Russell's viper

[Abhirup Dutta Gupta]

CANON 60D
SIGMA 150-500 MM OS
ISO. 320
S.S. 1/800
F. f/7.1

almost full frame,in Monigram,w.b. on 19.11.2013

This is my first shot of any kind of deadly species of my back yard wild life photography.

[Saktipada Panigrahi]

Lovely image. Stealth character, slow movement, vertical pupil, large nostril nicely captured. Thanks for sharing.SaktiWild

[Abhishek Jamalabad]

Nice image. One of our most misunderstood animals. A lot of people get bitten when they mistake these for baby rock pythons and try to show off their "snake-wrangling" skills. These seemingly sluggish snakes can get dangerously quick and powerful if threatened.
I like the grass here. Gives a feel of the habitat. Good you got the eye clear.

[Murugan Anantharaman]

Lovely image. Snake images are always a treat to watch. Here you have made a nice picture, the details are good and the eyes are lovely. Agree with Abhishek's comments. I am in the process of moving into a new house near a creek in Mumbai, there are a lot of mangroves and abundant snakes there I've heard. My builder was telling me that last monsoon he picked up a russell's viper thinking it was a python and got bit. Thankfully he rushed to a hospital nearby and treated himself but had to suffer from swelling and pain in his arm for a while. Thanks for sharing.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Good to see this venomous snake. Some more space at the left and less space at the bottom would have strengthened the image.

We shouldn't be catching snakes for fun. Unfortunately, creating good wildlife programs is costly. So channels tend to go for easier route and have found out a way of appealing to the hedonistic tendencies of people. These programs have resulted in a bunch of youngsters catching snakes to show themselves as experts.

[Saktipada Panigrahi]

Apropos of my posting dated 21-11-2013, I may like to clarify that I used the term 'slow' as seen in its stealth movement in the beautiful photograph. It is a heavy snake compared to its length and does not move forward as fast as a cobra or rat snake does.

Nevertheless, it is extremely difficult to tackle this snake because it will coil its body or lift its body swiftly and throw it sideways and will strike hard. What exactly I wish to mean is that it is capable of striking from any angle/direction unlike the cobra which makes a frontal attack.
Unless it is seen inside or in the vicinity of the house, the villagers allow Russel's Viper to move away.
Thanks again for sharing.SaktiWild

[Abhirup Dutta Gupta]

Thank you everybody for your comments.