Claim: Photograph shows a king brown snake in Australia.

FALSE

Examples: [Collected via the Internet, May 2011]



That would scare the crap out of us all !!!! That would scare the crap out of us all !!!! Now that’s a snake… A King Brown in Branxton, NSW, Australia. Of the Cobra family as most Australian snakes are — One of the most deadliest snakes in the world



Driving along the highway near the Morganza spillway and this was spotted.



Origins: This photograph of a large snake first hit our inbox in May 2011, when it was most commonly described as a picture of a creature that was loosed in Louisiana when the Morganza Spillway was opened to relieve flooding pressures along the Mississippi River. It has also been circulated with text identifying it as a King Brown snake photographed in New South Wales (NSW), Australia; a black mamba from South Africa; and

a snake (of unidentified species) spotted in “Delray [Beach], near Tamarac, Florida.”

The identification of the Australian locale appears to be correct, but not the snake’s status as a genuine example of reptilian wildlife. According to a discussion thread on reddit, the snake is a sculpture situated alongside Uralba Street in Alstonville, NSW, where one of the site’s member photographed herself with the artwork in January 2012: