As all of you bothering to read this blogg probably already knows, frogfish are devious scam artists seemingly having their global head quarters here in Lembeh. Frogfish use a dorsal fin ray modified to being a fishing rod with an attached lure to deceive unsuspecting small fish to believe that there is a cheap meal to be had. Once the small fish comes close enough, the frogfish strikes in a surprisingly high speed motion, more often than not catching and swallowing the small fish.
One of the snakes of Sulawesi use a similar strategy to catch prey. The Wagler´s pit viper is mostly arboreal, hiding motionless on a small branch close to the forest floor.
Wagler´s pit viper feed on small rodents and small birds, and the snake usesits prehensile tail to lure prey into striking distance. The tail which is brightly colored is wiggled like a worm, and as the pit viper is extremely well camouflaged, the illusion is very efficient. A small bird or rodent will approach, hoping to get a quick and easy meal of protein. Once close enough, the viper will strike, and the cocktail of toxins included in the venom will quickly kill the prey by paralyzing its breathing.
Interesting enough, one of the toxins is used in anti wrinkle cream. If you want to try it out, you shouldn´t get to close to a Wagler´s pit viper trying to get some venom. Bited from Wagler´s are generally not deadly to people, but a bite will induce severe pain, and probably even necrosis in the tissue around the bite and would certainly require quick hospital care. Luckily bites are rare, as the Wagler´s pit viper is a pretty docile creature.
