Red Bellied Black Snake

In Mt Kaputar National, I woke up early one morning to look for the rare Kaputar slug , and found another wonderful creature. This Red Bellied Black Snake was just off the raised path. Though venomous, these snakes are generally considered more docile, preferring to run away from humans than to bite, their dangerous reputation probably being attributed to their heavy metal appearance. I sat with this one for thirty minutes, initially interested in me, they eventually slithered off into the leaf litter.

While I grew up with the Christian myth as the devil appearing as a serpent to tempt Eve into eating the apple of knowledge, many Aboriginal cultures have a Rainbow Serpent as a creator God. I wonder if our differing representations of snakes affect our interactions (definitely they do.)