'RE THE SAME!?!??!??

I mean, they are 2 different species. They're both in the venomous snake family Elapidae. One has blue stripes, and the other does not. Have a look...

Red-Headed Krait (Bungarus flaviceps), family Elapidae

Herps and Birds (and More) (Search results for: Red-Headed Krait) (tumblr.com)

Blue Coral Snake (Calliophis bivirgatus), family Elapidae

Herps and Birds (and More) (Search results for: blue coral) (tumblr.com)

[vexexisting]

my favourite thing I learned today was that elapids are the snakes that always look very polite like

look at him. he's so kind, he always uses his manners.

they are patiently waiting to ask you a question once you have finished your task. they are so polite and it makes me so happy

[snototter]

A monocled cobra (Naja kaouthia) in Cúc Phương National Park, Vietnam

by cowyeow

[uncharismatic-fauna]

Uncharismatic Fact of the Day

An amphibious snake might sound like an oxymoron, but try telling that to the red-bellied black snake! This species typically lives on land, but they are commonly known to hunt in streams or lakes for frogs, fish, tadpoles, and yabbies. They can hold their breath for up to half an hour, and are particularly adept at stirring up sediment on the bottom to flush out potential prey.

(Image: A red-bellied black snake (Pseudechis porphyriacus) by Karl Granzien)

[wildsaltair]

a few pictures of Russell Crowe that ruin my life on a daily basis

[pkmnherpetology]

as ekans grows older, it undergoes a number of physical changes. when it nears the process of evolution, it abruptly undergoes a series of immense growth spurts, taking it from an average of three to five feet to anywhere between six and ten feet. as previously discussed, during these growth spurts, it stops adding new rattles to its tail, which will eventually lose its rattle entirely. they also begin to develop the muscles needed to spread their neck as arbok’s infamous “hood.”

bizarrely, and for reasons we still don’t quite understand, another change that ekans undergoes lies in its fangs. as juveniles, the fangs in ekans’ mouth are hinged, normally lying flat against the top of the mouth, and swing forward when ekans bites something.

however, when it starts to reach maturity and enter the arbok life stage, these fangs become fixed. rather than lying flat at the top of the mouth and swinging forward, arbok’s fangs are constantly unfolded. because of this, arbok fangs are also smaller relative to the size of the snake than that of ekans.

[cxpperhead]

Copperhead has the largest private collection of reptiles in Gotham, most of which consist of snakes both venomous and non-venomous. He does keep other reptiles such as lizards and geckos, both for pleasure and to feed some of the more picky eaters amongst the vast menagerie of serpents in his care. Copperhead loves all his exotic reptiles but his favourite snake is a gigantic King Cobra, a female he named Nagaina.

[firelord-frowny]

I'm literallyyyyyyyyy fantasizing about how I'd spend my days volunteering at the national aquarium omfggggggggggggggggg

like, i'd finish my shift and just fucking stay. just stay and roam around the rest of the aquarium. i'd go sit and just watch the dolphins for an hour or two. i'd meander over the catwalk thingy that looks down into the big ol reef tank. id fuckin stare at the predacious diving beetles oh my GOD theyre so CUTE

to think that spending several hours a week at the aquarium dealing with reptiles and getting to enjoy all the other exhibits FOR FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE might actually become part of my life for at least the next year or so is just?????????????????????????????? so amazing oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my godddddddd!

[starsofthestorm]

TRUE

Unless you have to, please dont touch snakes at all (with the exception of people who know what they're doing when it comes to herping, I'm sorry but I'm a firm believer that only professionals should be herping)

But if your options with a venomous snake is either kill it / watch it get killed or throw it? Fucking LAUNCH that bitch. I mean not hard of course and ideally not so far that you don't know where it landed (General location for safety reasons that way you don't wander up to it)

Also killing a venomous snake just for hanging out is also cruel and betrays a disgusting worldview of blind hatred and fear of other beings. It is also the best way to get bit by a venomous snake

People are so stupid about snakes. If there's a little black racer chilling outside just leave it alone, you don't have to kill it, it's probably dealing with all your pests for you, jesus christ

[exotic-venom]

[ruinpowder]

me when i lie

[reasonsforhope]

"Tim Friede’s YouTube channel is home to a collection of videos depicting the Wisconsin-native truck mechanic subjecting himself to purposeful snake bites, blood slowly dripping down his arms.

For the past 20 years, Friede has been one of the most notorious “unconventional” medical researchers, undergoing over 200 bites from the world’s deadliest snakes — and more than four times as many — 850 — venomous injections. 

He did it all in the name of science.

According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 100,000 people are killed by snake bites each year, with countless more being disabled by the venom of the deadly reptiles. 

While life-saving anti-venom is available, very few countries actually have the capacity to produce it properly, given that most bites occur in remote and rural areas, and anti-venom requires arduous sourcing and accuracy. 

But Friede’s blood is now full of antibodies, following decades of strategic exposure to the neurotoxins of mambas, cobras, and other lethal slithering critters.

His blood is now the source material researchers are using to develop an anti-venom capable of neutralizing a broad spectrum of snake bites...

Friede started this hobby — which he is indeed adamant no one else tries at home — out of sheer curiosity in childhood. After playing with harmless garter snakes in his youth, he began keeping more dangerous species of snakes as pets. At one point, he had 60 of them in his home basement.

In 1999, he began extracting venom from his snakes, drying it, diluting it, and injecting himself with tiny doses — keeping meticulous records as he went.

He had one major hospitalization in 2001, when he was paralyzed and in a coma for four days. But instead of giving up, he doubled down. 

“In hindsight, I’m glad it happened,” Friede told The Times. “I never made another mistake.”

Jacob Glanville, an immunologist and founder of biotech company Centivax, stumbled on Friede’s videos.

Now, Friede is the director of herpetology at Centivax and serves as something of a “human lab” to Glanville.

“For a period of nearly 18 years, [Tim] had undertaken hundreds of bites and self-immunizations with escalating doses from 16 species of very lethal snakes that would normally a kill a horse,” Glanville told The Guardian.

“It blew my mind. I contacted him because I thought if anyone in the world has these properly neutralizing antibodies, it’s him.”

To develop the new anti-venom, Glanville and his fellow researchers identified 19 of the world’s deadliest snakes — in the elapid family — which kill their prey by injecting neurotoxins into their bloodstream, paralyzing muscles (including the big, important ones, like the heart and lungs).

The trouble is, each species in the elapid family has a slightly different toxin, meaning they would each require their own anti-venom.

But Friede’s blood contains certain fragments of each of these toxins; protein molecules seen across the various species. Because of his decades of service to science, his blood also contains the antibodies required to neutralize these toxins, preventing them from sticking to human cells and causing harm.

Combining the antibodies LNX-D09, SNX-B03, and a small molecule called varespladib that inhibits venom toxins, Centivax has successfully created a treatment effective against the entire range of 19 species’ toxins.

Their work, which was recently published in the journal Cell, will soon be tested outside of the lab. 

Trials will start with using the serum to treat dogs admitted to Australian veterinary clinics for snake bites. Assuming that goes well, the next step will be to administer human tests.

Researchers also believe that because the serum stems from a human, this should also lower the risk of allergic reactions when being administered to other people. 

“The final product would be a single, pan-anti-venom cocktail,” Professor Peter Kwong of Columbia University, a senior author of the study, told The Times.

Or, he added, they could make two: “One that is for the elapids, and another that is for the viperids, because some areas of the world only have one or the other.”

As for Friede, he maintains his affinity for snakes, though his last bite was in November 2018, when he said “enough is enough,” according to The New York Times.

By then, he had certainly done enough. His pursuit of immunity could feasibly save countless lives.

“I’m really proud that I can do something in life for humanity,” Friede told The New York Times, “to make a difference for people that are 8,000 miles away, that I’m never going to meet, never going to talk to, never going to see, probably.”

-via GoodGoodGood, May 2, 2025