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For some reason, I have Yahoo! set up as my homepage when I log onto the nets, so this was the picture that greeted me. I've always had a strange fascination and respect for snakes. Immediately I wanted to learn what I could about this amazing specimen. To learn about it and other species that scientists have recently discovered, including a rat species thought to have been extinct for 11 million years, click here.
When I first studied the picture of the green piti viper up close, I was trying to compare it with the snakes I'd seen over the years. Something about it's face didn't seem quite right. And then I realized, those big black pits that seem to be glaring at you? Yeah, that's it's nostrils. It's eyes are behind them, and when I finally realized that, I was thoroughly chilled. Just because I think the creature is beautiful doesn't mean I ever want to meet it in person!