News Animals

Puff adders appear ‘invisible’ to noses

The vipers use chemical camouflage to disguise their snake scent

Puff adder

SNIFF TEST Puff adders, with patterns that camouflage them visually, are also so chemically camouflaged that they’re difficult to detect by smell.

Graham Alexander 

By Susan Milius

- More than 2 years ago

Puff adders are so difficult to detect by scent that trained snake-finding dogs can walk over a live adder without noticing.

“The puff adders wouldn’t react, and the dogs would be sniffing on the ground — they wouldn’t have a clue that the puff adder was there,” says Ashadee Kay Miller of the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.