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A Daily News Service of the North Carolina Coastal Federation

Pit viper stare-down

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Two cottonmouths, aka water moccasins and known scientifically as Agkistrodon piscivorus, came face to face while foraging Sunday at the North Carolina Coastal Federation’s 6,000-acre North River Wetlands Preserve, with one rising up and the other backing down. One of six venomous snakes in North Carolina, the cottonmouth is the most aquatic, preferring wetter habitats. It's a pit viper, having a pit on its face that senses heat. The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission offers tips on how to coexist with snakes. Photo: Doug Waters

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Two cottonmouths, aka water moccasins and known scientifically as Agkistrodon piscivorus, came face to face while foraging Sunday at the North Carolina Coastal Federation’s 6,000-acre North River Wetlands Preserve, with one rising up and the other backing down. One of six venomous snakes in North Carolina, the cottonmouth is the most aquatic, preferring wetter habitats. It’s a pit viper, having a pit on its face that senses heat. The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission offers tips on how to coexist with snakes. Photo: Doug Waters

About Doug Waters

Doug Waters, a New Bern native now residing in Morehead City, is former senior staff photographer for Surfing Magazine and was inducted into the East Coast Surfing Hall of Fame in the Media Category in 2010. His work is included in private collections and businesses in the Southeast and his photograph of close friend and North Carolina professional surfer, the late Buddy Pelletier, is on the North Carolina specialty license plate for the Buddy Pelletier Surf Foundation.

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