Hi there,
I was wondering how much polymorphism you can find in young adders. I've observed my first young adders in the wild this year and was stunned by the different colorations they have. While most berus in the habitat I have observed are born brown and turn black over time, some are born black aswell. Others (around a quarter) keep their brown color with the typical zigzag pattern. I also came along these two greyisch looking ones, that did not have the typical orange eye coloration of other adders. They were found next to two normal colored babies, possibly their siblings.
Baby adder by Lennart Aiscan, auf Flickr
.Baby adder by Lennart Aiscan, auf Flickr
A forum member also pointed the different eye coloration out to me and we were wondering, if this could be a sign of anerythrism, or if its just regular polymorphism.
Anyway, I also just wanted to show you guys these beautiful little berus. Does anyone have images of similar looking ones, or of other unusual colored viper babies?
Greetings,
Paul