The latest image to go viral on the Internet has been confusing and confounding people since it was posted by snake biologist Helen Plylar on Twitter Sunday.
Plylar challenged her Twitter followers to “spot the snake” in a photo that shows a leaf-covered area and a few twigs — but nothing resembling a snake.
Received this from a fellow HERper this morning. No caption needed, the task was implied: "can you spot the snake?" 🐍 pic.twitter.com/oVkjOm8ufy
— Helen Bond Plylar🐍👩🏼🔬 (@SssnakeySci) April 23, 2017
The tweet was set to “private” after this article was published, but others on Twitter captured the image:
https://twitter.com/NewScienceWrld/status/858307363685773312
The snake is an Agkistrodon contortrix, aka a copperhead, Helen revealed. But even after circling the viper with a blue pen, many untrained eyes were unable to see it right away — that’s how well-camouflaged it is.
“Cute but venomous, so no touchy!” she tweeted.
If y'all haven't found it yet… Copperhead, aka Agkistrodon contortrix. Cute but venomous, so no touchy! ☺️🐍❤️ pic.twitter.com/pSVMIhFP0o
— Helen Bond Plylar🐍👩🏼🔬 (@SssnakeySci) April 24, 2017
Again, the tweet has been removed, but here’s the image with the snake circled:
Even the most experienced hiker would be hard-pressed to spot that copperhead before accidentally trampling on it. Which is the point. You can’t be too careful when hiking in areas with venomous snakes.
The photo was snapped by Jerry Davis in Texas, according to Mashable.
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