Common Death Adder is the common name for the Acanthophis antarcticus. They have flat, triangle-shaped heads and thick bodies. They are usually between 27 and 39 inches in length. These snakes are light brown with darker brown horizontal stripes running down its body with some dark brown spots along the stripes. They also have longer fangs than most other venomous snakes. The long fangs help them inject their fangs into their prey with venom quickly.

 

This snake lives in the forests, woodlands, and grasslands of Eastern Australia and the Southern coast of Australia. They do well in those areas because they camouflage in leaves with their coloring. It can also be found rarely in northern and Western Australia, because its relative, the Desert Adder, resides in those areas.

 

The common death adder is very venomous, so it eats small animals that it can kill quickly. It often lays waiting for a meal to come by for days on end covered in leaves, lying coiled in ambush, ready to attack. It usually eats small mammals and birds, and is known to quickly attack humans if the human is close. It uses its tail to lure in an animal, and injects the venom when the animal comes to investigate the movement. The snake will not slither away when it hears a sound coming, and it has an inability to hear airborne sounds, which made its original name “deaf adder”. The only weakness of the common death adder is another venomous animal in Australia—the Cane Toad. It has toxic skin that kills many animals.

 

The size of this species is so large that its conservation status is “Least Concern”. The population is unknown, but it’s known that it’s large. This population is growing because there are approximately 5-20 snakes in one litter.

 

An interesting fact about the common death adder is that they give live birth, not laying eggs like most other snakes. This snake is also the fastest Australian snake and one of the most venomous as well. Its deadly venom can also be lifesaving. National Geographic had an article telling about how the snake’s venom is used to create antibodies in horses’ blood. I never thought that dangerous venom could be used to help! I never thought I would be this interested in learning about a snake, but I learned a lot about this kind of scary animal.

 

Author: Alison W

Published: 03/2010

 

Bibliography http://www.derm.qld.gov.au/wildlife-ecosystems/wildlife/az_of_animals/common_death_adder.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Death_Adder http://www.itsnature.org/ground/reptiles-land/australian-death-adder/ http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/01/0106_030108_ snakewrangler_2.html http://www.redorbit.com/education/reference_library/reptiles/common_death_adder/2023/index.html http://images.google.com/imgres? imgurl=http://www.reedysreptiles.com/fullsize/Barkley%2520Adder%2520rezie% 2520full.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.reedysreptiles.com/captive.htm&usg=__rpH9qBaGwET- K5gidvMFgCzNjjA=&h=432&w=800&sz=121&hl=en&start=25&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=NR73cwQ6fay6-M:&tbnh=77&tbnw=143&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcommon%2Bdeath% 2Badder%26ndsp%3D21%26hl%3Den%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox% 26sa%3DN%26start%3D21%26um%3D1

 

Photo Credit: Wilfried Berns http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Acanthophis_antarcticus.jpg