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Imagine the surprise of finding a deceased sea turtle on the beach. That alone is such a rare occurrence it would take a moment to process.
Then, imagine seeing a potentially deadly Russell’s viper emerge from the deceased Olive Ridley sea turtles and it begins to seem like a field biologist’s wildest dream and worst nightmare. And that’s precisely what happened to an X user named Susanta Nanda with the Indian Forest Service over the weekend when they shared this footage of the snake emerging from the sea turtle shell.
Check it out:
Nature never stops to surprise us☺️☺️
After years of walking along the coast, for the first time I came across this deadly snake yesterday at Rushukulya.Initially, when it sprang out of the dead turtle, I thought it was a sea snake, turned out to be a Russell's viper. pic.twitter.com/LcDsje60BL— Susanta Nanda (@susantananda3) February 25, 2024
In her caption she wrote “Nature never stops to surprise us. After years of walking along the coast, for the first time I came across this deadly snake yesterday at Rushukulya.Initially, when it sprang out of the dead turtle, I thought it was a sea snake, turned out to be a Russell’s viper.”
The video has picked up tens of thousands of views since it was initially shared on X, formerly Twitter. And on USA Today’s FTW, it’s noted that while no specific location is mentioned the Rushikulya river mouth into the Bay of Bengal is home to Olive Ridley sea turtle nesting sites this time of year from February into March.
While antivenin does exist to treat bites from the Russell’s viper, including a new strain developed in 2016 in conjunction with Costa Rican scientists, the species still accounts for between 15,000 and 25,000 human deaths per year.
The Russell’s viper strike is mesmerizing in slow motion:
This species of snake is one of the ‘Big 4’ in India so seeing that emerge from a deceased sea turtle’s shell on the beach would be quite jarring, to say the least.