It was years ago, but it was such an incredible creature.

Two years ago, my steemian friend Hive account@vcelier came down for a visit from Canada with his grandson. We had a fantastic time together in many ways, and thoroughly enjoyed our time together. Along with our other adventures, we happened upon the first melanistic Pygmy Rattlesnake (Sistrurus miliarius) I've ever seen.

Melanism is when a creature has an increased development of the dark-colored pigment "melanin" in the skin or hair. A common example would be the "Black Panther," which are melanistic Jaguars here in America. When you compare the melanistic Pygmy Rattler to one of "normal" coloration, it almost appears to be the shadow of a regular pygmy.

I was recently thinking back to this find and wishing that I would have made an in-depth video about the find. Hopefully I encounter another one at some point, but for now, at least I have these photos and memories. Enjoy!