Venomous snake with 3 fangs may be the 'most dangerous death adder in the world'

In a first-of-its-kind discovery, a death adder has been found with three super-sharp, venomous fangs, instead of the usual two.

"This is something we've never seen before," Billy Collett, park manager at the Australian Reptile Park, where the snake lives, said in a statement emailed to Live Science. "We've had this death adder in the venom program for about seven years, but only recently did we notice the third fang. I thought it would just shed off over time, but one year later, and it's still there!"

This third fang, located right next to one of the other fangs at the left side of the snake's mouth, also produces venom. This means it has a much larger venom output per bite than is usual for a death adder, making it even more deadly.

This ultra-rare snake "might actually be the most dangerous death adder in the world," Collett said in a video interview. According to the statement, the extra fang is the result of a never-before-seen mutation.

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Death adders (Acanthophis) are a group of venomous snakes native to Australia and New Guinea. They have one of the fastest strikes of any snake, with some species being capable of biting and injecting venom from their fangs in under 0.15 seconds. Their venom contains neurotoxins that can cause paralysis and even death if left untreated. Before the development of antivenom, around 50% of death adder bites were fatal.

This snake is part of Australian Reptile Park's antivenom production program, and its extremely rare extra fang was discovered when it was being milked for its venom. This involves gently squeezing a snake's venom glands while it bites onto a collection container, causing the venom to pour into the vial.

This three-fanged death adder was found to produce far more venom than usual, with "massive yields" coming out of all three fangs. It produces roughly double that of a two-fanged death adder — although it's unclear whether the higher yield is the result of the extra fang, or that this individual just produces high quantities of venom.

This is the first three-fanged snake ever discovered at the Australian Reptile Park, which has been operating for 20 years and has milked hundreds of thousands of snakes, a spokesperson for the park told Live Science in an email.

"There have been other 3 fanged snakes found in Australia, but from what we can find, there have been no 3 fanged death adders recorded," they said.

Exactly why this snake has three fangs instead of two is unclear, but may be related to the process of fang replacement. Similar to human adult teeth, death adders have replacement fangs growing behind the active ones, so when a fang is lost, a new one moves forward to take its place. This ensures that their fangs remain sharp and functional for injecting venom.

"It's normal for death adders to shed fangs over time and replace them with new ones every few months or so," the spokesperson said. "Unfortunately, we don't actually know what has caused the 3rd fang to develop and don't currently have the facilities to run any tests."