Sometimes the real world and the magical worlds combine in a most amazing fashion.
One such occurance happened just this month, as scientists discovered a new species of snake!
This green pit viper was found in India, and the research team aptly named the species the “Trimeresurus salazar,” or as it will commonly be refered to, “Salazar’s pit viper.”
For those unfamiliar with Harry Potter lore, Salazar Slytherin is one of the four founders of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He was known for being a parseltounge, which means he could talk to snakes…which is why the Slytherin House Mascot is a snake.
According to CNN, the Salazar’s pit viper is venomous, and while he was discovered in India, other pit vipers are found throughout all of East and Southeast Asia. A unique features on the Salazar snake is the reddish stripe on the males’ head.
Maybe he was struck with a hex?
Whether you’re a Slytherin or not, it’s still awesome to see the magic of Harry Potter influence the real world!
What Hogwarts house are you in? Let us know in the comments!
Fellow Slytherin here! Love this!
Slytherin for life 🐍 very interesting article! Great job Molly 😀
Oh my gosh. I love this so much. I had a little garden snake that used to come out and sun himself on one of our bushes last summer. I named him Salazar too. 😉