Eideard

Where’s Matilda?

A new species of brightly coloured snake has been found in a remote area of Tanzania in East Africa.

The striking black-and-yellow snake measures 60 cm and has horn-like scales above its eyes. The newly discovered snake, named Matilda’s horned viper, has been described in the journal Zootaxa.

The exact location of the new species is being kept a secret, because it could be of interest to the illegal pet trade.

Campaign group the Wildlife Conservation Society said the snake’s habitat, estimated at only a several square km, is already severely degraded from logging and charcoal manufacture.

The authors of the study in Zootaxa expect the viper will be classified as a critically endangered species. They have already established a small captive breeding colony.

Watched the film “CREATION” last night – about that critical period in Darwin’s life when he had to confront both his daughter’s death and the matching conflict with his family, his own circle of friends and neighbors, over completion of “ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES”.

Sad, always moving, triumphant in the decision we all know he made. He would have felt the effort to save these snakes from society’s despoilment of nature as worthwhile this week – as he did in his own day.