Scientists have described a new species of mountain pit viper, a venomous snake referred to as Ovophis jenkinsi that inflates itself to look scarier. Researchers discovered the species in Yingjiang County, Yunnan Province, China. After amassing specimens and evaluating them to different identified pit vipers, the researchers say the viper is a brand new species and printed their findings in ZooKeys.
So far as scientists know, O. jenkinsi solely lives within the tropical montane rainforest of China’s Yunnan Province. They discovered the snake at 1,300 meters (over 4,000 toes). The species is nocturnal and appears to favor cooler, humid climate. The researchers didn’t observe the animal consuming within the wild, however based mostly on their observations of the animal in captivity, they presume it eats small mammals.
Curiously, they did observe what the snake does when it’s threatened within the wild. “When threatened, these snakes inflate their our bodies to make themselves seem bigger and strike rapidly,” the researchers say.
In an interview with EurekAlert!, researchers stated: “[O. jenkinsi] is normally slow-moving however reveals nice aggression when disturbed.”
The analysis paper doesn’t go into the specifics about how precisely the snake inflates itself or how huge it will get (is anybody else picturing a snake balloon?), this tactic makes the snake seem bigger and extra fearsome than it really is, which intimidates any would-be predators.
