The newest snake was announced this month, and  has scary black and yellow scales, menacing green eyes, and two spiked horns. The new creature was publically introduced  this month, and was made famous not for its scary appearance, but the fact that it was named after a seven year old.

‘Matilda’s Horned Viper’ was named after the daughter of one of the scientists that discovered the animal. Tim Davenport’s daughter became fascinated by the snake, and its scary appearance.

Davneport had this to say about his daughters fascination, according to Yahoo.com :

“”My daughter, who was 5 at the time, became fascinated by it and used to love spending time watching it and helping us look after it,” he said. “We called it Matilda’s Viper at that stage … and then the name stuck.”

The Viper was originally discovered in a small section of Southwest Tanzania two years ago.

Jenna Chaplin, a Junior at FHS,also expressed her opinion about the scary snake:

“I don’t know how any little kid could be so fascinated by such a gross looking snake,” she says. “When I was five I like Barbies. That’s just weird.”

Only three new types of Viper have been found in Africa in the last thirty years, which makes this new snake very important to scientists everywhere. Because of this, the Wildlife Conservation Society refuses to name exactly where the snake lives, in order to prevent it from being hunted by poachers.

The number of Matilda’s Horned Vipers living in the wild is unknown, because snake counts are nearly impossible due to their hiding skills and migration patterns.

Currently tweleve of these snakes are living in captivity in Africa, and are being used for breeding.