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Staffers at the New England Aquarium last winter were setting up for an after-hours event near the Amazon rain forest exhibit when they made an unexpected discovery. Anna the anaconda — 30 pounds, 8 years old and 10 feet long — had given birth to a litter of baby snakes. Aquarium staff notified the resident biologist, who scrambled into the tank and found three live babies and about a dozen stillborn. On its face, anaconda birth isn’t unusual. Anaconda have no trouble reproducing in aquarium settings, and the snakes living in this Amazon exhibit were no exception. If left to...

The World Health Organization is publishing its first-ever global strategy to tackle the problem of snake bites, aiming to halve the number of people killed or disabled by snakes by 2030. Nearly 3 million people are bitten by potentially poisonous snakes every year, resulting in as many as 138,000 deaths. […] In a statement, Doctors Without Borders said it was “cautiously optimistic” WHO’s snakebite strategy could be a “turning point” in addressing snake bites. …

ROCKWOOD, Mich. (WDIV) - Last week, a man came in asking about snakes and he also wanted to buy a rat, but when he was left alone, he did the unthinkable. Yes, he stole the snake by hiding it down his pants. And although it's clear now, nobody thought that's what happened. When they realized Pasta the Python was missing, they thought he escaped. "We were thinking about it,” said store worker Callie McLeroy. “We were just like there's no way he could just be missing." So, they went back through the video. "The first time we watched I was...

Flanked by members of a local African-American faith community, a defiant Scott Israel defended himself against allegations of incompetence on Friday and made clear he would fight his suspension on any front necessary — whether before the Florida Senate or in state or federal court. Israel, 62, a two-term Democratic sheriff of Broward County, was suspended by Gov. Ron DeSantis three days after the new Republican governor was sworn into office. DeSantis cited a list of failures enumerated by a state panel that investigated BSO’s response to the Feb. 14, 2018, shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.

People visiting the famous Kotel this week filmed the serpent wriggling out from between the ancient stones. In the footage, the snake can be seen coming out of the wall after scaring off a pigeon that had been perched there. And it is reportedly a sign of the return of the Messiah. “We are truly in the dangerous times that directly precede Mashiach (Messiah),” Breaking News Israel reported, quoting a Hebrew blogger. “Just as the pigeon is safe so long as it seeks shelter among the stones of the Temple Mount, the Jews are protected by the Torah commandments. “When...

CIBOLO, Texas -- A Byron P. Steele High School student is recovering after being bitten by a small rattlesnake Friday morning. Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City Independent School District said the student was bitten in the breezeway just outside of the gym. Coaches in the area killed the snake immediately and the student was sent to the hospital.

Officials with the Virginia Wildlife Management and Control took to Facebook to share “extremely rare photos” of a two-headed copperhead snake. The snake was spotted last week in a Woodbridge, Va. resident’s backyard, according to the department. In addition to the photos, wildlife management officials shared a video of the two-headed serpent twisting and wriggling inside a container . . .

"Two long running, Obama era, investigations of two very popular Republican Congressmen were brought to a well publicized charge, just ahead of the Mid-Terms, by the Jeff Sessions Justice Department. Two easy wins now in doubt because there is not enough time. Good job Jeff......"

A Kansas letter carrier was unable to carry out some of those Postal Service duties on Friday, after finding a snake on someone’s mailbox, police said. The scaly creature was found wrapped around the wall-mounted mailbox and railing outside a resident’s home, the Overland Park Police said on Twitter. The red tail boa constrictor, which appeared on Broadmoor Street, is believed to have broken free from a neighboring home, police told The Kansas City Star. Once discovered, the carrier called for help from animal control, police said.

Alright, buddy. You’ve had enough. Time to go. Staff members at the Backyard, a bar, grill and music venue in Waco, Texas, were forced to remove a snake from the establishment after the creature somehow entangled itself in the ceiling fan on Saturday.

The bosses of New York's five Mafia families in the mid-1980s came a hair-trigger away from sanctioning a hit on then-federal prosecutor Rudy Giuliani, according to bombshell FBI records made public today. Before cooler heads prevailed - the mob bosses decided by a razor-thin 3-to-2 margin not to try to whack the future mayor and presidential candidate - at least two of the dons argued fervently that the mob-busting U.S. attorney should sleep with the fishes. Bonanno boss Philip “Rusty" Rastelli, Genovese chief Vincent “The Chin" Gigante and Lucchese honcho Anthony “Tony Ducks" Corallo all cast votes to spare the...

Photo via Ian Bartoszek/Conservancy of Southwest Florida An invasive Burmese python with a surgically implanted tracking device led Florida researchers to the largest python "aggregation" ever found in Collier County. A couple of days before Valentine's Day, a male python (or sentinel) nicknamed Argo was fitted with a tracking device and led researchers with the Conservancy of Southwest Florida to a 100-pound female python about to lay eggs. The female was captured, and Argo was then released to be tracked down again. Just three days later and about a half-mile away from the first location, they found the horny...

That’s a heck of a meal! The Conservancy of Southwest Florida documented a Burmese python eating a white-tailed deer that weighed more than the python itself. According to The Conservancy of Southwest Florida, which does research on python behavior and habitats in order to help control the population of the invasive species, this is believed to be the largest predator-to-prey ratio documented for the Burmese python, and possibly for any species of python. The findings will be published in the March 2018 issue of Herpetological Review. This snake, an 11-foot female, was found in Collier Seminole State Park on April...

Trump recites the Snake Poem as an analogy for our immigration policies in the past. Here it is. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ndhdZtLXiU THE SNAKE LYRICS by Al Wilson. On her way to work one morning Down the path along side the lake A tender hearted woman saw a poor half frozen snake His pretty colored skin had been all frosted with the dew "Oh well," she cried, "I'll take you in and I'll take care of you" "Take me in oh tender woman Take me in, for heaven's sake Take me in oh tender woman, " sighed the snake . She wrapped him...

17-foot-long python ... The snake was displayed by the Chicago Herpetological Society as part of an exhibit for the Chauncey's Great Outdoors radio program, said Ellen Hopkins, spokeswoman for the show. A handler was removing the snake from a container at the time the girl was petting it, she said. The Daily Herald is one of the sponsors of the show.

Now dubbed "Rocky Balboa," the boa constrictor is in need of a loving home, animal rescuers say.A slithery pet who at one point faced "a certain death sentence" is now fully healed — thanks to the use of a jaw splint — and in need of a new home, officials with the Peninsula Humane Society & SPCA said Wednesday. Named "Rocky Balboa," the boa constrictor is described as a sociable snake (bet you didn't know that was a thing) who would make a great pet. "On October 22, 2017 a member of the public spotted the injured snake on the...

Samuel McDowell, the late herpetologist and professor at Rutgers-Newark, spent a good part of his life studying ground snakes in New Guinea. Forty years later, Sara Ruane – who joined the Department of Biological Sciences faculty last semester – was able to find evidence that the snakes McDowell studied were, in fact, a new species of reptiles that have been hiding in plain sight. In research published in the Journal of Natural History, Ruane used DNA sequencing from five different genes, combined it with morphological information from preserved museum snake specimens, some of which McDowell examined in the 1970s, and...

Three hunters caught a 17-foot, 132-pound Burmese python in the Florida Everglades in southern Miami-Dade, a record for the program aimed at curbing the proliferation of the non-native species, according to media reports. The giant snake was caught Friday at Big Cypress National Preserve, according to NBC 6 Miami. “That snake could pretty much kill any full-grown man,” said one of the hunters who caught the python, Jason Leon, to NBC 6. “If that snake was alive right now, it would probably take like three of us to be able to control that snake.” It’s so far the largest snake...

A horrified shopkeeper found a 20ft long python sleeping in her toilet. Chalida Thawephol, 37, spotted the snake's tail after her five-year-old son went to the bathroom and told her there was ‘’something strange’’ inside. The mother-of-two went to investigate - then ran out screaming at the hideous sight of the super-size serpent. She called rescuers who arrived and dragged the enormous reptile out of her milk shop into the road. They wrestled the beast into a canvas bag - before putting a penny in a set of digital scales outside a 7/11 store to weigh it. But the animal...

Two pit bulls are being hailed as heroes after saving children from a copperhead snake. According to WFLA, Slayer and Paco began barking at the snake when it got close to children who were playing in the backyard. That’s when the snake struck, and bit both dogs with its venom. Slayer was struck in he face and snout, while Paco was bit in the leg. Melissa Butt, the children’s grandmother, immediately rushed both dogs to an emergency vet. “We need to get the anti-venom quickly, in order for them to get a good prognosis. It is very, very painful,” Dr....