QUEER SNAKES AT THE LONDON ZOO
An interesting' collection .of reptiles from the American tropics has just been sent to the Zoo on loan. "Among them are two specimens of the great, water serpent, the ananconda or. sucuruju, ths origin of many a myth of the unfrequented Amazons. He is not poisonous, but is reputed to reach a length of du feet and more, with a. girth ofavera vaid. Bu.t the two examples at the Zoo ire nothing like that. Another snake is the fer-de-lance, or taskmaster, whose activity, pugnacity, .and venom are exceptional. Most curious of all, and seldom seen in this country is the massurana, or blaok cnbo, who feeds only on other snakes,, and for preference big and deadly fellows like the fer-de-lance and the rattlesnake. A photograph by the cage of the one now in the Zoo shows that actual specimen /waUowmg .from. the head, downwards a fer-de-lanco as big himsolf, . . *
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Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 6, 2 October 1917, Page 8
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155QUEER SNAKES AT THE LONDON ZOO Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 6, 2 October 1917, Page 8
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