A death adder in Australia has been found to have three venomous fangs, instead of the usual two, in a rare mutation.
It was spotted by keepers at the Australian Reptile Park during a venom-milking programme.
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While death adders usually shed and replace their fangs, the adder's third fang has not dropped off and is now also producing venom. Native to Australia, death adders are one of the deadliest snakes in the world – with this particular adder likely to have an even deadlier bite.
Although they're not known to be particularly aggressive towards humans, death adders sit inconspicuously among leaves, sand or gravel and ambush prey – or unsuspecting humans that disturb them. Its venom is very potent: before anti-venom programmes began, human mortality rates were around 60%.
In a statement to Live Science, park manager Billy Collett says, “This is something we've never seen before. We've had this death adder in the venom programme for about seven years, but only recently did we notice the third fang. I thought it would just shed off over time, but one year later, and it's still there!”
Venom milking is the practice of extracting venom from animals for research, medical purposes, or the development of venom-derived products.
A statement from the park sent to The Independent reads “The Australian Reptile Park has no record of a three-fanged snake in the collection for at least 20 years. In that time, we have housed thousands of snakes and done hundreds of thousands of milkings.”
A separate statement from a park spokesperson told Live Science “Unfortunately, we don't actually know what has caused the third fang to develop and don't currently have the facilities to run any tests.”
Main image: Fang of a death adder (not the adder from the Australia Reptile Park)/Getty
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