Congratulations Steve Wheeler! More Venomous Viewing
Another from the reptile house at the Ft. Worth Zoo a while back... Albino Western Diamondback. Not as "Pretty" IMO as the McGregor's as he's a little beat up, but I feel I got better focus on this one. Just wish I'd stopped it down a bit from f2.8.
30D & 100 f2.8 Macro, ISO 640, f2.8 @ 1/40... Hand held, through the glass.
From the FYI file, this shot shows the elliptical pupils which are indicative of the entire genus (crotalid) of rattlesnakes or pit-vipers. There are only two kinds of poisonous snakes naturally found in north America… crotalids and coral snakes. All crotalids, which include rattlesnakes, water moccasins, etc., and all have these elliptical pupils. The reverse is also true… if you find a snake in North America that has elliptical pupils, then it is a pit viper and therefore poisonous.
While is seems an odd way to identify a snake, and you have to get close to see them, it is often the easiest way to determine if the baby snake that just bit little Johnny is poisonous or not. Small rattlesnakes sometime do not have rattles, and older snakes can lose them.
Macro and Flora IOTW 06/20/2008 Steve Wheeler
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