Durban — uShaka Marine World’s Dangerous Creatures welcomed 15 neonates, born from a female rough-scaled death adder on exhibit.
uShaka’s Ann Kunz said that last Wednesday, during their morning routine checks at Dangerous Creatures, they found their female death adder giving birth on exhibit.
“We monitored her for the duration of the day and 15 neonates were born in total,” Kunz said.
She said the species was ovoviviparous, a form of reproduction whereby the eggs are not laid but remain within the mother's body until she is ready to give birth to fully developed babies.
Herpetologist Dylan Leonard said: “We have been anxiously awaiting their arrival after seeing some physical indicators, such as changes in her body weight and in her behaviour, suggesting she was gravid.”
Kunz added that the rough-scaled death adder (Acanthophis rugosus) was a species of venomous snake occurring in parts of Australia and Indonesia.
She said that unlike other adders, which form part of the viper family, death adders belonged to the elapid family. Like their cobra relatives, they have fixed front fangs and not hinged fangs characteristic of vipers.
Daily News