May I introduce: the Taiwan habu (Trimeresurus mucrosquamatus), one of the ten or so poisonous snakes here on The Rock. This species is actually very delicious, I've had its cousin, the Japanese habu, 20 years ago in a small roadside restaurant in Okinawa. Deep-fried, I seem to recall. (Yes, it tastes like chicken, only oilier). Among the other toxic reptiles are the Taiwanese cobra (naja naja atra, lives just a ways up the hill behind our house, my son had a little run-in with one last year) and the Hundred-Pace-Viper (Deinagkistrodon acutus), so called by the locals because that's how far you can run after getting bitten and before croaking (unless you get medical help in time)
I hike a five-klick loop trail every day, and one gets to see quite a lot of interesting critters out here in the woods. A pair of crested serpent eagles, for one, or the always popular whip scorpion. ((The dogs are wonderful for sniffing out creatures you wouldn't usually notice) Currently, though, the snakes are out after the long rain, and I 'm looking forward to meeting some more of them in the coming days - preferably not as roadkill.
I hike a five-klick loop trail every day, and one gets to see quite a lot of interesting critters out here in the woods. A pair of crested serpent eagles, for one, or the always popular whip scorpion. ((The dogs are wonderful for sniffing out creatures you wouldn't usually notice) Currently, though, the snakes are out after the long rain, and I 'm looking forward to meeting some more of them in the coming days - preferably not as roadkill.