Deadly snake proves nearly impossible to spot…but it's there
Editor's note: A version of this post was first published on Feb. 1, 2021.
An expert snake catcher puzzled his audience on Facebook by posting an image of a venomous snake and asked if anyone could spot it among an assortment of foliage, much of it small trees, limbs, sticks and twigs that look as if they could be a snake.
Stuart McKenzie of Sunshine Coast Snake Catchers in Australia added a second challenge to the mix by giving 'bonus points' if you could name the species.
Can you spot the deadly snake? Most could not. Check out the bigger photo on Facebook.
Here are just a few of the more than 900 responses, some that came with screenshots with the snake circled (erroneously, we might add):
'Nope! Can't see it…no bushwalking for me.'
'Straight up the back tree.' [Wrong]
'Just below the fork on the long branch on the ground, I think.' [Wrong]
'I tried to circle it, but all you can see really is the tail, it seems.' [Wrong]
Also on FTW Outdoors: Can you spot the lion out in the open staring at tourists?
'Did anyone actually find a snake or is this all just a joke??'
'Snake or stick, mate?'
'I can't see no snake, but they are notoriously sneaky critters so there could be one anywhere!!!'
'I can't see it.'
'I'm so confused I'm seeing snakes everywhere now.'
'Yep, I see sticks, leaves, trees and by this stage I'd be dead because I still wouldn't have seen it or felt it. I've been looking at everyone's answer and bugger me, nothing.'
Though it didn't seem as if anyone spotted it, there were these guesses as to the species:
Ghonas snake.
Tiger snake.
Mulger snake.
Green snake.
Brown snake.
Python.
Copperhead.
Viper.
Well, actually, it's a yellow-faced whip snake and, no, it's not a joke. The snake is actually in the photo. Here's one look:
McKenzie helped with an even closer look:
The yellow-faced whip snake belongs to a species of venomous snakes in the Elapidae family, one containing many dangerous snakes. They grow to 31-47 inches and are said to be active during the day, fast-moving and common throughout Australia.
They are also very hard to spot.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Yahoo
U.S. Coast Guard boat shown speeding over whales off California
A Southern California-based photographer on Thursday shared footage showing a U.S Coast Guard boat speeding over two gray whales off Laguna Beach. Mark Girardeau, who has spent countless hours on marine mammal excursions off Orange County, shared the footage to illustrate that vessels of all types pose a threat to whales that feed or migrate in California waters. 'One of the challenges gray whales face is boat traffic, especially along the California coast where there is no shortage of cargo ships, oil tankers, personal yachts, ferries, jet skiers, search & rescue operations, etc.,' Girardeau stated via Instagram. 'All which are not actively watching for whales.' Girardeau explained that in this case, which he described as a close call, the Coast Guard vessel did not strike either of the whales, one of which can be seen diving to avoid being struck. The Coast Guard crew, Girardeau added, had been searching for a swimmer who had been pulled to sea by a current and did not survive. It's likely that the crew did not even see the whales. Girardeau told FTW Outdoors that he captured the footage in 2019 with a drone that he piloted from shore. This article originally appeared on For The Win: U.S. Coast Guard boat shown speeding over whales off California
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Yahoo
New speed cameras coming to Knoxville school zones following City Council approval
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — The Knoxville City Council approved several agenda items Tuesday night by either a unanimous or 7-1 vote. Among the items passed were two items addressing speed and noise cameras in school zones. The City of Knoxville aims to eliminating traffic fatalities on city roads by 2040, that plan is called 'Vision Zero.' Two items on Tuesday's agenda, one to acquire the products and services needs, the other to authorize the use of these automated enforcement systems were passed. They are two key pieces that city officials hope will help them reach their goal. 2025-26 Knoxville budget approved 7 to 1 by city council 'It's incredibly important. This was an item that was identified in our Vision Zero action plan. In the action plan, it identified 30 different action items,' Vision Zero Coordinator Cody Gentry said. 'Included in that 30 action items was to expand our automated enforcement program and that's exactly what we have done.' Gentry said speeding is one of the main causes of fatal and injury crashes. The new speed cameras will hopefully help reduce speeding in school zones. 'In these school zones, that's where we have a lot of our vulnerable users, that's where we have kids walking to school, that's where we have a lot of pedestrian activity,' Gentry explained. 'We want, not only those students that are outside of the vehicles, but we want people driving through the school zones, we want the drivers and pedestrians, maybe parents, we want all of those users to be safe.' Councilwoman Gwen Mckenzie echoed Gentry's thoughts. 'Safety in schools and for our children is paramount,' McKenzie said. 'We see speeding is really a bad habit that a lot of people have, so anything we can do to cut down on potential accidents happening and keeping our students safe, we're all about it.' Second Harvest continues to feel federal cuts impact ahead of summer months The implantation of the school zone speed and noise camera will happen in stages. The noise cameras will be placed first and the hope is to have some of the speed cameras up in a few areas by this Fall. This will all be prioritized based on traffic and speed studies in those areas. One other item on the agenda that drew a long discussion was the Magnolia Avenue and Chilhowee Park redevelopment plan. The item passed 7-1, McKenzie said this redevelopment will bring life back to a once vibrant area. 'There's been a lot of disinvestment in that part of East Knoxville for quite some time now, over a decade,' McKenzie said. 'This particular resolution is critical to be able to make sure that happens and happens in a very uniform and structural way where the community has input as well.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
USA Today
17-04-2025
- USA Today
These young men were sucked into the manosphere. Here's how they found a way out.
These young men were sucked into the manosphere. Here's how they found a way out. As a college student, Michael McKenzie had an average social life — he studied with friends from his accounting classes, played drinking games at parties and watched 'Cheers' as a comfort show with his roommates on Sunday evenings. The one thing that eluded him for years, though, was a girlfriend. The now 27-year-old tried Tinder and Bumble, but his swiping rarely resulted in dates. When he mustered up the confidence to approach girls at parties, they politely declined. So when he came upon the videos of YouTuber Kevin Samuels, the creator's blunt discussion about relationships — that 'a high value man starts with money" and that 'the place of a man in society has been devalued' — felt like a 'glimmer of hope.' Every time he watched one of Samuels' videos, YouTube would recommend three or four more from similar creators. The theories repeated in Samuels' circle — like "the wall" theory that women older than 35 and unmarried are "leftovers' who decrease in value, or the idea that 80% of women are attracted to 20% of men — seemed to explain his bad luck. In 2022, Samuels died from hypertension. 'I was in this nihilistic mindset at the time, nothing matters, life sucks, you kind of suffer, and then you die,' McKenzie says. 'This 80/20 dogma was kind of like a confirmation bias of 'the world's not fair, and so you should kind of just give up.'' McKenzie counts himself among a growing number of young men who were sucked into "the manosphere," a digital collection of websites, videos and social media that promote male supremacy and advocate for traditional gender roles. He found his way out. But for some young men, it's not that simple. Creators like Andrew Tate — a self-proclaimed "misogynist" charged with rape and human trafficking — and streamer Sneako, who once said 'a woman's worth is what she looks like and a man's worth is your masculinity, is your respect," provide a pipeline for men seeking advice about romantic rejection, physical self-esteem and economic insecurity to fall into radicalism and misogyny. Some of those communities, like Pick up Artists, whose goals are to 'pick up' women and seduce them into sex, involve interaction with women, while incels, who consider themselves unable to find romantic or sexual intimacy, self-isolate from women and are aggressive toward their peers who are sexually active. Others who influence the manosphere range from fitness content creators people follow for bodybuilding advice that share misogynistic comments to influencers who focus on traditional gender roles. 'I felt like I wasn't really a man unless I was sexually successful' When McKenzie started dating and having sex, he thought it would boost his self esteem. Instead, he felt "unsure of himself." 'At the time, I didn't really see them [women] as people. I saw them as achievements to check off on a box that made me feel like a masculine dude, because I felt like I wasn't really a man unless I was sexually successful,' Mckenzie says. Jonathan France was similarly frustrated with dating when he found YouTuber Wheat Waffles, who posts about 'Looksmaxxing,' the process of maximizing one's physical appearance through hygiene, fitness and style. France, who is now 28, had spent $500 on premium subscriptions on dating apps like Hinge and Tinder, but often went weeks or months without getting a single match. Joining communities on Reddit like r/IncelsWithoutHate, which was later banned, and the X account IncelsCo, whose pinned post reads that 'modern women are the problem in dating,' solidified his belief that the only way to be in a relationship was to be attractive. 'That combination warmed my mentality to think, 'OK, I'm just an unattractive guy. Women don't like me because I'm unattractive, so then I need to dislike them because I'm unattractive,' France says. McKenzie and France never felt drawn to violence. But extreme fringes of the manosphere have orchestrated or praised violent attacks against women, a trend Netflix's recent crime drama 'Adolescence' highlighted by following the story of a 13-year-old boy who was radicalized by misogynistic culture online. Those men in the manosphere who are most isolated from women and other men, like incels — a term for men who are involuntarily celibate — are more likely to take on extreme views or engage in violence, according to University of Wisconsin-Madison public affairs professor Mariel Barnes, whose research focuses on backlash to gender equality and the manosphere. The man behind the 2014 Isla Vista killings, for instance, was a self-proclaimed incel who before the shooting published a manifesto and YouTube video announcing his "Day of Retribution" as a means of punishing women for their perceived lack of interest. In March, it was found that a British man convicted of murdering his ex-girlfriend and two of her family members had searched for ex-kickboxer Andrew Tate's podcasts in the 24 hours before the attack. 'If you are constantly consuming this content and you are isolated and women are responsible for the bad things that are happening to you, it's very dehumanizing, right?' says Barnes. 'You don't see women as humans anymore, or as peers or as friends, and that dehumanization gives you permission to treat them as less than human.' More: Netflix's 'Adolescence,' toxic masculinity and what these emoji really mean How the manosphere sucks young men in France says he never intended for watching funny meme videos to turn into a media diet of anti-feminist content. But he was frustrated and angry, and as the YouTube algorithm kept pushing more videos, content he once would've considered extreme seemed more palatable. 'Wheat Waffles and Andrew Tate, I think all of those guys take advantage of that natural experience of not understanding women and warp it into hating women and seeing women as objects,' France says. The combination of technology and the natural insecurities that arise during teenage years creates a 'perfect storm' for innocuous sports and health spaces to tune young men into radical content, according to Gary Barker, the president of Equimundo: Center for Masculinities and Social Justice, an organization that advocates for healthy manhood. 'They're going there with kind of innocent intentions, but without somebody else supporting them, that innocent intention can become a follower who drops their critical thinking,' Barker says. Jesse Young, a 30-year-old who regularly engages with users looking for advice on r/incelexit, says he managed to avoid the pitfalls of the manosphere when he made female friends in college, which countered the beliefs he developed during a high school experience with minimal social interaction. He doesn't want to think about where he would've ended up without those friendships, and believes it would be harder to avoid the online manosphere now. 'It was just isolated people back then, whereas now it's like a whole industry,' Young says. How misogyny went mainstream Barnes says the manosphere started to coalesce online around 2008 and grew with the rise of blogging websites like Paul Elam's 'A Voice for Men' or Daryush Valizadeh's 'Return of Kings' site, which featured headlines like 'When Her No Means Yes' and 'The Intellectual Inferiority of Women.' As short-form content platforms like TikTok, YouTube shorts and Instagram reels began offering monetization options for creators, the manosphere grew, including on streaming platforms like Twitch and chat boards like 4chan. 'The current version of the manosphere has become much more mainstream than it used to be,' says Barnes. "You don't need to hide who you are anymore if you're a raging misogynist.' The manosphere mattered: The rise of Trump bros and why some Gen Z men are shifting right How to leave the manosphere behind When France's brother died by suicide in the fall of 2019, he made a promise to himself to work on his mental health. He started therapy and anxiety medication, invested more time volunteering at his church and used hobbies like video games and Legos as outlets. 'I've had a lot more success after leaving the incel community behind and just realizing that your life isn't really all that hopeless,' France says. 'You realize, 'I believed this for so long, how many years of my life did I lose?'' Barker says spending time offline is an important part of deradicalization, but it's not a case of 'throwing the baby out with the bathwater' — there are meaningful connections that young men find in online support forums. Both France and Mckenzie joined online spaces to connect with others who have found their way out, such as Reddit forums r/ExRedPill and r/IncelExit. It's important for young men to develop a filter when scrolling online, and think critically about the motives behind content creators who monetize from their advice, according to Barker. 'If you're feeling slightly ashamed of what you're following online, that's probably a good gut check that something there isn't working,' Barker says. McKenzie used weightlifting as a physical outlet, volunteered at his local food bank and served with AmeriCorps, a service program that gives people ages 18 to 26 volunteer opportunities around the country. He says putting his time and energy into helping others and learning valuable skills, like how to build houses, helped build confidence in his identity beyond his looks. 'I wish I would have known there's other ways to be a great man, other than checking off the boxes of being rich, wealthy, attractive and having women's favor,' McKenzie says. Five years after his brother's death, France says his mindset shift is just now paying off. Those leaving the manosphere shouldn't expect the transformation to be immediate, he says. 'A lot of guys just aren't willing to put that much time and effort in to get their mindset right, because they just want instant results,' France says. 'It doesn't work like that. Mental health is always like a journey, it never really ends.' Rachel Hale's role covering youth mental health at USA TODAY is funded by a grant from Pivotal Ventures. Pivotal Ventures does not provide editorial input. Reach her at rhale@ and @rachelleighhale on X.
