The meal-seeker has become the meal, trapped in the jaws of an enormous snake.\u00a0The lark\u2019s would-be snack was not a real bug but an anatomical forgery: the incredible\u00a0appendage of the spider-tailed horned viper (Pseudocerastes\u00a0urarachnoides<\/em>), surely one of the world’s weirdest snakes<\/a>.<\/p> Lots of predators use their own body parts to attract prey: Anglerfish<\/a> grow their\u00a0own glowing lures, horned toads wiggle their worm-like toes, and alligator snapping\u00a0turtles make their tongues squirm.<\/p> But the bait used by the spider-tailed horned viper has a special panache. Millennia\u00a0of evolution have sculpted the end of its tail into a near-perfect replica of a spider. <\/p> For a\u00a0while, this snake\u2019s jewellery was difficult for even researchers to believe: A team examining specimens in 1970 thought at first that their snake had been preserved with a small\u00a0spider clinging to her tail, or that she had a tumour or parasite.<\/p> Millennia\u00a0of evolution have sculpted the end of its tail into a near-perfect replica of a spider.<\/p><\/blockquote> But\u00a0further\u00a0encounters\u00a0and\u00a0careful\u00a0observation\u00a0have\u00a0revealed\u00a0the\u00a0ornament\u2019s\u00a0development\u00a0and\u00a0use.\u00a0Baby\u00a0snakes\u00a0are\u00a0born\u00a0with\u00a0normal\u00a0tails;\u00a0as\u00a0they\u00a0grow, an\u00a0abdomen-like knob develops at the tail\u2019s end, while the nearby scales splay outward\u00a0until\u00a0they\u00a0resemble\u00a0legs.\u00a0<\/p> To\u00a0hunt,\u00a0a\u00a0viper\u00a0coils\u00a0up\u00a0on\u00a0a\u00a0limestone\u00a0rock\u00a0and\u00a0twitches\u00a0her\u00a0tail\u00a0slightly,\u00a0sending\u00a0the\u00a0‘spider’\u00a0marching\u00a0around\u00a0on\u00a0her\u00a0well-camouflaged body until a bird or lizard falls for it.<\/p> The capture rate is not 100 percent. Researchers have seen wizened birds\u00a0successfully resist the temptation of the twitching lure, as well as snakes whose spiders have lost limbs. But when it works, it\u2019s one of the natural world\u2019s freakiest and most impressive bait-and-switches \u2013 a\u00a0snake in spider\u2019s clothing.<\/p> This article is excerpted from\u00a0Atlas Obscura: Wild Life:\u00a0An Explorer\u2019s Guide to the World\u2019s Living Wonders<\/em>\u00a0by Joshua Foer & Cara Giaimo. Workman Publishing, 2024.\u00a0<\/p> Discover more amazing snakes from around the world<\/strong><\/p> This is surely a contender for the world’s weirdest \u2013 and trickiest \u2013 snake. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":42143,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"2"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/09\/spider-tailed-horned-viper-meet-the-snake-in-spiders-clothing-that-fools-its-prey-into-a-shocking-death.jpg",2560,1706,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/09\/spider-tailed-horned-viper-meet-the-snake-in-spiders-clothing-that-fools-its-prey-into-a-shocking-death-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/09\/spider-tailed-horned-viper-meet-the-snake-in-spiders-clothing-that-fools-its-prey-into-a-shocking-death-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/09\/spider-tailed-horned-viper-meet-the-snake-in-spiders-clothing-that-fools-its-prey-into-a-shocking-death-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/09\/spider-tailed-horned-viper-meet-the-snake-in-spiders-clothing-that-fools-its-prey-into-a-shocking-death-1024x682.jpg",800,533,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/09\/spider-tailed-horned-viper-meet-the-snake-in-spiders-clothing-that-fools-its-prey-into-a-shocking-death-1536x1024.jpg",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/09\/spider-tailed-horned-viper-meet-the-snake-in-spiders-clothing-that-fools-its-prey-into-a-shocking-death-2048x1365.jpg",2048,1365,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"This is surely a contender for the world's weirdest \u2013 and trickiest \u2013 snake.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/42142"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Atlas](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/62\/2024\/09\/Atlas-Obscura-book-scaled.jpeg\")
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