I have no idea if the photo is genuine. I’m guessing it is either a clever fake or a genuine photo of a snake from some other part of the world (though I can't tell just what species it might be). I am leaning toward a good photoshop job. The coloration and head shape look "mamba-like" to me. The black mamba (Dendroaspis polylepis) is a very long snake, and does hold its head up high when moving, but is not close to the length represented in this photo. In addition, there is something about the shadow beneath the snake’s head that doesn’t look quite right to me. Just my opinion but I’ve been wrong before.
If it is a hoax the perpetrator is playing off a real story. The Morganza Spillway has been opened in an attempt to spare Baton Rouge and New Orleans from potentially devastating flooding. Saving these two highly populous areas required flooding hundreds of acres of rural forest and farmland and the animals of the area are on the move as documented here by CNN.
In any case, it is a fun picture. I will be curious to see if it is debunked quickly.
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no, i know who took this photo, it was a viper in australia, a brown king cobra i believe
ReplyDeleteExcept that cobras aren't native to Australia nor are they in the Viperidae family. They are closely related. The body is also too heavy to be a cobra or a mamba. I would lean towards an anaconda if that really was taken there and then it would mean that someones pet got out or was released.
ReplyDeleteI retract my last statement. The previous poster was more right than not. With further searching I found that it was confirmed to be a King Brown in Australia. Still not in the cobra family but I should know better than to post without all the facts.
ReplyDeleteKing browns never get that big !!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI have recieved this picture three times so far. Every time the story changes. First it was from Oz, then from Bloemfontein,SA and then Richards Bay,SA. The senders here claimed it was a Black Mamba.
ReplyDeleteI have some experience with snakes and I would not want to identify it from this photo.
But a little research on the Internet has convinced me that it is a fake.
Definitely photoshopped. The shadows from the trees point in a different direction than the snake's head shadow.
ReplyDeleteIt's really big but is actually a statue and was on the side of a road in Australia (?) . Info. is on snopes but you have to look up brown snake for it to come up I think.
ReplyDelete