Nine rare venomous snakes were born at one out of the only three zoos in the country to house the serpents.
The ocellate mountain vipers hail from the warm, dry, slopes of Turkey. They have camouflaging dark orange spots, and are usually active during the day, a Saint Louis Zoo press release reported..
"There are only three zoos in the United States that maintain that species and we have the largest number," Jeff Ettling, Ph.D., Curator of Herpetology & Aquatics at the Zoo, and Director of both the Center for Conservation in Western Asia and the Ron Goellner Center for Hellbender Conservation told FOX 2. "There are a total of 28 of them in the country and we have 23 right here, which includes the nine new babies."
The super-venomous snake was believed to be extinct for 140 years, until they were rediscovered in Turkey in 1983, the press release reported.
Once people found out the species was still alive and well they started to over-collect the species, and have almost caused a second disappearance. Most of the re-discovered snakes' population has already been depleted, and these "collectors" are still a serious threat.
The zoo is now working with a breeding program that hopes to restore the dwindling species.
"With a strong history of caring for this species, the Zoo found value in focusing its conservation efforts on a group largely ignored by other zoological institutions, Ettling said."Our studies of mountain vipers in our care have already provided useful information on reproduction and behavior of these poorly known species."
The snakes are extremely dangerous and must be handled with care.
"These guys have fangs that hinge outwards they can actually go right through the screen if they want to," Ettling told FOX. "So they can get you even though you're on the outside of the enclosure."
Regardless of their poisonous fangs and coiled bodies, Ettling thinks that the vipers' bad reputation is undeserved.
"To me being the champion of a species that are so maligned and has a bad rap," Ettling said. "That's kind of my goal to change those attitudes of people.
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