arenavirus
dr. dolittle | August 17, 2012
Image from: National Geographic, photograph by Joel Sartore
In 2009, scientists at the California Academy of Sciences Steinhart Aquarium discovered some of the snakes suffering from a strange illness that caused them to stare off into space, appear like they were drunk and even tie themselves into knots they could not escape. Other serious symptoms included the buildup of proteins, susceptibility to secondary bacterial infections and body wasting. This mysterious illness posed a big problem for captive snakes like boa constrictors and pythons because it can rapidly spread among animals.…